Hovan on hold; Fiedler not full speed

The news of the day out of Monday's morning practice was the absence of nose tackle Chris Hovan for a second consecutive day. Coach Jon Gruden said Hovan has "a mild infection of some kind we're looking at." And the starter could miss a couple more days, according to the coach. In other injury news, cornerback Torrie Cox (ankle) remains sidelined, and linebacker Marquis Cooper missed most of practice after suffering a shoulder injury, though he said he would be fine.

As for backup quarterback Jay Fiedler, who is coming off an injury to his throwing shoulder, he said he still hasn't been cleared to practice even on a limited basis, though he is increasing the amount of work he can handle. Monday, he participated in a post-practice passing drill with receivers Maurice Stovall, Chas Gessner and several other players.

But his unchanged status means he probably won't see the field this week against his former team, the Dolphins. And it's still a tossup as to whether he even plays the following week at Jacksonville. It's one of the things to keep an eye on as the Bucs try to sort out their quarterback situation. They will have to make a decision at some point on who to keep on the active roster, and Fiedler's injury situation will have a huge bearing on that call.

AP photo; click to enlarge.