The Facts: Following up on a previous item. ... Mathews missed practice with what Norv Turner described as "soreness." Turner said he hoped Mathews would return "in the next couple says."

Diehards Line:Even though he managed to gain fewer than 700 yards in his rookie season, hopes are high for Mathews in 2011. His ankle and wrist have been repaired, and the rookie jitters are behind him. ... And now we're talking about conditioning issues and soreness? We'll go ahead and state the obvious: Those aren't the kind of issues any of us expected to be discussing when Mathews hit the field for training camp. Are the issues enough to drop him down in our current rankings? No. But Mathews has our attention now. We'll be following his progress closely and updating as necessary. Hopefully, the news will be more positive next time we check in.