Other than that, everyone looks healthy enough to be ready to go when the Raiders visit the New Orleans Saints on September 11.
Advertisement
Del Rio said simply: “I was thinking, ‘We’re here to win”.
But the Raiders haven’t been winners yet, the training camp and the preseason has been all about establishing a tone and work ethic, and along those lines Del Rio rolled the dice in a sense his best players would come through unscathed. McCants, who saw action in two games in 2015 and logged just three starts in the previous three National Football League seasons, came in to replace Watson. Everyone suited up, even if they didn’t play.
The Raiders hadn’t led since they were up 10-7 in the first quarter.
Ward’s presence becomes crucial with the loss of Edwards for an undetermined amount of time with his hip condition.
However, the Raiders came out gunning after taking a timeout. That fact reminds me that I’m not getting any younger, but if watching Southern Miss athletes go on to succeed at the professional level comes along with aging, I guess I can stomach it. This drive would result in a short field goal. “I was going about my regular Tuesday recovery day when everything happened”. Yes, it was pre-season.
“I have to make those kinds of calls and guys have to trust my judgment”, Del Rio said.
Del Rio wouldn’t say what went into the decision to do it with the game on the line, only that it was not an off-the-cuff move. We want to compete. That was his last play before getting pulled. Cooks caught Drew Brees’ pass over his shoulder and never looked back. With 47 seconds left in the game the Raiders second-year head coach elected to go for a two-point conversion rather than tie the game.
During my time at the Hattiesburg American, I’ve been to a few Saints games. “In football there’s no such thing as a ideal game. We’ll just see whether or not they’re going to make this week”. It’s obviously a much faster game than college.
In the second half, the Saints’ defense stiffened and the offense finally started making gains.
“I said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to own up to that.’ That certainly wasn’t anywhere near where it needed to be and he knows that”.
But while 9-reception, 170-yard games may not be on the menu every week for Snead, there are a lot of signs pointing to this being a huge year for the 2014 undrafted free agent. Well, NFL Network analyst and former Pro Bowl center Shaun O’Hara is here to fix that.
Latham (6-foot-4, 306 pounds) has been played well against the run and could figure immediately into the defensive line rotation.
“I felt like things have held me back and I should have been drafted”, Latham said.
Cornerback Delvin Breaux put out a tweet around his shock that was quickly deleted, and no other Saints players have said anything on Twitter.
Advertisement
Snead saw only 15% of the Saints’ passing targets last season (101 in total), a number that seems like a virtual lock to increase in a big way this year.
