The Sports Xchange

Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota will miss his second straight game with a knee injury and Zach Mettenberger will start Sunday against the Houston Texans.

Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt confirmed Friday that Mariota will sit out, even though the rookie said his left knee has been feeling better.

Mariota returned to the practice field Wednesday for the first time since spraining the MCL in his left knee. He was limited in practice this week while wearing a knee brace.

“Marcus Mariota made a lot of progress this week, but we aren’t going to play him Sunday,” Whisenhunt said.

Mariota suffered the injury on a low and late hit by Miami Dolphins defensive end Olivier Vernon in the Week 6 loss. Vernon was fined $37,363 for two separate hits on Mariota during the game.

Mettenberger completed 22 of 35 passes for 187 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions last Sunday in the Atlanta Falcons’ 10-7 win over the Titans at Nissan Stadium.

—Miami Dolphins Pro Bowl defensive end Cameron Wake has been diagnosed with a torn Achilles and is out for the remainder of the season, the team confirmed Friday.

Wake, who recorded his seventh sack of the season in Thursday night’s 36-7 loss to the New England, was injured on a third-down play late in the third quarter. He was face down on the turf and received attention from the training staff before being helped off the field and carted to the locker room.

Wake was on crutches with a heavy wrap around his left foot after the game.

Wake, 33, has played for the Dolphins since 2009. He has 257 combined tackles and 70 sacks over the course of his career. He made the Pro Bowl in 2010 and again from 2012 to 2014.

—San Francisco 49ers running back Carlos Hyde will miss Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams due to a stress fracture in his right foot.

Hyde missed the entire week of practices and San Francisco decided to declare him as out on Friday afternoon.

The 49ers also listed receiver Anquan Bolding (hamstring) as questionable.

St. Louis will be without defensive end Chris Long due to a knee injury. Defensive end Robert Quinn (knee) is listed as questionable.

—Former Chicago Bears defensive lineman Jeremiah Ratliff expressed that he “felt like killing everybody” inside the Halas Hall team facility the day before he was cut by the team, according to a police report released Friday.

Ratliff referred to himself as “the devil” and also communicated that he wanted the children of team staff members to die, the Lake Forest (Ill.) police report said.

Ratliff was seen having an animated conversation with general manager Ryan Pace on Oct. 21 while the rest of the players were on the practice field. The exchange reportedly happened after the Bears had asked Ratliff to leave the facility because his frame of mind wasn’t conducive to working and practicing.

Ratliff left and later returned. According to the police report, he returned to pick up his belongings and said he “felt like killing everybody in the building.” He returned again later to pick up his cell phone, which is when he stated he was the devil and wanted staff members’ children to die.

The Bears cut the 34-year-old Ratliff the following day.

—Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon is leading a lawsuit against daily fantasy site FanDuel for using the names and likeness of NFL players without permission.

“FanDuel has taken the liberty to engage in these actions without my consent and without proper licensing rights,” Garcon said in a statement. “As a result of these activities, FanDuel daily fantasy contests have shown increasing revenues leading to large profits.”

The class-action lawsuit was filed in Maryland. Garcon has claimed misuse of players’ names and likenesses, exploiting them without proper licenses or permissions.

Top competitor DraftKings is not mentioned in the suit.

—Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine said quarterback Josh McCown will be a game-day decision to start Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.

McCown did not practice Wednesday but was able to throw later in the day. He worked with the team on a limited basis Thursday and Friday.

McCown suffered shoulder and rib injuries after taking a number of hits against the St. Louis Rams last Sunday.

Johnny Manziel, who met with NFL investigators after practice Wednesday regarding his role in the Oct. 12 incident with his girlfriend in Avon, Ohio, will remain the backup quarterback.

The Browns ruled out wide receiver Andrew Hawkins (concussion), safety Jordan Poyer (shoulder) and tight end Rob Housler (hamstring).

—New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul met with the media for the first time since his fireworks accident and showed off his mangled right hand.

Pierre-Paul didn’t offer many details about the Fourth of July accident or his decision to rehab in Florida away from the team before signing with the Giants on Tuesday.

Pierre-Paul said he is fortunate to be alive and that he will still be the “same JPP.”

“It wasn’t frightening at all,” Pierre-Paul told reporters Friday after having his right index finger amputated from the accident. “I am not going to go into detail with it. It is something I do every year for the kids. … It just happened. I did it for six, seven years. I live and learn from it and moved on.”

Pierre-Paul won’t travel with the team to New Orleans to face the Saints on Sunday. He began a two-week roster exemption which will allow him to practice with the team while not counting against the 53-man roster.

“I don’t want to be a distraction to my teammates,” Pierre-Paul said while he was rubbing his hand throughout the 12-minute interview.

—The Tampa Bay Buccaneers officially listed wide receiver Vincent Jackson as doubtful for Sunday’s game at the Atlanta Falcons with a knee injury that is expected to sideline him multiple weeks.

The Bucs will be down two of their top three wideouts after Louis Murphy was placed on season-ending injured reserve earlier this week with a torn ACL suffered during last week’s loss at the Washington Redskins.

The Bucs also listed defensive tackle Clinton McDonald (pectoral), tight-end Austin Seferian-Jenkins (shoulder) and safety Major Wright (hamstring) as doubtful, while defensive tackle Tony McDaniel (groin) and offensive tackle Reid Fragel (concussion) have been ruled out.

—The Atlanta Falcons ruled out wide receiver Leonard Hankerson (hamstring) and safety William Moore (groin) for Sunday’s game.

Both players were injured in the Falcons’ 10-7 victory over the Tennessee Titans last Sunday. The Falcons will used Eric Weems and Justin Hardy as the backup wide receivers.

Wide receiver Nick Williams is listed as questionable after not participating in practice Thursday.

—New York Jets center Nick Mangold refuses to miss his fourth game in 10 years as a starter despite a neck injury.

Mangold said he would have to be “bleeding out” to miss Sunday’s game at Oakland, where the Jets are trying to avoid a two-game losing streak. The Jets lost in Week 7 at New England.

Mangold was hurt when he was hit while engaged as a blocker and the injury required x-rays. The decision to play will not be left to Mangold.

“I feel like unless I’m laying there bleeding out, I’ll be able to play,” Mangold said Thursday. “If things happen and I can’t play, I’ll deal with that at that time. Right now, I’m planning on playing.”