The calendar has turned to October and the weather is getting colder, but the injury bug has not gone to rest for the winter.

Several stars around the NFL are dealing with injuries ahead of their respective Week 6 games: quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Kyler Murray, wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown, Xavier Worthy and Chris Godwin, running backs Chuba Hubbard and Bucky Irving. Several of them have already missed game time this season, while others have recently popped up on injury reports and are trying to get healthy before Sunday.

The best ability is availability. As the 2025 NFL season closes out its first third of an 18-week schedule, these seven players’ availabilities are still up in the air.

Here’s what to know, three days before Week 6’s Sunday slate:

Lamar Jackson injury update

Jackson sustained a hamstring injury in the Baltimore Ravens’ Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and missed his team’s Week 5 game against the Houston Texans.

The two-time MVP did not practice on Wednesday, and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported at the time that Jackson’s status for Week 6 was ‘very much in doubt.’ Jackson missed Thursday’s practice as well, which all but guarantees he’ll miss Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Jackson did not miss a game of significance in either of the last two seasons after playing 12 games each in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The Ravens’ star quarterback has thrown for 869 yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception in his four games this season. He’s the current league leader in passer rating (130.5) and QBR (83.6).

Kyler Murray injury update

During the third quarter of last Sunday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans, Murray injured his foot after a miscommunication on a snap led to a fumble.

The Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback returned to finish out the game but has since missed practice on both Wednesday and Thursday. Rapoport said Thursday morning that Murray’s injury was not initially believed to be significant. But Murray’s absence from Thursday’s practice might suggest his status for a Sunday’ meeting with the Indianapolis Colts is in question.

Murray played in all 17 games last year after missing 15 games over the previous two seasons recovering from a torn ACL. He’s thrown for 962 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions in five games so far this year.

Amon-Ra St. Brown injury update

St. Brown popped up on the Detroit Lions’ injury report on Wednesday with a wrist issue causing him to miss practice.

Detroit’s lead wideout returned to the practice field on Thursday, meaning he’ll likely avoid missing any time.

St. Brown most recently caught eight passes for 100 yards in the Lions’ win over the Cincinnati Bengals and leads the NFL with six touchdown receptions.

Xavier Worthy injury update

Worthy has already missed two games – and the better part of a third – after tearing his labrum in a collision with Chiefs teammate and tight end Travis Kelce. Ahead of the Chiefs’ Week 5 ‘Monday Night Football’ loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the former first-round receiver was also dealing with a swollen ankle but ended up playing.

Despite practicing as a full participant on Wednesday, Worthy did not practice with the rest of the team on Thursday. His status for the Chiefs’ ‘Sunday Night Football’ game against the Lions is unclear.

Worthy has recorded 11 catches for 125 yards so far this season in two full games played.

Chris Godwin injury update

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver missed the back half of last season after sustaining a dislocated ankle in Week 7. Godwin returned to action in Week 4 of 2025 after undergoing and recovering from his surgery last year.

Tampa Bay’s veteran wideout has struggled through his two games back, posting identical lines of three catches for 26 yards in his two outings so far. Now, Godwin has popped back up on the Bucs’ injury report this week with a fibula injury ahead of Week 6.

The fibula is the smaller bone on the outside of the lower leg and makes up the ankle. Godwin’s fibula injury has kept him out of both Wednesday and Thursday practices, calling into question his status for Sunday afternoon’s clash with the San Francisco 49ers.

Chuba Hubbard injury update

The Carolina Panthers’ running back has been dealing with a calf injury since Week 4, when Hubbard was listed as a limited participant in practice on his team’s injury report.

Hubbard missed all of Week 5’s practices before the Panthers ruled him out for last Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins. He has since worked out to the side of Carolina’s practice sessions on both Wednesday and Thursday.

Given that Hubbard still hasn’t practiced in uniform three days from the Panthers’ meeting with the Dallas Cowboys, he’ll likely miss a second straight game. Rico Dowdle will remain Carolina’s lead back against his former team.

Bucky Irving injury update

Irving popped up on the Buccaneers’ injury report last week with foot and shoulder injuries. He missed every practice before the team ruled him out of their Week 5 game against the Seattle Seahawks.

Through two practices so far this week, Irving has yet to make his return. The Tampa Bay Times’ Buccaneers reporter, Rick Stroud, reported that he did not see the Bucs’ lead back at practice on Thursday after Irving was listed as a non-participant on Wednesday’s injury report.

Irving will likely miss a second game, meaning Rachaad White and Sean Tucker will continue to split carries out of Tampa Bay’s backfield.

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is reportedly the front-runner to succeed Steve Kerr as the next USA Basketball men’s national team coach.
Spoelstra previously served as an assistant coach under Kerr for the men’s national team.
He is expected to lead the team for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Spoelstra was recently named the NBA’s best coach in the league’s annual GM survey.

Erik Spoelstra is likely to succeed Steve Kerr as the next USA Basketball men’s national team coach ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, according to multiple reports on Thursday, Oct. 9.

ESPN, citing sources, reported the longtime Miami Heat coach is expected to be named the next Team USA head coach for this Olympic cycle. An Associated Press report labeled Spoelstra as the ‘front-runner’ for the position. He previously served as an assistant coach for the men’s national team under Kerr. He also coached the USA Select Team that trained with and against the 2020 U.S. Olympic team.

Spoelstra, 54, enters his 18th season with the Heat as the longest-tenured coach in the NBA after Gregg Popovich moved into a front office role with the San Antonio Spurs. Spoelstra is the Heat’s all-time leader in wins after beginning his career as a video coordinator in the organization.

Spoelstra’s name surfaced as the potential next USA Basketball coach on the same day he was named the NBA’s best coach in the league’s annual GM survey, generating more than half of the votes. Spoelstra was also voted the NBA’s best manager/motivator of people by the league’s general managers.

He won back-to-back NBA championships in 2012 and 2013, coaching LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and worked as an assistant coach on the Heat’s 2006 NBA championship team as well. Spoelstra’s father, Jon, was a long-time NBA executive with the Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Buffalo Braves and New Jersey Nets.

USA Basketball did not immediately respond to a USA TODAY Sports request seeking official confirmation or clarification on the reports of Spoelstra’s impending hiring.

Offensive play-calling duties were given to Jerry Neuheisel, a 33-year-old former player with no prior experience.
The win featured a career game from quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who transferred from Tennessee.
Jerry’s father, former UCLA coach and player Rick Neuheisel, emotionally watched his son’s success while working as a CBS analyst.

Let’s begin with the aftermath of UCLA’s stunning upset of Penn State, because in this new insular college football world of get yours, Jerry Neuheisel allowed us all to take a deep breath and just be. 

“First thing I want to say is I love UCLA more than anything,” Neuheisel said. 

And somewhere in New York City, a dad heard his son and cried again. 

For his son, for his university, for all of college football.

“Sometimes we forget how beautiful this game is,” Rick Neuheisel says.

How else can you explain UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper, asked to do the impossible in the middle of a disastrous season, deciding to give offensive play calling duties to 33-year-old Jerry Neuheisel, a former UCLA player who had never done it before? Officially, anyway. 

Because Jerry and Rick Neuheisel saw this coming decades ago, when Rick — while working a coaching career that would take him from college football to the NFL and back to college football and his alma mater, UCLA — would sit on the couch with his young son and watch games. 

Why did they call that play? What play would you call next? How are you going to set up that next play call? Don’t forget those puncture play calls.

So Jerry wasn’t exactly heading into the belly of the beast without a sword, he just hadn’t swung it. But as the college football gods so often do for us, this story had a twist. 

UCLA was the benefactor this offseason of the poster child for player greed: talented but enigmatic quarterback Nico Iamaleava. 

The same Iamaleava that wanted more NIL money from Tennessee, and held out at just the right time — the Friday before the opening of the spring transfer portal the following Monday — in a meticulously-planned effort to gain negotiating leverage. And then it backfired. 

Tennessee moved on, Iamaleava took a paycut and moved to UCLA, and suddenly became the tip of the spear for all that’s wrong with the player empowerment era of college football. He was Contagion 1.

And somehow, these two ends of the college football spectrum — one who loves his university more than anything, and one looking for the next payout — found each other in a magical moment. 

It’s just a sweet symphony, isn’t it? 

Meanwhile, back in New York City, Rick Neuheisel was doing what he always does on fall Saturdays as an analyst for CBS’ Big Ten coverage. His producer, Craig Silver, one of the great minds of the modern era of college football television, thought it would be cool to have Neuheisel break down a UCLA drive with Jerry calling plays. 

Live, while it happened. 

The next thing you know, UCLA peels off a 17-play, 75-yard drive in just over eight minutes. The damn thing had everything: an 11-yard run in a 3rd-and-10 pass situation, a sack, Iamaleava recovering his own fumble, and three plays from the Penn State-5 to finally cap the drive with a touchdown pass — a beautifully designed option route where wide receiver Titus Mokiao-Atimalals initially stumbled during the break, and then recovered to complete the score.

Piece of cake. 

Rick Neuheisel, his eyes welling, screamed with joy. For his son, for his university. 

The same university where he walked on in the early 1980s as a skinny quarterback from Tempe, Ariz., and eventually led the Bruins to a 45-9 rout of Illinois in the 1984 Rose Bowl. He threw for 298 yards and four touchdowns in that game, and he swears it doesn’t even compare to what Jerry did last weekend on the same field.

It wasn’t until the final seconds ticked away, until UCLA had pulled the unthinkable with some sharp play calling from Jerry, a career game from Iamaleava and a whole lot of guts from Skipper to set it in motion, that both Jerry and Rick could exhale. 

UCLA players lifted Jerry on their shoulders and carried him off the Rose Bowl turf, the Mecca of college football where the ghosts of the San Gabriel mountains had witnessed so much over so many years.

CBS, meanwhile, had a shot locked in on Rick in the studio, the wells in his eyes now weeping with pride, joy, and yes, a W for UCLA. 

“How can you not love college football when you have days like this?” Jerry said afterward. 

More than 30 years ago, Rick went to go see his friend and UCLA alum Troy Aikman in an NFL playoff game. Aikman’s Dallas Cowboys beat the Green Bay Packers, and Rick met up with Aikman later that night at Aikman’s house.

Rick walked in the door, and Aikman handed him a bottle of Dom Perignon. Rick asked for glasses. 

“You don’t need glasses,” Aikman said in his thick Henryetta, Okla., accent. “Knock a horn off that thing.”

Not long after UCLA’s win over Penn State last weekend, after Jerry had explained how UCLA pulled off the unthinkable and that it was now moving on to Michigan State (because that’s what coaches do), Rick called his wife, Susan, to see how the celebration was unfolding.

They celebrate all wins in the Neuheisel family because, son of a gun, every win in football is so dang hard and never gets old. And never without a bottle of Dom Perignon.

When Rick was coaching at UCLA from 2008-2011, they’d sit in the Rose Bowl parking lot after the game and celebrate with just about anyone who walked by. Last weekend, Rick’s son Jack, and wife, Susan, went to the game, but didn’t tell anyone what they were hiding.

The bottle of Dom was in the trunk, waiting for the big win. 

“What are you doing?” Rick asked Susan when he called. 

“Knocking a horn off,’ she said. 

Piece of cake.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. 

Mark Sanchez will not call an NFL game for FOX this week while the analyst and former quarterback faces a felony battery charge stemming from what authorities said was a physical altercation over a parking spot last week in Indianapolis.

Sanchez was initially charged with misdemeanor battery resulting in injury, public intoxication and unlawful entry of a motor vehicle. On Monday, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced a new felony charge of battery resulting in serious bodily injury, adding that the investigation regarding the incident remains ongoing.

‘Once we were provided with additional information about the victim’s current medical condition, it became clear to us that additional charges needed to be filed,’ Mears said in a news conference.

Sanchez has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The felony charge carries a potential sentence of one to six years in prison.

A police affidavit obtained by USA TODAY Sports alleges that Sanchez, 38, confronted a 69-year-old man who had parked his work truck in the loading dock of a downtown Indianapolis hotel. The truck driver, who told police he feared for his life, pepper-sprayed Sanchez and then stabbed him multiple times, police said.

Sanchez was hospitalized and arrested later the same day. Mears said the truck driver sustained ‘very severe injuries’ in the altercation.

On Monday, Perry Tole – the alleged victim – filed a civil lawsuit in Marion Superior Court against both Sanchez and FOX Corp. He alleged that he suffered ‘suffered severe permanent disfigurement’ as a result of the incident, including damage to his head, jaw and neck.

Sanchez had been in Indianapolis to call Sunday’s Las Vegas Raiders at Indianapolis Colts matchup. He was subsequently replaced by Brady Quinn.

‘This has been a deeply distressing time for everyone involved,’ Sanchez’s brother, Nick Sanchez Jr., wrote in a statement. ‘Mark and our family are incredibly grateful for the concern, love, and support we’ve received over the past few days. Mark remains under medical care for the serious injuries he sustained and is focused on his recovery as the legal process continues. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the first responders and medical staff.’

Both Curt Menefee and Charissa Thompson addressed the incident during FOX’s Sunday pregame coverage with identical statements.

‘Friday night in Indianapolis, one of our team members, Mark Sanchez, was involved in an incident that, to be honest, we’re all trying to wrap our heads around,’ each said. ‘At this time, our thoughts and prayers are with Mark, his family, and all those involved.’

Sanchez played for five teams across a 10-year NFL career, which he began by leading the New York Jets to consecutive AFC championship game appearances. He began working as a FOX Sports game analyst in 2021.

The 2025 MLB playoffs are on the cusp of the ALCS and NLCS.

The Toronto Blue Jays have earned their slot in the ALCS after downing the New York Yankees and now await the winner of the series between the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners on Friday night. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies keep their scrap going with Game 4 on Thursday night, as well as Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs.

USA TODAY Sports MLB reporter Gabe Lacques is taking all your questions about October baseball, so drop ’em in the chat below and Gabe will start answering them on Friday morning.

Florida State linebacker Ethan Pritchard has been released from the hospital after being shot in September.
Pritchard is now heading to a rehabilitation center to continue his recovery.
Pritchard is now alert, responsive and able to communicate as he continues his recovery.

Florida State freshman linebacker Ethan Pritchard, who was shot in the head in September, was released from the hospital and is headed to a rehabilitation center as he makes progress in his recovery.

The update on Pritchard was announced on Thursday, Oct. 9 in a statement from Florida State and Pritchard’s father, Earl. Pritchard was released from Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and is moving to Brooks Rehabilitation in Jacksonville, Florida.

‘I am so thankful for everyone who has prayed for my son,’ Earl Pritchard said. ‘There have been a lot of ups and downs over these last 39 days, and it is remarkable that Ethan and I were able to leave the hospital together today … Coach Norvell has checked in every day and has been a constant presence visiting us here at the hospital, and his players and staff have continued to make us feel part of the team. I can’t fully express how much those moments have meant to me and Ethan.’

What happened to Ethan Pritchard?

The linebacker was sedated in intensive care for over a month, and Pritchard recently was able to open his eyes and move parts of his body as he was taken off a form of life support. He can now largely breathing on his own, and Florida State said he is ‘alert, responsive and able to communicate.’ His father previously said he was able to watch the Seminoles’ contest against Miami on Oct. 4.

‘I can’t say enough about the support we have received from our hometown and all of Seminole County,’ Earl Pritchard said. ‘My heart is filled with gratitude for the outpouring of support for so many people, and I’m so appreciative for every single one of you. Ethan has a long journey ahead of him, but I know he will continue to fight and he will do so with the full support of our FSU and Seminole County families and all who have been impacted by his story.”

Ethan was a 3-star recruit in the 2025 class, ranked as the No. 507 player nationally and No. 54 linebacker, according to 247Sports’ Composite rankings. He didn’t appear in the Florida State’s season-opening win over Alabama the day prior to the shooting.