SBC Sports Betting News: Injury Reports, Mostly In Pro Footb

[Freddy Wills]

The past week in sports news has given many NFL teams and fan bases considerable cause for concern, and possibly something more severe: genuine alarm.

Pittsburgh Steelers Are Shorthanded At Running Back

gurus are staying on top of the NFL's injury reports, and one of the main developments of recent days is that the Pittsburgh Steelers, an AFC title contender, are going to begin the regular season without a healthy first-string-caliber running back. Isaac Redman was supposed to be the team's main horse in the backfield, but he suffered a groin injury and finds his status very much up in the air. Rashard Mendenhall, a veteran who has carried a lot of the workload for the team since arriving in the Steel City, is going to be out for at least the entirety of September. With these limitations, Pittsburgh will have to lean on its passing game throughout the first four weeks of the season, and that means opposing defenses will try to generate heavy pressure against quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. If a good defense with a strong front seven plays the Steelers in September, Pittsburgh could be in trouble because it can't afford Roethlisberger to take too many hits. Roethlisberger has suffered concussions over the course of his NFL career.

Rafael Nadal Is Out Of The U.S. Open, Sending Shockwaves Through The Field

There isn't a lot of high-profile sports news that would affect in August, but there is a lot of high-profile news to be found in the tennis world. The huge story in men's tennis is that Rafael Nadal, who made each of the last two U.S. Open singles finals, will not even participate in the tournament this year due to lingering tendonitis and other related concerns with his knees. Nadal's absence means that Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – in separate halves of the draw as the top two seeds – will want to avoid getting Andy Murray in the semifinals. Whoever draws Murray in the semis will potentially have to beat Murray on Sept. 8 and then play the final on Sept. 9. The death-march nature of that quick semifinal-to-final turnaround will make it hard for the player with Murray in his half of the draw to win the tournament. It's really that simple.

Cardinals Lose Left Tackle To Injury For Most If Not All Of The Season

analysts will tell you without hesitation that after the quarterback spot, left tackle is the second-most important position on an NFL field. The Arizona Cardinals have to adjust to the fact that their prime left tackle, Levi Brown, won't be in the lineup for most of the season after suffering a recent injury. This really puts a hitch in the Cardinals' git-along, since this is a team with one of the more uncertain quarterback competitions in the league. Arizona is likely to continue to struggle in the post-Kurt Warner era.

Broncos' Defensive End Out For Most Of The Season

At and other places where bets are taken, stock in the Denver Broncos is going to fall because defensive end Jason Hunter, a promising young player, suffered a torn triceps tendon, the same injury that befell Levi Brown (mentioned above). Hunter's setback takes away the depth that helped make Denver's defense so formidable last season.

about the latest sports odds in the wake of breaking news stories.