This has been a recurring issue for the Raiders as McFadden has missed the past five games, Ford the past three and Moore the past two games with injuries that have clearly hampered Oakland’s offense.

Coach Hue Jackson said all three players are making progress but he still has no target date for when they will be able to return to practice, much less play in a game.

“This has been tough,” Jackson said. “I’ve quit trying to put percentages or days or anything on it. What I try to do with this football team is to keep us afloat and just keep playing. When those guys show back up they’re going to show back up, and I know they will at some point in time, and that’s all I can worry about is the guys that are out there practicing and playing, and go check on the guys that are not, and hopefully we can get them back soon and be part of this team.”

McFadden was one of the top backs in the league before spraining his foot in the first quarter of a 28-0 loss to Kansas City on Oct. 23. He had averaged 101.7 yards rushing per game and was fourth in the league with 761 yards from scrimmage.

Initially expected to miss only a few weeks, McFadden hasn’t been able to practice as the injury has taken a long time to heal. Michael Bush has filled in admirably, but running the ball has gotten much tougher the past two weeks without the speedy Ford and Moore on the outside to keep defenses honest.

Ford hurt his left foot while making a 41-yard catch in the first quarter of a 24-17 win at San Diego on Nov. 10. Moore picked up the slack with five catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns that game but then got hurt on a punt return the following week in Minnesota.

With all three players out the past two weeks, the offense has struggled, scoring just one touchdown in a win over Chicago and falling behind 34-0 after three quarters in a loss at Miami last week.

“Every team that we play against focuses on a handful of guys offensively for us and normally it’s Jacoby or Denarius or Darren and when you don’t have that guy the defense focuses on usually, they turn to somebody else,” quarterback Carson Palmer said.

Much of that focus has been on Bush and the running game. Oakland’s rushing average has dropped from 156.8 yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry the first 10 weeks to 59.5 yards per game and 2.9 yards per carry the past two games as defenses dedicate more resources to stopping the run.

“We’re a team that likes to run the ball,” Jackson said. “So you’re going to stick eight, nine guys whatever you have to do up there to stop the run. And I think people look at the inactives and say, ‘OK, there’s Michael Bush and who else?’ At the end of the day, that’s what we’re facing and that’s OK. Our guys got to get people blocked, we’ve got to run like we know we can run, and get it done. That’s the bottom line.”

Despite the injuries, the Raiders have been one of the league’s best big-play teams this season with the second-most plays for at least 20 yards from scrimmage in the league. But many of those big-play makers have been on the sideline in recent weeks as Moore (11), McFadden (9) and Ford (6) have combined for more than 40 percent of them.

The Raiders need someone to start picking up that slack soon if they hope to end an eight-year playoff drought. Oakland is tied for first place in the AFC West with Denver with four games to play.

“The next guy has to step up,” receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey said. “We have a lot of talent here so we’ve got guys capable of stepping up and making plays. It’s hard to replace a Darren and it’s hard to replace a Jacoby, but when we get those guys back, we’ll just be more explosive.”

Notes: CB Chris Johnson left the team after his sister was killed and his mother was shot in Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday. He is expected to be back in time to play this weekend. … The Raiders signed RB Lonyae Miller and LB Carl Ihenacho to the practice squad to take the place of TE Kevin Brock and LB J Leman.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP)—The Oakland Raiders began another week of practice
Wednesday without three of their most dynamic playmakers on offense.

Star running back Darren McFadden(notes) (right foot) and big-play receivers Jacoby
Ford(notes) (left foot) and Denarius Moore(notes) (right foot) all remain sidelined with
injuries as the Raiders begin preparations for this weekend’s showdown with the
undefeated Green Bay Packers.

This has been a recurring issue for the Raiders as McFadden has missed the
past five games, Ford the past three and Moore the past two games with injuries
that have clearly hampered Oakland’s offense.

Coach Hue Jackson said all three players are making progress but he still
has no target date for when they will be able to return to practice, much less
play in a game.

“This has been tough,” Jackson said. “I’ve quit trying to put percentages
or days or anything on it. What I try to do with this football team is to keep
us afloat and just keep playing. When those guys show back up they’re going to
show back up, and I know they will at some point in time, and that’s all I can
worry about is the guys that are out there practicing and playing, and go check
on the guys that are not, and hopefully we can get them back soon and be part of
this team.”

McFadden was one of the top backs in the league before spraining his foot in
the first quarter of a 28-0 loss to Kansas City on Oct. 23. He had averaged
101.7 yards rushing per game and was fourth in the league with 761 yards from
scrimmage.

Initially expected to miss only a few weeks, McFadden hasn’t been able to
practice as the injury has taken a long time to heal. Michael Bush(notes) has filled in
admirably, but running the ball has gotten much tougher the past two weeks
without the speedy Ford and Moore on the outside to keep defenses honest.

Ford hurt his left foot while making a 41-yard catch in the first quarter of
a 24-17 win at San Diego on Nov. 10. Moore picked up the slack with five catches
for 123 yards and two touchdowns that game but then got hurt on a punt return
the following week in Minnesota.

With all three players out the past two weeks, the offense has struggled,
scoring just one touchdown in a win over Chicago and falling behind 34-0 after
three quarters in a loss at Miami last week.

“Every team that we play against focuses on a handful of guys offensively
for us and normally it’s Jacoby or Denarius or Darren and when you don’t have
that guy the defense focuses on usually, they turn to somebody else,”
quarterback Carson Palmer(notes) said.

Much of that focus has been on Bush and the running game. Oakland’s rushing
average has dropped from 156.8 yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry the first
10 weeks to 59.5 yards per game and 2.9 yards per carry the past two games as
defenses dedicate more resources to stopping the run.

“We’re a team that likes to run the ball,” Jackson said. “So you’re going
to stick eight, nine guys whatever you have to do up there to stop the run. And
I think people look at the inactives and say, `OK, there’s Michael Bush and who
else?’ At the end of the day, that’s what we’re facing and that’s OK. Our guys
got to get people blocked, we’ve got to run like we know we can run, and get it
done. That’s the bottom line.”

Despite the injuries, the Raiders have been one of the league’s best
big-play teams this season with the second-most plays for at least 20 yards from
scrimmage in the league. But many of those big-play makers have been on the
sideline in recent weeks as Moore (11), McFadden (9) and Ford (6) have combined
for more than 40 percent of them.

The Raiders need someone to start picking up that slack soon if they hope to
end an eight-year playoff drought. Oakland is tied for first place in the AFC
West with Denver with four games to play.

“The next guy has to step up,” receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey(notes) said. “We
have a lot of talent here so we’ve got guys capable of stepping up and making
plays. It’s hard to replace a Darren and it’s hard to replace a Jacoby, but when
we get those guys back, we’ll just be more explosive.”

Notes: CB Chris Johnson left the team after his sister was killed and his
mother was shot in Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday. He is expected to be back in
time to play this weekend. … The Raiders signed RB Lonyae Miller(notes) and LB Carl
Ihenacho(notes) to the practice squad to take the place of TE Kevin Brock(notes) and LB J
Leman.

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Raiders returned from their bye week on Monday by signing former Pro Bowl cornerback Lito Sheppard and are planning a workout for former Pro Bowl receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

Houshmandzadeh played in Cincinnati with new Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer and was coached by current Raiders head coach Hue Jackson, but has been out of the league so far this season.

Houshmandzadeh had been working out with Palmer in Southern California before the Raiders traded for the quarterback two weeks ago. Houshmandzadeh will work out for Oakland on Tuesday.

Jackson said the decision to look at Houshmandzadeh had been in the works for a while and did not have to do with getting a receiver who had worked previously with Palmer.

“What I need to do is find out what he is,” Jackson said. “I’m going to do everything I can to improve our football team. I mean, he may not be what he once was. He may be what he once was. But I get the opportunity to see him, and see him up close and personal and go from there.”

Houshmandzadeh was at his best with the Bengals with Palmer, catching a career-high 112 passes for 1,143 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2007. After averaging 89 catches, for 1,012 yards and seven touchdowns over a five-year span in Cincinnati, Houshmandzadeh struggled the past two seasons in Seattle and Baltimore.

He had only 30 catches for 398 yards and three touchdowns with the Ravens last season and had a key drop late in a playoff loss to Pittsburgh. No one picked him up this offseason but the Raiders are ready to take a look to see if he can regain his old form.

“He’s a born leader,” said safety Chinedum Ndukwe, who played with Houshmandzadeh in Cincinnati. “He’s a competitor. He gets open. You can’t really explain it. He might not be the fastest guy, he might not look like the greatest athlete but he gets it done. In the slot, I don’t think there’s any better in the league in the slot.”

The Raiders had an open spot on their roster this week and used it on Sheppard. He spent time in training camp with the Raiders and played in the final exhibition game before being cut. He had not caught on with any other team and was brought back by the Raiders, who have two cornerbacks banged up in Chris Johnson and Chimdi Chekwa.

Sheppard worked out for a handful of teams over the last few months, including the Raiders a few weeks ago.

“I’ve been preparing as if it was going to happen that next day each day,” Sheppard said. “But it was a relief because I felt like I was doing a pretty good job here and I kind of couldn’t understand it (being released) but then they called me back so they appreciated some of what I was doing so that was a big help.”

Sheppard is a former Pro Bowler but started only two games for Minnesota last season. He started nine games for the New York Jets in 2009 and three for Philadelphia the previous season. He had been a starter for the Eagles before that, intercepting 14 passes from 2004 to 2006.

His coverage numbers have dropped in recent years, according to STATS LLC. Sheppard allowed quarterbacks to complete 58 percent of their passes in his direction the past three seasons with 10 touchdowns, two interceptions and a 97.6 quarterback rating. In his first five seasons, Sheppard allowed opponents to catch 56.7 percent of their passes with 11 TDs, 17 interceptions and a 72.3 rating.

“He was somebody that I always watched, especially when I was a rookie,” Raiders cornerback Stanford Routt said. “He has always had good feet, good instincts and for someone that is undersized, he plays much bigger than his size. He is definitely someone that helps the secondary out physically as well as from a mental aspect.”

The Raiders officially took the past four days off, but the receivers worked with Palmer on their own to build up some rapport with the new quarterback. Receiver Jacoby Ford said that work helped improve the timing of the passing game, which Jackson said was evident at practice

“I thought he looked really sharp today,” Jackson said. “He did some really good things today. He really has a grasp of what we’re trying to accomplish. I think when I heard of what those guys did on those two days, spending time together really showed out here.”

Notes: RB Darren McFadden (foot) did not practice and Jackson had no information on what his status would be for this week. … MLB Rolando McClain (ankle) and K Sebastian Janikowski (hamstring) were among the other players who did not practice.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.