The Las Vegas Raiders are heading into their Week 9 game against the San Francisco 49ers with a mostly clean bill of health. Most of the starters are expected to play, with cornerback Darien Porter being the only question mark.
However, the Raiders will be down one defender. Defensive tackle Thomas Booker has officially been ruled out for the game.
He didn’t practice all week, so it’s not a surprise that he’s not going to be able to suit up. After starting 13 games last season, Booker has seen his role diminish. He’s played in seven of eight games for the Raiders, but is only playing 38% of the team’s defensive snaps.
Booker hasn’t been making a big impact, but he does provide some good veteran depth. The 49ers have one of the best offenses in the NFL, so the Raiders need all the help they can get.
Adam Butler and Tonka Hemingway will have to pick up some of the slack. Tim Keenan III did have a sack for the Raiders in Week 8, so he should get more opportunities to play snaps with Bookers out. J.J. Pegues also has a better chance to be active in Week 9 now that the Raiders need more depth.
Kirk Cousins Gets Praise From 49ers DC
The Raiders are huge underdogs against the 49ers. San Francisco is coming off of a bye week, which won’t make things easier for Las Vegas.
The only hope they have is that the offense has a huge game and wins a shootout. With the way quarterback Kirk Cousins is playing, anything is possible. 49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris coached Cousins on the Atlanta Falcons, so he knows the quarterback well. He’s a big fan of Cousins.
“Kirk’s one of the all-time progression quarterbacks that the league has seen,” Morris said. “You go out and you get a guy like Kirk and you get a guy that can operate your offense at a very high level, control things that you want to get controlled. He’s a computer during the week. He’s taking it all in, going through the process, going through his process.
“Then once he gets to the game, he’s just able to allow himself to go out there and play. He can go through his process and do all the things that’s operating. He’s operating the right way, particularly at the end of the game and the Jets, big-time game last week for those guys. They started hot and for those guys to pick it up like they did, it’s no shock. He’s playing with a genuine enthusiasm that I’m used to seeing from him.”
Can Raiders Pull Off the Upset?
This is going to be one of the toughest games of the season for the Raiders. They’ve played some really good teams, but it could be argued that no team is playing better football than the 49ers.
The Raiders are playing with house money. Nobody expects them to win this game on the road. Now, if the defense can’t at least get a couple of stops, there’s almost no way they’ll win. Perhaps if they can force a couple of turnovers, then it will be a game, but the offense is going to have to be close to perfect.
Veteran Raiders Defender Ruled Out With Injury vs. 49ers