The bye week comes at the right time, Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio said, as he hopes to get cornerback Sean Smith and tackle Menelik Watson back at 100 percent health. And who knows, maybe he’ll get suspended linebacker Aldon Smith back, too.
Smith said last week that he hopes to return to the team Nov. 17, when his one-year suspension for violating the league's substance-abuse policy ends.
“That’s good news,” Del Rio said, chuckling. “We’ll see. That’s one of those deals that … honestly, it’s a little bit of a questionable policy, but it’s the policy in place, so we’ll follow it.