Brock Bowers questionable at Saints as Raiders rule out safety Treydan Stukes

The Raiders listed Brock Bowers as questionable on their final Week 3 injury report, and head coach Klint Kubiak left the decision where it has sat all month: on how the knee feels. Bowers, who had meniscus surgery before the opener, did not practice Friday, which Kubiak called a planned day off, and will work out before kickoff to determine whether he makes his 2026 debut in New Orleans.

He isn't the only name on the sheet. Safety Treydan Stukes is out with a concussion. Quarterback Aidan O'Connell, who announced his father's death this week, is questionable for personal reasons, as is edge rusher Kwity Paye with an illness, per Raiders Wire. New Orleans ruled out receiver Barion Brown with a hamstring and defensive lineman Christen Miller with a toe injury, and listed cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. as questionable.

The reason a Bowers absence would read as a missed upside rather than a crisis is the defense. ESPN's Ryan McFadden laid out the Nakobe Dean ledger this morning: 15 tackles, 1.5 sacks and two forced fumbles through two games, 97 percent of the defensive snaps, and reps at inside linebacker, outside linebacker and defensive tackle. Las Vegas leads the league in sacks and in pressure rate, and gives up 3.7 rushing yards a carry when Dean is on the field.

"He's been the glue to our defense," safety Jeremy Chinn told ESPN. Normally that's the sort of line you file under September optimism, except the results back it. The Raiders held the Chargers to 14 points and took the ball away three times in a 26-14 win, and they've climbed into the low 20s of most power rankings after opening the year near the bottom of nearly all of them.

Special teams have been carrying weight too, without much credit. The Review-Journal's Vegas Nation reported this week that the rebuilt unit ranks first in the NFL in expected points added, which is a strange sentence to write about this franchise and a welcome one.

Kickoff is 4:25 p.m. Eastern Sunday at the Caesars Superdome against a 1-1 Saints team that has been better than its record suggests. Two things to watch before then: how the Bowers pregame workout goes, and whether O'Connell is available, because quarterback depth behind Kirk Cousins was already thin when O'Connell missed the Chargers game.