robert spillane injury news – Syndication Server

Will Robert Spillane play this week? Injury updates for Raiders LB

Raiders LB Robert Spillane missed all week of practice with a knee injury. Here are the latest updates.

Last Sunday Robert Spillane played through a knee injury he suffered on the team’s first drive. At the time he injured it, it looked pretty serious. Enough so that Spillane needed to be helped off the field, putting no weight on his right knee.

Much to the surprise of his coaches, Spillane came back in for the next drive and played the rest of the way. But that didn’t mean he was necessarily out of the woods.

Robert Spillane injury update

Spillane missed all week of practices and Antonio Pierce said he will be a game time decision, adding “knowing Robert, he’ll play.”

That’s a vote of confidence, but far from a certainly. Because there’s only so much mind over matter a player can have. Many times you can’t just decide an injury doesn’t exist and tough it out.

Raiders LB depth chart

Next man up if Spillane is unable to go is rookie Tommy Eichenberg, who they drafted in the fifth round in part because he reminded them a lot of Spillane.

Raiders LB Robert Spillane broke his hand 2 weeks ago vs Lions and has not missed a snap since

Robert Spillane broke his hand vs Lions, had surgery and hasn’t missed a single snap since. Just unreal.

We’ve heard Raiders defenders like Maxx Crosby speak highly of the toughness and grit of Robert Spillane. And if you didn’t buy into that talk before, you probably should now.

Wednesday Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce revealed that two weeks ago when the Raiders faced the Detroit Lions, Robert Spillane broke his hand. The middle linebacker then taped it up and played the rest of the game. He didn’t miss a snap.

The day after the game, Spillane had surgery on his broken hand, missed all of one practice, and then played every snap again in their big win over the Giants last Sunday.

Needless to say, Pierce — a former NFL middle linebacker himself — could not be more impressed with this.

“Lunchpail. Hard hat,” Pierce said of Spillane.

“That’s the mentality you want. You got your super stars, you got the guys that get all the credit and you got guys like this; the lunchpail guys. That just come to work every day. And does it with a smile. He’s been like that since day one. I remember the first time we talked over the phone. When we signed him, his energy, I could feel his fire in his belly of being an undrafted guy, getting cut from one team, not getting the opportunity he thought he was going to get at certain places, and he brought that here. And the first thing he did when he got here was he get with Maxx Crosby and he tried to match his energy and it didn’t work out, but what he’s done for us is the mental part. Really good for Patrick Graham, our linebacker corps and our defense because he does a lot of things pre-and-post-snap that helps us.”

Spillane didn’t just play, he made plays. And he led the Raiders with nine combined tackles against the Giants. Just unreal toughness for the veteran linebacker.