Chargers' Foley will miss season

Chargers linebacker Steve Foley will miss the season after being shot near his suburban San Diego home by an off-duty police officer.

Foley was placed on the non-football injured reserve list yesterday, a day after he was shot and a week before the Chargers open at Oakland.

Chargers general manager A.J. Smith said Foley won't be paid this season. Foley's base pay is $775,000, and it's believed he's due a roster bonus of $875,000. The outside linebacker, who was being counted on to help anchor the toughest run defense in the NFL, remained hospitalized in stable condition, according to his agent, David Levine.

Because it wasn't a football injury, the Chargers were letting Levine provide medical updates.

But Levine said information remained sketchy, and his access to Foley had been limited. On Sunday, Levine said he was told Foley had been shot three times, in the arm, leg, and chest. Yesterday, he said he wasn't certain where Foley was shot.

Based on the medical information he was given, Smith decided to put Foley on non-football injured reserve. ``I think his priority No. 1 is his health and football is second," Smith said.

Shaun Phillips, a pass rushing specialist in his third NFL season, moves into the starting lineup. He had seven sacks last year and made three starts in place of Foley.

There was no new information released yesterday about the shooting. Sheriff's officials said the shooting early Sunday occurred after the off-duty Coronado officer followed a suspected drunken driver weaving in and out of freeway traffic at speeds up to 90 miles per hour.

Adam Vinatieri slipped a brace onto his non-kicking foot, then calmly pronounced himself ready to play.

Five days after the most discussed foot in Indianapolis became a headline topic, Vinatieri ended the discussion about his availability for the Colts' season opener Sunday at New York. He says he'll play.

``I feel pretty good, actually," the former Patriot said in his first comments since hurting the foot last month. ``I'm getting some work in this week, and I'll be ready to go for the weekend."

Vinatieri had not practiced with the team since injuring his left foot while running in practice Aug. 14. He tried field goals and kicked off yesterday for the first time in three weeks.

Wide receiver Darrell Jackson returned to the Seattle Seahawks for the first time since undergoing knee surgery a few weeks after last February's Super Bowl loss to Pittsburgh. Coach Mike Holmgren said he will ease Jackson into the offense against Detroit in Sunday's season opener, and that he won't know until the end of this week how many plays that means for Jackson . . . T.O. looks like a go for the season opener. Terrell Owens got in plenty of work during practice, then stayed late to run some extra routes for quarterback Drew Bledsoe. He came away sounding confident that he'll be over his hamstring injury and in the starting lineup when the Dallas Cowboys face the Jaguars in Jacksonville Sunday. ``I feel great," he said. ``I'm ready to go." . . . Injury-plagued running back Lee Suggs signed with the Miami Dolphins, two days after being released by Cleveland. Suggs led the Browns with 744 yards rushing in 2004, but he has missed 23 of 48 career games because of neck, shoulder, toe, ankle, and thumb injuries. Last month he was traded by Cleveland to the New York Jets and then returned to the Browns when he failed a physical. Miami was looking to shore up depth behind starter Ronnie Brown after backup Sammy Morris was suspended for four games for violating the NFL steroid policy . . . The competition to replace injured Curtis Martin will continue for at least one week of the Jets' regular season. Kevan Barlow, Cedric Houston, Derrick Blaylock, and rookie Leon Washington are all in the mix to replace Martin -- who's out for at least the first six weeks of the season with a knee injury -- and coach Eric Mangini plans, for now, to use all four in the season opener at Tennessee . . . Ron Dayne signed with Houston, reuniting the free agent running back with new Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, who coached Dayne in Denver . . . Quarterback Brian St. Pierre, a former Boston College standout cut by the Baltimore Ravens last weekend, was signed to Pittsburgh's practice squad.