ALAMEDA, Calif. – Oakland Raiders running back Latavius Murray passed his final concussion test and has been cleared to play in Sunday’s game against San Francisco.
Murray was held out of last Sunday's 52-0 loss to the St. Louis Rams after getting hurt in the first half of Oakland’s Week 12 victory over Kansas City. The second-year running back practiced before the game, but was limited.
He was again limited in practice Wednesday, but interim coach Tony Sparano sounded optimistic that Murray will play against the 49ers.
“He’s cleared to do his stuff in practice right now,” Sparano said Wednesday. “We’ll see where he is tomorrow. He was able to do much more.”
Murray is the only Oakland running back to have any sort of success carrying the ball this season. He had 112 yards and two touchdowns on just four carries before getting hurt against the Chiefs. That was still far and away better than what Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew have done.
Fans and media have been clamoring for Murray to get more carries now that he’s healthy. Sparano seems eager to oblige, though he emphasized Murray’s production has been at a small sample size.
“I like what I’ve seen, but I’ve seen eight carries,” Sparano said. “I want to see more of him. I’m curious, too. I’m curious, just like the fans are curious. I’ve seen it in practice; I’ve seen it get better and better to the point where we tried to push the envelope to be able to get him involved. This kid has just come along, come along, come along … not different than a lot of our younger players.
“If all goes according to script this week, he’ll get his turns and he’ll get a chance to run the football.”
