Packers' Randall practices, Rollins in concussion protocol

Green Bay's Quinten Rollins has been placed in the concussion protocol following his scary injury in the win last week over Detroit, while fellow Packers cornerback Damarious Randall practiced Wednesday.

Randall's status provided a bit of good news for the team's battered secondary ahead of the NFC playoff game on Sunday against the New York Giants and their talented receiving corps.

Rollins was carted off with a neck injury in the second half against the Lions after tumbling out of bounds on the sideline. Randall, who already was bothered by a shoulder injury, hurt his knee in the game.

Coach Mike McCarthy said the Packers have brought up cornerback Herb Waters from the practice squad. The former receiver changed positions at the start of the season.

The Packers planned to place backup cornerback Makinton Dorleant on injured reserve to make room for Waters. Dorleant hurt his knee in the Lions game.

Running short on cornerbacks, Green Bay had to use safety and slot cornerback Micah Hyde on the outside late in the game against Detroit, with another safety, Morgan Burnett, covering receivers in the slot.

"Hopefully, we'll be better than where we were last week," McCarthy said before practice about the depth at cornerback.

Green Bay also has been without top cornerback Sam Shields since the season opener because of a concussion. After Randall and Rollins, the only healthy cornerback out of the top four on the depth chart at the start of the season is Ladarius Gunter, who has started 15 games.

Raiders to start Cook at QB

For the first 15 games of the season, rookie Connor Cook was inactive each week, making his biggest contribution as a scout team quarterback who would sometimes dress up like Cam Newton or Philip Rivers before Oakland faced those stars to lighten the mood at practice.

Now with the Raiders set to play their first playoff game in 14 years, Cook has been thrust into a much more significant role. He will become the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to make his first career start in a playoff game when Oakland (12-4) visits Houston (9-7) on Saturday in a wild-card matchup.

"I'm just embracing the opportunity," Cook said Wednesday. "I'm going to go out there and have fun, let it all hang out and obviously prepare my butt off and do what I've been doing all year long and go out there and have fun with my teammates."

Cook moved up to the backup spot last week after starter Derek Carr broke his right leg in the second-to-last game of the regular season. He then got his first real action last Sunday in Denver after Matt McGloin was knocked out with a left shoulder injury.

With Carr still sidelined and McGloin slowed by the injury, coach Jack Del Rio called the decision to turn to Cook an easy one.

"We just want him to be himself and do what he can do," Del Rio said. "He played pretty well when he went in and Matt's hurt. We're hoping to get Matt healthy enough to be in a backup role. Right now, that remains in question."

49ers interview Lynn for coaching job

The San Francisco 49ers interviewed Buffalo Bills interim coach Anthony Lynn on Wednesday for their head coach opening.

Lynn is the first candidate to interview with the Niners as they begin the process of finding the replacement for Chip Kelly, who was fired after one season on Sunday. San Francisco also fired general manager Trent Baalke and is looking to fill that spot as well.

CEO Jed York said earlier in the week that he was open to hiring the head coach or the general manager first and that the key issue was finding two people who can work closely together in those roles.

Lynn is also considered the front-runner for the job in Buffalo. A person with direct knowledge of the Bills coaching search told The Associated Press that the team is scheduled to interview Lynn on Thursday. The person spoke to the AP on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity because the team has not revealed its interview schedule. The Bills do announce who they're interviewing once the meeting is taking place.

Dolphins QB Tannehill unlikely to play

Ryan Tannehill stood on the practice field Wednesday wearing a cap, T-shirt and knee brace, idly spinning a ball in his hands as he watched teammate Matt Moore throw.

That's how Tannehill is preparing for the Miami Dolphins' playoff game Sunday at Pittsburgh , where he will also likely be a spectator.

The Dolphins' No. 1 quarterback sat out practice Wednesday, making it unlikely he'll return from a sprained left knee for the team's first postseason game since 2008.

"We may run out of time this week," coach Adam Gase said.

Tannehill has missed the past three games. Veteran Matt Moore, who is 2-1 as Tannehill's replacement, will make his first career postseason start "unless something changes drastically here in the next two days or three days," Gase said.

However, Gase said Tannehill's knee improves a little every day, and it's still possible Tannehill will practice this week. One workout — even Friday — might be enough to clear him for the game, Gase said.

The coach said he needs to see Tannehill in both individual and team drills to assess his mobility before deciding he's ready to play. It would be difficult to start Tannehill against the Steelers if he doesn't practice, Gase said.

"To throw him back there and say, 'Don't move, and if anybody gets close to you, go down,' that's not really an option for us," Gase said. "It's not his style of football. We have to make sure that we feel comfortable with the way that he's moving around. ... I don't want to jeopardize his career or next season by putting him in a position to where he can't defend himself."