Cribbs expects to play Sunday

Josh Cribbs’ neck is still a little sore, but he doesn’t mind sticking it out for Baltimore’s Dwan Edwards.

Cribbs said Friday he expects to play in the Cleveland Browns’ game at Detroit on Sunday, which will be six days after he was strapped to a backboard and wheeled into an ambulance following a loss to the Ravens on Monday night.

Edwards was fined $5,000 by the league this week for smashing a forearm under Cribbs’ chin on the game’s final play. Cribbs had pitched the ball away on a lateral and admitted he had relaxed a bit when Edwards hit him. As a result, he defended Edwards on Friday.

“I don’t feel he should’ve been fined for it,” Cribbs said. “It’s football. Just as he hit me, I could’ve hit him blocking for my guy. It happened during the play between the whistles. They have rules in place to protect players, but I don’t think it was intentional at all.”

SAINTS: The death of the mother of New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees was ruled a suicide.

Mina Brees, an attorney from Austin, Texas, died Aug. 7 while visiting Colorado. Grand County coroner Brenda Bock concluded this week that the 59-year-old Brees died of a prescription drug overdose and ruled the death a suicide.

Bock said Brees died while staying at the home of a friend in Granby near Rocky Mountain National Park.

The Austin American-Statesman reported that three days before Brees died, the Texas attorney general’s office subpoenaed her business records.

Also, running back Reggie Bush was held out of practice for the third straight day and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game at Tampa Bay.

STEELERS: Safety Troy Polamalu did not practice all week because of a left knee injury and will not play Sunday in Kansas City. He may miss Pittsburgh’s Nov. 29 game at Baltimore as well.

Defensive end Travis Kirschke will sit out his third consecutive game with a torn left calf muscle.

BILLS: Marcus Stroud has been ruled out because of a knee injury, meaning Buffalo could be without both starting defensive tackles against Jacksonville this weekend.

Kyle Williams has missed three games because of a knee injury and was listed as questionable by interim head coach Perry Fewell. Williams has practiced sparingly this weekend.