NFL Player News

With Andy Dalton still out, Wenning continues to serve as AJ McCarron's backup as Sunday's regular season finale against the Ravens approaches.

Wenning, who was promoted to the Bengals' active roster on Dec. 16, is thus a McCarron (left wrist) injury setback away from seeing his first NFL regular season action. Whether he remains the team's backup QB once the postseason begins hinges on the status of Dalton, who is slated to have his balky right thumb examined Monday.

Ryan Lindley and Josh Freeman split first-team QB reps in Friday's practice, but head coach Chuck Pagano said Morris is also in the mix to start Sunday against Tennessee, Fox 59 TV in Indianapolis reports.

It's not clear if Morris will be active as the third quarterback. Whoever starts, it could be an ugly situation at quarterback for the Colts with both Andrew Luck and Matt Hasselbeck ruled out due to injury.

Tannehill (thigh/knee) is listed as probable for Sunday's game against the Patriots, the Miami Herald's Adam Beasley reports.

Tannehill will be out there if you need him this week, but his production has been underwhelming over Miami's last four games -- of which the last three were losses -- a span in which Tannehill has recorded just two TDs, versus one pick.

Taylor (right shoulder) is listed as probable for Sunday's game against the Jets.

Taylor was listed as limited at practice this week, but there was never much doubt that he'd be a go Sunday in the 7-8 Bills' season finale against coach Rex Ryan's former team. They'll close out their season Sunday minus a pair of key offensive cogs, RB LeSean McCoy and TE Charles Clay.

Dalton has a visit with his doctor scheduled for Monday to assess the QB's injured right thumb.

Dalton is hoping that he'll be able to take the cast off his throwing thumb, but such an outcome has yet to be confirmed yet and a timetable for his potential return to action can't really be solidified until said cast comes off. Dalton is already ruled out for Sunday's regular season finale against the Ravens, a game that AJ McCarron is slated to start.

Head coach Jay Gruden stated Thursday that Cousins will start Sunday's game at Dallas, though his workload is to be determined.

Cousins is a candidate to receive rest in the season finale with the No. 4 seed in the NFC already secure, but it appears that Gruden will keep his quarterback fresh with a nominal number of reps Sunday. Assuming Cousins departs early, Colt McCoy awaits to direct Washington's offense, and Robert Griffin may even be active, if Gruden opts to give other offensive stalwarts -- see, DeSean Jackson (knee) -- the day off.

Tannehill (thigh/knee) practiced fully Wednesday.

After practicing without limitation Wednesday, Tannehill appears to be in no danger of missing Sunday's season finale against the Patriots. That said, he's been underwhelming over the Dolphins' last four games, three of which resulted in Miami defeats, a span in which Tannehill has recorded just two TDs, while being picked off once.

Coach Bill O'Brien confirmed Wednesday that Hoyer is out of the NFL's concussion protocol and will start at QB for the Texans on Sunday against the Jaguars.

For his part, Hoyer noted Wednesday that he feels "great" and has no reservations about playing this weekend, in a game in which the 8-7 Texans would clinch a playoff spot with a win. As it is, however, the Colts have only a slight chance to overtake the Texans for the AFC South crown, with the odds thus strongly in favor of Hoyer and company seeing postseason action when the Week 17 dust settles.

Mariota (knee) won't play Sunday against the Colts.

Not surprisingly, Mariota wants to play, but interim coach Mike Mularkey relayed Wednesday that the team has "to be smart about it. As an organization, we decided it was best to keep him out." With Mariota unavailable this week, Zach Mettenberger is slated to start at QB for the 3-12 Titans in their season finale.

Taylor was listed as a limited practice participant Wednesday with a right shoulder issue.

That said, the QB insists that he has "no doubt at all" about starting Sunday's season finale against the Jets, while indicating that despite being listed as limited by the Bills, he took "every rep" during Wednesday's practice session.