There were a couple surprises on the Raiders final injury report today. One was that RB Josh Jacobs is officially OUT. The other is that Yannick Ngakoue is not only NOT OUT, he is expected to play, according to Jon Gruden.
“He looks pretty good,” Gruden said of Ngakoue. “We expect him to go.”
The veteran edge rusher suffered a hamstring injury late in the team’s Monday night win over the Ravens. Despite the often serious nature of hamstring injuries, Ngakoue took the field all week for practice. He was limited with a wrap and a support on his knee, but he was out there.
“He’s one of our tougher players. He’s a team captain almost unanimously selected. That says a lot. But he wants to win. He knows we got to have him to win. And I admire these players that go to extreme measure to do what they have to do to get ready to play mentally and physically and he’s at the top of the chart when it comes to that.”
Officially Ngakoue is questionable for the game. So too is defensive end Carl Nassib (pectoral/toe) who stepped in for Ngakoue to finish out the game Monday Night in overtime.
Also questionable is Darius Philon who suffered a knee injury during Thursday’s practice and missed practice Friday.
Others OUT for the Raiders include G Richie Incognito (calf), LB Nick Kwiatkoski (concussion), QB Marcus Mariota (quad), and S Roderic Teamer (ankle).
The Steelers will be without DT Carlos Davis.
LB Nick Kwiatkoski (concussion) is OUT for #Raiders. pic.twitter.com/9oX8PfOgeq
— Levi Damien (@LeviDamien) September 17, 2021
