Just following up on John's earlier post, it has now been officially confirmed that both will miss the game in New Orleans, although Sheppard seems to be coming along nicely and should be available next Sunday:
"I was hoping we'd be able to get them back," Ryan said about an hour ago. "They are doing a lot better. They're running and things like that. But they're not ready to go 100 percent. We probably could play them right now, if we had to, but I don't think it's fair to them. They haven't practiced for two weeks, so that's why we decided to list them as out."
Sheppard explains his current situation and how the current record allows them to be patient:
I'm feeling better. A lot better," the eight-year vet said. "At this point, I'm day-to-day. We want to be smart, we don't want this to be an ongoing injury. Luckily we're winning and we're in a pretty good position, so we don't have to rush guys back right now. But we ultimately want to get me back out there as soon as we can. I'm being smart, we're being smart. When I'm ready, I'll be out there full strength."
Sunday just got a lot tougher.