Kevin_ODonnell's Blog

Injuries on offense continue to pile up. Mike Alstott is derailed for the second straight day with what Jon Gruden is calling soreness. It's serious enough that the A-train will likely miss Friday's pre-season opener against the Patriots. Alstott's age and experience are reasons enough to keep him out until he's healthy.

Michael Clayton leaves the morning practice halfway through due to a pulled muscle. This is the second time in the last 5-days that Clayton has been hurt. He missed Saturday with a sore back. Speaking of sore backs, Luke Petitgout missed his 9th day of workouts. He will not play Friday and when asked if he has a herniated disc, Gruden says he doesn't know what his injury is other than it's a sore back like many players in the league have. Gruden says look for Petitgout to come to practice sometime next week.

First-round pick Gaines Adams put together arguably his best workout to date. He looked particularly strong in one-on-on drills. Expect to see a lot of Gaines against the Patriots. Gruden is still not revealing his plans for New England. I talked with Jeff Garcia after practice and he says he's not even sure, but he doesn't expect to play more than two-series. Garica says with all his years in the league preseason doesn't mean a whole lot to him.

Cadillac Williams, who got only a handful of carries in the pre-season last year, wants more. But he's not going to get any according to Gruden. Gruden told me that Cadillac is sending him cyrptic messages, but he wants to see 7th-round pick Kenneth Darby and other backs. Gruden knows what Cadillac can do and it sounds like he doesn't want to take a chance given Caddy's durability record.