Thursday Tyrell Williams missed practice with a nagging foot injury. Friday, he was taken off the injury report altogether. Sunday he got the start, but after that, he was a shadow. Or at best a decoy.
The man who was supposed to be the team’s number one receiver has been struggling with a plantar fascia injury for much of the season. Last week head coach Jon Gruden described the injury as “uncomfortable.” It may have been a bit more than just uncomfortable, because Williams was a complete non-factor in the passing game, seeing only 21 snaps (29%) without a single target.
With Williams ailing, it was Marcell Ateman who saw his snaps increase. He got a season-high 52 snaps (71%) and was targeted 7 times, catching just 3 of those passes for 46 yards. His longest catch went for 20 yards, and he fumbled the ball at the end of it. The Broncos would score their only touchdown of the game off the turnover to give them a 10-3 lead heading into the half.
Ateman has been inactive for five games this season and usually sees single-digit snaps. But Gruden said this week that he was having a great week of practice, and being that he is an X receiver, like Williams, he was asked to step up. They needed the practice Ateman to show up on the field. Catching less than half the passes thrown his way while fumbling one of them is not what they hoped to see.
Zay Jones and Hunter Renfrow started and led the receiving corps in snaps.
#Raiders snap counts on offense and defense vs Broncos. pic.twitter.com/69NyUg1nZQ
— Levi Damien (@LeviDamien) December 30, 2019
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