Roy Williams hurt his shoulder in practice. This could be nothing, but it's serious enough to require an X-ray. The primary knock on Williams is his inability to stay healthy, and if he were to go down, the wideout targets would be wide open in Dallas, with Patrick Crayton, Miles Austin and Sam Hurd all being in the mix. For now, it looks like Crayton's the No. 2.
Pierre Thomas (sprained right MCL), who has already been ruled out for Saturday's exhibition game against the Raiders, may also miss the Saints' preseason finale against the Dolphins on Sept. 3. This isn't great news for Thomas owners, but as of now, his status for Week 1 does not appear to be in jeopardy. There's also been talk about a three-back rotation after Mike Bell played well, but I wouldn't make too much of that. Whenever a backup has a good game, a coach is going to get asked about it by reporters, and more often than not, he's going to want to give that player a reason to think he's important to the team. You never hear a coach say about a veteran: "He has no chance to play unless Pierre Thomas gets hurt." It's possible Bell could take some goal-line carries, but that was the case before Sean Payton ever spoke of three backs.
As a general matter the Saints are an interesting team to buy into because while you have to love their offensive output, the distribution could be entirely different with Deuce McAllister gone, Reggie Bush and Jeremy Shockey back, Marques Colston healthy and Robert Meachem now two years removed from his injury. So there's some added risk in projecting their specific players. That said, I still think the Mike Bell talk was training-camp coach-speak, but that doesn't mean Bell won't steal an occasional goal-line look a la Mike Karney.
Shonn Greene has cartilage damage in his ribs and may be shut down for the rest of the preseason.This wouldn't be as big a deal for a veteran so long as he was ready for Week 1, but when a rookie gets out of the mix, it's sometimes hard to get back in, especially with Thomas Jones and Leon Washington around.
Calvin Johnson (thumb) will make his preseason debut against the Colts Saturday. This should put to rest any concerns about the injury affecting his regular-season status.