Analysis: Injuries already piling up, forcing teams to turn to the next man up

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The next man up sees plenty of action in the NFL.

Injuries already are accruing across the league, knocking out several star players and forcing teams to turn to backups and reserves.

Everyone has to be ready because “one play away” is more reality than a cliche in football. The best teams at the end of the season often are the ones who have the depth to overcome injuries early on.

The inactives read like a Pro Bowl roster.

Russell Wilson hasn’t made his debut for Pittsburgh because of a calf injury sustained in the preseason. Jordan Love went down with a knee injury in Green Bay’s season opener. Miami lost Tua Tagovailoa for at least four games and possibly longer after he suffered his fourth concussion in five years last week.

Those are just the starting quarterbacks on the sideline.

Reigning NFC champion San Francisco keeps losing playmakers. Already missing running back Christian McCaffrey because of Achilles tendinitis, the 49ers won’t have wide receiver Deebo Samuel this weekend due to a calf injury. All-Pro tight end George Kittle missed practice Thursday with a sore hamstring and his status for Sunday is uncertain.

That may limit what coach Kyle Shanahan calls on offense.

“We still have the same amount of plays, just somewhat different styles of plays, different people in different spots,” he said. “You eliminate some special things that you would only do for those guys, but the number doesn’t change. Just, there’s things those guys do very well. Nothing other guys can’t do. But there’s kind of different percentages on how much you call them and things like that.”

Brock Purdy still has Brandon Aiyuk as a go-to receiver and Jordan Mason has 247 yards rushing and two touchdowns filling in for McCaffrey.

“Obviously it sucks not having your guys like Deebo and Christian and stuff, so it’s like, all right, how can we figure out to get the ball to other guys,” Purdy said. “But man, we’ve got playmakers. We’ve got a really good scheme, great play caller and some great players that step up in the roles and do their job really well. So for me, I still have to do my job, in terms of my reads and my progressions, more so than I need to now change the way I think and make sure I’m getting it to this guy or that guy because a couple guys are out. It’s not like that.”

The 49ers face the Los Angeles Rams, a team that’s also depleted. Wide receiver Cooper Kupp has an ankle injury and Puka Nacua is on injured reserve with a knee injury.

Matthew Stafford not only is missing his two top targets but he’s playing behind a banged up offensive line. Guard Steve Avila (knee) and tackle Joe Noteboom (ankle) are on IR.

“There are a lot of different moving parts but our job is to be able to figure it out all right, how do we move forward? How do we represent the things that we want to represent?” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “I like the way the guys have come in here with a good look in their eye and we have to have a great week of preparation.”

The two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs lost running back Isiah Pacheco indefinitely. Pacheco had surgery this week after breaking his fibula.

The Bengals were missing wide receiver Tee Higgins (hamstring) the first two games and he’s questionable this week. Eagles wideout A.J. Brown (calf) is doubtful this week after missing one game and Bears wideout Keenan Allen (heel) is questionable. Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson (quadriceps) is also battling an injury.

Texans running back Joe Mixon (ankle) is questionable, though it seems he escaped a more serious injury after what he thought was a hip-drop tackle that wasn’t called against the Bears.

There are plenty of talented defensive players out, too. Bills linebacker Matt Milano, Colts defensive lineman DeForest Buckner, Panthers defensive lineman Derrick Brown and Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland are on injured reserve.

Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore is aiming to return this week after missing one game.

The Buccaneers were missing defensive tackle Calijah Kancey and All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield last week when nose tackle Vita Vea sustained a sprained knee ligament in a win at Detroit.

“Everybody that made our roster was asked that, ‘You have to be able to do your job. When your number is called, be ready to go,’” Buccaneers defensive assistant coach Kacy Rogers said. “And that’s kind of worked out for us because we’ve had a lot of guys step up when guys went down and we’ve had guys (go) from one position to another position. It’s just kind of worked out that guys were ready when their numbers (were) called.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey walks on the sideline during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York Jets in Santa Clara, Calif., Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel talks to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) as he leaves the game after suffering a concussion during the second half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Analysis: Injuries already piling up, forcing teams to turn to the next man up

Analysis: Injuries already piling up, forcing teams to turn to the next man up

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) in helped off the field after getting hurt during the second half of an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, at the Neo Quimica Arena in Sao Paulo. (AP Photo/Doug Benc)

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese prosecutors said Tuesday they will not appeal the acquittal of the world’s longest-serving death-row inmate in a retrial last month, bringing closure to the 1966 murder case after more than a half-century of legal battles.

Prosecutor-general Naomi Unemoto said the prosecution decided not to appeal the Shizuoka District Court decision that found Iwao Hakamada not guilty in a retrial 58 years after his arrest, saying: “We feel sorry for putting him in a legally unstable situation for an extremely long time.”

Hakamada, an 88-year-old former boxer, was found not guilty on Oct. 26 by the Shizuoka court, which concluded that police and prosecutors collaborated in fabricating and planting evidence against him. The court said he was forced into confession by violent, hourslong interrogations.

The top prosecutors’ decision to not appeal two days before the Oct. 10 deadline finalizes Hakamada’s acquittal by the district court.

”I’m delighted that we finally resolved this. Case closed,” his 91-year-old sister Hideko Hakamada told reporters after getting a phone call from her lawyer about the prosecutors’ decision.

“I kind of knew this was going to happen,” Hakamada said, with a laugh.

Unemoto, in a statement on the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office website, also apologized for Hakamada's decades-long unstable legal situation amid a lengthy court process and pledged to investigate why the retrial took so long. She expressed dissatisfaction over the court decision that investigators had fabricated evidence.

Hakamada was convicted of murder in the 1966 killing of an executive and three of his family members and setting fire to their home in central Japan. He was sentenced to death in 1968 but was not executed, due to the lengthy appeal and retrial process in Japan’s notoriously slow-paced justice system.

His acquittal became official on Wednesday when the Shizuoka prosecutors office submitted the paper waving the right to appeal.

The Shizuoka prefectural police chief, Takayoshi Tsuda, told reporters he hoped to directly apologize to Hakamada. He expressed regret for the victims' families that the case ended without finding the culprit.

Hakamada became the fifth death row inmate to be found not guilty in a retrial in postwar Japan, where prosecutors have a more than 99% conviction rate and retrials are extremely rare.

He spent more than 45 years on death row, making him the world’s longest-serving death-row inmate, according to Amnesty International.

With Tuesday’s settlement of the retrial ruling, Hakamada is now entitled to receive government compensation of up to about 200 million yen ($1.4 million).

His lawyer Hideyo Ogawa has said his defense team is considering filing a damage suit against the government and the Shizuoka prefecture over the collaboration of prosecutors and police in fabricating evidence, despite knowing it could send Hakamada to the gallows.

FILE - Iwao Hakamada, 88-year-old former boxer who has been on death row for nearly six decades after his murder conviction that his lawyers said was based on forced confession and fabricated evidence, goes for a walk in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture, central Japan, on Sept. 26, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP, File)