Now Davis’ Replacement Questionable for Broncos

Less than a week after losing All-Pro running back Terrell Davis to a season-ending knee injury, the Denver Broncos may have lost his replacement for this week.

Derek Loville did not practice Thursday after injuring his hamstring while running a pass route in Wednesday’s practice and was listed as questionable for Sunday’s game in Oakland.

“His hamstring was tight,” Bronco Coach Mike Shanahan said. “It’s a little bit more than a charley horse. He’ll test it out [today]. He feels like he could go. I’d say it’s 50-50 right now. It will probably be a game-time decision.”

If Loville can’t play, the Broncos (0-4) would turn to rookie Olandis Gary. John Avery, acquired in a trade with Miami on Sept. 21, would be the backup.

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The NFL fined Atlanta cornerback Ray Buchanan $7,500 for losing his temper and slamming Baltimore receiver Patrick Johnson to the turf Sunday.

Johnson taunted Buchanan after making a 52-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter of the Ravens’ 19-13 overtime victory. Buchanan grabbed Johnson, slammed him down and punched him in the back of the head before being ejected.

Johnson was fined $3,500 for taunting.

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Eric Swann, the Arizona Cardinals’ two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle sidelined nearly a year after two operations on his right knee, has been cleared by doctors to play Sunday against the New York Giants. Swann said he has lost 30 pounds since he last played and now weighs 305.

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The Washington Redskins hired Bill Arnsparger, one of the NFL’s defensive masterminds of recent decades, as a defensive coach. He will report on Monday, Coach Norv Turner said.

Arnsparger, a 23-year NFL coaching veteran who hasn’t coached since 1994, was the architect of Miami’s “No Name Defense” of the early 1970s. That defense was instrumental in the Dolphins’ 17-0 season in 1972. Washington has given up league highs of 29.5 points and 433.5 yards per game.

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In a victory for the San Francisco 49ers’ troubled stadium-mall project, a State Appeals Court upheld a Superior Court ruling and refused to let signatures on petitions against the project be counted by the city registrar.

Foes of the project filed an unsuccessful challenge to the June 1997 election, in which voters narrowly approved a $100 million bond, and also circulated petitions for a new ballot measure to undo the previous vote.

But in 1998, Superior Court Judge Raymond Williamson ruled the petitions contained deliberate falsehoods aimed at inducing people into signing.

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Dave Whitsell, a nine-year veteran and defensive back on the Chicago Bears’ 1963 NFL championship team, died after battling prostate cancer. He was 63. . . . San Diego quarterback Jim Harbaugh, nursing two cracked ribs and a bruised throwing elbow, is expected to play Sunday at Detroit.