Despite playing in front of an excited crowd at Allegiant Stadium, the Las Vegas Raiders suffered their second consecutive defeat as they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football.
The Raiders got off to a great start when Jimmy Garoppolo was able to find Davante Adams on a 32-yard strike to give them their first touchdown of the night. However, the Steelers rattled off 23 unanswered points to give them control of the game.
Las Vegas suffered a scare when Garoppolo got rolled up on after taking a sack and appeared to injure his ankle. However, the quarterback was able to remain in and finish the game.
However, it appears that Garoppolo didn’t completely avoid injury as he was placed in concussion protocol via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network:
#Raiders coach Josh McDaniels tells reporters that QB Jimmy Garoppolo is in the NFL’s concussion protocol.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 25, 2023
It’s unclear when Garoppolo suffered the hit to the hit, but he didn’t speak with the media postgame because he was being evaluated for a concussion. The results of the test must have concluded that he was experiencing concussion-like symptoms and will now need to go through the NFL’s concussion protocol process in order to be cleared to return.
If Garoppolo was suffering from a concussion during the game, it didn’t look like it, as he was able to lead Las Vegas to a couple of scoring drives in the fourth quarter. He finished the evening with 324 passing yards and two touchdowns, though he also threw three interceptions.
Losing Garoppolo for any time would be a blow for the offense as he’s shown budding chemistry with his receivers, but if he did miss time, either Brian Hoyer or Aidan O’Connell would be next in line to take over the starter snaps. However, with a tough matchup on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers on tap, Las Vegas is staring at the very real possibility of being 1-3 by the end of Sunday.
Davante Adams calls out Taylor Rapp for helmet-to-helmet to hit
Like Garoppolo, Adams was also subjected to being evaluated for a concussion after taking a hit to the head from Taylor Rapp in the Raiders’ loss to the Buffalo Bills. Adams was deemed good to go after further testing, and he later called out Rapp for the hit.
