Air Raid

A lot of the talk about this game likely will revolve around the gutsy two point conversion at the end of the game that put the Raiders on top. It was truly the call of a coach that had trust in his offense to deliver, just as much as he didn’t trust his defense to stop Brees and the Saints. They very nearly didn’t stop them in fact.

Prized free agent pick up Smith was frequently abused by Brees and eventually gave way to former first round pick, DJ Hayden. Hayden didn’t do much better, losing out by poor officiating or great plays after replacing Smith. There is work to do in the secondary, just as much as there is work to do up front. Mack seemed like a non-factor for much of the game.

Running back Murray will likely be playing with one eye in the mirror going forward. Jalen Richard looked better and that might see him leap over Washington for the number two role. Either way with the two rookies in the game, it felt like the Raiders offense shifted up a gear.

Cooper started strong with a 137 yard performance, showing he and Carr have continued to build chemistry. Crabtree on the other side had one more catch – with seven – for 87 yards plus was the one to bring down that game winning two point catch.  However he also gifted Brees a fifteen yard start on the end of game drive with his after catch celebrations.

All told, the old Raiders would have lost this game big to the Saints but these Raiders found a way to pull out a win.

Players signed to the practice squad:

• WR K.J. Brent
• CB Kennth Durden
• DL Brandon Jackson
• WR Jaydon Mickens
• TE Ryan O’Malley
• C/G Oni Omoile
• LB Korey Toomer

Leaving the Raiders with two openings to fill.

George Atkinson III has been picked up by the Cleveland Browns and former Raiders head coach Hue Jackson.

Five year veteran Neiko Thorpe is off to the Indianapolis Colts.

A few surprises in the list:

• LB James Cowser. update: Cowser was waived injured and then brought back and placed on season ending IR.
• RB George Atkinson III. Strong preseason will likely see Atkinson picked up by someone. If not I would expect to see him on the practice squad.
• G Mitch Bell
• WR K.J. Brent. Likely headed to the practice squad.
• CB Kenneth Durden
• WR Marvin Hall
• DL Drew Iddings
• DL Branden Jackson
• G Denver Kirkland
• DT Derrick Lott
• LB John Lotulelei
• TE Jake McGee
• WR Jaydon Mickens
• TE Ryan O’Malley
• G Oni Omoile
• CB Neiko Thorpe
• LB Korey Toomer
• DE Greg Townsend Jr.
• LB Kyrie Wilson
• LB Neiron Ball. A little surprised by this one. update: Ball was like Cowser, placed on season ending IR after clearing waivers.

The Seahawks started their starters on offense and defense where as the Raiders primarily opened with the backups and then moved down the roster. It’s important because the backups performed very well against the Seahawks starters. Holding Russell Wilson to a single completion in his limited time for instance.

To be honest neither offense looked very good with the higher end of the roster which is reflected by the fact that the first touchdown of the game was in the fourth quarter via an interception of Cook that was returned forty two yards. Or that the first score in the game was was a safety scored by the Raiders.

George Atkinson did his best to continue his push for a roster spot. He scored on a one yard run, he scored on an eighty one yard kick off return.

• C Ross Burbank
• LS Andrew East
• S Chris Edwards
• S Chris Hackett
• S Jimmy Hall
• WR Joe Hansley
• DB Tramain Jacobs
• LB Lenny Jones
• WR Max McCaffrey
• DT Leon Orr
• WR Nathan Palmer
• K Giorgio Tavecchio
• TE Colton Underwood
• OL Terran Vaughn

Derek Carr looked ready for the season in the third preseason game. With a perfect 29 yard touch pass to Amari Cooper for the second score following a nice play that had DeAndre Washington scoring from six yards out.

It was nice to see but not really sure what else you can take from this game with the Titans and Raiders facing off against each other again on September 25th.

Johnny Holton – childhood friend of Cooper – had a good game, with three catches for fifty four yards along with fourteen yards on a rushing play that made a great highlight for the game.

KJ Brent also looked good with his three catches for fifty four yards but his highlight play was the popped up ball that led to Connor Cook having an interception recorded against him.

All told, it was a decent tune up game with a more than vanilla game plan. Holton, Washington and Richard likely sealed roster spots. George Atkinson continued to show that he could belong too but against players lower on the depth chart.

The good news is that apart from first drive, the Raiders starters on defense shut down the Packers. That first drive wasn’t pretty though and the same could be said of the Raiders starting offense too.

Derek Carr threw a pick attempting to get ball to Amari Cooper. Murray was underwhelming, going for nineteen yards on six carries.

Indeed, the Raiders only touchdown came from special teams when Nate Allen blocked a punt in the endzone for the score.

With two games left, the Raiders need to find a way to get the first time offense going to the same level they have their defense functioning. There is time and it isn’t like we are running anything but a vanilla offense right now anyway.

The Raiders opened their 2016 preseason campaign with a victory over popular Superbowl LI pick the Arizona Cardinals.

The win was fueled by the performances of the Raiders backups, including George Atkinson III, who rushed for two touchdowns (on 53 yard and 35 yard rushes) and 97 yards overall.

The scoring started with Carr’s 2nd and last drive with a 53 yard field gold by Janikowski . With Carr’s night over, Matt McGloin took over the reigns and led the Raiders to two touchdowns. One by TE Clive Walford and the second by Andre Holmes.

With McGloin’s night over, we got to see Connor Cook. Cook by reports hasn’t had the best training camp so far with fans openly comparing him to Tyler Wilson of late.  Cook looked nothing like a bust draft pick however in this game, completing seven of his eleven passes for seventy one yards. He looked more like the player that  received high marks from some draftniks prior to the draft.

There was some bad news however, Mario Edwards Jr left the field with a hip injury and was seen afterwards on crutches.