NFL Notes

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick will start Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick will start Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills.

49ERS

Kaepernick to start

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Colin Kaepernick will start at quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers this week against the Buffalo Bills.

Coach Chip Kelly announced the decision Tuesday to bench Blaine Gabbert and give back the job Kaepernick lost midway through last season. Kaepernick has only played briefly in the opener but has generated attention with his refusal to stand for the national anthem.

"We were very analytical and sat down as a staff and watched tape and went over everything," Kelly said. "We've had a couple days to digest everything where we are. I think offensively, we just need to be better and we just need to make a move."

Gabbert has struggled this season for San Francisco (1-4). He is last in the NFL in yards per attempt (5.9) and has the second-worst passer rating (69.6) in the league.

Kelly said Kaepernick's ongoing protest had no bearing on his decision.

After leading the Niners to the Super Bowl following the 2012 season and the NFC title game the following year, Kaepernick has struggled. He lost his job to Gabbert midway through last season and then had three operations that limited his work in the offseason.

EAGLES

Suspension official

Lane Johnson's 10-game suspension finally became official Tuesday, when the NFL upheld the penalty for the tackle's second violation of the league's performance-enhancing drug policy. The suspension came two months after news first broke of the potential suspension, and one week after Johnson's appeal was heard by an arbitrator.

Johnson is eligible to return Monday, Dec. 19, and can play the final two games of the regular season for the Eagles: Dec. 22 against the New York Giants and Jan. 1 against the Dallas Cowboys.

In a statement, Eagles executive Howie Roseman said the team is "very disappointed" in Johnson's suspension.

Johnson said during the summer that he purchased basic amino acids online, confirmed the ingredients with a smartphone application offered by the NFL Players Association, and believed it was an approved supplement. The supplement apparently contained a banned peptide, leaving Johnson with his second suspension.

The NFLPA said that it does not approve any supplements or substances and that players are "constantly reminded" that a supplement provider may not list all ingredients. Johnson was also suspended four games in 2014 for a different substance.

VIKINGS

Long a natural fit

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Jake Long was just waiting for that call from an NFL team, confident his right knee was healthy again and thus frustrated to be out of action.

The Minnesota Vikings, with both a former coach and quarterback of Long's as a bonus, finally checked in on the other end of the line.

"I know the type of player that I am, and I've still got a lot of football left," Long said Tuesday after his first practice with the team, taking most of his turns at left tackle. "It was frustrating, but like I said, I kept my head down, rehabbed, worked out every single day and knew a call would come eventually, and it finally did."

The Vikings badly needed some help, and Long, 31, was a natural fit as a four-time Pro Bowl pick and All-Pro selection in 2010. The first overall pick in the 2008 draft out of Michigan, Long played his first five NFL seasons for Miami. The first four were under coach Tony Sparano, who is now offensive line coach in Minnesota. Then Long signed with St. Louis, where he spent two years with quarterback Sam Bradford, who's now running the offense for the Vikings.

COWBOYS

Romo returns Nov. 6?

It has long been speculated that the target date for Tony Romo's return from the fractured bone in his back was the Oct. 30 match-up against the Philadelphia Eagles following the next week's bye.

That put it right at the eight-to-nine week scenario from the original injury date of Aug. 25.

Still, the date has always been a moving target and its now looking more like the Nov. 6 game against the Cleveland Browns, per a source.

Again nothing has been set in stone.

But while the healing of the bone is on schedule and he has had no setbacks, the sensational play of rookie quarterback Dak Prescott has afforded the Cowboys the opportunity to kick the can down the road a bit on Romo's return and the pending quarterback decision, especially if they get a victory at the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

Given that Coach Jason Garrett acknowledged that Romo won't start working back into any team-related drills until during the next week at the earliest, he would be hard pressed to be ready for game action just one week later. Romo has been idle for two months with no real intense rehab, conditioning or throwing.

That will be ratcheted up this week.

Sports on 10/12/2016

Upcoming Events