Coach Tom Cable has been pointing to the Raiders getting healthy as a reason for optimism of late but the only long-shelved players who have a chance to play Sunday are left guard Robert Gallery, who suffered a broken left fibula in Week 2 at Kansas City, and receiver Chaz Schilens, who broke his left foot in a non-contact training camp drill on Aug. 18.
According to Cable, Gallery participated in warm-ups and drills on Wednesda and got in a "few reps in team periods" while Schilens did not practice. Strange, considering the team announced his return last Tuesday and he was actually inactive Sunday due to soreness in the foot.
A more likely return game for the duo would be Nov. 15, after the bye, when the Raiders play host to the Kansas City Chiefs.
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The mysterious stomach bug that made its way through the Raiders locker room last week and felled rookie tight end Brandon Myers and defensive end Richard Seymour claimed another victim in backup quarterback Bruce Gradkowski.
"It's like 24 hours and they're back," Cable said. "So we just have to deal with it for right now."
Gradkowski, who lives in San Francisco, had to take BART to Oakland and then cabbed it over to Alameda early Wednesday morning, what with the Bay Bridge shut down. The most popular man in Raider Nation, with JaMarcus Russell's struggles, said he was not recognized.
"Nah, just kept my hood over my head," he said.
Cable said the team is taking precautions against a more wide-spread sickness.
"The first thing is we're making sure it's not that (Swine Flu)," he said. "We're doing all the tests and everything to make sure (they) don't have those symptoms, specific to that virus. This has just been a kind of 24-hour stomach flu."
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Cable also had an interesting analogy to describe the electricity the Raiders exhibited in the Monday Night Football opener against the Chargers, the Week 2 win at Kansas City and the upset victory over Eagles and the lack of voltage in losses to the Broncos, Texans, Giants and Jets.
"'It doesn't look like you have a cattle prod up your rear,'" Cable said he told the team. "'You're not just 'zap!' It's not explosive."
Meaning?
"To me, that's making sure that we're doing it right," he said. "Eating, sleeping right, taking care of our bodies, doing all those things. We've had good effort on Sundays. But there's a difference in having good effort and playing with...electricity."
Hmmmm...Greg Ellis also hinted about some of his teammates perhaps cavorting too much during the preseason. Sensing a trend?
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Strange scene at the end of practice - rookie receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey trudging off the practice field and into the locker room carrying JaMarcus Russell's shoulder pads with his red No. 2 practice jersey on them. A little rookie hazing, perhaps?
And just to beat you to the punch, no, DHB did not drop the pads...(rim shot).
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