NFL notebook
Unusual injury sidelines Taylor
ASHBURN, Va. — Jason Taylor didn't understand why there was such a rush to get him into the operating room. True, his leg did feel a bit funny, but surely there was time for a second opinion.
The Washington Redskins defensive end now knows his career might have been over if he had waited much longer.
Taylor spoke Wednesday for the first time about the emergency procedure that followed Sunday's 24-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Taylor was kicked in the calf in the second quarter of the game but didn't think it was anything serious until pain and numbness set in later that night.
At 3 a.m., he went to Virginia Hospital Center, where a mass of blood near his ankle was diagnosed as compartmental syndrome.
Doctors drained the blood in a 20-minute operation. The pressing medical issue was solved, but Taylor will be sidelined for Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys — and possibly longer — while he recuperates.
Doctors cut a 6-inch incision into Taylor's calf to drain blood that, left untreated, might have led to nerve or tissue damage and even paralysis, limb loss or death.
Off the field
BOSTON — Sixteen athletes, including six former NFL players, have agreed to donate their brains to a program that will study the long-term effects of concussions, a founder of an organization running it said Wednesday.
"Our goal is for people to start taking concussions seriously," said Chris Nowinski, a former pro wrestler and Harvard football player.
The study is a joint effort by Nowinski's Sports Legacy Institute and the Boston University School of Medicine. They are collaborating in the new Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy.
Among former NFL players who have agreed to donate their brains after their deaths are Ted Johnson, Frank Wycheck, Isaiah Kacyvenski and Ben Lynch. Also participating are Noah Welch, who played hockey for the Florida Panthers last season, and Cindy Parlow, a former member of the U.S. national soccer team.
Packers
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy says cornerback Al Harris has a "serious" spleen injury that requires a cautious approach.
But he's not yet ruling out one of the team's top defensive players for the rest of the season.
"I'm hopeful that he'll be back," McCarthy said Wednesday. "The time frame just hasn't been established."
Harris was injured in the first quarter of the Packers' loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. The injury is believed to be a ruptured spleen, which sidelined then-Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms for the rest of the season in 2006.
Jets
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Brett Favre was uncertain Wednesday how limited he'll be by a sore ankle during practices this week.
The 38-year-old Favre, who has started an NFL record for quarterbacks 256 straight regular-season games, rolled the ankle in the third quarter of the Jets' 48-29 loss at San Diego on Monday night. New York hosts Arizona on Sunday.
"He's going to go out and work, and I anticipate him playing on Sunday," coach Eric Mangini said, echoing his comments from a day earlier.
Favre gingerly stretched at the start of practice, and limped slightly as he warmed up with the other quarterbacks. He was listed as limited at practice on the team's injury report Wednesday afternoon.
"I'm doing everything I can to get ready," Favre said shortly before practice. "How it will affect me during the course of the week or Sunday remains to be seen."
