Raiders News: Jon Gruden Reveals Status Of Yannick Ngakoue, Josh Jacobs For Week 2

It has only been a few days, but the Las Vegas Raiders are buzzing after their thrilling overtime win against the Baltimore Ravens.

After going down 14-0 in the first half, the Raiders were able to rally in the second half and come away with the victory after Derek Carr found Zay Jones found himself wide open in the end zone. It was exciting to see Carr march the Las Vegas offense down the field in such a pressure-filled game, but the coaching staff had to be impressed with how the defense held up as well.

The Raider defense forced Lamar Jackson into two fumbles that they recovered, with the second one setting up Las Vegas’s last drive. However, the Raiders did suffer some injuries as Yannick Ngakoue and Gerald McCoy were unable to finish the game.

As far as Ngakoue goes, head coach Jon Gruden announced the defensive end is expected to be good to go for their Week 2 tilt against the Pittsburgh Steelers via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN:

#Raiders coach Jon Gruden, on Yannick Ngakoue: “He looks pretty good. We expect him to go.”

— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) September 17, 2021

However, Gruden also revealed that Josh Jacobs would be unable to play due to toe and ankle injuries via Tashan Reed of The Athletic:

#Raiders coach Jon Gruden said Yannick Ngakoue will play Sunday. Josh Jacobs, however, won’t.

— Tashan Reed (@tashanreed) September 17, 2021

Getting Ngakoue back will be crucial in slowing down a Steelers offense that features three great receivers in JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool, and Diontae Johnson. However, the loss of Jacobs likely means Kenyan Drake will be featured in a workhorse load while Peyton Barber will see some snaps as well.

Pittsburgh will be a more challenging test for Las Vegas, given they are arguably the league’s best defense, but it will be interesting to see how the Silver and Black hold up in their first road game of the year.