Holmes, Moss injuries impact fantasy world

BOB HARRIS Back Page Priest Holmes has a whopping 15 TDs in eight games. Jeff Gross/Getty Images

With 2004 turning out to be among the most injury-marred in recent memory, it seems only fitting that we head into Week 10 minus two of Fantasy Nation's most critical prospects -- Priest Holmes and Randy Moss -- among the afflicted.

In a Wednesday conference call with the New Orleans media, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Dick Vermeil all but dismissed Priest Holmes' chances of returning from the knee injury he suffered last Sunday.

Asked directly what Holmes' status is this weekend, Vermeil replied: "He'll be out, I think, any way. He's on crutches today.

"He's got a smile on his face but he's very doubtful, I'll put it that way. If he missed time, hopefully it will just be for one game, but we're putting him as very doubtful."

Appearing on the NFL Network's Total Access show Wednesday night, Holmes told viewers that he hopes to get himself in position to force coaches to make a "Dreaded Game-Time Decision" on his status this weekend.

But teammates were no more optimistic than Vermeil.

"There's not another Priest Holmes in the National Football League," fullback Tony Richardson said. "When a guy like that goes down it forces all of us to pick our level of play up."

Asked what the team does if Holmes can't go, Vermeil reiterated the backup plan he's gone with all along.

"We'll, we play Derrick Blaylock and we play Larry Johnson."

Blaylock, who is coming off a badly bruised thigh, has carried 32 times for 150 yards, a 4.7 average. When Holmes left early in the third quarter against Atlanta on Oct. 24, Blaylock came in and ran for four touchdowns.

He also has nine receptions for 95 yards.

"Can Derrick Blaylock be Priest Holmes? No," Richardson said. "But can Derrick be Derrick Blaylock? Yeah. He can go out and do a great job, and Larry Johnson can go out and do a great job."

Johnson had 21 yards on 10 carries working in relief of Holmes last Sunday.

But wait ... Holmes' injury -- a strained medial collateral ligament in his right knee -- could be even worse than we realize.

On Wednesday, the Kansas City Star reported that Holmes visited a class of fifth graders and was using one crutch to walk. "I could walk, but doctors don't want me to put any weight on my knee," he said, before adding rather ominously: "This is not the kind of injury where I can grit my teeth and play through it.

"This is the kind of injury that needs some rest."

He then paused and said, "And if after I rest, the knee still doesn't feel right, then it's something where we would have to explore surgery."

The horror.

But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. In the meantime, Vermeil insists the Chiefs wouldn't scale back their offense or make any significant adjust without Holmes in the lineup.

But as Pro Football Weekly noted, once Holmes hit the sidelines against Tampa Bay, the Chiefs were forced to go to the air, resulting in impressive numbers for Trent Green.

The veteran signal caller finished the day 32 of 42 for 369 yards and 3 touchdowns.

I suspect we'll see more of the same this week, thanks in large part to a Saints secondary that couldn't even seem to see San Diego tight end Antonio Gates -- let alone cover him -- last Sunday.

If the Saints thought Gates was tough, wait'll they get a look at Tony Gonzalez.

In Minnesota, the Vikings on Thursday officially downgraded Moss from "doubtful" to "out" for Sunday's game at Green Bay -- a move that came as no surprise after head coach Mike Tice told reporters on Wednesday, "He's not going to play. Now that he's accepted the fact that he does have an injury, I think we'll better deal with it.

"It doesn't make sense [to play him]. It was tough to get him to admit that he couldn't play with the injury...He should get [healthy]."

Moss, who has a high pain threshold and a history of fast healing -- and stubbornness -- only last week consented to having an MRI exam which confirmed the initial diagnosis.

"It was tough to get him to admit that he couldn't play with the injury," Tice said.

How tough?

On Monday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune said that teammates, coaches and others close to the team all agree: Moss simply wouldn't accept the notion his injured hamstring could prevent him from playing.

One day after the injury, Vikings trainer Chuck Barta told him that similar injuries usually need four to six weeks to heal. Moss did not dismiss Barta's prognosis so much as he simply maintained it did not apply to him.

As a result, Moss refused the MRI that would have confirmed Barta's evaluation. He made clear to teammates that he should at least be in uniform for the Oct. 24 game against Tennessee.

Moss insisted he could help in the red zone against the Giants, and it was only after watching himself on film that he realized how slow he was.

"It was tough for him," teammate Nate Burleson said. "When Superman sees Kryptonite for the first time, it's shocking."

So, 19 days after suffering the injury, Moss finally submitted to that MRI. Tice said the test revealed no evidence of additional damage incurred during the past two weeks but also confirmed the leg was at least two weeks from 100 percent recovery.

Tice added that Moss, who has 26 receptions for 394 yards and eight touchdowns this year, agreed to another MRI before he's cleared to return the field, which will be either next week against Detroit or Nov. 28 against Jacksonville.

"We want to make sure that he's healed up," Tice said.

But what happens until then?

Marcus Robinson, Burleson, Kelly Campbell and tight end Jermaine Wiggins will continue trying to cover for Moss, but they clearly came up short last Sunday.

"We don't have to search for a different personality," Daunte Culpepper said. "We just have to do what we do."

Maybe.

However, as the Sports Xchange suggested this week, Culpepper was effective but not explosive with Moss watching from the sidelines.

The star signal caller completed 84.2 percent of his passes, but only one completion was longer than 18 yards. He also threw for only 169 total as the Vikings' NFL record of at least 300 yards of offense was snapped at 36 games.

Of course, the impact Holmes and Moss are having on their respective NFL offenses pales in comparison to the general devastation they're creating for fantasy owners desperately awaiting their returns.

Bob Harris is Editor and Webmaster of the TFL Report and Senior Editor for Fantasy Sports Publications.