Raiders vs. Cardinals Quick Notes

Alright, the Raiders open up their 2016 preseason campaign with a win on the road, beating the Arizona Cardinals 31-10.

Great way to start off with a win on the road against a team that's contending for a Super Bowl. Even though, the first stringers barely see action in the first preseason game, I liked what I saw from our 2nd and 3rd stringers.

The Good

I liked what I saw from George Atkinson III. GAIII rushed for 2 long ruching  TDs to help power a Raiders victory. He's continuing to put in the work and he deserves a shot at the roster after being stashed on the practice squad for the last two seasons.

DeAndre Washington was as good as advertised. He got a lot of reps when the 2nd string came on and showed off his speed and elusivness, freezing out a Cardinals defender after a catch and run out of the backfield.

Turnovers stood out. The Raiders should see more of this with a revamped secondary. Nate Allen and Neiko Thorpe made some nice INT grabs. Special teams had a turnover too to help set up the Mcgloin to Walford TD.

Special teams did a good job smothering the Cardinals and placing them in bad field position to start. Johnny Holton and Marvin Hall had a pair of good returns to set up some solid field position for the offense.

The Bad

The execution of the first string offense was not there. Aside from a pair of nice catches from Michael Crabtree, everything else didn't stand out. Kelechi Osemele got penalized. The interior O-line didn't do a good job opening up holes for Murray. AC/DC execution was way off. Coop should know by now he's not playing college ball no more. Drag that other foot inbounds!

Luckily, Mario Edwards Jr.'s injury is not related to the his neck, but rather his leg. I'm hearing it's a hamstring issue. Not too serious, but an MRI will tell all.

The penalties need to be cleaned up. Kicking team going off sides and offensive PIs were epidemic. Defense couldn't get off the field because of PIs or unnecessary roughness call.

Other Notes

Surprisingly, Karl Joseph saw some reps on first string defense tonight. I thought the Raiders were going to hold him out until his ACL was fully recovered. But, he got a glimpse of NFL action along with the revamped secondary of Reggie Nelson, David Amerson, and Sean Smith.

Conclusion

Greal win, but of course there is a lot of things that need to be corrected such as penalties and offensive execution. But, it's a confidence builder. They'll look to polish up some things next week against Green Bay. I'll be making an announcement soon in regards to how I'll cover the games differently (will also account for the NBA). I'll see you guys later.