Preseason or not, Thursday night was the first time in a long time that the Raiders looked like a dominant team again.
Some of that, of course, was a product of just how bad the Cardinals are, but the Raiders in 2019 arguably have a more talented roster than they did in 2016. And to Gruden’s short-lived approval, the Raiders finally offered their head coach a few quarters of better execution.
After a little time to digest, here are a few post-game thoughts after Thursday night…
The Raiders have their punter.
A.J. Cole’s first punt against the Cardinals wasn’t great, but he bounced back in a big way. He punted five times on the night for a 49.4 average. In his best year, Marquette King’s average was 48.9 so the unheralded punter in Oakland might be the start of something real nice.
Is Mike Glennon the favorite to be Gruden’s no. 2 quarterback?
With a perfect quarterback rating on Thursday night, Glennon seems to be everyone’s backup darling of the week. But don’t you wonder if Gruden wasn’t equally impressed by Nathan Peterman’s 15-play, 80-yard drive in the fourth quarter?
Get into the right play and protect the ball and you’ll make Gruden a happy man. Peterman has done both. Don’t put a fork in him yet.
Josh Jacobs looks like the real deal.
He only had four carries, but it’s already clear that Jacobs knows how to navigate tight spaces with the ball. Marshawn Lynch could do it, but before Lynch, it had been a while since the Raiders had a running back who could fit through anything less than a gaping hole.
And are we sure Jalen Richard is ahead of DeAndre Washington in Gruden’s mind?
Is Paul Guenther’s defense suddenly a good one?
The Cardinals are either really bad or the Raiders are on to something on defense. Gunther’s gang looked good on Thursday night.
And did anyone notice Kyler Murray wasn’t able to turn the corner on Clelin Ferrell? No wonder Murray chose not to run for scouts in the spring.
Athletes in the NFL are at a different level than most of what Murray faced in college. Murray’s legs will help his cause, but will they be enough to justify him as the first overall pick?
The Raiders are stacked at wide receiver.
Gruden is eventually going to have to cut a good receiver. That’s disappointing because this is one of the most likable wide receiver groups the Raiders have offered in a while.
This was a great video by @RaiderPosts on Twitter.
There have been a lot of hot takes on Antonio Brown over the past few weeks and most deserve the scrutiny they are getting.
Raider Posts on Twitter
I’ll just leave this here. #Raiders https://t.co/Cay1YtYEfZ
To be fair, though, let’s see how the Raiders new All Pro receiver responds if things go a little sideways at some point this year. It’s easy to be optimistic in the third week of August. It’s also easy to write off Brown based on the way things ended in Pittsburgh.
Time will tell who gets the last laugh.
And no, not sure if AB pulled this off or not…
The Checkdown on Twitter
Antonio Brown is the only one who can pull off this fit 💧💧 @AB84 https://t.co/x8ML9dg506
twitter: @raidersbeat
They seam to have it wrong. It wasn’t that Murry was that bad. It was the much improved Raider defense is that much better. I can hardly wait for the season to start. GO RAIDERS !!!!
I agree with everything in this post. The Raiders clearly have a bunch of receivers that can all catch the ball in coverage or open-field. Raiders will have sum tough decisions there 2 make. Regardless of it being the second week of preseason the way Raiders first string defense has looked in both games reveals that it may not b unimaginable 2 believe that they could have a very gud defense if not special. The only possible weakness i can see is the special teams as i can see sum teams possibly breaking long returns which is not something we have seen recently as the Raiders have been pretty efficient in that area for several years now.