NFL Week 7 roundup: Saints' Ruiz questionable, Steelers' Watt limited, Colts' Richardson cited
The Thursday wire was mostly a list of who couldn't work. New Orleans and Pittsburgh spent it trading injury designations before their Week 7 meeting. Indianapolis spent it on a quarterback's legal problem, which no practice report will solve.
Start with the Saints and Cesar Ruiz, whom Kellen Moore listed as questionable after a limited practice. Ruiz didn't practice at all on Wednesday, so a Thursday upgrade is the direction New Orleans wanted. My read: he plays. The Saints center sets the protection picture, and against a Steelers front that will test the middle, a limited Thursday is the compromise teams make to get a starter to Sunday.
Nathan Shepherd didn't practice Thursday and is questionable. Moore attributed the absence to illness and a rest day, then added that it's a continuation of something Shepherd was already dealing with rather than a new problem. Two explanations for one absence usually means the team isn't worried. I expect Shepherd active, with the real question being whether his snaps get trimmed rather than whether he dresses.
The easiest line of the day belonged to the Saints: Moore said Daniel was with the team and a full participant in practice. It's only worth passing along because Moore was asked at all, which tells you there had been a question. A full practice answers it, and I'd consider that closed.
In Pittsburgh, the Steelers listed DeShon Elliott as questionable for Sunday's game against the Saints, days after he was a full participant in Wednesday's practice. Full Wednesday and questionable Friday is the shape of a player who got sore, not one who got hurt. I expect Elliott on the field, and it matters, because a secondary missing a safety against New Orleans is a coverage shell that has to be simplified.
T.J. Watt was limited in Thursday's practice with a calf injury, and the Steelers don't expect it to affect his availability Sunday. That's Pittsburgh being honest and careful at once. A calf is the injury that turns a limited Thursday into a month-long absence if a player shoves it, so managing Watt midweek and playing him Sunday is the correct trade. If he's out there, the Saints have to account for him on every dropback.
The item with the longest tail doesn't involve a practice report. Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson is facing a charge of marijuana possession after police cited him during an Oct. 12 traffic stop and found marijuana and THC gummies in his vehicle. A citation isn't a suspension, and the league's personal conduct process runs on its own calendar. But Indianapolis now has an off-field question attached to the position that decides its season. My read is the cost is a games-missed risk hanging over the back half of the year, not a change to this week's plan.
One fantasy note, and it's a bet I'll take the other side of: ESPN's Week 7 column says don't be surprised if Aaron Rodgers keeps rolling as a top-12 quarterback and Cam Skattebo bounces back. Top-12 quarterback weeks are matchup bets, and I'd rather be a week early on Rodgers falling out of that tier than a week late. The bounce-back I'd actually put money on is Skattebo's.
What ties Thursday together is that most of these designations are maintenance and one of them isn't a football problem at all. The Saints and Steelers are both managing bodies before a Week 7 game neither wants to hand away, and the questionable tags on Ruiz, Shepherd and Elliott read more like paperwork than prognosis. The Richardson charge is the one that can still be a topic in December.
My verdict: Ruiz, Shepherd and Elliott all dress Sunday, Watt plays and stays limited, and the Richardson citation costs the Colts more attention than games. If I'm wrong, it'll be on Ruiz, because centers with a Wednesday did-not-practice and a Thursday limit are exactly the guys who quietly sit.