It was a harrowing victory in overtime for the Las Vegas Raiders over the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night, and it’s one they’ll remember for a long time to come. Unfortunately, however, they didn’t come away unscathed — having most notably lost defensive lineman Gerald McCoy to a season-ending knee injury. One day after receiving that bad news, they’re dealing with more, but this time it’s on backup quarterback Marcus Mariota. As the Raiders ready to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2, they’ll have to do so without Mariota, and for several games thereafter.
That’s because the 27-year-old will miss at least the next three weeks after aggravating a quad injury, forcing the Raiders to place him on injured reserve on Saturday. This forces a bit of an offensive adjustment for head coach Jon Gruden — who had an eye on mixing Mariota into the offense (e.g., Trey Lance in San Francisco and Justin Fields in Chicago). Mariota’s injury was suffered on a 31-yard run against the Ravens, a play that hinted strongly at what Gruden had up his sleeve for the former second-overall pick in 2021.
The Raiders will now revert to a more traditional offense under Derek Carr, and look to a familiar face in quarterback Nathan Peterman to back him up.
Peterman signed on with the Raiders in 2018 and has been a favorite of Gruden ever since, the decision to add Mariota notwithstanding. He’s showed promise at times, but a continued need for development as well, and he doesn’t present the matchup issues that Mariota does in the aspect of mobility. It’s unclear if the Raiders will bring in another QB, but if they move Mariota to injured reserve as expected, they’ll have an open roster seat to do so.
For Mariota, who is playing in the final year of a two-year contract, it’s all about getting healthy as soon as possible.
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