NFL Player News

The Texans have designated the following players as inactive for Sunday's Week 4 matchup with the Bills: quarterback Tom Savage, safeties Shiloh Keo (calf) and Eddie Pleasant (ankle), linebacker Jadeveon Clowney (knee), cornerback A.J. Bouye (groin), wide receiver DeVier Posey and offensive tackle Jeff Adams.

Bouye was questionable to play this week, while Keo, Pleasant and Clowney had all been previously ruled out. Running back Arian Foster (hamstring) and punter Shane Lechler (hip) are active after being listed as questionable. Wide receiver Andre Johnson (ankle), defensive ends Jared Crick (neck) and Tim Jamison (groin), cornerbacks Kareem Jackson (thigh) and Johnathan Joseph (foot/ankle, neck), safety D.J. Swearinger (elbow, hip) and guard Ben Jones (knee) are all active for the game.

Titans quarterback Jake Locker was ruled inactive Week 4 at Indianapolis due to a wrist injury. He came into the game as questionable.

Backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst drew the start in Locker's absence Sunday.

Barring an unforeseen improvement in his wrist, Titans quarterback Jake Locker will not play Sunday against the Colts. Both ESPN and NFL Network believe that Charlie Whitehurst will start in Locker's place, with NFL Network suggesting that if Locker would be out for a while that we'd see rookie Zach Mettenberger get the start instead of Whitehurst. 

Whitehurst has three touchdowns and five turnovers in four career starts. 

Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins blamed himself greatly for the lopsided loss Thursday night to the Giants. Committing five turnovers has a tendency to have one looking in the mirror.

"I turned the ball over too much," he told ESPN. "I got a little bit of mind play because I was killing us here and there [with] all the turnovers in the second half."

Cousins missed open receivers, forced passes into coverage and was criticized for following his targets with his eyes, allowing defenders to jump routes. He finished with four interceptions and one fumble.

I think we can be honest with each other; we whiffed on Kirk Cousins this week. Seduced by his brilliant showing in his first two games, we believed Cousins would continue his strong play in what was shaping up to be a Thursday night shootout between the Redskins and Giants.

Unfortunately Cousins failed to hold up his end of the bargain, as he turned the ball over five times in a disastrous performance, highlighted by a complete meltdown in the third quarter. Over at the Fantasy Football Today blog, I grabbed some video of his performance to try and highlight just where exactly Cousins went wrong.

"Cousins' mechanics were a mess in this game, as you can see on his second interception of the day. He faced a tough situation with Washington's offense starting deep in their own territory, but he did not exactly have a pass rush breathing down his neck on this pass. He strangely lets his momentum carry him backwards, and ends up throwing a lob off his back foot that is easily taken away by the safety playing over the top."

Cousins faces the Seahawks and Cardinals in his next two games, so Fantasy owners might want to look for other options for Weeks 5 and 6. Fortunately, you likely grabbed Cousins on waivers, so you should have at least a comparable option handcuffed to him.

Lions quarterback Matt Stafford is unhurt after getting standed on the road early Friday morning due to a collapsed bridge. The pedestrian bridge fell onto a freeway after being hit by a truck.

Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins imploded Thursday against the Giants.

Cousins completed 19 of 33 passes for 257 yards and one touchdown. He threw four interceptions during the contest, all of which came during the second half. Things started out rocky for Cousins. On the team's first drive, he was sacked and turned the ball over on a fumble. He managed to throw an 18 yard strike for a touchdown in the second quarter, but that was the extent of the positives for Cousins.

The second half was a mess. Cousins finished 6 for 14, with 104 yards and four interceptions. Cousins will take on the Seahawks next week .

So ... who's excited about starting Matthew Stafford this week?

Can't get all the way there, can you? He's been Fantasy Football's greatest enigma since his 5,000-yard, 40-touchdown season in 2011. Even this year, he started off with a bang before a couple of lackluster performances back-to-back.

Of course, those were against the Panthers and the Packers, who have fared well against the pass this season, regardless of the opponent, which is what makes his matchup Week 4 at the Jets so interesting.

These ain't your daddy's Jets. Darrelle Revis is long gone, and their secondary no longer dominates the way it used to. In terms of yardage, they rank ninth against the pass, but they've allowed seven touchdowns through the air without recording a single interception. They've also surrendered the fourth-most Fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. The Packers' Aaron Rodgers had his one good game against them in Week 2, throwing for 346 yards and three touchdowns.

Yardage hasn't been the problem for Stafford this season. Touchdowns have. If he can't manage a couple in this game, then maybe you shouldn't be just lukewarm on starting him, but shy away from it altogether.

You may be tempted to bench quarterback Aaron Rodgers in Fantasy after two of his first three games were duds, but that would make me sad.

It would make Jamey Eisenberg and Dave Richard sad, too, judging by their rankings for Week 4. Both have Rodgers either first or second at quarterback. No lie.

The crux of the frustration is that nobody really knows what the Lions defense is just yet. We halfway expected Rodgers to stink Week 1 at Seattle, but that was against a Super Bowl champion at a venue legendary for its difficulty. The Lions are just ... the Lions.

But they're also the team that intercepted Eli Manning twice in Week 1, limiting him to just 163 yards. They're also team that took down Cam Newton four times in Week 2 and that's allowed the fourth-fewest Fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. Individually, those accomplishments count for little, but put them all together, culminating in Rodgers' Week 3 performance, and they begin to mean something.

So if you operate under the premise that Rodgers struggled against two of the league's toughest pass defenses and thrived against one of its most ordinary, you should like his chances in the weeks to come.

And that makes him a perfect buy-low right now.

While Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin still has yet to announce a starting quarterback for Sunday's game against the Raiders, Ryan Tannehill continues to insist he will start Sunday and backup quarterback Matt Moore appears to be backing up that claim.

"I've taken zero reps. Ryan's prepared the same way he always does and I've prepared the same way I always do," Moore said, per CSNBayArea.com. "We showed up on Tuesday and everything was the same. Obviously, I did get a couple of text messages from friends who read things and it caught me off guard but nothing was said in here."