ALAMEDA, Calif. — Oakland Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper has been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.

Cooper suffered a concussion and sprained left ankle after being hit by Denver safety Darian Stewart in the first half of last week’s 21-14 win over the Broncos. Cooper had to be helped off the field and he limped out of the Raiders locker room after the game. He was eventually put into the NFL’s concussion protocol.

Oakland coach Jack Del Rio declined to say whether Cooper was still in the concussion protocol or if it was the sprained ankle that is the bigger issue. Cooper walked through the locker room Friday without a limp or his walking boot and was in good spirits but did not speak to reporters.

While the Raiders offense will be without one of its key players, the defensive secondary is hopeful of getting starting cornerback David Amerson back.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady expressed sympathy for New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning being removed from his starting spot as part of the team’s plan to evaluate other options.

“I have nothing but the most respect for him and everything he’s achieved and accomplished in his career,” Brady said in an interview with Westwood One Radio that will air before Thursday night’s game between the Cowboys and Redskins.

“Obviously, being on the other side of two of those Super Bowl losses to an Eli Manning-led team, I just have so much respect for his dependability, for his consistency, for his toughness. You know that’s really everything you want in an NFL player, and I think Eli has always provided that for the team. So I think it’s a pretty unfortunate situation.”

Asked how players across the NFL react when they hear news like this about Manning, Brady told host Jim Gray: “I think there’s always these types of situations. As a fan growing up, I mean, to see Joe Montana playing in another uniform, and again, to see Jerry Rice or Ronnie Lott [in another uniform], you know guys that I really looked up to and admired, there’s not many happy endings in sports, and you know that’s just the way it is.

“You always wish for everything to go like a fairy tale, but it doesn’t. Michael Jordan played for the Washington Wizards. I mean, who would have ever believed that? And that’s just pro sports.

The Giants (2-9) gave Manning the option to start the first half of their remaining games in order to keep his consecutive-games streak alive, but the QB didn’t want to go that route, in part because of the belief it would tarnish his 210-game streak.

In the interview with Westwood One, Brady was read a list of some of the quarterbacks now starting in the NFL and was asked if the league has a problem at the position.

“That’s a great question, and I would say not many people really knew who I was either when I started. A lot of these young players are trying to develop and grow. They may not be household names like myself or Aaron Rodgers or [Drew] Brees, but we’ve been around for a long time. So it takes time to develop at this position. I certainly wasn’t the player 17 years ago that I am today, but it’s taken a lot of practices and a lot of reps in order to develop. And that’s usually what it takes most quarterbacks: many years to master their craft.”

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Clay Matthews’ groin injury, which kept him out of last Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh, afforded him the opportunity to spend more time around Aaron Rodgers.

And not just for another State Farm commercial.

The Green Bay Packers linebacker got an up-close look at the quarterback’s rehab from his broken collarbone and came away with this revelation: “I think we probably should have kept him off IR.”

That doesn’t mean Rodgers’ collarbone would be healed in time for him to play any earlier than Week 15 at Carolina — the earliest game he could play in, based on the injured reserve rules that state a player must sit out at least eight games before a team uses one of its two designated-to-return spots.

“The way he’s coming along, some of the balls he’s throwing, accuracy-wise, everything a quarterback has to do is pretty remarkable,” Matthews added.

Rodgers, who on Sunday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh threw in public for the first time since he broke his right clavicle on Oct. 15, could return to practice by the end of this week. But the Packers have not made an announcement about whether that will happen. The earliest he could practice would be Friday — six weeks from the date he went on IR — but the Packers don’t practice on Fridays, so any return wouldn’t happen until Saturday.

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Denver Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib and Oakland Raiders wide receiver Michael Crabtree each had their two-game suspensions reduced to one game, two days after they were ejected for fighting, the league announced.

Both players had their appeals heard Tuesday. James Thrash was the appeals officer for Talib, and Derrick Brooks was the appeals officer for Crabtree.

Denver president and general manager John Elway and head coach Vance Joseph took part in the appeal hearing for Talib.

“From our point of view, we thought Crabtree was the aggressor,” Elway said on Orange & Blue 760. “He was the one that started it. Obviously it’s not something we want in the game, and I understand it from the league’s perspective that they don’t want it in the league, but I just thought that for Aqib and for our team, I thought [he] did a pretty good job of handling the situation that really could have gotten way out of control. Even though it was a little bit out of control, it could have been a lot worse with the way things went about and Crabtree’s mentality.”

In his letter to Talib on Monday, NFL vice president of operations Jon Runyan referenced Talib ripping a chain off Crabtree’s neck, “aggressively” removing Crabtree’s helmet and throwing a punch, as well as the two players “reigniting” the fight for a second confrontation. Runyan added “such actions have no place in this game, engender ill will between teams, and lead to further confrontations.”

In his letter to Crabtree, Runyan cited the wide receiver for punching Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. in the stomach on the play that preceded the fight with Talib and said Crabtree’s actions with Talib “triggered a melee and endangered various sideline and League personnel, including one of the Game Officials who was injured trying to maintain control of the situation.”

Talib, Crabtree and Raiders guard Gabe Jackson were ejected with 11 minutes, 47 seconds left in the first quarter. Talib and Crabtree were ejected for fighting, and Jackson was ejected for making contact with an official.