NAPA - Raiders coach Hue Jackson began Thursday's media session by needling the media about injuries and our skepticism about what we find out on a daily basis.
This came after cornerback Chris Johnson went from just resting to having surgery:
"First of all I want to address this because everybody's talking about the Raiders' injuries and I really get a kick out of it 'cause I get all this media stuff in the morning. I know everybody's talking about where we are. I want you guys to know I'm extremely happy where our football team is at this point in time. As I told you guys before, I hate whenever there's injuries, but this is the time of year they're going to happen. And I think if you look around the league, I think everybody's having similar issues. I think the difference is obviously ours have been with some of our top-line players. That's going to happen, you know? And I'd rather it happen now than happen later."
Jackson isn't one to make any injury sound too serious unless it's something like Hiram Eugene's dislocated hip. He laughs about how the media gets a kick out of saying a player is "nicked" when those nicks end up being a fractured orbital bone (Darren McFadden).
But Samson Satele is fine for this weekend after sitting out practice today, Jackson said. Rookie cornerback Chimdi Chekwa will play Saturday against the 49ers and Jackson expects most injured players back in the near future.
But in some cases it doesn't appear we'll be getting the details on some injuries. Satele said the coach would have to say what was wrong with him. Johnson said he got an "oil change."
Jackson said the NFL lockout contributed to injury issues across the league:
"Sometimes you go in there and you check something and 'Oh this needed to be done.' We had no way of knowing that. That's just where the league is. It's not so much just the Raiders, it's every football team across the league because you couldn't talk to the players, you couldn't deal with the players. You're finding out after a week of running that maybe something needs to be taken care of and that's what we're doing. It's no fault of the players, it's no fault of the organization but the thing that I love that we're doing we're being very aggressive making sure these guys are taken care of."
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.