Associated Press

The NFL notebook ...

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning did not practice and coach Tom Coughlin gave no indication whether he would play Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

"I am encouraged by his progress," Coughlin said. "He is less sore than he was the day before, that kind of thing. The swelling is way down. So I'm encouraged by that."

Backup QB Jared Lorenzen took snaps with the first team, and would make his first career start Sunday if Manning can't play.

"If I were a betting man I would say he would play," Lorenzen said of Manning. "He's a tough guy. He showed a lot of grit out there last week."

Manning has started the last 42 regular season and playoff games for New York. Coughlin said Manning's status is day to day.

49ERS

Pro Bowl running back Frank Gore missed the San Francisco 49ers' practice Thursday after the death of his mother.

INSTANT IMPACT

Eyebrows raised when Detroit gave free agent Dewayne White a $29 million contract — with $13 million guaranteed — in March because the defensive end had started just 13 games in four seasons for Tampa Bay.

So far, it's looks as though the Lions knew what they were doing.He was simply dominant in the closing minutes of Detroit's 36-21 win at Oakland, earning NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

MOST VALUABLE

The Dallas Cowboys wrested the title of the NFL's most valuable franchise from the rival Redskins, knocking Washington off the top of the list for the first time in eight years, according to Forbes magazine's annual survey.

Thanks to a new $1 billion stadium set to open in 2009, the Cowboys' value increased by 28 percent — by far the largest jump among NFL teams this year — to $1.5 billion.

PAYING A VISIT

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell visited injured Bills tight end Kevin Everett on Thursday morning, spending 90 minutes with the tight end who sustained a severe spinal cord injury.

Goodell flew from New York City to Buffalo to meet with Everett and his mother, Patricia Dugas, in the player's room at Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital.