What are we able to glean from the Oakland Raiders’ preseason opener?
Plenty.
Final score aside, head coach Jack Del Rio’s merry band of marauders — well, those that played — gave coaches and fans alike plenty to pilfer over.
During the 2016 offseason, the Raiders had to address the cornerback position seriously. Former first round pick D.J. Hayden had his pending fate sealed with the team amidst struggles at cornerback. Sean Smith was seemingly the answer by adding a physical corner; while Hayden would play out his rookie deal and inevitably not have his services retained. Now we are barely into the official start of Smith’s second season, and he is arguably the worst pure cover corner on the roster.
LaTroy Lewis. Like Randy Orton’s RKO, the Oakland Raiders undrafted free agent came out of nowhere Saturday night with two sacks against the Arizona Cardinals. “No one was asking me about Lewis the first two weeks of camp,” said Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio with a visible smirk in the postgame press conference. “We’ll …
Out of Nowhere: Lewis highlights Raiders’ need for pass rush Read More »
The start of preseason football is an ambiguous thing in all its glory, on the one hand, it marks the return of professional football after the yearly summer drought every fan endures but, in all honesty, it is just that, preseason.
In spite of that, however, all of us here at RaiderRamble.com are ecstatic as this will mark our first season covering the Oakland Raiders since the site’s inception back in April. With that shameless plug out of the way on to business, playing the Arizona Cardinals in the preseason opener. Despite this being preseason here’s a few quick hits and the “Ramble Forecast” for the game.
Borders has been getting rave reviews from many followers attending training camp. He has earned time with the first team defense, albeit from injuries and such. On Saturday night he may have to go one on one with future NFL Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald being his first real game action test. That will be a match up to watch as the undrafted rookie gets the tremendous opportunity I am certain he has been craving for since joining the team.
The long wait for Raider Nation to see the Silver and Black suit up is drawing to an end as the Oakland Raiders open up their preseason against the Arizona Cardinals this Saturday. In spite of the anticipation, fans in attendance might have to settle for not seeing the Raiders’ star power.
With all of the recent commotion that Donald Penn has created by holding out of camp, I started to do a little digging into what the Oakland Raiders could soon do to address the left tackle position.
One thing is clear, the NFL above all else is a business, and though sometimes that fact is lost on fans, everyone from players to the people who run the organizations understand this perfectly.
Right now Penn has every right to ask for a raise yet the timing of his decision is less than optimal.
As superstitions go, Seth Roberts is a big part of a smirk-worthy, yet hard-to-ignore ritual. Get this: The Oakland Raiders are 9-0 in games where Roberts hauls in a touchdown pass. Word?
It’s stunningly true. The ninth of those victories came in a wild 35-32 home win over the visiting Carolina Panthers. Coincidentally, that game marked the final time Roberts found the end zone in 2016.
Earlier this week we found out that Gareon Conley wouldn’t be indicted after weeks of uncertainty and with that, he can finally work on becoming the contributor he is projected to be.
We’ve all had our calendars marked for quite some time now, but rest assure Fantasy Football season is here. The mumblings around the office coffee pots across the country has shifted to; clever FF league names, sneaky sleepers and draft values. Before you accept too many league invitations and squander the FF mock draft boards, first let’s acknowledge the year three explosion from Oakland Raiders wide receiver; Amari Cooper.
