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News and notes

Philadelphia Eagles: The NFL says Terrell Suggs’ hit on Sam Bradford’s knees on Saturday night wasn’t illegal and shouldn’t have been a penalty. Chip Kelly disagrees. Suggs was called for roughing the passer after a low hit on Bradford in the first quarter of Philadelphia’s 40-17 win over Baltimore. He argued the quarterback is fair game on zone-read plays. Dean Blandino, the league’s vice president of officiating, agreed. “Because the quarterback has an option, he’s considered a runner until he either clearly doesn’t have the football or he re-establishes himself as a passer,” Blandino said Monday. “So it’s not a foul by rule. It’s something that we’ll make sure that we cover with our game officials because the defensive end coming off the edge, he doesn’t know if the quarterback is going to keep it, he doesn’t know if he’s going to take off and run or drop back and so we treat the quarterback in that instance as a runner until he clearly re-establishes as a passer or he clearly doesn’t have the football. The referee felt it was late so we’ll clarify that and make sure everyone is on the same page.” But Kelly said the play was a simple handoff out of a shotgun formation. Replays show Bradford didn’t attempt to carry out a fake. “That’s not a zone-read play. On a zone-read play, a quarterback can get hit,” Kelly said. “Not every shotgun run is a zone-read play. We don’t run as much zone-read as everybody thinks we do. Are they going to hit every quarterback in the league when they hand off in a shotgun? “That’s up to the league. Sam wasn’t going anywhere. If you watched him, he was handing the ball off. If our quarterback hands the ball off and isn’t going anywhere, you shouldn’t be able to hit him. That’s the way the rule has been explained to us.”

Houston Texans: Now that he’s been named Houston’s starting quarterback Brian Hoyer knows he’ll have to continue to perform to keep that job. Hoyer had been competing with Ryan Mallett for the job. Coach Bill O’Brien announced the decision before practice on Monday. “The whole competition pushed us to be better,” Hoyer said. “We competed very hard and I know that just because I’m named the starter today doesn’t mean if we go out there and lose a bunch of games that I’m going to still be the starter. You have to go out and earn it every day in this league.” Hoyer started 13 games for the Cleveland Browns last season before signing with the Texans in the offseason. “I thought that Brian showed me the most consistency, the most composure in certain situations, the experience in our system, all those different things that go into the fact that I think he’s ready to be our starter,” O’Brien said. Some have questioned whether either of these quarterbacks are the long-term solution for this team. On Monday he addressed that question without being asked about it. “We all need to give Brian Hoyer a chance,” O’Brien said. “He’s got an opportunity here. He’s got an opportunity to go in there as a starter and make the most of his opportunity ... I believe in him. I believe in his ability to run our offense efficiently. I believe in his experience in our offense. I think he’s shown in the past that he can be a successful starting quarterback.”

Green Bay Packers: The Packers’ worst fears about the severity of receiver Jordy Nelson’s knee injury have come true. The team said Monday only that the star receiver suffered a “significant right knee injury” that would cost him the season. Nelson, one of the top targets for NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, was injured Sunday in a preseason game at Pittsburgh. “It’s difficult to lose a guy like that in a meaningless game,” Rodgers said after the 24-19 loss to the Steelers. Coach Mike McCarthy was hoping for better results from more tests on Nelson’s knee in Green Bay on the team’s’ off day on Monday. But Rodgers’ somber tone after the game foreshadowed the bad news for one of the league’s best offenses. The Packers, one of the top contenders in the NFC, will be without a playmaker who set career highs in receptions (98) and yards receiving (1,519) in 2014.

Associated Press