Monday night was a celebration for the Las Vegas Raiders. They won their first game in Allegiant Stadium with fans against a powerhouse Baltimore Ravens team. While there’s plenty for the team to be excited about, they also had some really bad news to come from the game.
The Raiders dealt with several injuries throughout the game but starting right guard Denzelle Good was the first to go down. He tried to tough it out after getting hurt on the first drive but eventually was forced to leave the game entirely. Things didn’t look good for him but the fact that he was able to get back into the game was a sign that maybe the injury wasn’t too serious. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Good tore his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season.
That’s potentially devastating for an offensive line that already has injury issues. Starting left guard Richie Incognito missed Week 1 with a calf injury and it remains to be seen when he’ll return. Good has started each of the last two seasons as a depth piece for the Raiders behind Incognito and Gabe Jackson. With Jackson getting traded to the Seattle Seahawks in the offseason, the team gave the starting right guard job to Good. They’ll now have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what to do at right guard.
ALL the latest Raiders news straight to your inbox! Subscribe to the Heavy on Raiders newsletter here!
Raiders DL Also Has Injuries
To make matter worse, the injuries didn’t stop with Good. Throughout the game, the Raiders’ defensive line got banged up. Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy had to be carted off the field after hurting his knee. Starting defensive end Yannick Ngakoue also missed time late in the game due to a hamstring injury. According to head coach Jon Gruden, the prognosis isn’t great for either.
“Hopefully Yannick is not as seriously injured as he possibly can be — we don’t know the outcome yet,” Gruden told reporters Tuesday. “Losing McCoy is a big loss to our leadership network and our D-line.”
Losing Ngakoue for any amount of time would be a massive blow to a defensive line that looked really good on Monday. McCoy going down is also a blow. He missed all of last season after he ruptured his quadriceps. He’s quickly developed into a leader for a young Raiders defensive line but it looks very possible he’s out for an extended period of time.
Marcus Mariota Hurt on 1st Play
Early in Monday’s game, the Raiders surprisingly cooked up a play for backup quarterback Marcus Mariota, which ended with him running for 31 yards. It seems like a promising development but he wasn’t seen in another play throughout the game. Gruden revealed that he is also dealing with an injury or the Raiders would’ve used him more.
“Yeah, we lost a big part of our offense,” Gruden said. “Hopefully it’s not going to linger on. He missed the whole preseason with a quad strain. He strained it again last night. The severity of that injury kept him out of the game. it’s too bad — it was a 31-yard gain to really give us an element we haven’t really had around here.”
Mariota’s career has been riddled with injuries. He missed 11 games last season due to injury. If he gets healthy, he could end up being an interesting weapon for the Raiders.
READ NEXT: Raiders GM Mike Mayock Gets Brutally Honest About Job Status