INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts want Adam Vinatieri at full strength later this season, one to two months from now. Until then, they're content using another veteran kicker, Matt Stover.

Indianapolis signed Stover yesterday, one day after Vinatieri had arthroscopic surgery to remove a piece of cartilage in his right knee. To clear a roster spot, the Colts made a surprise move by waiving starting defensive tackle Ed Johnson.

"Last week, Adam felt his knee was giving him a little bit of a problem, so he had an MRI," coach Jim Caldwell said. "They saw some loose cartilage in there and we felt we wanted to get that done now with the bye week. In doing that, we had to look for someone to take his spot and we found Matt Stover."

Losing Vinatieri, the league's best clutch kicker, for four to eight weeks is one thing. He missed training camp after having surgery on his right hip and right knee this summer and though Vinatieri was still hurting last weekend, he managed to make a short field goal in the fourth quarter of Sunday night's 31-9 rout over Tennessee.

Cutting Johnson is an entirely different matter.

He has now been released twice in the past 13 months by the Colts, the first coming in September 2008 after Johnson was arrested on a drug possession charge. He re-signed with the Colts in May as the team tried to beef up its undersized defensive line, and the 6-foot-2, 296-pound third-year player won back his starting job in camp.

But after yesterday's practice, Caldwell ended speculation that Johnson, who also had a checkered career at Penn State, had run into more problems off the field. Instead, Caldwell said, Johnson was not performing well enough to keep the job.

"I know some might be wondering if it was a character issue and it was not," Caldwell said. "When we get to these types of situations, we have to look at our roster and see where we can get a guy on (the roster). Ed's was a matter of production."

Johnson had started four straight games after serving a one-game suspension in Week 1 because of his arrest, and had nine tackles.

NFL

SUSPENSION CASES APPEAL

The NFL yesterday asked a full federal appeals court to hear the case involving two Minnesota Vikings players who violated the league's anti-doping policy, saying the issue has to be settled to avoid different standards for players in different states.

Last month, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals essentially allowed Kevin Williams and Pat Williams to continue playing while the case proceeds in state court.

The panel's ruling, however, left two New Orleans Saints players who violated the same policy subject to suspension. The NFL has allowed Saints defensive ends Charles Grant and Will Smith to play, but contends a uniform policy is needed across the nation.

"The panel's decision makes the problem stark," the NFL attorneys wrote in the petition filed yesterday.

ELSEWHERE

Rams: Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been dropped from a group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams.

Raiders: Oakland re-signed offensive lineman Langston Walker yesterday and waived second-year fullback Oren O'Neal with an ankle injury.