3 starters among the list of injured
Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio is not one for injury updates.
“Anybody that can go, will go,” he said when asked about a couple of players before Wednesday’s practice.
Latavius Murray has passed enough levels of the concussion protocol that the running back was wearing a uniform and warming up, jogging at times. But he wasn’t wearing a helmet and obviously wasn’t fully cleared as he left the field when practice started.
Center Rodney Hudson, meanwhile, not only wasn‘t on the field but was seen earlier in the day wearing a walking boot to protect a sprained right ankle. Fourth-year backup Tony Bergstrom was taking first-team snaps at center, while starting left guard Gabe Jackson also got some work
snapping the ball.
Both those absences were expected, but moments before practice started, receiver Amari Cooper ran off the field with what later was described by the team as a quad injury. Del Rio and Cooper were not available to reporters after practice.
That’s three starters from an offense that has scored 34 or more points in three straight games for the first time since 1995.
On Monday, Del Rio seemed confident that Murray would be ready for Sunday’s game against the Vikings, but Hudson seemed like a long shot.
Hudson and his blocking would be a big loss, but quarterback Derek Carr said he would be able to help Bergstrom or Jackson with reading the defense and making protection calls.
“When Rodney’s there, he and I work together,” Carr said. “We solve problems together, we do things together, we sit next to each other in the meetings, we talk through things. So if he wasn’t able to go for some reason, there would be no problem.”
Cooper appeared to hurt his quad on a hit from Mike Mitchell on Sunday. Mitchell, a former Raiders defensive back, said after the game that Oakland stopped running inside routes to Cooper after that hit.
Mitchell also delivered the third-quarter hit that knocked Murray out of the game.
Also missing practice Wednesday, as he usually does, was safety Charles Woodson. He has not missed a game despite injuring his shoulder early in the season. Linebacker Neiron Ball is still out with a knee injury.
Safety/cornerback TJ Carrie, who missed Sunday’s game with a hip injury, and safety Nate Allen were full participants in Wednesday’s practice. Allen has been out since the season opener with a knee injury and has been on the temporary injured-reserve list. A player must be waived to clear a roster spot for Allen, and Carrie is expected to return to cornerback. Briefly: The Vikings are 6-2 but have played teams with a combined record of 24-42, losing the game they had against a team with a winning record. The Raiders (4-4) have played teams with a record of 34-33. … Del Rio said the K9 dog-taunting story involving linebacker Ray Ray Armstrong before Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh is “silly” and doesn’t appear “there’s much of an issue (once) the facts come to light.”
“Anybody that can go, will go.” Jack Del Rio, Raiders head coach