Raiders quarterback Geno Smith returned to full participation in Thursday’s practice.
Smith has a foot injury that limited him on Wednesday.
He played all 48 snaps in the Week 13 loss to the Chargers.
Smith has completed 67.3 percent of his passes for 2,532 yards with 15 touchdowns and a league-leading 14 interceptions.
Defensive end Maxx Crosby (knee) was downgraded to a non-participant after limited work on Wednesday.
Offensive guard Dylan Parham (back) returned to practice as a limited participant, and linebacker Jamal Adams (knee) sat out Thursday after full participation on Wednesday.
Offensive lineman Jordan Meredith (ankle) remained limited on Thursday.
Wide receiver Alex Bachman (thumb), tight end Michael Mayer (ankle), and wide receiver Dont’e Thornton (concussion) missed the session for a second consecutive day.
Raiders Clips
Raiders quarterback Geno Smith played all 48 snaps in the Week 13 loss to the Chargers. Smith, though, came out of the game with a foot injury.
The Raiders list Smith as limited at Wednesday’s practice.
He has completed 67.3 percent of his passes for 2,532 yards with 15 touchdowns and a league-leading 14 interceptions.
Defensive end Maxx Crosby (knee) also was limited.
Offensive lineman Jordan Meredith (ankle) was the other limited participant in the practice.
Wide receiver Alex Bachman (thumb), tight end Michael Mayer (ankle), offensive guard Kylan Parham (back) and wide receiver Dont’e Thornton (concussion) missed the session.
The NFL will head into the final five weeks of the regular season with the fewest number of teams still in playoff contention since at least the 2002 season.
The Giants, who fell to 2-11 on Monday night, became the first team eliminated from postseason consideration in Week 12 and four teams joined them in Week 13. The 1-11 Titans, 2-10 Raiders, 2-10 Saints, and 3-9 Cardinals are also set to start making their plans for the 2026 season.
Per NBC Sports research, that is the most teams out at this point in the season since the divisional realignment that took place ahead of the 2002 season.
While all of those teams are out of the running, no teams have clinched a playoff spot at this point.
A handful of other teams should be joining that quintet soon. The 3-9 Jets, 3-9 Browns, 3-9 Commanders, 4-8 Falcons, and 4-8 Vikings are going to a lot of things to break in their favor to keep the playoff fires burning much longer.
The Commanders and Vikings play this week and the loser will have no remaining path to the playoffs. The Commanders will also be out if they win and the Eagles win while the Jets, Browns and Falcons are all out with a loss this week.
In the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game between the Raiders and the Chargers, L.A. quarterback Justin Herbert celebrated a third-down conversion by shouting in the vicinity of Las Vegas defensive end Maxx Crosby. Crosby didn’t like it.
He shoved Herbert. Herbert fell to the ground. Crosby was penalized. Immediately after that, Crosby approached Herbert to talk it out.
Crosby explained what happened on Monday’s Let’s Go! podcast on SiriusXM.
“Me and Justin have a long history,” Crosby told host Jim Gray. “We’ve gone against each other, we’ve battled for years and years and years. And for me, I definitely shouldn’t have reacted that way. I just didn’t appreciate a guy that, I know him, we’ve gone to Pro Bowls together, we’ve had conversations, and he’s screaming in my ear and he hasn’t said a word all game, you know what I mean? And he’s screaming in my ear after a first down. Come on, bro. And I turn around and I push him and he flops. And if you watch the film, not one of his O-linemen came and did anything to me. And nobody did nothing because they knew he flopped. I guess he got me, but if we’re gonna talk, you know how I am, I’m gonna talk to you face to face. We’re gonna talk our shit.”
Crosby decided to hash it out, then and there.
“I walked up to him, I’m like, ‘Come on bro, you’re better than that,’” Crosby said. “He was just kind of not looking at me and then I forced him, I’m like, ‘No, dap me up. I’m like, don’t be doing that shit.’ I was like, ‘You’re gonna talk your shit to me, come talk shit to me.’ Because I know him. I respect him. I have a ton of respect for Justin. He is a hell of a player. He is a good dude. I know how he is. So he was in the moment and screaming in my ear and I’m like, ‘What the fuck?’ You know what I mean? I turned around, I’m like, alright, and then he had a great little sell job on the fall. So it is what it is. It’s a part of the game. It’s a mental part of the game. I gotta be smarter though, ultimately, and not react that way.”
Crosby explained more generally the challenge of keeping those feeling in check during a game.
“When you’re in the arena, when the bullets are flying and you’re one of the guys out there doing it, there’s no way to describe that feeling and mentality,” Crosby said. “You’re in a whole different space. Yeah, you just gotta be able to control your emotions but ultimately your passion for the game is going to speak and sometimes they get the best of you. It’s part of it.”
The 15 yards didn’t really matter. The Chargers were up by 10 with 4:07 to play. But Crosby recognizes the importance, and the challenge, of flipping the switch to “off” in between snaps.
Besides, it’s hard to fault Crosby for being generally frustrated. He’s the best player, by far, on one of the league’s worst teams.
Now that minority owner Tom Brady has managed to clone his dog, Brady should dial up a few Maxx Crosby clones, too.
The Raiders may be saving some of the money that would otherwise go to pay former offensive coordinator Chip Kelly’s buyout.
Word is circulating among Kentucky players that Kelly could be the team’s next head coach. That doesn’t mean he will be. It doesn’t even mean he’s an official candidate. It means only that Kentucky players have somehow developed the impression that Kelly could be the new coach.
Kentucky fired coach Mark Stoops on Sunday, after the conclusion of a 5-7 season. On Saturday, Stoops said there was a “zero percent chance” he’d walk away. He had coached the Wildcats since 2013. He had a record of 72-80.
Kelly was the head coach at Oregon from 2009 through 2012. He coached the Eagles for three seasons and the 49ers for one year. After a year off in 2017, he coached UCLA from 2018 through 2023. He served as the Ohio State offensive coodinator in 2024, before being hired by the Raiders to a three-year contract with a reported value of $6 million per year.
The Raiders fired Kelly last Sunday night. If the rumor currently making the rounds among Kentucky players is accurate, Kelly could be crash landing on his feet, quickly.
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh loves to run the football, and even without his top two running backs, that’s what he’s doing.
The Chargers ran all over the Raiders today, with Kimani Vidal leading the way with 126 yards and a touchdown, and Jaret Patterson contributing 54 yards and a touchdown as well, as the Chargers shook off a sluggish first half to earn an easy 31-14 win.
Although the Chargers’ top two running backs, Omarion Hampton and Najee Harris, are out with injuries, that doesn’t change their offensive approach. Harbaugh likes to establish the run, and he’s doing it.
Of course, Harbaugh also likes to see quarterback Justin Herbert air it out, but today Herbert suffered a left hand injury that forced him to leave the game briefly, and Harbaugh seemed especially committed to keeping him safe. Herbert completed 15 of 20 passes for 151 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception.
It helped that the Raiders’ offense couldn’t do much of anything. The lone bright spot for the Raiders was the play of their stellar tight end, Brock Bowers, who scored both of their touchdowns. Bowers’ second touchdown pass, on which he somehow got his hand under the ball and kept it off the ground as he fell to the turf in the end zone, was one of the best plays of this NFL season.
Late in the game, as the Raiders’ frustrations boiled over, Maxx Crosby got a 15-yard penalty for shoving Herbert to the ground long after the play was over. Crosby can expect a fine from the league office this week.
At 8-4, the Chargers are in good shape in the playoff race. At 2-10, the Raiders are in a race for the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
Chargers running back Kimani Vidal wasn’t expected to do much this season. But injuries to running backs Omarion Hampton and Najee Harris have forced the Chargers to turn Vidal into their primary ball carrier.
He’s making the most of that opportunity.
Vidal raced 59 yards for a touchdown at the start of the third quarter today against the Raiders, a career-long run that gave the Chargers a 14-7 lead. Vidal now has 15 carries for 96 yards, less than a minute into the third quarter.
Although it hasn’t been a great game for Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, who injured his left hand early in the game, Jim Harbaugh would love to keep the ball on the ground and keep feeding Vidal.
Firing Chip Kelly did not fix the Raiders’ offense.
In their first game with Greg Olson taking over for Kelly as the Raiders’ offensive coordinator, the offense was sluggish for most of the first half. But just after the two-minute warning, the Raiders finally got on the board when Geno Smith hit Brock Bowers in the end zone for a touchdown, tying the game 7-7.
Smith has completed five of seven passes for 76 yards with one interception, and that one touchdown pass to Bowers, who has 57 of the Raiders’ 76 receiving yards. Ashton Jeanty has nine carries for 27 yards.
It’s been a dull first half, but it’s a close game in Los Angeles, a game that the Chargers can’t afford to lose as they continue to fight for an AFC playoff berth.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has returned to the game with 11:56 remaining in the second quarter.
He missed eight plays in the training room, with Trey Lance replacing him.
Herbert injured his left hand on a 1-yard scramble after Jeremy Chinn slammed the quarterback to the ground. Herbert’s hand slammed against the turf.
He threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Quentin Johnston on the next play, giving the Chargers a 7-0 lead after their first possession.
The Chargers listed him as questionable to return.
With Lance leading the Chargers down the field on their second possession, Herbert returned to the sideline and took snaps from backup center Andre James.
Herbert completed his first two passes after returning as the Chargers reached the Las Vegas 2-yard line, but on third-and-goal, Kyu Blu Kelly stepped in front of Herbert’s pass intended for Ladd McConkey. The Raiders have the ball at their own 2-yard line.
Herbert is 7-of-8 for 76 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is currently in the training room, with Trey Lance taking his place on the field.
Herbert injured his left hand on a 1-yard scramble after Jeremy Chinn slammed the quarterback to the ground. Herbert’s hand slammed against the turf.
He threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Quentin Johnston on the next play, giving the Chargers a 7-0 lead after their first possession.
Herbert sprinted to the training room with athletic trainers, and the Chargers list him as questionable to return.
He went 5-for-5 for 39 yards and a touchdown on the first drive.
