Costly Sunday

Updating the Matt Hasselbeck situation, Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren has confirmed that Hasselbeck sustained a "Grade 2" sprain of his MCL in his right knee. Hasselbeck is expected to miss the next 3 games (@ KC, vs. Oakland, vs. St. Louis), but is expected back this season. Seneca Wallace will be the team's starting quarterback while Hasselbeck is on the mend.

Staying in Seattle, running back Shaun Alexander is expected back for the Oakland game.

In other injury news:

Broncos left tackle Matt Lepsis will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL. Colts safety Mike Doss also has a torn ACL, and will miss the rest of the year. According to ESPN's Merrill Hoge, Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger reportedly sustained a concussion.

Hey Merrill, ya think? The guy was knocked unconscious on a helmet-to-helmet hit yesterday. Anyone who doesn't have a history of concussions (hint: not you) would deduce that Big Ben saw some stars or thought he was Batman after the Steelers training staff broke into Jim Mora Jr.'s supply of ammonia capsules.

In Cleveland, cornerback Gary Baxter has torn the patellar tendon in both of his knees, an injury that could end Baxter's playing career. In this day and age, the normal recovery for a torn patellar tendon is one year. Okay, now double it. That's what Baxter is looking at.

Tearing a patellar tendon is not a common injury in the NFL, so it comes as a surprise that Baxter is not even the first Cleveland Brown to sustain this injury. Center LeCharles Bentley tore a patellar tendon on the first day of training camp.

It was reported on another football site that Baxter has a history of injuries, and was considered an "injury risk". Before signing with Cleveland, Baxter had missed only 1 game due to injury in his entire career, and had played 3 straight seasons with Baltimore before signing with the Browns.

Last year, his first in Cleveland, Baxter missed 11 games with a torn chest muscle. A similar injury kept him out 3 of the Browns games this season.