Raiders report: Team preparing for ugly weather in Cleveland

Schedule

All practices at Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center, unless noted:

Thursday — Practice, 11 a.m

Friday — Off

Saturday — at Cleveland Browns, FirstEnergy Stadium, 1:30 p.m.

Sunday — Off

Monday — Rich Bisaccia news conference, 1 p.m.

Quote of the Day

The forecast for Saturday in Cleveland has started to take a turn for the worse, though that depends on perspective.

While there’s not likely to be a repeat of “Graupel Game” from when the Raiders visited the Browns in 2020, temperatures aren’t likely to get out of the 30s on Saturday. There is a 90 percent chance of rain during the day and a 50 percent chance of snow in the evening.

Raiders’ starting left guard John Simpson is excited about the conditions.

“Weather games are fun,” he said. “Ever since little league, playing in the rain and sliding around, it’s been fun. I think that’s one of the biggest things with us. We have to go out there and have fun. It’s a job, but at the same time it’s something we’ve been playing since we were kids. So a game like this should just bring back memories for a lot of guys. It’s fun playing in any kind of weather if you ask me.”

Injury report

Starting tight end Darren Waller did not participate in Wednesday’s walkthrough session and has not practiced since suffering knee and back injuries against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.

While the Raiders don’t have to release a game designation until Thursday afternoon, he doesn’t appear to be trending in the right direction and could miss his third consecutive game.

Cornerback Trayvon Mullen (toe) and linebacker Denzel Perryman (ankle) also sat out for a second consecutive day on Wednesday Perryman missed Sunday’s loss to Kansas City with his injury. Mullen played for the first time since Oct. 4 only to suffer an apparent setback.

There was some positive injury news, however. Defensive end Maxx Crosby (calf) and cornerback Johnathan Abram (illness) both upgraded to full participation.

Tight end Foster Moreau (abdomen), defensive end Carl Nassib (knee) and linebacker Patrick Onwuasor (hamstring) were all limited.

Preparing for precipitation

Offensive coordinator Greg Olson said the team started preparing for potential inclement conditions for Saturday’s game during Wednesday’s session.

The team stopped short of saturating the grass, but did practice throwing and catching wet balls between the quarterback and pass catchers.

Players will get on the field for a full practice on Thursday, which will give them an opportunity to test out the cleats they plan to use to combat the wet surface.

“We’ll probably wear our 7-stud cleats. We’ll adjust on Saturday if anything changes,” Olson said. “Then we always encourage our guys once we get there to go out in early pregame to test out the field conditions with their shoes.”

Searching for consistency

Simpson said the offensive line is aware that some of their performances have been better than others this season. It’s a constant battle to get more consistent and avoid the weekly swings.

“I think when we do have downs, it’s the cohesion part,” he said. “We’re working every day to get closer to each other and understand each other and why some people do certain things. We’re a tight group, so whenever we have a down game it’s on all of us. Nobody is pointing fingers or anything like that.”

New home

Former Raiders’ 2020 first-round pick Damon Arnette signed with the Dolphins’ practice squad on Thursday, reuniting with the Raiders’ 2020 third-round pick Lynn Bowden.

Arnette was released in November after a social media video showed him threatening someone with a gun.

Adam Hill Las Vegas Review-Journal