Australian rookie Jordan Mailata could face an NFL baptism of fire after the Philadelphia Eagles' veteran tackle Jason Peters suffered a leg injury in their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The hosts won 27-21 in Tampa Bay on Sunday with Peters limping off with a strained quadriceps.
The Eagles play the Indianapolis Colts next week.
"It was enough to keep him out and I didn't want to risk it any further," Eagles coach Doug Pederson, declining to say too much about Peters' injury, told reporters.
Mailata, the giant former South Sydney Rabbitohs junior who also plays tackle, is yet to make his regular season debut after being left out of the Eagles' 46-man game day squad for the first two games.
The Eagles hoped to stash Mailata on the bench while he learns the game but if Peters is unable to recover Pederson will likely be forced to call up Mailata.
The 21-year-old, 203cm tall, 157kg Mailata only played his first American football game last month in the pre-season.
Peters, a nine-time Pro Bowl selection, took the raw Mailata under his wing during the Eagles' training camp and pre-season to teach him the intricacies of the offensive tackle position.
When Peters went down in the first quarter the Eagles tossed Halapoulivaati Vaitai in and the only other back-up offensive lineman available was guard/centre Isaac Seumolo.
Mailata was not eligible to play.
Peters is determined to shake off the injury and play the Colts.
"Yeah it ain't nothing but a strain," the 193cm tall, 149kg Peters said.
"Nothing major."
The Eagles' rookie Australian punter Cameron Johnston had another strong game with five punts averaging 46.2 yards a punt.
He dropped three of the five punts inside the Buccaneers' 20-yard line with his longest 65 yards.
Australia's other NFL players had mixed success.
Adam Gotsis's Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders 20-19, the Kansas City Chiefs beat Jordan Berry's Pittsburgh Steelers 42-37 and the Miami Dolphins won 20-12 over Lachlan Edwards' New York Jets.
Sydney's star rookie punter Michael Dickson's Seattle Seahawks play the Chicago Bears on Tuesday (1015 AEST).
