ALAMEDA - The Raiders will be without Darren McFadden for the fourth consecutive game because of a sprained foot.
The news about McFadden is no surprise. He has not practiced since he injured his foot Oct. 23.
At this rate, the Raiders will simply need to hope he's healthy for the end of the season and the playoffs (assuming the Raiders can win the AFC West).
Even if McFadden were able to practice next week, for example, after being out more than a month it would take time for him to be ready to play, which coach Hue Jackson acknowledged.
"It's hard to come back when you've been gone that long to just hit the ground running and expect him to be exactly what he was before he left," Jackson said. "We'll have a plan to take care of that, too. We just want to get him back. That's the most important thing. I want to get the player back out here to practice at some point in time. Whenever that is, our doctors will let me know. I think we're getting closer to that happening than not happening. We just have to keep playing and keep winning and go from there."
Wide receiver Jacoby Ford (foot) and defensive end Jarvis Moss (hamstring) are also out for Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears.
SPECIAL TEAMS SHUFFLING
Ford being out and wide receiver Denarius Moore and running back Taiwan Jones being questionable is impacting special teams.
Ford and Jones are the top-2 kick returners while Moore returns punts.
Both duties are likely to belong to defensive back Bryan McCann, who was signed last week.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh was catching punts in practice, but with the injuries at receiver, Houshmandzadeh could be needed more on offense.
The good news for the Raiders is receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey practiced today and appears likely to be available against the Bears. That didn't seem possible when he left the field on a stretcher last Sunday in Minnesota with a neck injury.
PREPPING FOR HANIE
Raiders defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan spoke with the media after Friday's practice and discussed preparing for Chicago backup quarterback Caleb Hanie in his first NFL start:
"This is a guy, what you got to understand, go back and watch the (NFC) Championship game last year. He was not the backup, he was the third quarterback in. You think about the limited number of reps the second quarterback gets during the week, what do you think the third quarterback got? They didn't miss a beat, now. He came in, threw the two picks, but he also played with some poise, so they've got enough weapons and they've got a solid enough football team that they're going to expect him to manage the game, not win the game, Lovie and his staff will do a fine job, Mike Martz of preparing for him."
Hanie has some running ability. And recently the Raiders have been hurt by the running of quarterbacks Tim Tebow and Christian Ponder.
Bresnahan said the Raiders know how to contain running quarterbacks:
"It's really executing the plan. We had a pass rush plan for a guy like Ponder, for a guy like Ponder, and even if Tim Tebow's a guy that's in the pocket, you want to make sure you collapse the pocket and you don't get at different levels. It's the same thing with a running back like (Matt) Forte, if you get a different level, or even Adrian Peterson last week, those guys can find those lateral seams as well as vertical seams, and they'll hurt you, same thing with an escape lane for a quarterback. You've got to constrict those, whether it's just collapsing or setting up games inside, to make him spill outside. Last week the game plan wasn't to let him run to our defensive left. We didn't execute early on and we had two missed assignments in pressure packages where we should have had an extra guy there. There's a design to keep guys like that in the pocket and that's always going to be in the back of our mind based on who that quarterback is."
INJURY REPORT
RAIDERS
OUT
QB Jason Campbell (collarbone), WR Jacoby Ford (foot), RB Darren McFadden (foot), DE Jarvis Moss (hamstring)
QUESTIONABLE
WR Darrius Heyward-Bey (neck), DE Lamarr Houston (knee), S Michael Huff (ankle), CB Chris Johnson (hamstring, groin), RB Taiwan Jones (hamstring), S Michael Mitchell (ankle), WR Denarius Moore (foot), DT Richard Seymour (knee), RB Manase Tonga (knee)
PROBABLE
C Samson Satele (concussion)
BEARS
OUT
QB Jay Cutler (right thumb)
DOUBTFUL
CB D.J. Moore (ankle)
PROBABLE
WR Devin Hester (shin), S Brandon Meriweather (concussion)
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