Wild Card Weekend: Essential NFL Practice News & Notes for Friday

Raiders QB Derek Carr (ankle, out) missed practice all week and is out for Week 18. Matt McGloin (left shoulder, questionable) took limited practice reps all week and is questionable for Week 18. Connor Cook will get the start in a bad matchup with the Texans.

Texans QB Tom Savage (concussion, out) missed practice all week and is out for Week 18. Brock Osweiler will get the start.

Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill (knee, out) returned to take limited reps Friday after missing practice earlier in the week and is out for Week 18. Tannehill’s return to practice is encouraging, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to play this week. Matt Moore will get the start. He has targeted Kenny Stills on 23% of his pass attempts since taking over for Tannehill in Week 14.

Texans RB Lamar Miller (ankle) took full practice reps all week. Miller had a couple of weeks off to get healthy, so he should be nearing 100 percent for a nice matchup with the Raiders (#23 in RB aFPA).

Texans RB Jay Prosch (ankle, knee) took full practice reps on Friday after being limited earlier in the week.

Seahawks RB C.J. Prosise (shoulder, out) missed practice all week and is out for Week 18. Marcel Reece and Alex Collins will likely divvy up the passing-down role behind starter Thomas Rawls.

Packers RB Aaron Ripkowski (hamstring) took full practice reps all week.

Packers RB James Starks (concussion, out) missed practice all week and is out for Week 18. Starks remains out, so Ty Montgomery will continue to see most of the touches for the Packers. He has drawn 60% of the carries and 75% of the catches among the Packer running backs in the last four games.

Steelers RB DeAngelo Williams (not injury related) was removed from the injury report Friday. When both he and LeVeon Bell are healthy, Williams typically sees 10% of the touches, so it’s a slight downgrade for Bell.

Steelers WR Sammie Coates (hamstring) took full practice reps all week. Coates looks like a go, but he’s been marginalized over the last several weeks.

Packers WR Randall Cobb (ankle, questionable) took limited practice reps all week and is questionable for Week 18. Cobb may play but he’s not much of a fantasy option at this point. He has averaged just 32 yards receiving (and 0.28 TD) in his last seven games. Geronimo Allison has eight catches for 157 yards and a touchdown on 13 targets over the last two games. These two may split the team’s WR3 snaps on Sunday.

Raiders WR Amari Cooper (shoulder, questionable) took limited practice reps all week and is questionable for Week 18. Cooper should be fine to face the Texans, but it’s a tough matchup and he’s cleared 60 yards just once in the last eight games. He posted 4-57-1 on five targets in his Week 11 meeting with the Texans. The matchup, along with Connor Cook at QB, makes Cooper a dicey start this week.

Raiders WR Michael Crabtree (ankle, questionable) took limited practice reps all week and is questionable for Week 18. Crabtree should play through the finger injury, but it’s hard to get excited about the Raider passing game given the matchup and Connor Cook at quarterback. Crabtree had three catches for five yards when he last faced the Texans in Week 11.

Raiders WR Andre Holmes (shoulder, questionable) took limited practice reps all week and is questionable for Week 18.

Lions WR Andre Roberts (shoulder, questionable) took limited practice reps all week and is questionable for Week 18.

Giants TE Jerell Adams (shoulder) took limited practice reps all week.

Seahawks TE Jimmy Graham (not injury related) took full practice reps again Friday. No worries here.

Steelers TE Ladarius Green (concussion, questionable) missed practice Friday after taking full reps Thursday and is questionable for Week 18. He’s still in the concussion protocol, so it doesn’t look like Green will make his return this week. Eli Rogers has been one of the beneficiaries of Green’s absence; he has averaged 4.1 catches for 49 yards and 0.22 TD (on 5.8 targets) in the nine games in which Green was either sidelined or played less than 20% of the snaps. In the other four games, Rogers has averaged 2.8 catches for 37 yards and 0.25 TD (on 3.5 T/G). Jesse James has averaged a modest 2.9 catches for 25 yards and 0.25 (on 4.3 T/G) with Green out or very limited. The Dolphins have been poor against both receivers (#28 in WR aFPA) and tight ends (#32 in TE aFPA).

Texans TE Ryan Griffin (quadricep) took full practice reps all week.

Steelers TE Xavier Grimble (ribs) took full practice reps all week.

Texans K Nick Novak (shoulder) took full practice reps all week.