The Raiders were back at work on Thursday afternoon, and after being limited during Wednesday's session, Austin Howard was a full participant at practice on Thursday.

Carlos Rogers also participated in a limited capacity after sitting out on Wednesday, and both Justin Tuck and Marcel Reece also practiced in a limited role.

Neither Tuck nor Reece suited up Sunday against the Cardinals, but during his post-practice remarks on Thursday, Head Coach Tony Sparano seemed encouraged by the progress the pair has made.

"Marcel has shown progress, same type of progress as Justin," said Coach Sparano. "I thought he had a better day today. I think sometimes coming off of several days off – those guys had several days there off, because they didn't play in a game – yesterday took them a little longer to get going. By the end of practice, they were going pretty good, and today it was a lot easier to get going. So that was really positive today."

Coach Sparano also fielded questions about rookie LB Khalil Mack and the best way to keep him fresh on third down.

"Khalil Mack has been an outstanding player on first and second down for us right now," Coach Sparano said. "What I've considered is trying to figure out a way to gain snaps for him during the course of a game – in other words, shave snaps so that we keep him a little bit fresher."

During his weekly media session, Defensive Coordinator Jason Tarver also spoke about Mack and the production he has received from the former University of Buffalo Bull.

"Khalil is an outstanding player and he's one of our best players, so he does a nice job," Tarver said. "He's way up there in the NFL in tackles for loss, I don't know what the numbers are, but he's, if not our best edge setter, he's certainly around that and he's also good when he's running around off the ball tackling the ball."

He went on to discuss the progression Mack will continue to make as a player, and the rare versatility that he possesses.

"What's great about Khalil is you can move him because he's smart and he doesn't make the same mistake twice," Tarver said. "So, as we progress here, he'll move to different positions to take advantage of his abilities on all downs and distance."

While he has not yet recorded his first NFL sack, Mack has shown steady improvement on a weekly basis and is becoming one of Oakland's best defenders against the run.

The Raiders will be back on the field tomorrow morning, and then will fly to Cleveland later in the day for their Week 8 match-up against QB Brian Hoyer and the Browns.

Khalil Mack and the rest of the Silver and Black will take on the Browns at 1:25 p.m. PT on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.