December 25, 2017
The Eagles have weathered devastating injuries all season long, most notably to Carson Wentz, Jason Peters, Jordan Hicks, and Darren Sproles. However, their Saturday injury report included just three players, who were all listed as questionable. The Raiders, meanwhile, will be without LT Donald Penn.
Here's the Eagles-Raiders inactives:
• OG Stefen Wisniewski: The Eagles are probably just being cautious with Wisniewski, who they will need for their playoff run. Chance Warmack started last week against the Giants and held his own.
• DE Steven Means: Means is the victim of a numbers crunch once again at DE.
• LB Joe Walker: Dannell Ellerbe will get his first playing time with the Eagles.
• RB Wendell Smallwood: Smallwood has been inactive the last month. He is the fifth running back in the pecking order.
• WR Marcus Johnson:Johnson is inactive once again, like he's been the last four weeks.
• WR Shelton Gibson: Gibson was active the last few weeks, but the Eagles will roll with just four wide receivers tonight.
• DT Elijah Qualls: Qualls is the fifth DT.
• QB Carson Wentz: The MVP award was going to be given to either Tom Brady or Carson Wentz, so obviously, the loss of Wentz cannot be understated. Nick Foles filled in for Wentz last week against the Giants and threw four TD passes.
• LT Jason Peters: Peters tore his ACL and MCL against the Redskins. Halapoulivaati Vaitai has filled in, and struggled at times.
• LB Jordan Hicks: Hicks wasn't off to his best season this year when he went down with a ruptured Achilles. Still, it's a big loss for the Eagles' defense, though the Eagles have adapted.
• RB Darren Sproles: Sproles is done for the season with a torn ACL. On the field, Sproles was the Eagles' most well-rounded running back, as he can run inside, run outside, be a weapon in the passing game, and he was easily the team's best back in pass protection. Obviously, because of his small size, however, Sproles has been never been used as a 'workhorse' type of back, but he was typically on the field in the Eagles' most crucial situations. He was also the team's primary punt returner.
• CB Sidney Jones: Jones remains on the NFI list, though he did begin practicing last week. Jones will be allowed to practice for three weeks before the Eagles will have to decide whether to add him to the 53-man roster or shut him down for the season.
• K Caleb Sturgis: Sturgis was placed on IR with a quad injury suffered Week 1 against the Redskins. He was replaced by Jake Elliott.
• LT Donald Penn: Penn was injured last week against the Dallas Cowboys, had foot surgery, and was placed on injured reserve. This Monday night, his string of 174 straight regular season games will be snapped. Penn has had an excellent career, and his absence at LT will mean that rookie fourth-round pick David Sharpe will likely start instead.
• CB Gareon Conley: Conley is a rookie corner who was heavily linked to the Eagles during the pre-draft process, when sexual assault allegations caused him to slide to the back half of the first round. He has played in just two games this season.
• S Obi Melifonwu: Melifonwu is an incredibly athletic safety who was the Raiders' second-round pick in 2017. He has appeared in just five games this season.
• K Sebastian Janikowski: Janikowski has spent the entirety of the season on IR, with Giorgio Tavecchio taking over. Tevecchio is 14 of 18 (77.8 percent) on his field goal attempts this season.
• OG Jon Feliciano: Feliciano is a reserve guard who has appeared in 13 games this season.
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