Jay Cutler Lifestyle

The New York Giants placed tailback Brandon Jacobs and cornerback Aaron Ross on the injured reserve list. Coach Tom Coughlin previously had announced that Jacobs would miss Sunday's season finale at Minnesota. Jacobs is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery next week. Ross has been plagued for much of the season by a hamstring injury. The Giants promoted quarterback Rhett Bomar and safety Sha'reff Rashad from their practice squad to their 53-man roster, the team announced on its Web site.

Quarterback Tom Brady said he expects to play in the New England Patriots' game Sunday at Houston. The Patriots still are vying with the Cincinnati Bengals for the third seed in the AFC playoffs. But Patriots Coach Bill Belichick has not said publicly what approach he'll take Sunday. However, Brady said he was told by Belichick this week that he'll be playing. "I expect--close game, blowout, we get behind--I'm expecting to play the whole game," Brady said, according to the Boston Globe. "I wouldn't see why we wouldn't. "It's our job to prepare to play, and I certainly am. I want to play, and I want to do great against a team that's fighting for their playoff life and has a lot of great players and really challenges you in some different ways. It's a meaningful game for us. It's a meaningful game for them, too. It would be

Wide receiver Brandon Marshall sat out the Denver Broncos' practice Thursday. Marshall suffered a strained hamstring muscle during Wednesday's practice, the Associated Press reported. According to the AP, Coach Josh McDaniels said he was uncertain if Marshall will be able to practice Friday.

According to the Associated Press, the league fined Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Stokley $25,000 for making contact with an official during last Sunday's loss at Philadelphia. Stokley was ejected from the game for inadvertently striking an official's hand while making an arm motion to protest the lack of a pass interference call on a play, according to the AP. Stokley said he will appeal the fine, the AP reported.

The NFL fined Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil $20,000 for verbal abuse of an official during a Christmas night game against the San Diego Chargers, according to multiple reports. Cecil was penalized at the time for unsportsmanlike conduct. Titans Coach Jeff Fisher said later that Cecil had been speaking to other Titans assistant coaches over his headset, not to the official.

The Buffalo Bills named Buddy Nix, their national scout, their general manager as part of their organizational overhaul. The team announced Thursday that it was promoting Russ Brandon to chief executive officer. Brandon had been the club's chief operating officer and GM. The front office reshuffling comes as the Bills search for a new coach. They fired Dick Jauron in November and promoted defensive coordinator Perry Fewell to interim head coach. Nix was a college coach for more than 30 years before being hired as a scout for the Bills by former general manager John Butler. Nix accompanied Butler to San Diego as the Chargers' director of player personnel and then their assistant GM. He left the Chargers after last year's NFL draft but was hired by the Bills last January as a national scout.

The number of local television blackouts by NFL teams this season will not be as high as Commissioner Roger Goodell and other league officials had feared entering the season, while paid attendance at games will be about what had been projected and national TV ratings continue to soar. Fewer than 9 percent of the NFL's regular season games this season will be blacked out in the local market of the home team. When the season began with some teams struggling to sell tickets in the uncertain economy, Goodell said that as many as 20 percent of the games could be blacked out on local TV. There have been 20 games blacked out on local TV this season. That figure could increase to 22 with local TV blackouts possible Sunday in Oakland and St. Louis on the final weekend of the regular season. If 22 of the regular season 256

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said he approved the decision for the team to sit down quarterback Peyton Manning and other key players during last Sunday's loss to the New York Jets. The maneuver produced the Colts' first loss of the season. "For anyone to attack the virtues, the intentions or the integrity of what we're trying to do, I think, is misguided because our goal is to win a world championship," Irsay said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. "As owner, I take everything into account and I could have, as I have on occasion, overruled some things. But in this case, that was not the case and it was the right direction to go and it was really a close call." Bill Polian, the team president, said this week he was surprised at the negative reaction by fans to Coach Jim Caldwell's move. Irsay said, according to

As the final Sunday of the regular season nears kickoff, the NFL's postseason picture still lacks clarity. USA TODAY highlights key players from the five 8-7 teams vying for the two AFC wild-card spots.

The Eagles head into Sunday's showdown against the Cowboys for the NFC East title breaking in new starting C Nick Cole, a guard sliding over to replace injured Jamaal Jackson.