National Football League roundup

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[October 24, 2015]   Oct 23 (The Sports Xchange) - Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was listed as questionable on Friday's injury report as his status for Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs remains unresolved.

Roethlisberger has missed the past three games after spraining the MCL in his right knee and it appears the plan is to avoid playing him if possible. Third-year quarterback Landry Jones took all the first-team practice repetitions on Friday.

The Steelers have been preparing Jones to start all week after he replaced injured Michael Vick (hamstring) in last Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals and passed for 168 yards and two touchdowns.

Vick has been ruled out for Sunday's game, leaving Jones and Roethlisberger as Pittsburgh's only available quarterbacks on the active roster.

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Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota has been ruled out for Sunday's home game against the Atlanta Falcons due to a sprained left knee.
 


Head coach Ken Whisenhunt declared Mariota out after the rookie missed his third day of practice this week for the 1-4 Titans, who have lost four games in a row and eight consecutive at home.

Backup Zach Mettenberger will be starting in place of Mariota, who sustained the injury in the first half of the Titans' 38-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins last Sunday.

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Dolphins defensive end Olivier Vernon has been fined $37,363 for two separate hits on Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota last week.

The NFL confirmed to Pro Football Talk on Friday that Vernon was fined for two roughing-the-passer infractions.

The NFL fined Vernon $17,363 for striking Mariota in the knee area in the second quarter of Sunday's 38-10 win over the Titans, and $20,000 for striking Mariota in the head and neck area in the third quarter. Vernon said he will appeal the fines.

Mariota was injured on the first hit by Vernon.

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The San Francisco 49ers placed safety Antoine Bethea on the injured reverse list and activated receiver Jerome Simpson to the roster.

Bethea suffered a serious shoulder injury in Thursday night's game against the Seattle Seahawks. The 10-year veteran was injured while making a tackle attempt on Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin.

Simpson is available to play for the first time this season after serving a six-game suspension for a violation of the league's substance-abuse policy. He has not played in an NFL game since 2013.

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Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley addressed wide receiver Percy Harvin's absence from the team this week in London.

Whaley said the Bills have not been in contact with Harvin in recent days but will reach out to him when the team returns following Sunday's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"It's still a personal reason that he's out and we'll address it as soon as we get more answers on it," Whaley said. "We knew the situation and what was going on with him.

"We found out early last week that he needed to take some time for personal reasons. We're going to focus this week on this game and when we get back we'll reach out to him and see where he is."

Harvin did not travel with the team because of what coach Rex Ryan described as a personal issue on Wednesday.

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The Bills signed kickoff specialist Jordan Gay to their 53-man roster in time for Sunday's game against the Jaguars.

Gay was cut just three weeks ago after Buffalo signed veteran kicker Bill Cundiff, who handled kickoffs for the Week 5 game at Tennessee.

Cundiff was released last week and placekicker Dan Carpenter pulled double duty handling kickoffs and field goals. The Bills released safety Josh Bush to make room for Gay.

- - - (Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)

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