NFL Notes: Bills, Broncos, Cowboys & Patriots

Bills

• The Bills activated OLB Manny Lawson from the non-football injury list on Tuesday.

Broncos

Broncos HC Gary Kubiak made it clear that RB Ronnie Hillman is battling for a job, and will need to prove his worth both on offense and special teams.

“Ronnie is in a battle, a helluva battle with Kapri and Book right now,” Kubiak said, via ESPN.com. “There’s no way around that. I’m just being honest with you. Special teams are going to be real important. Ronnie is going to play a lot this week, and he’s going to have to play some special teams, so it’s a very competitive situation right now.”

Cowboys

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that he was really impressed with Dak Prescott’s performance last week, and they aren’t looking to bring in a veteran quarterback.

“He is a long way from Canton, a long way from Canton,” Jones said, via the Star-Telegram. “But it was certainly a great start. It was just good to see the coaching staff and everybody get behind the promise of what he might be able to be as a player. Certainly the way he and [Jameill] Showers played, I wouldn’t consider a backup quarterback situation at all. I wouldn’t want to, by any way, deter the progress and the excitement that he can bring to the building of the team and the future.”

• Todd Archer reports that Cowboys TE James Hanna will have surgery on his injured knee and could be placed on the team’s reserve/PUP list to open the season.
• According to Archer, rookie WR Chris Brown suffered a broken foot in Monday’s practice that will require surgery.

Patriots

• Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski, who left practice early, did not suffer a major injury and there are “no worries” about him moving forward.