Pats Are Down Two Cornerbacks, But Raiders Have No Receivers

Normally it would be a huge advantage to be facing a team with two injured cornerbacks out, but that won’t be the case for the Las Vegas Raiders when they face the New England Patriots on Sunday. 

The Patriots will be missing both starting cornerbacks, with Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis having been ruled out, per a report from Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk and multiple other sources. Gonzalez has been dealing with a shoulder injury for some time now, and Davis has a neck issue. 

The problem for the Raiders is that they really don’t have a receiver  who can take advantage of this, unless you consider tight end Brock Bowers a receiver. Patriots coach Mike Vrabel does, as he noted this week that he looks at Bowers as a big slot receiver, lauding his route running skills and his ability to use his body to block out defenders and use his large catch radius effectively. 

Las Vegas lost receiver Jack Bech early in their game against the New Orleans Saints to a broken forearm two weeks ago, and Jalen Nailor is still out with concussion symptoms. They’ve been relying on former practice squad player Cody White as their possession receivers, but Vrabel is absolutely right when he says that Bowers is playing that role. 

The receiver best positioned to step up and take advantage of New England’s cornerback void is Tre Tucker, but he had a couple of big drops in the Raiders’ 30-27 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs last Sunday. 

Tucker had some big plays in the first couple of games for Las Vegas, but he’s mostly vanished since, in part because of the Raiders’ issues protecting Kirk Cousins and giving him time to throw deep.  

The new addition this week will be Dont’e Thornton Jr., as the Raiders cleared a 21-day practice window for him to possibly step in. Expectations should be  low there, though, as Thornton has mostly looked like a player who’s going to be labeled a bust in the very near future, if he isn’t one already. 

Look for coach Klint Kubiak to deal with this schematically, but he’s decidedly short on weapons. Everyone knows the ball is going to Bowers, and if it doesn’t it’s probably going to fellow tight end Michael Mayer, who’s a plodder by comparison. There’s a weakness there that’s ready to be exploited, but it remains to be seen if the Raiders will be able to take advantage.