The Las Vegas Raiders' defense looked good through the first four weeks of the season, outside of an outlier performance on a short week against the Washington Commanders. The unit looked like it could truly be a strength of the team amid the offensive struggles despite low expectations.
They had been relatively healthy; however, Eric Stokes was forced to leave their Week 4 game due to a knee injury. While his status for Week 5 was in question, it appeared that the Raiders would have the rest of their defensive core.
That changed just two days before facing the Indianapolis Colts, as it was announced that Germaine Pratt would not travel with the team for non-injury reasons.