NFC Notes: Buccaneers, Falcons, Giants

Buccaneers

• According to Rick Stroud, the Buccaneers will be without RB Leonard Fournette against the Browns on Sunday as he is still dealing with soreness from a hip pointer. The team will start RB Rachaad White in his place and has activated RB Giovani Bernard.

Falcons

Falcons QB Marcus Mariota spoke with reporters about who is going to help replace TE Kyle Pitts for the team on offense.

“You talk about earlier in the year with a guy like CP [Cordarrelle Patterson], you had to fill that role with a few other guys. It’s kind of a similar situation with Kyle,” Mariota said, via Pro Football Talk. “He turned into one of our better blocking tight ends, he’s such a force in the passing game, so to fill that void you got to have a couple of guys step up and we got a great tight end group, and I think we’re more than capable of doing that.”

• Falcons HC Arthur Smith on the team’s decision to release WR Bryan Edwards: “It’s a tough business. Obviously, it’s a production business. It’s never easy. We can’t keep everybody and we have to be fair and consistent.” (Josh Kendall)

Giants

Giants owner John Mara seems to be willing to let the players decide on what happens with the field in the team’s next stadium.

“The next field in the stadium is the subject of ongoing discussion between the Jets, the stadium, and us,” the team said in a statement, via New York Daily News. “John has heard from the players and other experts about playing surfaces as part of his roles on the player safety and health committee, competition committee and management council. He expects to have conversations with our players as we move along in the process of selecting a new field.”