After reviewing game tape of Monday night’s 3-0 loss to Dallas, Raiders coach Dennis Allen’s assessment of RB Darren McFadden didn’t change a bit Tuesday.
For the Raiders, that’s a good thing.
“Darren McFadden was obviously very explosive,” Allen said during a conference call. “Two explosive gains in the three touches he had.”
McFadden hadn’t played in a game since Week 7 last year when he suffered a season-ending Lisfranc injury to his right foot. Yet on the Raiders’ first three plays from scrimmage, he rushed twice for 20 yards and gained 18 yards on a screen pass.
“Obviously it was exciting,” Allen said. “I don’t know that I would say it’s surprising. Every time he touches the ball, he’s a threat to go the distance. That’s the things that we expect out of Darren. I thought our guys did a nice job of blocking up front both on the screen play and on the explosive run. He’s really a guy that has to get in a crease and the next thing you know he might break it the distance. Not a surprise but obviously felt real good about it.”
McFadden was in the game for just the first four plays. Will he get more playing time Friday night at Arizona?
“We’re going to look at how the week plays out,” Allen said. “Darren needs to get his touches so that he goes into the regular season ready to go, and that’s the most important thing for him is to make sure he’s fully ready to roll when the opening game comes off on Monday night (Sept. 10 against San Diego).”
Good news for Goodson: RB Mike Goodson, who suffered a scary neck injury a week ago during practice, will “probably” return to work Wednesday and make his debut against Arizona.
“I think if he’s able to practice this week, we’ll get him in the game and let him play against Arizona,” Allen said.
Goodson and Taiwan Jones (hamstring), the Raiders’ top two reserve running backs, missed Monday night’s game. Fourth-string RB Lonyae Miller carried 15 times for just 39 yards.
A little help?: The Raiders’ promising opening drive ended when Cowboys S Gerald Sensabaugh intercepted QB Carson Palmer’s deep pass to WR Jacoby Ford down the left sideline. Allen said there was plenty of blame to go around.
“Carson kind of thought that safety was a little more centered up,” Allen said. “It was middle of the field safety. So it wasn’t a double-coverage situation. It was a thing you coach a quarterback to do, to take a shot when you get those situations. I think Jacoby could have been a little bit better at the end of the route there trying to break that thing up. Overall, you’re going to take that shot, and we want to be aggressive there.”
Not so special: The Raiders’ performance on special teams stood out to Allen as one of the most disappointing aspects of Monday night’s loss to Dallas. They went 0-for-2 on field goal attempts, with Sebastian Janikowski and Eddy Carmona each missing once. They averaged 2.3 yards per punt return and 6.0 yards per kickoff return.
“We muffed a punt or two punts, actually, and then we didn’t have the good operations on our field goal attempts,” Allen said.
Extra points: Starting C Stefen Wisniewski is “day to day” with a calf injury he suffered against Dallas, Allen said. Rookie DE Jack Crawford suited up but did not play against Dallas because of a lingering foot injury.
“There’s still a little soreness there,” Allen said. “So we just thought it was the best for us to hold him and not play him in the game.” Allen said the game tape made it clear “that we got a lot of things to clean up as far as the little things are concerned. Our execution wasn’t where it needed to be. We still got a long way to go to get to where we need to go.”
For more Raiders news and notes, follow Eric Gilmore @CBSSportsNFLOAK.
