Each week has presented many challenges for the Oakland Raiders to overcome as the offense has experienced significant injuries in each of their last three games. This week, the team suffered a troublesome blow in Sunday night’s win against the San Diego Chargers when back-up running back Rashad Jennings went down in the second quarter with an injury.
According to Silver And Black Pride, Jennings suffered a hamstring injury that left him on the sideline for the rest of the game. This is the second consecutive week in a row the Raiders’ backfield has been hit with an injury as Darren McFadden sat out the game due to a hamstring injury he suffered last week.
This is devastating news because the running game could possibly be without their two running backs in this week’s divisional game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Also, McFadden’s timetable of returning back in the lineup has been speculated to occur in the team’s week 8 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on October 27th. Jennings’ availability is still unclear for this week’s game, but Raiders fans can expect fullback Marcel Reese to get many opportunities to run the ball and help the ground game.
The Raiders will need Reece to help fill the role of their fallen running backs by being a smash-mouth presence in aggressively running the ball and relieving the pressure off Terrelle Pryor against a Chief’s defense that has proven to be an elite squad this year.
This week will be a true challenge for the Raiders as they try to take down another division foe and make ground in the AFC West. If the Raiders can pull out with a win, things will be looking good as the team heads into their bye week and hopefully they can return to the field with some familiar faces when they resume play in week 8.
