A Receiver Comes Back. The Defense Stays a Problem.

The Raiders got a receiver back from injured reserve on Tuesday, a small piece of good news for an offense that has been searching for any kind of lift during a four-game losing streak. The identity of the returning player wasn't specified in the announcement, but the timing matters: Kirk Cousins has 1,927 passing yards and 17 touchdowns through eight games, and Tre Tucker has been the most reliable target in the room. Adding a body helps, even if it doesn't immediately change the arithmetic on a team sitting 1.5 games out of the last wild card spot.

The bigger issue remains on the other side of the ball. I've written twice in the last week about the defensive middle holding together with tape and optimism, and nothing from Sunday's 35–21 loss to the Rams changed that read. Tonka Hemingway is now listed as active per the current injury report, which is an update from his concussion protocol stint, but the unit has been giving up points in bunches — 45 to New England, enough to Buffalo and Los Angeles to lose both. Jeremy Chinn leads the team with 49 tackles, and Hezekiah Masses has been the secondary's best story with three interceptions, but the defense as a whole hasn't been able to hold leads or manufacture stops when the game is on the line.

That last part is the thread that connects 2025 to right now. The Raiders went 2–5 in one-score games last year. They're losing by an average of two points per game this season. A receiver returning from IR is a roster note. Stopping the bleeding in close games is the actual problem, and no IR activation fixes that.