It happened on the most innocent of plays. With their pads off the first team offense faced the starting defense for a segment of 11-on-11 work. On the first play of the segment Trent Edwards turned to hand off to Marshawn Lynch and the two players knocked knees sending Edwards hobbling further into the backfield.
The collision got more of Lynch's kneecap and more of Edwards' quadriceps muscle. After being checked by trainers on the field Edwards walked under his own power to the locker room to get the muscle iced down as quickly as possible.
"Trent ended up getting a quad contusion and it was a pretty deep one so they took him in and treated it quickly and tried to get it before it swelled," said head coach Dick Jauron. "The collision was with Marshawn and his knee was a little bit sore by the end of practice so we took him off right at the end. He finished practice, but hopefully they'll both be fine as we move forward."
Edwards did not appear to be favoring his right leg at all as he walked off the field to the locker room. For Jauron who saw his team wind up with 17 players on injured reserve last season, he could only accept the result of the play for what it was.
"It's just the nature of life," said Jauron. "Things happen. There's nothing guaranteed. You just go out and practice and hope everything comes out alright. Hopefully he'll be fine."
At this point Jauron will not assess whether or not Edwards will be healthy to play in Sunday night's preseason game at Indianapolis.
"We'll just have to see what happens because sometimes they come back very quickly and sometimes they don't," said Jauron. "Sometimes it turns into a deep bleeding thing and we're hoping it's not that."
Getting reps
Naturally with Edwards leaving practice early J.P. Losman took all the first team reps with the starters on offense. Losman took a series or two to adjust as the plays Edwards was to run in practice were different from those chosen for Losman.
So stepping in for Edwards in the practice setting didn't quite resemble a game situation.
"You kind of study your plays that you have for that day and you get thrown in with some plays that you weren't going to run that particular day," said Losman. "So all of a sudden your mind has to concentrate and focus on that. It's a little bit different from a game because in a game they're set plays and you're ready to go. Just being ready."
In the ever rotating right defensive tackle position, Kyle Williams was back with the first unit next to Marcus Stroud. John McCargo and Spencer Johnson had been in there the past two days. Williams has taken the most reps with the ones thus far.
Tight end Courtney Anderson got some first team reps on some running plays, while Derek Fine took some first team reps as well.
Bryan Scott continues to fill in for the absent Donte Whitner (excused) at strong safety, which also brings John Wendling up to the second unit.
Ryan Denney was also mixed in for some first team reps working on both the left and right side in place of Chris Kelsay and Aaron Schobel.
Felton Huggins, Justin Jenkins and Steve Johnson continue to get more reps with James Hardy and Roscoe Parrish out.
Injury update
As for Hardy (hamstring) and Parrish (sore knee) both will be out at least through Wednesday.
"We're hoping Thursday and Friday," said Jauron of his two receivers. "But we'll have to wait and see. They have made a lot of progress."
New to the injury list was linebacker John DiGiorgio who has been dealing with a strained calf.
"John's calf muscle got a little bit weak on him, just today," said Jauron. "It's been bothering him today and it really was weak so we want to make sure we take care of that for the game."
Derek Schouman is also out indefinitely with his knee sprain.
Highlights
Ryan Denney almost made a gigantic play as practice started. On the first snap from scrimmage in 11-on-11, Denney coming from the left defensive end position got up field so quickly that he almost intercepted a swing pass from Edwards intended for Marshawn Lynch, but the pass caromed off his arm so all he got credit for was a pass breakup. Still a good play.
Fred Jackson had a good looking reception as he made an outstretched grab coming across the middle. Jackson has been just as good as some of the top wideouts in camp when lined up wide.
Derek Fine had a good night in the receiving game. After an early drop Fine was back on track quickly and had a handful of receptions on the night including a nice catch down the seam as he got behind his defender on a throw from Gibran Hamdan.
C.J. Hawthorne made an acrobatic catch along the far sideline as he leapt high in the air to pull in a deep out pass from Hamdan.
Jason Jones had a good read of zone coverage and sat down in a hold in the coverage to pull in a pass from Matt Baker.
Defensively, Ashton Youboty had a pass breakup on a touchdown pass intended for Jones from Baker.
Felton Huggins made plays again Tuesday night including a touchdown reception on a throw from Losman who threaded the pass between three defenders for the score.
Dwayne Wright was running downhill all night and looked powerful through the hole. Some of his decisions with the ball in his hands earned praise from running backs coach Eric Studesville.
Jason Jefferson had a batted pass while lining up at the defensive end position.
Two minute
During the first two minute drill the first team offense needed only a field goal to win. Losman hit tight ends Courtney Anderson and Robert Royal on two of his first three passes on the drive. A reception by Josh Reed and Royal got the team into suitable field goal range before the clock expired.
On the second two minute series the offense needed a touchdown. Gibran Hamdan got a big chunk of yardage on the first play as he hit Derek Fine for a big gainer. He followed that up with a strike to Felton Huggins for first down yardage. After an incompletion he hit Huggins again for a first down.
However, after two incomplete passes and a sack on third down by Bryan Scott with the defense bringing the heat, Hamdan lofted a fourth down pass with five seconds left to Steve Johnson in the middle of the field. Johnson made an athletic leaping grab, but when he came back down to the turf he had only reached the one-yard line where he was touched down by the defense.
Special teams update
Blocking field goal attempts was a big focus for the special teams unit. Blocking kicks when coming off the edge came first and Justin Jenkins proved most successful with three blocks.
Then the linemen worked on blocking kicks up front. Aaron Schobel and Kyle Williams had blocks during the drill.
