Rams at Raiders Preview: Preseason Game #2

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Oakland Raiders: What we learned from the exhibition opener

By JIMMY DURKIN
PUBLISHED: August 12, 2017


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Derek Carr suited up but never needed his helmet as only three offensive starters ever saw the field. Most of their starting defense was out there, as it should have been considering the work it needs, but Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin didn’t play.

Marshawn Lynch experienced an interesting night as he suited up for the Raiders for the first time. There was never a chance that he was going to play, but he did put on the pads for pre-game warmups.

Also a non-issue for Del Rio is the Gareon Conley injury situation. Conley tweeted on Thursday that he doesn’t have shin splints, which ran counter to what general manager Reggie McKenzie said 11 days earlier. It appears to be a minor mix-up with Conley dealing with an injury to his shin, but not specifically shin splints.

Here’s what we learned from the exhibition opener:

THREE IMPRESSIONS

1. Playing it safe: The Raiders could’ve given Carr a token possession with a few handoffs, but they didn’t bother. It was an automatic they’d sit guys who have been dealing with injuries like Amari Cooper, Mack, Irvin, Obi Melifonwu and Gareon Conley, who is still on the physically unable to perform list.

But they played it extra cautious by keeping out Michael Crabtree, Jared Cook, the starting interior offensive line of Rodney Hudson, Kelechi Osemele and Gabe Jackson and fullback Jamize Olawale.

Most of those guys will see action at some point in the exhibition season, but there’s no reason to expose them this early on.

2. Defense not fixed: The Raiders pegged so many of their defensive issues last season on poor communication they expected to have cleaned up this year. That wasn’t immediately evident.

On Arizona’s first drive, either TJ Carrie or Reggie Nelson blew the coverage and Jaron Brown was running free down the middle of the field. But Carson Palmer overthrew Brown as the Raiders escaped giving up a truly ugly play.

Two drives later, the Raiders only had 10 players on the field when fortunately an alert Karl Joseph called a time out. These are issues you expect to see in the exhibition season, but it’s easy to overreact so early when you consider the issues from last season.

3. Manuel maintains lead: E.J. Manuel has long held the apparent edge in the backup quarterback battle and that didn’t change Saturday. He played the first half and completed 10 of 12 passes for 107 yards despite not having Cooper, Crabtree or Cook to throw to. His best pass was a 30-yarder to tight end Clive Walford that he nicely dropped in.

Connor Cook was 10 of 21 for 82 yards, with his longest pass of 29 yards coming on a screen play that John Crockett turned into a big gain.

THREE WHO HELPED THEMSELVES

1. Safety Karl Joseph: The second-year safety is already a locked-in starter of course, but he showed the early signs of being more of an impact player. He raced in to deliver a big thumping hit on one of Arizona’s first running plays of the night and was highly active while he was out there — so much so that he looked like one of those key starters that should’ve been sitting on the bench.

2. Defensive tackle Treyvon Hester: It’s no secret the Raiders need some interior push on that defensive front. Hester showed he may be able to provide that. He received rotational snaps with the starting defense and helped anchor the second-team line and delivered a pair of sacks and a quarterback hurry.

3. Linebacker LaTroy Lewis: Where did he come from? An undrafted free agent out of Tennessee, he hasn’t really drawn any attention during training camp but proved to be worth watching a little more after coming off the edge to notch two sacks. Sure, he did it against backup linemen, but for a team in need of some secondary pass rushers behind Mack and Irvin, he could earn himself an extra look.

THREE WHO HURT THEMSELVES

1. Cornerback Sean Smith: The night couldn’t have gone worse for Smith, whom the Raiders gave a four-year, $38 million contract to last year. He looks more like a candidate to be cut — even with a guaranteed $9.5 million salary this season — than he does to start.

Smith was called for pass interference on his first snap of the night, then picked up an illegal contact penalty later in the game when the Cardinals’ Chris Hubert beat him deep and he just reached out and grabbed him.

He got beat another time on what should’ve been a touchdown but Arizona backup quarterback Drew Stanton overthrew the pass.

While he’s a sunk cost for this year, the Raiders might have to consider eating that money if he continues on this path.

2. Linebacker Marquel Lee: The rookie middle linebacker has a lot riding on him to help stabilize this defense and he didn’t get off to a great start. Lee, a fifth-round pick, was constantly getting blown out of run plays and chasing from behind in coverage on pass plays. He did have a fumble recovery, finished with six tackles and had a couple flashes in coverage, but overall it wasn’t the best debut.

3. Right tackle Vadal Alexander: The Raiders’ biggest leverage in the Donald Penn holdout is to have their line play well in his absence. Alexander, who would’ve been battling Marshall Newhouse for the right tackle job if Penn was in camp, was beat badly on a play that led to Manuel getting crushed for a nine-yard sack. The Raiders don’t want to see their QBs taking big hits like that.

EXTRA POINT

— The Raiders are already thin at offensive tackle with Penn’s holdout and David Sharpe dealing with an injury that kept him out and then saw Denver Kirkland leave in the third quarter with some type of leg injury. The versatile Kirkland started the game at left guard and was playing left tackle with the second unit when he got hurt.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/...s-what-we-learned-from-the-exhibition-opener/


Raiders Renew Longstanding Preseason Series With Rams
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By Jerry Knaak Team Historian
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The Raiders have a long and varied history with the Los Angeles Rams in the preseason. Let's take a look at it.

The Raiders have a long and varied history with the Los Angeles Rams in the preseason. Although the teams have met just 13 times in the regular season since 1972, the Raiders and Rams have battled 19 times in regular season tune-ups since 1970.

The Raiders lead the all-time preseason series 12-7 and have won the last four meetings, all in Oakland.

The series has been played out in four different cities (Berkeley, Oakland, St. Louis, and Los Angeles) and in five different stadiums (Cal’s Memorial Stadium, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, the Edward Jones Dome, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and Anaheim Stadium).

The Raiders and Rams met annually in the preseason from 1970-73, traditionally in Week 3 of a six-game exhibition schedule. The Rams won the first meeting, 34-23, in Los Angeles, with the Raiders winning the next three.

The second meeting, a 20-7 Raiders win in 1971, was held at Cal’s Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, as was the fourth, a 16-3 Raiders victory in 1973.

Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel, who was originally drafted by the Raiders in the first round of the 1962 AFL Draft, as well as by the Rams in the 1962 NFL Draft, was a top NFL quarterback (1969 NFL MVP) for the Rams and played in this rivalry from 1970-72.

After a year off, the teams resumed their annual meetings with five in a row from 1975-79. The Rams won the 1975 and ’76 contests, with the ’76 match-up serving as the Raiders only loss of the 1976 preseason.

The six-game preseason schedule was shortened to four (with exceptions for American Bowls overseas and Hall of Fame games) after the 1977 campaign, and then Rams would go on to win the next three match-ups in the series, 1978, ’79 and 1992.

During the 1970s, numerous Hall of Fame players on both sides took the field in this preseason series.

For the Raiders: tackle Ron Mix, center Jim Otto, quarterback/kicker George Blanda, quarterback Ken Stabler, cornerback Willie Brown, guard Gene Upshaw, tackle Art Shell, linebacker Ted Hendricks, tight end Dave Casper, wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff, tackle Bob Brown, punter Ray Guy, and Head Coach John Madden.

For the Rams: Head Coach George Allen, defensive end Deacon Jones, guard Tom Mack, defensive tackle Merlin Olsen, tackle Jackie Slater, and defensive end Jack Youngblood.

From 1970-79, the Raiders and Rams each qualified for the playoffs seven times, and played in five conference championship games each during that span. The Silver and Black defeated the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 in Super Bowl XI after the 1976 season.

The Vikings defeated the Rams in the NFL title game that year. The Rams would go on to win the NFC Championship and lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl after the 1979 season.

The Raiders played in five straight AFC Championship games from 1973-77, while the Rams played in three straight NFL title game from 1974-76, and two straight from 1978-79.

The 1979 and 1992 contests featured rare preseason overtime finishes. The Rams won both, 20-14 in ’79, and 19-16 in '92; both games were held in Los Angeles with the Rams as the home team. Longtime Rams running back Eric Dickerson (1983-87) joined the Silver and Black in 1992 after playing for the Indianapolis Colts (1987-91).

The Raiders moved to Los Angeles after the 1981 campaign and set up shop at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The two teams only met three times in the 1980s, all in the regular season.

The Raiders won the next two match-ups against the Rams, both in Los Angeles with the Rams as the home team, 1993-94, which happened to be the last two times the teams would meet as the Los Angeles Raiders vs the Los Angeles Rams in the preseason.

They would face each other during the 1994 regular season.

Both teams would move after the 1994 season, with the Raiders returning to Oakland, and the Rams relocating to St. Louis. From 1995 – 2015, the Raiders won six of the seven preseason meetings between the two teams, with all but one of those match-ups taking place in Oakland.

The Rams only win during this time period came in 2000 in St. Louis, as Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner and the Rams celebrated their 1999 Super Bowl title, and the team unveiled new uniforms.

The Raiders won the last match-up, 18-3 in Oakland in 2015, in Jack Del Rio’s debut as Raiders head coach. The Rams returned to Los Angeles in 2016.

In the preseason, the two teams played twice in Berkeley, eight times in Los Angeles, twice in St. Louis and seven times in Oakland. Well over 30 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame have participated in this rivalry.

As for the regular season, the Raiders lead the series 8-5, with the Rams winning the last three in St. Louis and the Raiders winning the last two in Oakland. The two teams have eight Super Bowl appearances between them.

When the Raiders and Rams renew their preseason rivalry Saturday night in Oakland, the Rams will once again be wearing new uniforms, with the new look harkening back to the days when this series first began. And the next time the Raiders take to the road to face the Rams, it’ll be in Los Angeles where the whole thing began.

Raiders vs Rams Preseason Series:

Aug. 22, 1970: Raiders at LA Rams, L 34-23
Aug. 21, 1971: Raiders vs LA Rams, W 20-7, Berkeley
Aug. 19, 1972: Raiders at LA Rams, W 34-9
Aug. 18, 1973: Raiders vs LA Rams, W 16-3, Berkeley
Sept. 11, 1975: Raiders at LA Rams, L 6-0

Aug. 21, 1976: Raiders vs LA Rams, L 23-14
Sept. 9, 1977: Raiders at LA Rams, W 21-0
Aug. 6, 1978: Raiders vs LA Rams, L 28-3
Aug. 4, 1979: Raiders at LA Rams, L 20-14 OT
Aug. 15, 1992: LA Raiders at LA Rams, L 19-16 OT

Aug. 28, 1993: LA Raiders at LA Rams, W 20-19
Aug. 20, 1994: LA Raiders at LA Rams, W 29-20
Aug. 12, 1995: Raiders vs STL Rams, W 27-22
Aug. 7, 1999: Raiders at STL Rams, W 18-17
Aug. 5, 2000: Raiders at STL Rams, L 31-17

Aug. 8, 2003: Raiders vs STL Rams, W 7-6
Sept. 2, 2004: Raiders vs STL Rams, W 28-24
Aug. 24, 2007: Raiders vs STL Rams, W 20-10
Aug. 14, 2015: Raiders vs STL Rams, W 18-3

(Series Trend) The Raiders have won 8 of the last 9 preseason games vs the Rams
http://www.raiders.com/news/article...ith-Rams/1a85ea44-5736-4d42-b3a4-4e6892d47bbf


Jack Del Rio didn't leave the fans waiting on the status of the Raiders starters for their second preseason game.

By Jeff Smith
Published: August 18, 2017


So, it looks like Raider Nation will get their first look at the full 2017 Raiders starters, and it'll be for more than a quarter of action.

In the Oakland Raiders preseason opener, many big names like Derek Carr, Amari Cooper. Khalil Mack, Marshawn Lynch and Michael Crabtree were all spectators.

Apparently, that will all change in the team's second preseason game Saturday against the Los Angeles Rams.

In head coach Jack Del Rio's press conference after practice Thursday, he was asked about the starters playing in the game and said they would all play into the second quarter.
http://oak.247sports.com/Gallery/Oa...eed-to-bounce-back-in-second-presea-106297131
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Even though this is considered a meaningless 2nd preseason game by the general fan base and media, the Raiders should be a step up in class compared to the backup units the Cowboys put on the field last weekend at Los Angeles.

Other than the Cowboys O-Line last Saturday, Jason Garrett held out several of his regular season starters and the game overall had the look of a sloppy exhibition match.

McVay also held out some of his key players last weekend and according to NFL media pundits, he bubble wrapped Goff (only giving him limited snaps) as if he was a proven 5 year starter that didn't require any extra reps.

Regardless of last week, the match-up tonight at Oakland should display most of the projected starters for both teams in the first quarter and give us a few clues and answers heading into the more important 3rd preseason game.

August 19, 2017 at Oakland, California 7pm Pacific time..

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*Previewing* the obvious list of Rams things to watch for in the (first quarter) and maybe a series or two in the second quarter of tonight's 2nd preseason game at Oakland.

1) Will the starting offensive line (Center, Left & Right side) create running lanes that Gurley can see?

2) How will the O-Line look in pass protection? (especially in obvious passing downs)

3) Will Jared Goff

Throw a TD pass?
Have any fumbles?
Look like polished second year QB with his arrow pointing up?
Fling the ball too high over the heads of open receivers?
Fail to go through his progressions and just stare down his primary targets?
Show some leadership signs and make accurate throws?
Take unnecessary sacks when his WR's/TE's are covered because he holds onto the ball too long?
Over or Under throw his targets down the field of more than 20 yards?

4) Will Wade's defense in the first quarter hold up against the talented skill players of the Raiders?

5) Will Sammy Watkins, Woods and Kupp ever be on the field together in a 3 WR set?

6) Will Josh Reynolds get any receptions and have at least one target over 25 yards ?

7) Will rookie RB Justin Davis have the most yards per attempt again minus the fumbles?

8) How many flags will be thrown in the first half?

9) Will the surprise players on defense vs Cowboys last Saturday show up again at the Raiders?

10) Can the Rams offense score more than one touchdown in the first half?

11) Will Quinn, Barwin, Ogletree Barron, Brockers or Westbrooks make any impact plays in their limited snaps?

12) Will Higbee, Everett or Hemingway score a TD or at least make a splash more than than 15 yards?

13) Will Mo Alexander and L.Joyner both be on the field together and protect there areas of the field?

14) Will the peoples choice FB named Sam Rogers do anything in this game that we can talk about tomorrow?

15) Who will be the surprise players that weren't mentioned in last Saturday's preseason game?

No matter how good or bad this game goes, we all pretty much agree that the most important thing tonight is none of the projected starters get injured for either team.

Hopefully the first half of this game doesn't look like a sloppy preseason (comedy of errors) exhibition match.

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