The NFL has given the Minnesota Vikings and the Arizona Cardinals extensions to sell more tickets and avoid local TV blackouts of their playoff games this weekend.
Arizona hosts the Atlanta Falcons on Saturday, and the Philadelphia Eagles play at Minnesota on Sunday.
The Cardinals have until 2:30 p.m. MST today to sell their remaining 5,600 tickets.
The Vikings had 11,000 tickets to sell by 2:30 p.m. MST Friday to satisfy the league’s sellout requirements and ensure the game will be broadcast. Help from the Fox affiliate and corporate sponsors is possible.
• After sitting out the past two games with a shoulder injury, Arizona Pro Bowl wide receiver Anquan Boldin went through a limited workout Wednesday and said he felt fine to play in his first career playoff game Saturday.
“If anybody thinks that I’m going to miss this game, they’re not too bright,” he said earlier this week.
Boldin aggravated a shoulder injury against Minnesota, but probably could have played in the final two games had the Cardinals not already clinched the NFC West title.
Tomlinson misses practice, plans to take it easy.
A year after pushing his injured knee a little too hard in practice and then paying for it during the AFC championship game, running back LaDainian Tomlinson plans to be more cautious about his groin injury going into Saturday’s home wild-card playoff game against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.
Tomlinson sat out practice Wednesday and plans to take it easy today.
“It’s a lot better than Monday,” Tomlinson said. “After two days of resting it, it feels a lot better, so I’m hoping on Saturday it’ll be even better.”
Tomlinson had his first three-touchdown performance of the season in Sunday night’s 52-21 rout of the Broncos. But he strained his groin and sat out the fourth quarter.
A year ago, Tomlinson hurt his left knee in a divisional-round playoff upset against the Colts, then pushed it a little harder than he should have in practice the following week. He was sorer than the team let on going into the AFC championship game at New England, then aggravated the injury and sat out most of the 21-12 loss.
“I probably won’t do too much,” Tomlinson said about today’s practice. “I really think that was part of it for me last year, was trying to push it that day in practice so it got sore the next day.”
Footnotes.
The Dallas Cowboys have fired special teams coach Bruce Read, making him the first assistant ousted in the wake of a disappointing 9-7 season.
• San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary fired quarterbacks coach Ted Tollner and running backs coach Tony Nathan.
