Quick turnaround for the Raiders this week. They hit the practice field Tuesday for the first of two full practices in preparation for facing the Chargers on Thursday Night. They did so without several of their defensive starters, many of whom are missing with concussions.
Tuesday’s injury report had four players on it who were missing from practice. All of whom are defensive starters. Three of whom have concussions.
Cornerback Damon Arnette missed Sunday’s game against the Colts and is still not practicing after having suffered concussions in consecutive weeks. He was joined in the concussion protocol by safety Johnathan Abram and linebacker Nicholas Morrow. Safety Jeff Heath was placed on injured reserve last week with a concussion.
Sunday’s game also saw defensive end Clelin Ferrell leave on the first series with a shoulder injury and not return. He too missed practice Tuesday, putting all four starters in doubt to return by Thursday’s game.
“It’ll be tough. It’s going to be tough,” head coach Jon Gruden said Monday. “They have to go through the proper channels. I’ll have to update you on that as soon as possible, but right now we have a lot of players in question.”
While Abram and Morrow would seem the most likely to return after this short week, the status of the others would remain a question should they not return this week. Gruden has mentioned the Raiders missing a lot of players several times of late, and that continues to be a concern for him the rest of the way.
“A lot of guys are unavailable right now,” Gruden added. “We like our young team, I want to reiterate that. We do have some veteran players that we are excited about. We have to put it all together. It goes on me right now to get that done, and at the end of the day, it’s my responsibility.”
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