ESPN John Clayton Blog

On Sunday night, defensive tackle Tommie Harris painted a bleak picture of his injury suffered in the victory over the Vikings. He told teammates and friends on other teams he might be done for the season. As it turns out, he may be right. Preliminary tests indicated his knee injury wasn't too bad. The concern now is a hamstring injury that Lovie Smith is worried could be severe. Harris is going for tests on the hamstring. It's not known whether the injury could be season ending, but it's probably an injury that should sideline him for the remainder of the regular season. Relief turned to concern Thursday because Harris is one of the best defensive tackles in football and one of the most talented young defenders in football. Harris won't play Monday night against the Rams. The Bears just hope he can play again this season.

A time for tinkering: The NFL is changing a lot of things involving NFL Europe along with changing the name of the league to Europa. Under the new rules, teams have to send a minimum of three players but no more than five. In the past few years, some teams allocated between 10 to 20 players. It forced a lot of teams to sign a lot of players in January that they had no intention of keeping for the 53-man roster. The NFL wants to continue to refine NFL Europe.

Stumping for votes: Pro Bowl voting by fans will go on until next week, and there are some interesting trends. Tony Romo's name was added late to the Pro Bowl ballot but so far he hasn't surfaced among the top five among NFC quarterbacks. The top five vote getters are Drew Brees, Donovan McNabb, Rex Grossman, Marc Bulger and Eli Manning. Cowboy fans are making a big push for their players. They voted center Andre Gurode from No. 4 to No. 3 among centers. Rookie Pat Watkins emerged out of nowhere to No. 5 among free safeties. Terrell Owens jumped from No. 5 to No. 4 at wide receiver behind Steve Smith, Torry Holt and Marques Coltson. Keith Davis moved into the No. 2 spot behind Brendon Ayanbadejo as the NFC special teamer. But in one case, they are voting a little too much. They moved kick-returner Tyson Thompson from No. 5 to No. 3 even though he's been on the injured reserve list.