Following the Raiders’ big win over the Chiefs in week five, Jon Gruden was upbeat and optimistic about the chances the Raiders would get a few players back and healthy during the bye week. The bye week came and went, and not many of those players ended up actually returning as hoped.
One such player was left guard Richie Incognito who was lost to an Achilles injury in the team’s second game and place on injured reserve.
This season, players who go on IR are eligible to return after three games. That time has passed and still no Incognito. And from the sounds of it, he will be out again this week when the Raiders head to Cleveland to face the Browns.
“He’s still nursing an Achilles injury,” said head coach Jon Gruden in his Monday press conference. “My understanding is yesterday and today have been the best two days that he’s had. I don’t know that he will be up this week, but he is getting closer to returning and that’s exciting.”
In Incognito’s absence, first, it was John Simpson who stepped in at left guard while Denzelle Good was playing right tackle. Then when Trent Brown and Sam Young returned, Good moved to the left guard spot. Young was injured on Sunday for the second time this season while Brown was on the reserve-COVID-19 list, which had Brandon Parker step in at tackle while Good remained at left guard.
