Las Vegas Raiders' Darren Waller says battle for sobriety made being out harder

6:07 PM

After missing five games due to injuries and then a positive test for carbon dioxide, Las Vegas Raiders tight endDarren Waller acknowledged the time off was tougher than usual.

"Because of my disease of addiction, I can think crazy things," he said. I have to make sure that I'm talking about those things when I'm not working. I have a therapist. Stay at the meetings. Stayed in the book. Working with music. Staying solid, keeping my head out of that time that I'm not working, and just into things that I enjoy. Stay in the game of football as much as possible.

In 2020 he set a franchise record with 107 catches for 1,196 yards and nine touchdown and was named to his first Pro Bowl.

He finished the season with 55 catches for 663 yards and two touchdown. After going down with injuries in the first half at the Dallas Cowboys, Waller didn't practice until last week and was a gameday decision to suit up against the Los Angeles Clippers. He caught two passes on nine targets for 22 yards in Las Vegas' 35-32 overtime win.

"There was some rust there and some miscommunications and little things here and there that's easily fixable and easily correctable," said Raiders quarterback Derek Carr. We're fixing it on the field.

The Raiders will play in the playoffs for the first time since the 2002 season if they beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the wild-card game on Saturday. The last time the Raiders and Bengals met in the playoffs was Jan. 13, 1991, when Bo Jackson suffered a hip injury.

The team is getting ready for a short week and a trip to the country.

He said that it was difficult because he was a human being at the end of the day and he was still trying to shed his old thinking patterns. I can think of the team being balling without me being in there. Am I useless? These thoughts are irrational.

I had to be willing to stay in the practices that I have that bring me back down from that place. I still have a role on this team, even though I'm not performing. Sometimes my mind can tell me that I'm not doing anything. You are out.

It's just being locked in. My mind can take me to those places. I don't want to be there anymore.