SOURCE: www.heraldnet.com

Today should be a very, very important day in the NFL, not because there are any games or even any highly-anticipated roster moves.

What happens today, and every Friday during the regular season now that the league has changed its policy, is that the weekly injury report finally comes out. That could affect game preparations for opposing coaches, betting lines for those who like to wager, and lineups for those fans who like to play fantasy football.

For the NFL circa 2007, Friday should be kind of like Christmas Eve.

But today doesn't carry quite the importance it might seem.

"Personally, I think (the weekly injury report) has some importance, but I think it's a bit overblown," said Matt Waldman, a writer and assistant editor for a fantasy football website called FFtoday.com. "You see it every week, where a (Bill) Belichick or (Mike) Shanahan lists everything from a hangnail to cirrhosis."

Fantasy footballers, handicappers and even head coaches seem to be in agreement that the weekly injury report no matter when it's released is not as important as it once was.

"The official injury report meant a whole lot more in the '70s and '80s, the pre-internet era," said handicapper Tim Treshel, an editor for Sportsmemo.com. "Now you can read hundreds of thousands of websites devoted to football to get your information."

Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, whose opinion matters the most, also downplayed the significance of injury reports.

"It's been my experience over the years in the league that no one really tells the truth," he said during his weekly press conference. "So I kind of don't put a lot of stock in any of that stuff until the game starts and you see who's not playing."

Holmgren went on to tell a story about a 1994 playoff game against the Detroit Lions. Holmgren's Green Bay Packers were preparing to play a Lions team that was likely to be without Barry Sanders, who was listed as "doubtful" on the injury report.

"We got reports: doubtful, doubtful, not going to play," Holmgren said of Sanders. "He came in, rushed for 223 yards."

While Sanders actually had only 169 rushing yards that day still a Lions postseason record that's not the point. Holmgren had to learn the hard way that he shouldn't believe anything he saw on an opposing injury report.

But for casual fans, the report provided valuable information. Wednesday was the day of the week when the league would unveil whether Marshall Faulk was probable (75 percent chance of playing), questionable (50 percent) or doubtful (25 percent). These days, that official designation doesn't come until Fridays.

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