The Oakland Raiders have become the victims of fake news.
Miko Grimes, the wife of Buccaneers cornerback Brent Grimes, has made an inflammatory claim about the Raiders -- a claim so ridiculous and patently false that we initially weren’t going to mention it.
Grimes contended during a radio appearance that the team’s offensive line deliberately allowed the Week Four injury to quarterback Derek Carr. She further explained that they were unhappy with the manner in which Carr handled the anthem controversy.
"[H]e was so upset about it when the whole offensive line was saying they were going to kneel, he was like, ‘No, no, no, no, you’re not kneeling. No. No.’” Grimes said. “‘This is America. You’re going to stand for the flag.’ And they got in a fight in the locker room. So when they came out to play, they basically had a plan. . . .”
Here’s the problem with that contention. The injury happened in Week Four, when the Raiders played the Broncos in Denver. The kneeling controversy hit full boil a week earlier, when the Raiders played Washington on a Sunday night.
Grimes actually referred to the injury as happening against Washington, which could be regarded as an innocent factual error. It’s also possible, however, the Grimes became aware of radio chatter (take a few minutes to listen to it) that the Raiders’ offensive line essentially tanked the game at Washington (Oakland lost 27-10) and that after Carr suffered the injury a week later she mashed the two events together, deliberately or inadvertently, and emerged with the misguided notion that the offensive line pulled a Remember The Titans/The Longest Yard maneuver on Carr in the heat of the moment, fueled by the craziness that descended on the league in the days after President Trump but the NFL on blast.
Guard Kelechi Osemele previously disputed the claims of tanking that emerged after the Week Three loss to Washington. Here’s what Osemele said on Instagram about the claim of tanking on September 25, six days before Carr’s injury: “if you guys really believe that...I don’t even know what to tell you. Carr is our brother he fully supported our decision to make this statement we discussed this as a TEAM and we all have each other’s back . . . we’re back focused on working now end of conversation.”
Tackle Donald Penn has now refuted the notion that the Raiders deliberately got Carr injured on October 1.
“It’s crazy how people will make up lies and tell a story so false and untrue 2 get them some attention I hope it was worth it all lies,” Penn said on Twitter.
Let’s apply some common sense to this one. If someone intentionally allowed Carr to suffer an injury that caused him to miss a game, some hint of dysfunction or disharmony would have emerged at some point in the five weeks since it happened. There are too many legitimate reporters swarming around the team and the league to not catch wind of something so explosive.
Also, the video of the injury contains nothing to suggest that anyone deliberately whiffed on a block. The play looked to be a delayed screen intended for tight end Jared Cook, but when Broncos safety Darian Stewart sniffed it out and followed Carr, he opted to tuck and run, and he quickly was twisted up and hit in the back.
Put simply, there was nothing to suggest that the Raiders’ offensive line was deliberately trying not to block for Carr. Which means that there’s nothing to the claim of an intent to allow his injury. Which means that we can go back to ignoring anything and everything Miko Grimes says.