BEREA, Ohio (AP) Jamir Miller will miss the entire 2002 season after tearing his right Achilles' tendon during Cleveland's 27-15 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday.

"He's out for the year," Browns coach Butch Davis said Sunday. "He was not hit. Nobody rolled up on the back of his leg. It just snapped and gave away. It's one of those really unfortunate things."

Davis said Miller will have surgery Monday morning, and will need 5-to-6 months to make a total recovery.

Losing Miller in their exhibition opener is the latest blow for the Browns, who had a rash of serious injuries last season in Davis' first year as coach. Cleveland led the league with 16 players on injured reserve.

Miller was the top playmaker and leader of Cleveland's young defense, which led the NFL with 42 takeaways and a team-record 33 interceptions in 2001.

After Davis installed a defensive scheme suited to his talents, Miller had a breakout year in 2001. He tied for the AFC lead with 13 sacks and became the first Browns player to earn a trip to Honolulu since 1999.

Expectations this season were as high for Miller as they are for the Browns.

"On the bus, he was clearly disappointed," said Davis, who spoke to Miller, one of his four team captains following Saturday's game. "He made the Pro Bowl last year and he wanted to go back. He really felt bad and you can imagine how crushed he was."

Miller, who played Cleveland's strong side, was injured as Minnesota's Moe Williams scored on a 4-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Davis said Miller didn't do anything unusual on the play, his tendon just snapped as he was engaging a blocker.

Davis said doctors told him there could have been "four or five reasons" Miller got hurt but the injury was not caused by the Metrodome's artificial turf.

Redskins

Chris Samuels might be able to return from a sprained left ankle in time for Washington's first regular season game.

The Pro Bowl left tackle is expected to miss the remaining exhibition games.

X-rays taken Sunday were negative.

"I thought it was broken at first," Samuels said. "But I'm fine."

The Redskins got a scare Saturday night when Samuels crumpled on a pass play in the second quarter.

"I just dropped to my knees and started praying," linebacker LaVar Arrington said. "We don't need to lose him."

If Samuels were to be lost for the season, one could almost say the same about the Redskins. They are scrambling to piece together a suitable middle of the offensive line to play between Samuels and right tackle Jon Jansen, so Samuels will be asked to handle the opposition's lead pass rusher one-on-one most of the season.

Had the injury been more serious, coach Steve Spurrier could have been second-guessed for leaving his starting linemen in the game well into the second quarter.

Broncos

Injury-plagued running back Terrell Davis had an MRI exam on his swollen left knee a day after he missed the Denver Broncos' preseason opener Saturday.

Results were not expected until Monday, and coach Mike Shanahan said he didn't know the severity of the injury.

"I have to talk to the doctors," Shanahan said. "I've got find out where the knee is, what they think, what happened, why his leg was sore, why he couldn't go, take a look at the MRI. I've got to get a number of questions answered before I can answer you guys."

Davis, who's struggled with knee injuries the past three seasons, was scheduled to start against Chicago on Saturday, but pulled himself out just before the game because of swelling in the knee. He also had the knee drained of fluid earlier in the week.

"What I'm saying is, I don't know," Davis said after the game. "I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude at this time. I feel pretty upbeat. I don't like having setbacks like this. It tends to throw me off track."

Davis, the league's MVP in 1998 after rushing for 2,008 yards, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the fourth game of the 1999 season.

He played just four games the next year with left foot and ankle injuries, and played just eight last season after having arthroscopic surgery on both knees.

Buccaneers

Coach Jon Gruden shrugged off questions about the battle for Tampa Bay's starting quarterback job, saying there's no debate over who's first, second or third.

But with three candidates in the running who've led teams to the playoffs, the race could heat up Monday night when the Buccaneers open their preseason schedule against the Miami Dolphins.

Incumbent Brad Johnson will start and probably play a couple of series. Rob Johnson, no stranger to quarterback controversies, will go next with fourth-year pro Shaun King finishing.

"Brad's our starter. I don't know how else to put it. I've said that from the beginning," Gruden said.

At the same time, the coach makes it clear that Johnson, the former Buffalo starter signed as a free agent in March, is making strides in Gruden's version of the West Coast offense.

Johnson battled injuries and inconsistency in four seasons in Buffalo, where he and Doug Flutie competed for playing time. He was a backup to Mark Brunell in Jacksonville from 1995-97.

Bears

The corn fields and cow pastures of central Illinois will take some getting used to for the Chicago Bears.

They lost their first home exhibition game Saturday 27-3 to the Denver Broncos at their new home field in Champaign, Ill., about 140 miles south of Chicago. The Bears are playing at the University of Illinois while Soldier Field is being renovated.

If the travel south wasn't long enough, the Bears are staying in Decatur the night before, adding another 40 miles to the journey.

The hotel they were going to use in Champaign didn't have sufficient meeting space, so they moved to a newer and larger hotel in Decatur.

Players said the trek to Memorial Stadium was longer than expected.

"It's a long bus ride, but we'll put up with it for a season because we have to," linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "We'll treat it like a road game. We were pretty good on the road last year, so we'll see what happens."

Bears coach Dick Jauron said the new home field wouldn't be used as an excuse.

"The drive was a little longer than we anticipated. I think our guys were fine on the field. It didn't look like anybody was struggling for his footing," he said of the stadium's artificial turf. "This is our home field, and we have to feel like we have an advantage when we play on it."

Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals released offensive tackle John Jackson, the oldest player on their roster, before he could resume workouts.

Jackson, 37, had an angiogram early in training camp that found nothing wrong with his heart. He had been limited to individual workouts while he healed from the procedure.

Jackson was the backup to Richmond Webb at left tackle last season, and slid even deeper on the depth chart after the Bengals drafted tackle Levi Jones in the first round.

"I think John wants to play at least one more year," coach Dick LeBeau said. "That was one of the factors in our decision. This will give him the opportunity to go to another football team during a time they'll have the luxury of looking at him."

Linebacker Takeo Spikes slightly tore a muscle in his chest during the Bengals' first preseason game Friday night and could be sidelined for a couple of weeks.

Spikes was injured while sacking Buffalo's Drew Bledsoe in the first quarter. The injury wasn't initially considered serious.

Trainer Paul Sparling said on Sunday that Spikes has partially torn a muscle and will need 2-to-4 weeks to recover fully.

Cowboys

Rookie Scott Zimmerman, a college linebacker converted to fullback, will be out at least two weeks after spraining an ankle in Friday's victory over Oakland.

Zimmerman is considered the Cowboys' No. 2 fullback behind Robert Thomas.

On Sunday, rookie wide receiver Anthony Lucas went down during practice with what team owner Jerry Jones described as a broken kneecap that will likely end his career.

Lucas was injured during a pass-catching drill that did not involve contact, Jones said.

Chargers

If there was a winner in round one of the San Diego Chargers' quarterback competition, it might have been third-stringer Dave Dickenson.

Dickenson, who didn't take a snap as an undrafted rookie last season, was 12-of-20 for 154 yards and a touchdown in San Diego's 24-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night in Marty Schottenheimer's first game as coach of the Chargers.

There was no clear-cut winner between the 39-year-old Flutie and 23-year-old Brees, who entered the preseason opener for both teams considered dead-even by Schottenheimer.

Flutie was 6-of-9 for 46 yards while playing the first quarter. Brees was 8-of-13 for 60 yards with one interception that wasn't his fault while playing most of the second quarter.

Lions

Wide receiver Bill Schroeder sustained a "little groin pull," and safety Corey Harris "just wasn't feeling well," forcing them to both leave midway through morning practice, coach Marty Mornhinweg said.

Rookie running back Luke Staley, who will have surgery on Wednesday to repair a knee ligament, said he plans to be fully recovered in six months.

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