The Las Vegas Raiders are traveling to the bayou to take on the New Orleans Saints and their outspoken running back, Alvin Kamara. Currently sitting at 2-4, the Silver and Black are hoping to build off the success of last Sunday’s win, though Kamara believes that will not be happening.
While clarifying comments he made following the Saints’ Week 7 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Kamara spoke on this team’s next opponent. For those of you who might not remember, Kamara’s head coach, Dennis Allen, once led the Raiders, though it was a less than memorable run. Regardless, Kamara believes he and his teammates are going to win their Week 8 matchup in Allen’s honor. “I actually forget about that, that he did coach there. S—, we’re going to whoop their a– and make DA feel good,” said Kamara.
As far as Kamara’s history with the Raiders, he’s only played against them once in his career. That was back in 2020, when he rushed for 79 yards and punched it in for two touchdowns. In addition, Kamara caught nine passes, falling just short of the century mark (95 yards) while averaging 10.6 yards per reception. Even now, two years later, Kamara is still a capable dual threat and will give Patrick Graham’s defense a different type of challenge as he’s far from an ordinary back.
Kamara’s comments reached the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coach
While addressing the media today, Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels was made aware of Kamara’s comments. McDaniels was rather dismissive of such comments, making it clear that such statements don’t determine the course of a game.
“Look, we all want to try to do the right thing. We all want to try to play hard. We’re all going to get ready and do our best here this week, I know they are. I have a great deal of respect for Dennis [Allen], their whole organization. And I know that players say things sometimes, coaches say things sometimes that when it’s said you can take it a lot of different ways. I think that’s probably the way he feels. I hope we feel like we’re going to go down there and we’re going to play a good football game. And hopefully, we’re going to come out on top. So, I tend to, I’d say, take those with a grain of salt. That’s not going to win or lose the game either way,” said McDaniels.
McDaniels is a pro through and through; surely fans weren’t expecting some sort of “clapback.” He comes from the Bill Belichick coaching tree, where engaging in such behavior isn’t the norm. At the same time, there’s no doubt that the Raiders’ locker room is also aware of Kamara’s words. We’ll have to wait and see if things get chippy between the running back and the Raiders’ defense. This could get interesting.
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*Top Photo: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
