Oakland Raiders Week-2: Postgame Injury Notes

Stuart Kovacs – Sep 17, 2012

For the Oakland Raiders, Sunday’s loss to the Miami Dolphins turned out to be worse than first imagined.

In a news conference on Monday, Dennis Allen broke the news that cornerback Shawntae Spencer and offensive lineman Khalif Barnes sustained “significant” injuries.

Spencer, who is in his first season with the Silver and Black, has a left foot sprain and was seen in a walking boot after Sunday’s game.

Pat Lee and Joselio Hanson played most of the game at cornerback replacing Spencer and fellow starter Ron Bartell, who is sidelined with a fracrtued scapula..

Barnes, who is a key opponent of the Raiders’ highly criticized zone blocking scheme, missed most of the game with a groin injury. He was replaced by newly acquired Willie Smith.

Allen isn’t sure how long both players will be out but he insisted that both injuries are not minor.

“I think both of those are probably significant injuries. I don’t know the exact extent to what those injuries are, but those are two guys that could potentially miss some time.”

Allen was pleased with the way Smith played in replacing Barnes.

“I thought he did some nice things coming in only being here for, I think, 10 days now. I thought he did some good things.”

He also mentioned that the team will have to investigate the free agent market to find players available at cornerback, a position where the Raiders have been depleted by injuries thus far.

“We’re going to look at the personnel that we have and we’re going to look if there’s anybody out there that we feel like can help us.”

With only two weeks of football in the books, the Raiders have been ravaged by injuries.

Raider Nation Times will continue to monitor any news on the injury front as well as any player movement as a result of the injuries.

Follow us on Twitter: @StuartKovacs and @RNTimes