The prognosis for Robert Gallery’s recovery from a calf
injury was two to four weeks, and the big left tackle is doing everything he
can to make sure his return falls closer to the “two” than the “four.”

Tuesday, he surprised coach Art Shell by asking to take part
in individual drills at practice. Trainer Rod Martin gave Gallery the go-ahead,
so he suited up and pushed some pads around.

“Obviously, I’ve got a lot of work to do, we got a lot of
work to do as a line, and it’s not gonna do me any good sitting inside during
practice,” Gallery said afterward. “If you can’t do it all and go 100 (percent),
I think it’s better to go out and work on technique and stuff. We need to, and
I need to, come out firing in two weeks.”

The Oakland offensive line, already plagued by ineffectual
play – it has yielded 15 sacks in two games – has also had to deal with
injuries, to center Jake Grove, left guard Barry Sims and Gallery. Gallery is
the only one to miss a game.

He was practicing last Wednesday when his left calf gave out.
“Just fired off, came up and fired off on a linebacker in a drill we were
doing, and it popped,” he said. “So it’s definitely not one of those things
where it’s just kind of nagging. You know when you do it.”

Gallery missed one game in his first two seasons, after
breaking his fibula in Week 16 last year, and he is intent on missing no more
than one this year.

“The target’s tomorrow,” he said. “I know that ain’t gonna
be true, but I’m gonna do everything between now and tomorrow to feel better,
and I’m gonna do that the next day. We’re just lucky we don’t have to play this
weekend, so I can be smart about it and re-evaluate next week.”

Chad Slaughter filled in for Gallery at Baltimore, and had about as much success as
the former No. 2 overall draft choice has experienced recently – that is to
say, not much. Gallery watched the game and got “mental reps” as the Ravens
victimized Slaughter and right tackle Langston Walker.

Gallery acknowledged that opposing defenses – starting with
the Browns on Oct. 1 – will be bringing big-time blitz pressure until the
Raiders prove they can handle it. But he remains optimistic.

“Actually, if you watch, as ugly as it is, it’s been one guy
(each play),” he said. “It’s not always everybody screwing up. But one guy
does, and it seems like everybody takes their turn, instead of all doing it at
once. So we can sit and talk about it, or we can fix it.”