Broncos to start Rypien at QB
The Broncos named third-string er Brett Rypien their starting quarterback for Thursday night’s game against the Jets.
The nephew of former Washington QB Mark Rypien will make his first career start after taking over for Jeff Driskel on the final drive of a 28-10 loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday.
Rypien completed his first eight passes for 53 yards before throwing an interception in the end zone.
Driskel had started in place of injured No. 1 QB Drew Lock.
The Broncos also signed former Jaguars starter Blake Bortles last week.
The Broncos and Jets both are 0-3.
■ The Texans don’t plan to sign free agent S Earl Thomas after meeting with the 31-year-old three-time AllPro and conducting a physical, ESPN reported. ... The Chargers placed former All-Pro CB Chris Harris Jr. on IR with a foot injury. There’s no timetable yet for his return, but he will miss at least three games. ... The Eagles placed TE Dallas Goedert on IR with a small fracture in his ankle, ESPN reported. Goedert will miss at least three games.
Autoracing: Hendrick Motorsports will promote crew chief Chad Knaus to VP of competition at the end of the NASCAR Cup playoffs. Knaus, who guided Jimmie Johnson to a recordtying seven Cup championships, will oversee the technical development of Hendrick’s entire Chevrolet stable of race cars and lead the implementation of the “Next Gen” car set to debut in 2022. Knaus will also oversee all crew chiefs, pit crews, engineering, fabrication, assembly and other team-related staff. Hendrick split Knaus and Johnson at the end of 2018 and Knaus has spent the last two years as crew chief for William Byron and the No. 24 team.
College football: South Alabama postponed Saturday’s scheduled home game against Troy after pausing its workouts because of COVID-19 issues. South Alabama, which also paused football activities in July to do an additional round of COVID-19 testing, said the latest pause will be temporary. This is the second postponement for Troy, which had its season opener against Louisiana-Monroe moved to Dec. 5 because of COVID-19 issues with ULM.
Soccer: Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara has tested positive for the coronavirus. The 29-year-old Alcantara, who joined the Premier League champions fromBayern Munich this month, will nowself-isolate for at least 10 days as required by authorities. The Spaniard made his Liverpool debut in a 2-0 Premier League win at Chelsea but missed Monday’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal. The Premier League announced Monday that 10 people had contracted COVID-19 after 1,595 players and club staff members were tested in the seven days through Sunday. Three of those cases came at West Ham, including manager David Moyes.