The week continues to get worse for the Oakland Raiders. The team announced earlier in the week that head coach Dennis Allen would not be returning for the remainder of the season as Tony Sparano takes over the duties. Now, the team is officially without one of their top wide receivers as Rod Streater has been placed in injured reserve for the next eight weeks.
The Raiders offense just went from bad to worse with the injury to Streater. The wide receiver must sit out eight weeks before being able to return to the field for practice which would put him on pace for a return in Week 13 against the St. Louis Rams. At that point, a return might not be necessary. The wide receiver suffered a foot injury in Week 3 against the Patriots and underwent surgery. The Raiders were hoping he might only miss a few weeks, but the team announced they were forced to place him on IR with designation to return instead.
The loss of Streater is another blow to the Raiders' offense that was already lacking in top talent. The 26-year-old had 84 yards and a touchdown off nine catches through three games. Considering the poor numbers plaguing the team, those stats were a success. Now there is added pressure on the likes of James Jones who has the best resume of the bunch and returning players like Andre Holmes and Denarius Moore. Sparano has his hands full at the moment.
The Raiders are in desperate need for the receivers to step up. Rookie quarterback Derek Carr needs players to bail him out as he continues to struggle on the season. After suffering a sprained MCL and high-ankle sprain in Week 4, the quarterback has not been active on the practice field. Matt Schaub and Matt McGloin have taken over the quarterback duties. Many wondered if Schaub would actually see some playing time this season considering he lost the starting job after suffering an elbow injury in the preseason. However, Carr stresses that he will be healthy when Week 6 rolls around.
Right now, the Raiders are in danger of potentially only winning a handful of games this season. Sitting at 0-4 on the year and having just fired their head coach, hope is not high. If the wide receivers and the struggling tandem of Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew cannot step up with some relief, the Raiders are a lock for a top-five draft pick come 2015.