OAKLAND STARTING QB CAMPBELL HAMPERED BY INJURY, COULD MISS OPENER

Oakland Raiders’ starting quarterback Jason Campbell left Saturday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers with a stinger, but on Sunday it was revealed that a seemingly less significant injury could end up being more troublesome.  While the stinger is not considered by the team to be serious, they are concerned about a wrist injury that will necessitate further X-rays and MRI testing early this week.  Worst case scenario, the wrist issue could knock Campbell out of the lineup for Oakland’s regular season opener against the Tennessee Titans.

Campbell was hurt on a sack by the Niners’ Travis LaBoy and was removed from the field on a cart.  He remained down for five minutes, but in comments on Sunday tried to sound upbeat about his situation:

"Usually I recover pretty fast. Right now there's no timetable. The thing is just to improve and continue to keep getting better. We don't know the timetable or anything, but at the same time, I haven't really missed any time before."

The stinger ended up looking much more serious than it actually was:

"It felt a lot worse at the time that it happened, but ... they don't think it's going to be really, really serious. But at the same time it's something we've got to take care of before the season starts."

If Campbell can’t go in the regular season opener, Bruce Gradkowski will get the starting nod.  Gradkowski performed well after taking over from much maligned Jamarcus Russell midway through the 2009 season, and reinvigorated the Raiders’ stagnant offense.  He’s been injury prone throughout his career as well, however, and may be better suited in a backup role than as a starter.  In Saturday’s preseason game, Gradkowski passed for 202 yards and two touchdowns after Campbell left with the injury.  He’d missed the Raiders’ first two exhibition games nursing a groin injury, but had no trouble getting back into the swing of things:

"It felt like just where I left off. It was exciting. It feels so great to be out there and playing and competing. We have a really good football team and we're excited about it."

The Raiders will host the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday in their final preseason game.  They’ll then turn their focus to the regular season opener at Tennessee on Sunday, September 12.  Oakland is a +7 NFL betting underdog in that matchup, with the total set at 41.