Welcome in to the full recap of the Raiders' Sunday Night preseason matchup vs. the Arizona Cardinals where the Raiders had control for the majority of the first half, but the Cardinals came back to beat the Raiders 30-23.
Time to get my feet wet for the first full recap of the season for me. The Raiders had a chance to showcase what they can do on national television and the way it ended, it was 50-50. The 1st team defense looked great out there and I'll get to them in a second. However, there were jitters on the offense. In fact, both offenses struggled. It isn't until the 1st string was taken out that both managed to find the end zone. Although the last Cardinals possession was a back breaker, as an NFL fan, those were some "never say never" type plays by Arizona's Ifeanyi Momah. But going back, the 1st team offense had some great looks to cash in and they did nothing but squander some opportunities.
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Defense (1st team). Let's take a look at the good first, Khalil Mack is a beast. Enough said. When teams run on his side, no chance in hell they'll get a big gain. Just the shear idea of Mack converting from OLB to DE is making the D-line a lot better because he's generating that pressure, putting the Tackles on ice, and he's drawing a lot of double and triple teams to give other D-linemen a shot. Dan Williams was able to get pressure, Denico Autry, heck even Mario Edwards, Jr. was able to get a sack with the first team and Edwards' stock may be rising with the way he played the last two preseason games. The linebackers were solid; Lofton and Smith were able to get nice tackles, especially when the Cardinals were calling screen passes. The shaky secondary did not suck, although the Cardinals called some big plays for big yardages, which made my heart drop just a little, the secondary held its own to negate most of them. For the most part, the first team defense were at its best tonight and maybe the world got to see up close why Mack was ranked #49 on the NFL's top 100 list of 2015.
Matt McGloin, 11-15 passes, 114 passing yards, 1 pass TD. Never sleep on Matt McGloin, just three preseasons in, he is threatening to take Ponder's spot as the QB2. He had a good showing in the first preseason game vs. the Rams, an off night against the Vikings, but he flat out outperformed Christian Ponder this game. Though Ponder made a couple of nice throws, he just couldn't put together a solid drive. Not to mention, he was sacked a couple times. When McGloin was put in with the 2nd-3rd stringers, he was "as cool as the other side of the pillow (RIP Stuart Scott)" and lead the Raiders to a game tying drive. In all likelihood, though Ponder is Musgrave's boy, McGloin is going to get that QB2 spot and will probably keep that spot for good.
Seth Roberts, 3 receptions, 52 receiving yards. The wide receiver spot is definitely going to be a headache for the coaches because outside of Crabtree and Cooper, the rest of the receiver spot is up for grabs. Roberts follows another hidden gem that Reggie McKenzie uncovered from the undrafted free agent list and he has shined through the preseason. After this game, Roberts becomes the new dark horse to make the roster as roster cuts loom.
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Running game. The running game as a whole was awful, but from a first string point of view, the Tay Train was nowhere to be found. Latavius Murray only managed to get just a mere 1 yard on 7 carries. The Cardinals' run defense did a good job containing him, there was nothing that the Raiders can do, so we had to re-live the old days of the running game being out of the playbook and resorting to pass like a million times. Reece was implemented, couldn't get anything. Trent Richardson had a nice run, but he's still not convincing to have a breakout year and in all likelihood make the team. The running game disappeared and it's not a good sign if the Raiders are going to go up against really good run defenses.
Derek Carr. Despite 200+ yards passing, I'm not going to let the stats fool me. Derek Carr did not have an outstanding game tonight. He flashed at times, but he's overthrown a lot of his passes this game. Notably, there were two occasions he overthrew Amari Cooper and he overthrew the fade route to Michael Crabtree to get a potential a TD. But the true back breaker of the game is that Pick 6 in the 3rd quarter. I'm sure Carr will learn from that, but just throw the ball away in that situation.
Conclusion
If I could evaluate this game, it's a mixed reception in terms of the Raiders' performance. If I'm Jack Del Rio and Ken Norton, Jr., I gotta be happy with the way the defense played for the most part before the 2nd and 3rd stringers came in. They shut down the Cardinals offense and had Carson Palmer rattled for the majority the game. If I'm Bill Musgrave, the offense has a lot of work to do before they can talk about being a potent offense. The rhythm, timing, and communication just wasn't there. Anyway, this is a taste of what is to come for the 2015 season. I'll see you guys in two weeks when the Raiders take on the Bengals on opening day. I will have a season preview before that though, so stay tuned. I'll see you guys later.
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