The Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots are sharing the practice field today in Henderson. As expected, the Raiders’ loaded offense is dominating the practice field so far.
It’s been quite an eventful week for the Silver and Black. More struggles for the O-line have dominated headlines as well as the news surrounding Kenyan Drake. Nonetheless, it’s business as usual for the Raiders, with Bill Belichick and the Patriots in town for joint practices. It’s a reunion of sorts involving Belichick, new Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler, who both came up in the New England organization. As far as what’s going on the field, most fans are looking forward to seeing how Davante Adams, Hunter Renfrow, and Derek Carr match up with Belichick’s defense.
According to multiple sources with boots on the ground, the Raiders are on fire right now. It appears that Vegas has had the advantage in every drill that’s been run today. According to Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal, the Patriots have been outclassed on both sides of the field.
“Raiders have completely dominated both sides so far. First 3 Patriots snaps in team: stuff, stuff, sack. Jones 5 of 9 in 7 on 7. Henry reception only one down the field. The offense looks deflated coming off. Carr sliced up Pats in 7 on 7. Davante Adams is unfair.”
The matchups between the Raiders and Patriots have been one-sided
It really shouldn’t surprise folks that the Raiders are dominating in the early going. We talked all offseason about how having so many premier offensive players would create a matchup nightmare. Case in point, today’s practice. Of course, it is just practice, as Allen Iverson once said. These are one on one drills, not a live regular season game. However, it’s still NFL-level defensive backs getting outclassed by the Raiders.
Andrew Callahan, a beat writer for the Boston Herald, noted that the Patriots’ defenders looked lost on the field. So far, Jalen Mills, Myles Bryant, and Marcus Jones have been the Raiders’ wide receivers, one for eight so far in receptions allowed. Most outlets are reporting that Adams, in particular, is thoroughly eye-gouging the Patriots’ defense. None of the opposing defensive backs have been able to keep up, reports Ryan Sakamoto. It’ll be interesting to see how these matchups continue this week.
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*Top Photo: Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal