Raiders Were Missing 10 Players on Thursday
Three nights ago, the Raiders fell to the Chargers, 30-27 in overtime.
This should have been a win for the Silver and Black but the Raiders failed to keep a favorable playoff chance alive.
Looking back, there was one huge variable at play on Thursday night.
10 players were missing on Thursday. That includes the loss of starting quarterback Derek Carr early in the game due to a left groin injury.
“I met with Derek this morning and he is still sore,” Head coach Jon Gruden said. “I think there is a chance but being conservative right now, I would say it’s 50-50. As you know, Henry Ruggs [III] missed the game missed the game with COVID. We’re hoping to get him back late this week. Jalen Richard got injured in pregame warmup, reinjured his sternum. Hopefully, he’s okay to go. We’re hopeful that Clelin Ferrell, Nick Morrow, Damon Arnette, John Abram can return to the lineup this week. It’s still 50-50, but I’m going to be optimistic. And Nevin Lawson missed the game last night with an illness, we’re hoping we get him back as well. And David Irving’s status is also up in the air.”
All those players out equal to the loss of all that talent. Gruden thinks injuries has a lot to do with why the Raiders struggled on Thursday.
“Well, I just named about 10 players that we’re missing,” Gruden continued. “I think that has a little something to do with it. I’m not going to ever use excuses, but I’ve never been in a game where we lose so many players and you had so many players missing going into it. We were beat up big time last year and we just haven’t been able to stay healthy down the stretch, but these are winnable games and I’ve got to do a better job helping our team find a way to win.”
Ultimately, Gruden still takes full responsibility for the result of the game on Sunday.
Yet, it does make bring up a question.
If the Silver and Black had a healthy team on Sunday, would the Raiders have won? Would the results have stayed the same?
As Gruden said, losing 10 players on a single game is pretty rare to happen. We’ll see if it was the injuries after all as the Raiders play the Dolphins next week.
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