The Raiders got bad news about one of their injured receivers this week, but things look more promising for Denarius Moore.
Moore will make his season debut against the Dolphins after missing Week One and most of August as a result of a hamstring injury. Moore appeared to be close to playing on Monday night, but the Raiders decided to hold him out until this weekend. Even with the extra time to prepare, the Raiders are planning a limited list of plays for Moore in his return to action.
“You’ve got to manage him because he’s been out for so long,” offensive coordinator Greg Knapp said, via Jerry McDonald of the Bay Area News Group. “You try and give him a chance to win critical situations, third downs, red zone, certain first and second downs also.”
Jacoby Ford could be headed to injured reserve after this week’s decision to have surgery on his injured foot, leaving Moore as the best option for the Raiders to stretch defenses in the coming weeks. While they obviously should take care not to aggravate the injury, the team needs the things that Moore brings to the offense too much to ease off the throttle entirely. General Manager Reggie McKenzie referred to Moore as the team’s No. 1 receiver on Thursday, also via McDonald, which leads to believe they won’t be going that route.