–Wash, rinse, repeat: On Wednesday, Bay Area political insiders Phil Matier and Andy Ross duly reported, or re-reported, that the Raiders might leave for Las Vegas for the 2019 season and not wait for 2020. While the report is all true, or at least the threat of a threat is true, this is the Raiders trying to leverage a better 2019 Oakland Coliseum deal – taking another lap.
Difficult to say who has the leverage here. Looking at the list of potential venues, there are no viable stadium options for the Raiders in 2019. So it is hard to say who is in the better position.
However, the ever-so-faithful Raider Nation is once again not much of a consideration by either side of this stare-down.
–Illusory loss: The Raiders will start a pair of 6-foot-8 rookie offensive tackles. On the left side will be Kolton Miller, a third rounder out of UCLA who has done well there all season. On the right will be Brandon Parker, a third-round pick out of North Carolina A&T, who was thrown into action last week when 13-year veteran Donald Penn was sidelined with what seemed to be concussion systems.
Wednesday Penn was put on injured reserve, listing a groin injury, and Gruden mentioned the player may rejoin the team this year. Barring an emergency, don’t count on it. Penn was overpaid as a left tackle when he held out and when he was moved to right tackle this year was not impressive. Parker played well against the Browns.
The call here is that the team makes an injury settlement with Penn some time before next season begins and sends him into retirement.
In a related move, the Raiders signed offensive lineman Ian Silberman off the Tennessee Titans practice squad. Silberman was originally drafted by the 49ers in the sixth round (190th overall) in the 2015 NFL Draft. After traveling around the NFL, including an earlier stop in Oakland, Silberman appeared in all four preseason games with the Raiders this year.
–Beast Mode: Raiders 32-year-old running back Marshawn Lynch, now in his 11th NFL season, is reprising the style that created “Beast Mode” when he starred with Seattle. Lynch has carried 68 times for 300 yards, including 101 on the ground last Sunday and is averaging 4.3 yards a carry. But those are not his most impressive stats.
He leads the league with 20 forced missed tackles, with 10 of those against the Browns. This is the third time in his career he forced double-digit missed tackles in a game. The most forced missed tackles in a game since the stat was kept is 12, by Lynch.
–Cornerback Daryl Worley, suspended by the league for the first four games, rejoins the Raiders just in time to help against Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers. Worley, drafted in the third round by Carolina out of West Virginia in 2016, was signed this year as a free agent.
“We don’t know what his status is going to be for the game,” Gruden said, “but he’s back with us.”
He looked outstanding during OTAs and will play if at all possible.
