Raiders coach Dennis Allen said on a conference call today he thinks running back Mike Goodson "will probably" return to practice today for the first time since Aug. 7, when he was injured in a collision with linebacker Philip Wheeler.
Goodson was hospitalized after the collision but released that night after tests came back negative. He has been held out with neck soreness. With Taiwan Jones also sidelined by a hamstring injury, Lonyae Miller carried the ball 15 times in the Raiders' 3-0 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in their preseason opener Monday night.
"I think if (Goodson is) able to practice this week we'll get him in the game (Friday at Arizona) and let him play," Allen said.
* Allen also made it sound like Darren McFadden can expect more work in the preseason after playing just one series against the Cowboys. McFadden gained 38 yards on three touches (a 4-yard run, an 18-yard gain on a screen pass and a 16-yard carry up the middle) in his first game action since last Oct. 23.
"Darren needs to get his touches so that he goes into the regular season ready to go," Allen said. "And that's the most important thing for him is to make sure that he's fully ready to roll when the opening game comes off on (Sept. 10)."
* Allen was asked about the interception by Cowboys safety Gerald Sensabaugh that ended the Raiders' first drive and said that he had no qualms about Carson Palmer making the throw but would have liked to see receiver Jacoby Ford make more of a play on the ball.
"Carson kind of thought that safety was a little more centered up. It was a middle-of-the-field safety, so it wasn't a double-coverage situation," Allen said. "It's a thing that you coach a quarterback to do is take a shot when you get those situations.
"I think Jacoby might could have been a little bit better at the end of the route there just trying to break that thing up. But overall you're going to take that shot and want to be aggressive there. We wanted to take a shot and make a big play and it didn't work out."
* Allen said center Stefen Wisniewski, who left Monday's game after one series, is day-to-day with a calf injury. Rookie defensive end Jack Crawford, who dressed for the game but was held out because of a sore foot, is also day-to-day.
The Raiders have a quick turnaround before playing at Arizona on Friday night.
"I think we can get some things accomplished," Allen said. "Obviously we don't have as much time to prepare as we would like, but we're still in training camp mode and there's still some things we've got to work on from an execution standpoint. So that's going to be my message to the team, that's going to be our motto, is to be able to execute the little things better."
-- Matt Kawahara
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