NFL notebook: Raiders RB Lynch (groin) might miss a month

Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch will be out for at least a month because of a groin injury sustained in last Sunday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks in London, a team source confirmed Friday. Coach Jon Gruden told reporters on Tuesday that Lynch was injured and more information was being gathered, but on Friday a Raiders source confirmed that the results of an MRI confirmed the worst fears. Media reports indicated that Lynch, a native of Oakland who is popular among Raiders fans for his never-give-up running style, might be placed on the Injured Reserve List. If the 32-year-old Lynch goes on injured reserve, he might have played his last down for the Raiders, at least this season. Only two players are allowed to come off injured reserve in a season and the current candidates probably would be defensive tackle Justin Ellis and offensive tackle Donald Penn. Lynch leads the Raiders with 376 yards rushing through five games and is averaging 4.2 yards per carry with three touchdowns. Unless the Raiders make a trade, backup Doug Martin would seem likely to replace Lynch in the starting lineup, with Jalen Richard also expected to get more playing time. The Raiders have stumbled to a 1-5 start, at least in part due to injuries, especially along the offensive line, where Penn (groin), guard Kelechi Osemele (knee), Kolton Miller (knee), guard Gabe Jackson (pectoral muscle) and guard Jon Feliciano (rib) have been ailing. All but Miller have missed playing time. Oakland has a bye this week before hosting the Indianapolis Colts a week from Sunday. --With running back Leonard Fournette set to miss his third straight game on Sunday because of a hamstring injury, the Jacksonville Jaguars acquired running back Carlos Hyde from the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a fifth-round draft choice in 2019. The 6-foot, 229-pound Hyde signed with the Browns during the offseason as an unrestricted free agent and was leading the team with 382 rushing yards and five touchdowns while adding six receptions for 29 yards. The 28-year-old Hyde was selected out of Ohio State in the second round (No. 57 overall) of the 2014 draft by the San Francisco 49ers and spent his first three NFL seasons there before signing with the Browns. For his NFL career, Hyde has rushed 665 times for 2,731 yards (a 4.2-yard average) and 21 touchdowns, in addition to catching 109 passes for 634 yards and three more scores. --Running back Melvin Gordon of the Los Angeles Chargers was limited in practice Friday because of a hamstring injury, according to Melissa Stark of NFL Media. However, the Chargers (4-2) claim Gordon is not injured as the team prepares for Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans (3-3) at Wembley Stadium in London. "You know, I think it was just dehydration to be honest with you," Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said, adding that Gordon apparently did not take in enough fluids on the long plane ride to the United Kingdom. "An eight-hour plane ride. He didn't drink enough water. So just playing the safe side today, and just kept him out of practice." Gordon has rushed 91 times for 466 yards, a 5.1-yard average, and six touchdowns in six games this season, in addition to catching 30 passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns. --Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook will miss his third consecutive game because of a hamstring injury, coach Mike Zimmer told reporters Friday, as he will sit out Sunday's game at the New York Jets. There were expectations that Cook would return to the lineup after he went through a full practice on Wednesday, but he left practice early on Thursday and Friday. Latavius Murray will start against the Jets. He erupted for a season-high 155 yards and scored a touchdown in last week's 27-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Cook injured the hamstring in overtime against Green Bay on Sept. 16. He missed one game before returning against the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 27. He ran for just 20 yards on 10 carries against Los Angeles and has not played since. --Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette will miss his third straight game Sunday against the Houston Texans. Fournette was ruled out of the AFC South matchup because of a hamstring injury that has limited him to parts of two games this season. He was hurt in the season opener against the New York Giants and aggravated the injury in Week 4 against the New York Jets. The Jaguars did get some good news on the injury front when running back T.J. Yeldon was removed from the injury report on Friday. Yeldon sat out Wednesday's practice and was limited Thursday by ankle and foot injuries. He will make his third start in a row for the Jaguars. Although he was limited to 41 yards on eight carries in last week's 40-7 drubbing in Dallas, Yeldon has rushed for 299 yards and a touchdown and has 25 catches for 223 yards and three scores. --The Arizona Cardinals fired offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, the team announced. The move came hours after the Cardinals were bludgeoned 45-10 at home by the Denver Broncos on Thursday night to fall to 1-6. First-year head coach Steve Wilks told reporters after the loss that it was "premature" to talk about making any changes, but another listless offensive performance prompted the move to dismiss McCoy. Cardinals quarterbacks coach Byron Leftwich will replace McCoy, according to the team. Leftwich also will call plays, the Arizona Republic reported, citing a source. McCoy, who was fired by the Broncos last season after a six-game losing streak, watched his former team limit Arizona to 223 yards of total offense. --Los Angeles Chargers kicker Caleb Sturgis was among three players listed as questionable for Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans. Sturgis, who missed last week's game at Cleveland, practiced fully Friday after he was limited the previous two days due to a strained quadriceps. Wide receiver Travis Benjamin, who missed the past two games with a foot injury, also was a full participant in Friday's practice. Benjamin has been limited to two catches in two games. Linebacker Jatavis Brown was listed as questionable despite practicing fully all week. He sat out against the Browns due to a groin injury. Rookie Michael Badgley, who was signed last week to take the place of Sturgis, could receive a second straight start after nailed his only field goal attempt -- from 44 yards -- and converted all five extra points in a 38-14 win over the Browns. --Jameis Winston was unable to guide the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory in his first start of the season. A late comeback directed by Winston fell short in last weekend's 34-29 loss at Atlanta, but that's just part of the reason for the fourth-year quarterback's motivation for Sunday's matchup against the visiting Cleveland Browns. Winston will be playing in front of the home fans at Raymond James Stadium for the first time since the 2017 regular-season finale. "I'm psyched to get back out there in Ray Jay," Winston said. "It's been a long time for me being in Ray Jay. We've got to bring home a win for them. Last time we were there it was Monday Night Football, and since then it's been like a month since we've been as a team in Ray Jay. It's definitely going to be exciting to be out there and get that whole atmosphere with the fans." The Buccaneers (2-3) need every edge they can get. They have lost three in a row after a 2-0 start to the season and played their last two on the road -- sandwiched around their bye week. --If NFL owners have an issue with revenue projections for when the Chargers join the Rams in the new Los Angeles-area stadium in 2020, they have only themselves to blame. A lot of barbs have been tossed in the Chargers' direction this week after reports surfaced from the league's fall meeting in New York that owners are concerned about the team's presence in Los Angeles. The complaints from some owners are based solely on money after the team unveiled its reasonable pricing structure for SSLs (stadium seat licenses) and "general seating" (about 70 percent of capacity). Ticket revenues go into a pool that is shared by all teams. Chargers president of business operations A.G. Spanos said, "We're excited that every seat inside the new stadium is finally on sale. Each decision throughout this process has been made with the fan in mind, and we think the pricing announced today reflects this fact. "When you look at the pricing levels for general seating, you can confidently say there is a season-ticket opportunity for just about everyone. I think this model also reflects our view that it's not just about pricing for one person. A family of four should be able to buy season tickets for the entire family and not need a second mortgage to do so." One criticism leveled at the club was that it was hypocritical to have low prices when tickets at the 27,000-seat StubHub Center, where they play now, is the highest average in the league.