Sports
Add news
News

Raiders’ Richie Incognito has surgery, out for the season

0 7
Raiders’ Richie Incognito has surgery, out for the season

Three snaps.

That’s how many plays the Raiders projected offensive line will play together in 2020.

Left guard Richie Incognito, who has been attempting to rehabilitate an Achilles injury since Week 2, is done for the year, coach Jon Gruden said Monday at his weekly virtual press conference the day after a 35-31 home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

“He had season-ending foot surgery,” Gruden said. “I hate to admit that, but we’ve tried everything we can. Richie’s tried everything he can to get back out on the field. His season is over.”

The Raiders went into the season depending on the strength of a starting offensive line that included left tackle Kolton Miller, Incognito, center Rodney Hudson, right guard Gabe Jackson and right tackle Trent Brown.

Brown lasted three snaps before reinjuring a calf, not to return until Week 5 against Kansas City. Incognito finished the opener against Carolina and then lasted 11 snaps in Week 2 against New Orleans, giving way to rookie John Simpson.

Two weeks ago, Gruden said he remained hopeful Incognito would return, saying he’s shown progress but then had bad days as well.

Incognito, 37, was first replaced by Simpson because Denzelle Good was operating as the emergency right tackle because of injuries to Brown and Sam Young. Good eventually moved to left guard, where he’ll remain.

The Raiders signed Incognito to a two-year contract extension in the offseason. He is on the books for a $6.35 million salary cap number in 2021 if he chooses to play. If the Raiders determine they want to move on, there will be no dead money against the salary cap.

Brown, meanwhile, remains on the COVID-19 reserve list because of complications from testing positive and being on the list from Oct. 21 through Oct. 30. Brown was suited up and planning to play on Nov. 1 against Cleveland but had to be taken from the locker room after an undisclosed issue that reportedly had to do with a pregame I.V.

Four days later, Brown was back on the COVID-19 list for “complications” having to do with his recovery from the virus. Brown, defensive end Clelin Ferrell, slot corner Lamarcus Joyner and linebacker Cory Littleton are all currently on the COVID-19 list.

“Trent Brown’s status is still up in the air,” Gruden said. “He’s hopefully about to get started to resume his playing. It’s a day to day operation, and I’ll know more from the trainer here on Tuesday morning.”

Richmond’s Takk McKinley was claimed by the Raiders off waivers from the 49ers. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

McKinley, Beasley join the fold

The Raiders added two players with experience as outside pass rushers, claiming Takk McKinley off waivers and signing Vic Beasley to the practice squad. The two were teammates on the Atlanta Falcons in 2018-19, which coincidentally happens to be the Raiders’ opponent on the road Sunday.

McKinley (6-foot-2, 265 pounds) must first pass a physical before being added to the roster, which is no sure thing given he’s already failed physicals with Cincinnati and the 49ers as a waiver claim with a groin injury after being released by the Atlanta Falcons.

The Raiders put in claims for McKinley both times but were third in line because of their superior won-loss record.

A first-round pick by Atlanta in 2018 out of UCLA by way of Kennedy High in Richmond, McKinley had 17 1/2 sacks in 49 games with Atlanta, 13 of those coming in his first two seasons.

Beasley (6-3, 246) was Atlanta’s first-round pick in 2015 and had 37 career sacks with Atlanta with a high of 15 1/2 in 2016 when the Falcons went to the Super Bowl. He had eight sacks for the Falcons last season and signed with Tennessee as a free agent but was a non-factor with three tackles and a forced fumble in five games before being released.

Defensive end Datone Jones was released from the practice squad to make room for Beasley. McKinley doesn’t need to be accounted for on the 53-man roster until he passes his physical. Both must go through COVID-19 clearance before joining the team.

How did Kelce get so open?

The Raiders lost to the Chiefs on a 22-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce in which the Chiefs tight end was wide open in the middle of the end zone after Mahomes had broke from the pocket and rolled to his right.

The closest player in the video was cornerback Damon Arnette, who had some coverage responsibility on Kelce throughout the game. Speculation, including from former Raiders linebacker Kirk Morrison on social media, was that a safety (Abram) had abandoned his quarter of the field when Mahomes started scrambling.

Gruden wasn’t interested in assessing blame.

“I’m not going to single out any player in any press conference,” Gruden said. “We lost that game because we didn’t get it done. We all have to focus better. We all have to play better and certainly we all have to coach better. That’s about all I’ll say about that.”

Abram wasn’t made available following the game, but made a statement on Twitter: “Not all storms come to disrupt your life. Some come to clear your path.”

ETCETERA

— Giving up 460 yards and a Chiefs record number of first downs went far beyond whatever extenuating circumstances existed for the Raiders.

“We can maybe make a lot of excuses and legitimate excuses,” Gruden said. “We’re missing some key players, we’ve got a young secondary. We had guys that didn’t practice, played the world champions coming off a bye week. We can make all kind of excuses. But we — I say ‘we,’ me included — we gave up 36 first downs and we didn’t get it done.”

— Gruden said he was responsible for being out of the coaches box on the 15-yard penalty assessed when the Raiders were at the 1-yard line, with Daniel Carlson kicking a 35-yard field goal following the penalty. Gruden said he’d planned to kick anyway.

“Knowing what I know now maybe I would have changed my mind, but the penalty was on me,” Gruden said. “I was outside of the coaching box. Foolish penalty by me.”

The Raiders gave the Chiefs four first downs on defensive penalties — a debatable pass interference call against Arnette, a hold against Arnette, a hold against Isaiah Johnson and an unnecessary roughness flag on Abram. There was also a neutral zone infraction by Maliek Collins and an offsides by Arden Key.

“We can’t give (Mahomes) free plays. We can’t jump offsides. We can’t commit holding, personal fouls,” Gruden said. “You can’t give a guy like this anything on top of what he’s capable of doing. We gave them so good opportunities we can’t afford to give ’em. That’s a reflection of me.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Загрузка...

Comments

Комментарии для сайта Cackle
Загрузка...

More news:

Read on Sportsweek.org:

Other sports

Sponsored