NFL Player News

Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson will be a huge feature in the team's offense in Week 2, despite his subpar performance last week.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford said of Johnson: "You have a great player like that, you want to get him the ball as much as you can," Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reports.

Johnson disappointed in Week 1 with just two receptions for 39 yards. His four targets trailed both Golden Tate and Eric Ebron who had eight and five passes come their way, respectively. It's dangerous to put too much weight into one game, but it warrants monitoring how the Lions' targets are divided up in the coming games. Throws speak louder than words.

Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford (ankle) wasn't listed on the Eagles' injury report Wednesday.

There was some worry in the aftermath of Sunday's regular season opener that Bradford had sprained his ankle due to an evident limp, but whatever may have ailed him didn't hinder his practice reps to kick off this week. He'll thus prepare for his second game as an Eagle on Sunday against the Cowboys.

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (thumb) practiced fully Wednesday, Scott Bair of csnbayarea.com reports.

Bair also notes that Carr, who injured his thumb while using his throwing hand to stiff-arm an opponent this past Sunday, had zip on his passes Wednesday, with the QB clearly trending in the right direction with regard to Week 2 availability.

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford practiced in full Wednesday, the Lions' official site reports.

"I'm OK, ready to go," he said.

Stafford landed on the Lions' practice report this week due to a right upper arm injury, yet he didn't miss any portion of drills Wednesday. He suffered the ailment when he was hit on the elbow by the helmet of Chargers linebacker Melvin Ingram, a play in which he threw the first of two interceptions in Week 1. Overall, though, he was 19-of-30 passing for 246 yards and two touchdowns, which he'll aim to replicate Sunday against the Vikings.

Jameis Winston tried to put his NFL debut for the Buccaneers behind him mentally and emotionally.

It wasn't easy.

Going head-to-head against fellow rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota, who proved far more successful in his first start, Winston tossed two interceptions before halftime in a 42-14 defeat to Tennessee.

"It's a very humbling experience because the game could have gone either way," Winston told ESPN. "If I would have had a great game people would be, 'How's he going to handle his bad game when it comes?' I got it out of the way. It's no laughing matter. It happened fast. I was not expecting it to happen that fast, but it happened. As the quarterback ... I've got to grow up from that and try not to live that experience again."

That means forgetting about the past, which is no easy task. Winston admitted that he agonized over the loss well into Monday morning.

"I was trying to get every excuse just to put that one behind me but it hurt," he said. "At the end of the day, the sun did rise against the next day."

Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had a rough season debut Monday against the 49ers, and the second-year quarterback blamed his struggles Week 1 on being "too excited."

“It was the first game of the season. You want to get out there and show all your hard work from training camp, OTAs, the preseason. And I think I just missed a couple of throws, easy throws that I’ve made nine out of 10 times in practice, and it played a huge role in the outcome," ” Bridgewater said, per The Star Tribune.

“I take Monday night as a learning experience. We didn’t execute well. But now we have to shift our focus to Detroit. We go in today, evaluate the film and move on.”

Bridgewater also said it was fair of coach Mike Zimmer to be overly criticial of his play.

“I wasn’t surprised by that at all,” Bridgewater said. “That’s what I love. Tough coaching. I try to be my worst critic and to hear it from the head guy, it tells you that you need to step up your game. Hearing that just put that chip on my shoulder. I have to get better and it just showed me, and it showed us as a team that we’re nowhere near as good as we are. We got outplayed. San Fran out-executed us on Monday night and hit showed.”

Bridgewater gets a chance to rebound Week 2 against the Lions. Detroit gave up 388 passing yards and two passing touchdowns Week 1.

Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle relays Texans quarterback Brian Hoyer's teammate, Ryan Mallett, has been told that he will start Sunday's game against the Panthers.

The report echoes NFL Network's Ian Rapoport's previous report noting that the Texans are preparing to start Mallett this weekend. While such an outcome has not been confirmed by the Texans, Hoyer is nonetheless one to avoid in Week 2 Fantasy lineups.

Several sources said they would be mildly surprised if Texans coach Bill O'Brien gave up on quarterback Brian Hoyer after one game and didn't start him Week 2 against Carolina, the Houston Chronicle reports.

O'Brien said Monday he won't reveal his starting quarterback for Week 2, but already knows who he wants to go with. Hoyer was disconsolate following Week 1's loss to the Chiefs, in which he was replaced in the fourth quarter by backup Ryan Mallett, but was encouraged after looking at game film.

Raiders coach Jack Del Rio said Tuesday that quarterback Derek Carr (thumb) looks in "good shape" to practice and play in the Week 2 matchup against the Ravens, Alex Marvez of the FOXSports.com reports.

Initial reports Monday seemed to suggest pessimism regarding Carr's availability for Sunday's game, but the second-year quarterback apparently received good news about his condition after undergoing an MRI. The Raiders could still add a third quarterback this week as an insurance option, but if Carr is able to log a full practice by Friday, he should be locked into to start Week 2.

The Vikings had a rough season debut Monday against the 49ers, as they lost 20-3. Coach Mike Zimmer put a lot of the offensive struggles on quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

Bridgewater was sacked five times for a loss of 54 yards, and Zimmer said it wasn't all the offensive line's fault.

“I think some of it was Teddy. A lot of it was Teddy tonight. Teddy did not play good,” Zimmer said, per the team's official website. “He was sped up, he looked unsure. I think he was concerned about all the things that they were doing defensively, so it did not look like him.”

Bridgewater, who completed 23 of 32 passes for 231 yards and one interception, didn't seem to disagree with his coach's assessment.

“I missed some easy throws tonight, throws that set us behind the sticks or plays that could have resulted in big plays,” Bridgewater said. “I just have to continue to get better each week.”