ALAMEDA, Calif. — For the first 15 games of the season, rookie Connor Cook was inactive each week, making his biggest contribution as a scout team quarterback who would sometimes dress up like Cam Newton or Philip Rivers before Oakland faced those stars to lighten the mood at practice.

Now with the Raiders set to compete in their first playoff game in 14 years, Cook has been thrust into a much more significant role. He will become the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to make his first career start in a playoff game when Oakland (12-4) visits Houston (9-7) on Saturday in a wild-card matchup.

“I’m just embracing the opportunity,” Cook said Wednesday. “I’m going to go out there and have fun, let it all hang out and obviously prepare my butt off and do what I’ve been doing all year long, and go out there and have fun with my teammates.”

Cook moved up to the backup spot last week after starter Derek Carr broke his right leg in the second-to-last game of the regular season. He then got his first real action last Sunday in Denver after Matt McGloin was knocked out with a left shoulder injury.

With Carr still sidelined and McGloin slowed by the injury, Coach Jack Del Rio called the decision to turn to Cook an easy one.

“We just want him to be himself and do what he can do,” Del Rio said. “He played pretty well when he went in and Matt’s hurt. We’re hoping to get Matt healthy enough to be in a backup role. Right now that remains in question.”

Cook showed some positive signs in his limited action last week even though Oakland lost 24-6 to miss an opportunity to clinch the AFC West and earn a first-round bye.

He completed 14 of 21 passes for 150 yards and a 32-yard TD pass to Amari Cooper but also turned the ball over twice against one of the league’s top defenses. The challenge won’t get any easier this week against a highly regarded Houston defense led by edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney.

“I felt pretty calm,” Cook said. “With the hard circumstances, just going in there and stuff, I felt like I was confident. I know the offense well. I’ve been in the system for almost a year now. We were running stuff that I’ve been familiar with. It was actually fun to get out there and get some reps.”

GIANTS: Jason Pierre-Paul made his first appearance at a Giants practice since his sports hernia surgery in early December.

Pierre-Paul was wearing a practice jersey but no pads and no cleats, so he is not yet ready to participate in football activities.

It’s unlikely Pierre-Paul will be able to play Sunday in a wild-card game in Green Bay, but the Giants have always been hopeful that he could return for a divisional-round game if they advanced that far.

He is four weeks removed from a surgery that was said to have a recovery period of 4 to 6 weeks.

COWBOYS: Dallas signed guard Jonathan Cooper, hoping the top-10 pick from 2013 can provide depth in the playoffs on the injury-plagued left side of the line.

Cooper was the seventh overall pick out of North Carolina by Arizona in 2013 but was traded in March to New England. He was most recently with Cleveland.

DOLPHINS: Quarterback Ryan Tannehill sat out practice, making it unlikely he’ll return from a sprained left knee for Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh, the team’s first playoff game since 2008.

SEAHAWKS: Seattle added kick returner Devin Hester to its roster.

Hester posted a photo of his locker inside the Seahawks’ locker room to Instagram on Tuesday night and the message, “I guess God has another chapter in my book of life.”

Hester’s signing could be a coup for the Seahawks if he can provide a special teams spark that was lost when Tyler Lockett broke his leg in Seattle’s Week 16 loss to Arizona.

TITANS: Coach Mike Mularkey is changing up his coaching staff, firing wide receivers coach Bob Bratkowski and assistant wide receivers coach Jason Tucker.

LIONS: Detroit silenced questions about Jim Caldwell’s future with the team, announcing he has been retained as coach for the 2017 season.

BENGALS: Cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones said that he regretted a hotel scuffle that landed him in jail but insisted that he didn’t deserve to be arrested in his latest legal issue during an often-tumultuous pro football career.

“I’m sorry that this happened,” Jones said as he left the Hamilton County Jail in Cincinnati, more than 32 hours after he was booked on four charges. He said that it would be different if had beaten people up, but that all he did was touch someone.

“Obviously if you read into it, none of this makes sense,” Jones said. “We’re going to see how it goes and I’m more than eager that this will be dismissed pretty soon.”