Rookie QB’s Set To Start Season Openers – NFL Roundup For Sept. 5th

UNDATED (AP) — The Jets are going with rookie Geno Smith at quarterback for the season opener with Tampa Bay on Sunday. The move was expected after veteran Mark Sanchez went down with a right shoulder injury in an exhibition game against the Giants on Aug. 24.

The Buffalo Bills are also going with a first year quarterback, giving first-round draft pick EJ Manuel the start against New England Sunday. Manuel has been recovering from a left knee injury sustained in a 20-16 preseason win over Minnesota on Aug. 16. He missed two weeks before returning to practice on Sunday.

In other NFL news;

— Cornerback Champ Bailey won't play in the Denver Broncos' opener against Baltimore tonight because of a sprained left foot. He hasn't practiced since getting hurt in a preseason game at Seattle on Aug. 17. Denver will start Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in Bailey's place.

— Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley says quarterback Blaine Gabbert's availability for Sunday's season opener against Kansas City could be undetermined until game day. Gabbert broke his thumb during the Jags' second preseason game and was still limited in practice on Wednesday.

— Texans linebacker Brian Cushing has signed a six-year, $55.6 million contract extension. The deal includes $21 million guaranteed. The 2009 Defensive Rookie of the Year was in the last year of a deal he signed in his first season.

— The Detroit Lions have acknowledged that rookie defensive lineman Ziggy Ansah is recovering from a concussion. The No. 5 overall pick in the draft was believed to have hurt his head after colliding with a teammate in practice Aug. 24.

— San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith and former Niners tight end Delanie Walker have been named in a lawsuit by a Northern California man who said he was shot during a party at Smith's house. The suit claims that Smith and Walker fired weapons illegally during a party at Smith's San Jose home on June 29, 2012.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York's Oneida Indian Nation says it is launching a radio ad campaign pressing for the Washington Redskins to get rid of a nickname the tribe considers to be a racial slur.

The first ad is set to run on radio stations in Washington before the team hosts the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night. In it, Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter says NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should "stand up to bigotry."

The ads launch as the Washington Redskins this year face a fresh barrage of criticism over their nickname. Team owner Dan Snyder has vowed to never change the name.

An NFL spokesman says the name is used in a respectful manner and the league respects "that reasonable people may have differing views."

UNDATED (AP) — The NFL, Under Armour and GE have together issued a challenge for new engineering to help protect athletes from brain injury.

The group said Wednesday that it would award up to $10 million for new innovation and materials that could protect the brain from traumatic injury, as well as new tools for tracking head impacts in real time. It is the second of such challenges from the trio.

The move comes as the issue of concussions in football has taken center stage.

Meanwhile, three former college football players are suing the NCAA, saying it failed to educate them about the risks of concussions and did not do enough to prevent, diagnose and treat brain injuries. Chris Walker and Ben Martin, who played for Tennessee from 2007-2011, and Dan Ahern, who played for North Carolina State from 1972-76, filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Chattanooga, Tenn.