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Linebacker Miles Burris earned himself a hefty amount of playing time for the Oakland Raiders following the bye week, and his place in the team's nickel packages has come at the cost of Rolando McClain's number of snaps.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that Burris, a rookie out of San Diego State, got 55 snaps to just 17 for McClain. Against the Denver Broncos two weeks ago before a bye, McClain played 73 snaps of offense. It appears that head coach Dennis Allen now prefers McClain to leave the field when the Raiders go with a set heavy in defensive backs.
"Every week, we're going to evaluate and see where we're at, but he did enough to earn the right to be back out there in nickel situations," Allen said of Burris.
Allen added that he has been impressed with Burris' ability to make corrections on the fly, saying the linebacker wasn't a "repeat offender" when it came to mistakes and a smart football player overall.
Burris had four tackles in a 23-20 loss to Atlanta, and has 18 total tackles this season.
McClain, a 2010 first-round pick out of Alabama, has started 34 of 37 games for Oakland since he arrived.