Two Bucs stars miss practice as team prepares for Raiders in Week 14

As we approach Sunday, the injury report shows two key starters to watch going into this critical game. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will face the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday in their Week 14 matchup, and there is a lot on the line. With a win and loss by the Falcons, the Buccaneers could get their second-longest winning streak of the year and jump into the lead of the NFC South.

As we approach Sunday, the injury report shows two key starters to watch going into this critical game.

Mike Evans is on the injury report with a did not practice designation due to a hamstring and calf injury. Tristan Wirfs is also on the injury report with a foot and knee injury. There hasn’t been much discussion by Todd Bowles or either player about missing the game in Week 14.

Both players had these same injuries going into last week, so this could be a lighter workload to not overdo their injuries so they lead to a longer stint away from the team. We should know more by Friday’s injury report which we will have on Bucs Wire when it gets published

Raiders TE Brock Bowers named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month for November

Raiders rookie phenom TE Brock Bowers’s historic November has him named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month for November.

Being on a record pace not just for tight ends but for a rookie at any positions tends to garner some attention. And Brock Bowers has earned some notoriety of late, including, as of Thursday being announced as the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Month for November.

The 13th overall pick put up some monster numbers in November with 32 catches for 349 yards and three touchdowns over four games inside the month.

He set two new career highs in the month, first against Miami when he had the third most catches in a game in franchise history (13) for 126 yards and a touchdown. Then he finished the month strong in a hostile environment in Kansas City when he posted a new career-high with 140 yards on ten catches and a touchdown.

Even before this past month, Bowers was on an historic pace that put him among the greatest tight ends in NFL history.

His consistent ability to get open, make tough catches, and get yards after the catch had head coach Antonio Pierce removing all comparisons from his uniquely talented rookie offensive weapon.

Raiders vs Buccaneers injury report: Latest updates, news for Week 14

All the latest updates and news on TEAMA’s injury report ahead of a Week X game vs. TEAMB.

Preparations have begun for the Raiders and Buccaneers for their week 14 matchup. Which means the first injury report of the week.

Raiders, Buccaneers injury report

CB Nate Hobbs injury update

Hobbs is once again not practicing. He has missed the past three games with an ankle injury he suffered in the team’s week nine game in Cincinnati. He has been replaced at slot cornerback the by Darnay Holmes.

RB Alexander Mattison injury update

Mattison returned to practice last week, but still missed his second game with an ankle injury. He was still limited Wednesday so his status is one to monitor.

RB Zamir White injury update

White has still yet to return to practice. He was lost to injury in the same game in Miami in week 11 as Mattison was and has missed the past two games as a result. In his and Mattison’s absences, the Raiders primary backs have been Ameer Abdullah and practice squad back Sincere McCormick who the team officially signed this week.

Antonio Pierce runs out of comparisons for Brock Bowers ‘this guy is different’

At some point Brock Bowers had to be the next…Brock Bowers. And it seems that time has arrived sooner than expected.

Comparisons can be fun. If for no other reasons that to give people an easy way to project what kind of player a prospect will be. And Brock Bowers drew all kinds of them coming out of Georgia.

Dane Brugler in his “The Beast” Draft guide offered the player comp of 49ers TE George Kittle. Other names that have come up have been Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce. That’s the best tight ends in the NFL in recent memory and some lofty comparisons to be certain.

But after Bowers’s latest game in which he set another new career-high with 140 yards receiving in Kansas City, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce is done with comparisons. Bowers is one-of-a-kind.

“No. Not this one. This guy is different,” Pierce said of Bowers. “This is different. Because when you’re getting matched up on the number one corner, when you’re getting double teamed throughout the field, and they know we’re going to throw him the ball, we’re going to keep throwing him the ball.

“He’s one of those matchups…it’s hard. I don’t know. Because his body type is different. I think there was some comparisons early on to like Aaron Hernandez, that type. But I just think the way he plays the game after he has the ball. He’s really like a running back. He’s a receiver when the ball’s in the air, but when he has the ball in his hands, he’s punishing people. He’s skilled enough obviously with his hands, his catch radius, I can’t really speak highly enough about this player. This player is doing a hell of a job this year for us and it’s no secret what we’re going to do each and every play when there’s an opportunity to throw it to 89.”

Teams have figured out not only that putting a linebacker on Bowers would be a mistake, but that they should simply be putting their best defensive back on him. This included the Broncos shadowing Bowers with Patrick Surtain II all game. And last week the Chiefs put their top cornerback Trent McDuffie on him. And it didn’t matter.

“Just his releases. We throw him a fade over there on [Trent] McDuffie late in the game in the third quarter and his ability to stack him, get on top and make a one-handed catch, putting his hand up late. Those are things that you see more veteran players do. But obviously very skilled and tremendous athlete,” Pierce continued.

Pierce has said multiple times that he could tell from the moment Bowers walked in the building that he was going to be something special. And each week that passes by, he proves that.

Since midseason, he was on pace to finish among the most elite tight ends in NFL history and has been setting new career-highs and re-writing the franchise record books seemingly every week since then.

Raiders sign grand nephew of legendary franchise player

Shedrick Jackson followed the footsteps of his great uncle Bo Jackson to Auburn and now he does the same by joining the Raiders.

Once a Raider, always a Raider really means something. So much so that it often extends to family of Raiders greats. Today, you can add another name to that list — Shedrick Jackson. Who the team added to the practice squad Wednesday.

Jackson is not just a former Auburn star receiver who played five games with the Bengals last season, he is the grand nephew of arguably the most legendary Raiders player of all time — Bo Jackson.

Jackson’s career in a Raiders uniform lasted just four seasons, but in that time he was one of the most famous and electric athletes in the world, spawning the Nike “Bo Knows” ad campaign for his two-sport prowess. And, of course, being absolutely unstoppable in Tecmo Bowl.

Shedrick followed Bo’s footsteps to Auburn, where he caught 66 passes for 864 yards and a touchdown. Now he follows in his footsteps to the Silver & Black.

He was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent and appeared in five games as a rookie, mostly on special teams. He was brought back this season but was released in mid-September.

Welcome to the Silver & Black, Shedrick.

Brock Bowers has a chance to make NFL history this week

Raiders first-round rookie Brock Bowers has a chance to make NFL history this week

It’s already been an unbelievable season for Brock Bowers as the rookie tight end has unbelievably set himself up to possibly be the Offensive Rookie of the Year if his dominance continues. Heading into Week 14, Bowers has a chance to do something incredible in breaking the rookie tight end reception record with four more weeks to go.

 

The record was broken last year by a breakout performance from Lions tight end Sam LaPorta, with 86 receptions as a rookie. Bowers, however, is already sitting at 84 with a handful of games still left to go, and given the fact he is seeing over 10 targets a game, Bowers should break that record this weekend against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

 

While the rookie tight end reception record would be a feat within itself, it wouldn’t be outlandish to think that Bowers could also collect the most receptions by a rookie in a season period. This record was also set a year ago by late-round superstar Puka Nacua when he caught 105 balls on the season. If Bowers averages just over 5 catches in the next 4 games, he would also surpass that incredible record. Just really a dominant performance all around by one of the best tight ends in the league already.

Raiders add former mid-round linebacker

Wednesday the Raiders brought on board former fourth round LB Brandon Smith whose career has been marred by injuries.

Penn State is known as Linebacker U for a reason. In 2022, underclassman Brandon Smith entered the NFL Draft and was selected in the fourth round by the Carolina Panthers.

Since then, Smith has struggled with injuries and is now in his three NFL season and is joining his fourth NFL team, with the Raiders announcing Wednesday he had been signed to the team’s practice squad.

After appearing in 12 games as a rookie in Carolina with one start, Smith landed on injured reserve. He would then fail to make the team out of camp the following year and signed onto the Eagles practice squad.

After appearing in two games last season, he was brought back on a reserve/future contract, but was again relegated to the practice squad coming into this season.

He was released in early September, signed onto the Jets practice squad and three days later landed on IR again before being released in October.

Now he will get his fourth shot to try and live up to his NFL potential.

Raiders will try to keep reigning Rookie of the Week from 3rd straight career high game

Buccaneers RB Bucky Irving beat out Raiders TE Brock Bowers for Rookie of the Week. The two face off in Tampa this Sunday.

Even a career-high 140 receiving yards and a touchdown on ten catches wasn’t quite enough for outstanding rookie tight end Brock Bowers to land Rookie of the Week honors.

The award instead went to Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving who put up a career-high 152 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries (6.1 ypc) while adding three more catches for 33 yards for 185 yards from scrimmage in an OT win over the Carolina Panthers.

Irving was selected in the fourth round of April’s draft out of University of Oregon.

Irving has set new career highs each of the past two weeks for the Bucs. Week 12 saw him put up 88 yards on the ground and a total of 152 yards from scrimmage. He’s also had a touchdown in three straight weeks.

Clearly Irving has the hot hand in Tampa and they will keep feeding him the rock and the next team on the slate is the Raiders who head for Tampa to face the Bucs next Sunday.

Each team will heavily feature their standout rookies in their offenses.

4 Raiders land inside top 10 in Pro Bowl fan voting

Some results for Pro Bowl fan votes were released Tuesday, and there were four Raiders who cracked the top 10 at their respective positions.

Some results for Pro Bowl fan votes were released Tuesday, and there were four Raiders who cracked the top 10 at their respective positions.

Las Vegas tight end Brock Bowers received the second-most Pro Bowl fan votes among tight ends, Robert Spillane received the fifth-most votes among inside linebackers, Maxx Crosby received the sixth-most votes among defensive ends and Daniel Carlson received the 10th-most votes among kickers.

Bowers is in the midst of a historic rookie season. The 6-foot-4, 230 pound tight end currently leads the NFL in receptions (84) and ranks fourth overall in receiving yardage (884). Bowers’ 884 receiving yards, 445 yards after catch and 43 first downs are all tops among NFL tight ends.

After registering a career-high 140 receiving yards on 10 receptions last week against the Kansas City Chiefs, Bowers has been nominated for NFL Rookie of the Week for the fifth time this season.

Spillane leads the Raiders with 111 total tackles. The sixth-year pro has also registered seven tackles for loss, four passes defended, one interception and one sack this season.

Crosby owns the Raiders’ team-leads in both tackles for loss (16) and sacks (7.5). The 6-foot-5, 255 pound defensive end is a nightmare for opponents and has 43 total tackles and four passes defended to his name in 2024.

Lastly, Carlson is 23-of-28 on field goal attempts this season. Carlson is perfect on field goal attempts from within 39 yards and has connected on five field goals of 50-plus yards. The Auburn alum is also a perfect 18-for-18 on PAT tries.

Fan voting for the Pro Bowl Games continues through Dec. 23.

There’s no limit to the number of times a fan can vote and you can do so at ProBowl.com/Vote and directly on X during the final two weeks (Dec. 9-23) by posting the player’s first and last name, tagging his official handle or creating a hashtag with the player’s full name.

Any of the three methods performed on social media must include the hashtag #ProBowlVote. Those social votes will count as double Dec. 22-23.

Las Vegas (2-10) returns to action with a Week 14 date at Tampa Bay (6-6). Kickoff is set for 10 a.m. PT from Raymond James Stadium.

Raiders send WR DJ Turner to IR, sign promising young RB to active roster

While the Raiders lose their best special teams player, DJ Turner, they make things official with former practice squad RB Sincere McCormick.

Midway through the third quarter of last Friday’s game in Arrowhead, Raiders wide receiver DJ Turner returned a kickoff 28 yards and went down hard and didn’t get back up. He was eventually helped off the field and didn’t return.

Today, Turner was placed on injured reserve. The talented special teams player will be missed for his gunner and return abilities as well as being the team’s starting slot receiver this season after the departure of Davante Adams in trade with the Jets.

To fill his sport on the roster the Raiders signed RB Sincere McCormick from the practice squad.

McCormick is a former undrafted free agent out of University of Texas San Antonio. As of two weeks ago, he hadn’t had an NFL carry. But with the injuries to Zamir White and Alexander Mattison, McCormick was called into service.

Over the past two weeks, McCormick has put up some impressive numbers. He has put up 97 yards on 17 carries. His 5.7 yards per carry is far better than any other Raiders back this season.

In his first appearance against the Broncos in week 12, he had 33 yards on five carries (6.6 ypc) and head coach Antonio Pierce said plainly that he earned more carries. So, he saw his carries jump to 12 last week against the Chiefs and still averaged 5.3 yards per carry.

Now in less than two weeks time, he goes from obscure practice squad back to the lead back with an NFL contract. It will be interesting to see what he can do the rest of the season and if that means he will be part of the Raiders plans moving forward.