Carson Palmer directed a 73-yard drive for a field goal in his one series before the Oakland Raiders backups dominated their Arizona counterparts in a 31-10 victory in the teams’ preseason opener Friday night. “Amari Cooper is a heck of a player and (Williams) handled his own…”
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Matt McGloin has been plagued during camp by interceptions and threw another one Tuesday when he went deep for tight end Gabe Holmes and it came up short. McGloin made 2 nice throws, but was otherwise largely ineffective. So, while the starters may not see much of the field on Friday night, those guys fighting for a job will and they will be well worth watching. “He’s pressing for a lot of playing time”. This is going to be one of the easier ways to watch National Football League games online this season.
It was the kind of play that illustrates why the Raiders are widely viewed as one of the NFL’s up-and-coming teams, the trendy pick to win the AFC West.
Arizona cut the deficit to seven when Andre Ellington scored on a 5-yard run three minutes into the second quarter. Add DeAndre Washington as well. He was as advertised with his speed and elusiveness getting 43 yards on 8 carries. If this turns out to be the norm for these RBs, the Raiders will have a unsafe running attack, especially with their offensive line. I know what he likes to do off the field. So, that pressure comes down very heavy on the team’s shoulders. Currently, former second-round pick Menelik Watson is slated as the starter, while last season’s incumbent Austin Howard nips at his heels while recovering from a late season injury.
“It’s just good, as those two young players grow together, to be more productive”, Musgrave said. Those are tough games to play, but that sort of early trial by fire could get the Raiders ready for the year and make some of those regular-season matchups feel like easy victories by comparison.
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But this season the Raiders have a playoff-level roster, I am sure of it, and I have not come close to believing that for more than a decade. He’s now listed as the third-string runner behind starter Latavius Murray and Taiwan Jones, but don’t count him out as Murray’s primary backup, especially considering he’s getting more touches than Jones in camp thus far. Kerwynn Williams carried the ball six times for 39 yards. They need to shore that up. Cooper was also slowed late in the season by a foot injury and only topped 20 yards receiving once in the final four games. There were a couple in this game. Niklas had a pair of catches for 44 yards, including a 32-yarder in which he bounced off a would-be tackler and rumbled down to the Oakland 5-yard line. Time will tell, but he did play better as time went on (and admittedly, after Mack went out.) Humphries hasn’t answered all the questions yet. OK, that is a bit sarcastic, but it is true. It is not all bad since this game gives us an idea of the depth the Raiders will have. The fact that Washington played so well and Atkinson flashed with some big plays doesn’t help him when he wasn’t able to get out there and state his case. “But the typical way these first preseason games go is the first group will play the first quarter, no more than a quarter probably, and then we’ll get a good look at everybody else on the roster”.
