Perryman gets off sick bed to lead spirited Raiders defense

INDIANAPOLIS — Denzel Perryman isn’t about to sugarcoat it, COVID-19 delivered a couple of Mike Tyson-like body blows to the Raiders’ Pro Bowl linebacker during the week leading up to Sunday’s 23-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

“You know, this COVID thing is real,” Perryman said.

Just as a handful of other Raiders teammates did over the days leading up to the must-win game, Perryman spent nearly the whole week in quarantine. Unable to physically attend practice, he and those teammates spent the week on zoom calls with coaches while locked up in their homes.

But lest you think it was merely a free get-out-of-work pass, think again.

“I was shaking for like the first two days,” said Perryman, who added the rest of the week meant dealing with a persistent cough.

All of which made what he did on Sunday all the more impressive. After getting game-day clearance to suit up, Perryman set aside conditioning woes and the ankle injury he has been dealing with to play a lead role in defending Colts star running back Jonathan Taylor and holding Indianapolis to 20 points.

That his seven tackles and spirited hustle occurred while he was gasping for air at various points of the game not only earned him respect from his peers, it inspired them as well.

“It’s unbelievable,” Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said. “You could tell he was running and making tackles and taking a knee a little bit longer than he usually does. The fight, that’s why he’s a Pro Bowler.”

Perryman had to take himself out of the game from time to time when breathing became difficult. Just as he learned all week, getting through the situation became as much a mental challenge as it was a physical one.

“You just got to really adjust, just got to adjust, man,” Perryman said.

That included the possibility of not being able to play in the biggest game of the season. In fact, Perryman braced for that exact scenario more than a few times last week. “I didn’t think I was going to play,” he said.

That changed as game-day drew closer and he started feeling better. Perryman, along with fellow linebackers Cory Littleton and K.J. Wright, arrived in Indianapolis Saturday night and immediately hooked up with linebackers coach Richard Smith to get up to speed on the game plan.

“I think it might have been marathon meetings with those guys to get caught up,” Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia said.

All of which culminated with the third-down stand the Raiders made late in the fourth quarter to hold the Colts to a field goal. The Raiders led 20-17 at the time, and a Colts first down could have led to a game-winning winning touchdown. At the least, it would have given the Colts a fresh set of downs with which to bleed the clock before kicking the game-tying field goal.

Perryman and the Raiders’ defense had other ideas. They wanted to get the ball back to Carr and the offense with enough time to win it.

“That last third down, I don’t know who it was, everybody was saying give it all you got,” Perryman said, even though the effects of the last week were still wreaking havoc.

“I was like, shoot, I can barely breathe myself right now,” he remembers thinking.

Nevertheless, he and the defense stopped the Colts short of a first down. That gave Carr and the offense enough time to drive 60 yards for the game-winning field goal.

“Just fighting and giving it your all,” Perryman said.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.