After personally seeing some great individual performances in Week 2 of the NFL preseason, here’s a closer look at three of the Oakland Raiders’ best performances.
The Oakland Raiders are now halfway done with the NFL preseason, and the narrative seems familiar; the offense looks outstanding, and the defense looks lousy. However, despite some weariness to judge these preseason performances too closely, there were a lot of good performances for the Raiders that should be cause for optimism.
Some familiar names showed why this year’s squad had garnered such big expectations, but you also had great performances defensively as a whole the defense continues to worry both fans and observers alike.
Amari Cooper, WR
After not playing in the preseason opener against the Arizona Cardinals, Cooper stepped back in and looked flawless in his performance on Saturday. According to PFF versus the Rams, Cooper had one of the best individual performances on the Raiders with an 81.1 performance rating which was topped off by a beautiful 31-yard reception.
@AmariCooper9 31 Yards pic.twitter.com/318dyNjaGz
— RaiderRamble.comâ„¢ (@TheRaiderRamble) August 20, 2017
Cooper’s struggles down the stretch for the Silver and Black in his first two seasons have been well documented but might this be the year he becomes an “elite” wide receiver? Even in a preseason scenario, Cooper has Raider Nation excited as he looked like he is ready to take off and continue to build off the chemistry with quarterback Derek Carr.
David Sharpe, OT
“The show must go on” as Freddie Mercury once sang and the Raiders are not an exception as Donald Penn continues his holdout. David Sharpe looked solid despite Marshall Newhouse getting the starting nod.
PFF gave Sharpe an 81.9 pass protection rating for Saturday’s performance and pointed out that Sharpe “did not allow any pressures on his 23 snaps in pass protection.” Obviously, this is still preseason, and no one is saying Sharpe would overtake Penn, but the Raiders must do their due diligence if this Penn nonsense does not get worked out. Look to see if Sharpe can continue this level of play.
Tyrell Adams
The last player that stood out for me was former Seattle Seahawk and Kansas City Chief, Tyrell Adams. As the “linebacker shuffle” continues for the Raiders, Adams’ contributions could bode well for him here in the preseason and might just translate into playing time in the regular season.
The final stat line for Adams was inspiring as he notched four tackles and two quarterback hurries. Even more impressive was his 0.29 yards per coverage snap as he only gave up one catch for five yards on 17 snaps as reported by PFF. It goes without saying that we will definitely keep an eye on Adams as the current preseason progresses.
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