ALAMEDA - So there's no conspiracy against Darrius Heyward-Bey or Kevin Boss.
How do we know? Coach Hue Jackson said so.
There was a lot of discussion as to why Heyward-Bey, the team's leading receiver, only had one pass thrown to him in Sunday's loss to Denver and Boss was a special teams player after being the starting tight end all season.
"I was surprised," Boss said. "Yeah. Coach's decision, but uh, yeah. Surprised."
Jackson said it was a matter of "packages" players were in. In the case of Boss, there were more two back, three receiver sets. As for Heyward-Bey, Jackson said for plays he was in, there was no plan to not go to Heyward-Bey, but credited the Broncos for taking away Heyward-Bey.
Jackson said based on practices, players knew the gameplan and that the game dictated which packages were used.
"They knew exactly the packages they were in," Jackson said. "It wasn't like they did not know."
Here's more of Jackson on packages:
"As you go into a game the ratios can change based on situations, based on how the game is unfolding. You don't go and say you're definitely playing 50 plays. This is what we're going to do. It doesn't work that way. It's the flow of the game and situational football and where we get the ball. We had a drive that started at the 8-yard line. Maybe all of a sudden a guy who was going to be in wasn't in because we had to go to a different package. Those things happen. And as a player, you have to understand that. It's always changing and flowing. Again if a guy got his feelings a little bruised because of that, then that's OK. I don't think anybody thinks anything is coming from a bad place, that somebody is trying to hold them down or stop them from helping us win. I don't think that at all. I like players that get disappointed that they didn't play. That means they have a fire that's burning and they want to help this team win."
Among the things you can rule out as for why Boss and Heyward-Bey didn't play as much as normal is skipping workouts with Carson Palmer during the bye week.
Palmer said that wasn't the case.
"They were here just as much as anybody else," Palmer said.
So there you have it (minus Heyward-Bey's take). Heyward-Bey was not in the locker room during media availability today.
Short week
This week's practice schedule is obviously altered because the Raiders play Thursday at San Diego.
The Raiders held a walkthrough this afternoon after film when they'd normally take the rest of the day off.
The Raiders practice Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning before their flight San Diego.
No official injury report until tomorrow, but Michael Huff was wearing a walking boot after the walkthrough. Darren McFadden was not on the field for the walkthrough.
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