ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Rams fullback James Hodgins broke his left foot in the third quarter of Thursday night's preseason game against the San Diego Chargers and will be sidelined for six weeks.

        Hodgins was hurt on the second series of the second half. He said he was blocking the defensive end and when he tried to plant his foot it rolled over.

        A pin will be placed in the foot on Friday.

        “I felt a little pop,” Hodgins said. “It's just one of those things, wrong place, wrong time type of deal.”

        Hodgins, the lead blocker for Marshall Faulk, started 10 games last year and has made 12 career starts over three seasons.

        “Hopefully I'll be back by the fourth or fifth game, if it heals properly,” Hodgins said. “It's a bad situation, but hopefully it can turn out being something that's short-term.”

        Backup Chris Hetherington, an offseason free agent pickup from Carolina, will step in for Hodgins for now. Tight end Ernie Conwell also can play some fullback.

        “He's a starter in this league,” coach Mike Martz said. “There's no problem with Chris. Between Chris and Ernie, we'll be fine.”

        Martz said Hodgins started the second half because he was playing so well.

        “That is why I left him in there, to try to throw him the ball a little more,” Martz said. “Now I wish that I hadn't.”

        JAGUARS: Jaguars defensive end Tony Brackens isn't ruling out further surgery on his injured left knee, and knows an operation could end his season.

        Brackens, who had arthroscopic surgery to clean up scar tissue in the knee in the offseason, has barely practiced this preseason.

        Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin said Brackens would be scratched from today's preseason game at Chicago.

        “There's always a possibility (of more surgery),” Brackens said. “I'm not sure what exactly has to be done, but something is obviously going to have to be done if we can't get my knee right.”

        Brackens said he went into the surgery knowing there was damage that needed to be fixed, but he instructed doctor Carlos Tandron to only clean the knee out.

        “I felt like, if I got it cleaned out, I could continue to play and be ready for the season,” Brackens said.

        Brackens has averaged 10 sacks a season the past three years and is considered the team's biggest pass-rushing threat.

        BROWNS: Qasim Mitchell, a 335-pound rookie offensive lineman, was taken to the hospital as a precaution after experiencing heat-related problems during Cleveland's practice Thursday.

        FALCONS: Atlanta signed veteran safety Henry Jones, who played 10 seasons with the Buffalo Bills before being waived last September.

        PATRIOTS: Owner Robert Kraft, 61, was recovering after undergoing unscheduled heart bypass surgery in Boston.

        RAIDERS: Oakland waived backup quarterback Bobby Hoying, a former Ohio State standout. Hoying was Rich Gannon's seldom-used backup for most of three seasons.

        RAVENS: Baltimore signed former University of Cincinnati star Robert Tate, who was released a day earlier by the Minnesota Vikings. Tate, a five-year veteran, started 22 games at cornerback over the past two seasons.

        REDSKINS: Steve Spurrier's quarterback situation got a little clearer, with Washington trading Sage Rosenfels to Miami. The Redskins got an undisclosed 2003 draft choice in return for Rosenfels, a fourth-round pick in 2001.

        The deal leaves Spurrier with three quarterbacks: Danny Wuerffel, Shane Matthews and 2002 first-round pick Patrick Ramsey. Wuerffel and Matthews still are vying for the starting job.

        ETC: Former Minnesota Vikings coach Dennis Green is joining ESPN as an NFL analyst. Green will appear on ESPN News' Monday Quarterback, ESPN2's NFL 2Night and ESPN Radio.

At training camp, competition and camaraderie forge a team Bengals training camp by the numbers Farmer returns, hamstring and all Grass-roots effort working well at Paul Brown Stadium He's the one who brings bad news Chargers 31, Rams 10 Rams fullback fractures left foot in preseason game

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