"Antonio Bryant has missed seven straight practices, but he is gaining confidence that the recovery of his left knee is on track.

"The best thing I can say is there's a lot of progress, a lot of things are on the up and up," Bryant said. "There's no decline in what I'm doing. I feel very encouraged by that. I've been able to do some things with my leg that I haven't done ever since I've been rehabbing it. I feel good about that."

After injuring his left knee twice with the Buccaneers last year, Bryant had a meniscus tear and had it scoped only to suffer a bone bruise afterward. Bryant admitted that he came back too quickly but that the recovery should be better this time.

It doesn't come without its frustrations, though."