2 weeks Ago By ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — Nico Collins, the NFL's leading receiver, will miss at least four games after the Houston Texans placed him on injured reserve with a hamstring injury Wednesday. Collins left Houston's 23-20 victory over the Bills on Sunday after scoring on a 67-yard reception late in the first quarter. Coach DeMeco Ryans said Monday that he considered Collins week to week with the injury before the Texans made the move to shut him down for a month Wednesday.
Collins, who is in his fourth NFL season, has 32 receptions for an NFL-best 567 yards with three touchdowns. He and quarterback C.J.
Stroud have carried the offense with running back Joe Mixon out for the past three games with an ankle injury. With Collins out, the 4-1 Texans will look to Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell to carry more of the load as they play the first of two straight road games Sunday at New England. Aaron Rodgers insisted he played no role in the firing of Robert Saleh as the New York Jets coach and called such allegations "patently false.
" The star quarterback made his weekly appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Wednesday, a day after Jets owner Woody Johnson fired Saleh after the team got off to a 2-3 start in the coach's fourth season. There was speculation by some media and fans that Rodgers might have had a hand in influencing Johnson, who said during a conference call Tuesday the decision was "my decision and my decision alone." Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will be the Jets' interim head coach the rest of the season.
"As far as any of the ridiculous allegations out there, I'm not going to spend more than one sentence in response to it," Rodgers said. "And that is I resent any of those accusations because they're patently false. And it's interesting the amount of power that people think that I have, which I don't.
" EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New York Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux has had wrist surgery and will be week to week, coach Brian Daboll said Wednesday.
Thibodeaux played in Sunday's 29-20 win over the Seahawks in Seattle. Daboll did not say when the injury happened but he added "not anymore" when asked if it required surgery. Daboll said rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers remains in the concussion protocol, but the sixth overall pick in the draft is making progress.
He was on the field when the team was stretching and then went to another field and worked with a trainer when the team started individual drills at practice. Nabers was hurt late in the Giants' 20-15 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 26.
He missed the game against Seattle, but he still leads the NFL with 35 receptions. The Giants practiced without their starting guards on Wednesday. Jon Runyan Jr was out sick and Greg Van Roten was given an extra day to rest.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Jacoby Brissett won only one game as the New England Patriots' starting quarterback. Now we'll find out if he was any better as a mentor for first-round draft pick Drake Maye.
The Patriots are going with Maye as the starter for Sunday's game against the Houston Texans, coach Jerod Mayo confirmed Wednesday, hoping the rookie can help the team slow the descent to the bottom of the NFL. "It's a winning league and we're sitting here at 1-4," Maye said when he subbed for Brissett in the weekly quarterback media availability. "And I think these guys around here want to win.
" Mayo said that's why they are making the change in Week 6 rather than after a training camp in which, according to the coaches, Maye outplayed Brissett. The Patriots have lost four games in a row; they haven't been competitive in two of them. HENDERSON, Nev.
— When Antonio Pierce became the Raiders' interim coach midway through last season, his first major act was naming then-rookie Aidan O'Connell the starting quarterback. Pierce, now the full-time Las Vegas coach, is turning again to O'Connell as the Raiders reach a critical part of their season and is benching Gardner Minshew with the Pittsburgh Steelers visiting on Sunday. O'Connell went 5-4 after he became the starter last season.
Pierce said Wednesday he has seen the QB grow in confidence and become more vocal. The Raiders went 2-3 under Minshew, and it was his interception in the second quarter of Sunday's 34-18 loss at Denver that dramatically changed the tone of that game. Las Vegas appeared to be on the verge of going ahead 17-3 and taking control of the game, but Minshew overthrew tight end Brock Bowers and Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II returned the interception 100 yards for a touchdown.
WARE, England — The Chicago Bears remain focused on the city's lakefront as the location for a nearly $5 billion stadium development project, team president Kevin Warren said Wednesday. Warren held a news conference at the team's hotel outside London ahead of Chicago's game on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. A proposal unveiled earlier this year calls for an enclosed stadium next door to their current home at Soldier Field as part of a major project that would transform the lakefront.
The Bears are asking for public funding to help make it happen. The Bears also own property in Arlington Heights, but Warren maintained that the preference is Chicago. The plan calls for $3.
2 billion for the new stadium plus $1.5 billion in infrastructure, potentially including a publicly owned hotel. FOXBOROUGH, Mass.
— The NFL placed New England Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers on the exempt list while he goes through the legal process following his arrest on charges that he shoved his girlfriend's head into the wall and choked her. Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said Wednesday that Peppers won't be with the team "in the near term." "Any act of domestic violence is unacceptable for us," Mayo said.
"With that being said, I do think that Jabrill has to go through the system, has to continue to go through due process. We'll see how that works out." Braintree police said they were called to a home for an altercation between two people early Saturday, and a woman told them Peppers choked her.
Police said they found at the home a clear plastic bag containing a white powder, which later tested positive for cocaine. Peppers was arrested without incident. He posted $2,500 bail; his next court date is scheduled for Nov.
22..
