NFL Player News

Prescott (calf) is inactive for Sunday's game at Minnesota, David Moore of The Dallas Morning News reports.

Prescott strained his right calf while throwing a game-winning touchdown to CeeDee Lamb back in Week 6 at New England. Even with the benefit of a Week 7 bye, though, Prescott had limitations when the Cowboys returned to the practice field Wednesday. He increased his activity during Thursday's session to test out the calf but emerged with soreness, which was the primary reason the team treated the situation so delicately. Prescott's availability Sunday came down to a pregame workout, after which Dallas' decision makers didn't give the quarterback clearance to suit up. He'll thus yield quarterback duties to backup Cooper Rush for at least one contest.

Winston (knee) won't return to Sunday's game versus the Buccaneers, John Hendrix of SI.com reports.

The announcement comes as no surprise given how Winston's left leg bent awkwardly as he was tackled at the end of a three-yard run. Now that he's ruled out, he'll officially come out of Week 8 with 56 passing yards and one touchdown to go with four carries for 40 yards. In Winston's stead, the Saints will turn to Trevor Siemian under center, as Taysom Hill currently is in the concussion protocol and rookie fourth-rounder Ian Book has been a weekly healthy scratch so far this season.

Garoppolo completed 17 of 28 pass attempts for 322 yards and no passing scores or turnovers, adding four yards and two rushing touchdowns on five carries in Sunday's 33-22 win over Chicago.

It was an unusual stat line from Garoppolo, who now has three rushing touchdowns this year despite only contributing 30 total rushing yards (1.4 yards per carry). The usually turnover-prone quarterback (seven through five games) also did a great job of protecting the ball, faring much better than his rough outing in the rain against the Colts last week. Backup Trey Lance (knee) made his return from injury this week, but he did not enter the game as he had on occasion in past contests because head coach Kyle Shanahan wanted to take it easy on his rookie fresh off injury, according to David Lombardi of The Athletic. Perhaps the occasional play will be run for Lance with another week of rest, but it appears that Garoppolo has salvaged the starting job heading into a home matchup against the Cardinals next Sunday.

WInston suffered a knee injury during Sunday's game against the Buccaneers, Katherine Terrell of The Athletic reports.

While getting taken down by the Bucs' Devin White at the end of a three-yard run, Winston's left leg bent a way that wasn't intended. Winston attempted to get back to the huddle but fell to the turf before needing assistance to get to the sideline. After an evaluation in the sideline tent, he eventually was carted to the locker room, where the nature of the injury was revealed. It's unclear if Winston will be able to return, but Trevor Siemian will direct the Saints offense with Taysom Hill (concussion) and rookie Ian Book (coach's decision) inactive.

Mayfield completed 20 of 31 passes for 225 yards in Sunday's 15-10 loss to the Steelers. He also gained five yards on his only carry.

In a tough defensive battle, the Browns couldn't get their ground game going, and while Mayfield was reasonably efficient and didn't commit any turnovers, he couldn't come up with a big play when Cleveland needed one. The fourth-year QB has tossed one touchdown or fewer in five of his seven starts this season, but he may need to be more productive in Week 9 against the high-powered Bengals.

Burrow completed 21 of 34 passes for 259 yards, three touchdowns and an interception in Sunday's 34-31 loss to the Jets. His lone rushing attempt went for minus-1 yard.

After the Jets failed to challenge a 26-yard Tee Higgins catch on which the ball appeared to hit the ground, Burrow made them pay by finding Ja'Marr Chase two plays later for a two-yard touchdown to take a 14-7 second-quarter lead. He had another sequence with a big play to Higgins accompanied by a touchdown pass in the third quarter, following up a 54-yard gain with an eight-yard score to Joe Mixon on the very next play. Burrow added a 10-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd to take a 31-20 lead with 7:29 to go, but New York stormed back with 14 unanswered points down the stretch to stun the Bengals, aided by a Burrow interception. The only quarterback in the league with multiple touchdown passes in every game this season will remain a high-floor play at home against the Browns in Week 9.

Mills completed 29 of 38 pass attempts for 310 yards, two touchdowns and one interception against the Rams on Sunday.

It wasn't the cleanest game for Mills -- a lot of his production could be described as the 'garbage time' sort and he withstood a lot of pressure (five sacks, nine quarterback hits), but he deserves credit for keeping his composure through the struggles and fighting for gains late in the game. His numbers from Sunday raise his box score on the year to 1,357 passing yards, seven touchdowns and eight interceptions (67 percent completed, 6.5 yards per attempt) and could give the Texans more to think about with Tyrod Taylor (hamstring) nearing his return to the field. Taylor's production was much cleaner in his two starts before injury, so the question of who takes the top job could come down to whether the Texans want to play competitively (Taylor) or evaluate prospects for the future (Mills). Houston heads to Miami in Week 9.

Tannehill completed 23 of 33 pass attempts for 265 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions while rushing for 26 yards on two carries in Sunday's 34-31 overtime win over the Colts.

Tannehill was asked to take over the game and lead a second-half comeback after Derrick Henry struggled (28 carries for 68 yards) throughout the contest. It was the veteran quarterback's second game with either multiple touchdowns or multiple interceptions this season, the other coming against these very Colts back in Week 3. Tannehill has developed into a fine signal-caller, but playing in such an understandably run-heavy scheme has put a low ceiling on his fantasy value. Up next are the Rams in a battle of conference powerhouses next Sunday.

Trevor Siemian entered Sunday's game against the Buccaneers after Winston appeared to suffer a leg injury, Mike Triplett of ESPN.com reports.

After Winston limped off the field, Siemian entered Sunday's contest, with Taysom Hill (concussion) unavailable and Ian Book inactive. An official announcement regarding the nature of Winston's injury should arrive soon, but we do know that the QB headed to the locker room on a cart to be evaluated.

Stafford completed 21 of 32 pass attempts for 305 yards and three touchdowns against Houston on Sunday.

Stafford has been almost automatic in his first eight games with the Rams, with the one exception being his Week 4 game against Arizona, and even that contest was fine for fantasy purposes (280 yards, two touchdowns and one interception). The Rams supporting cast is substantially better than what was in Detroit, and coach Sean McVay's scheme makes it even easier yet on Stafford, whose current passing efficiency is far ahead of even the best seasons of his Detroit career. His completion rate (68.9 percent) and yards per attempt average (9.1 yards) through eight games would easily mark new career highs, and the volume (2,477 yards, 22 touchdowns) is excellent, too. Stafford projects very well against Tennessee in Week 9.