The big news for Friday’s practice was the Raiders players and coaches setting foot in Allegiant Stadium for the first time. This included them going through the motions of an actual game, including donning their full uniforms.
It was quite a scene, but apart from the extravagant surroundings, there was still a practice to think about.
Let’s start with who was there and who wasn’t.
Attendance
Returning to the field after having missed the past week was wide receiver Keelan Doss. Unfortunately, with his return was the absence of Tyrell Williams.
Still out was right tackle Trent Brown and guard Denzelle Good. Although this time they could be seen on the side riding stationary bikes through most of practice. There’s no word on exactly what’s going on with them in terms of injuries, but whatever it is, it has happened since they reported to camp because they were not placed on the PUP or NFI list.
Return specialists
Up to this point we had seen only the groups of punt returners which most often consists of Hunter Renfrow and Nelson Agholor.
Friday’s practice we got to see some kick returners take the field. First, it was Lynn Bowden Jr and then Rico Gafford. Gafford in particular had what looked to be a 98-yard kick return for a touchdown. He got by the coverage team and streaked up the right sideline, showing off his tremendous speed.
Gafford may have a difficult time making the squad with this group of receivers ahead of him, but he will be a tough cut and I’d fully expect the Raiders would look to keep him around again on the practice squad should it come to that.
Passing game
Early in practice, Derek Carr went deep for Henry Ruggs III and just like the Damon Arnette interception clip the team put out on twitter, the result didn’t go as the offense had planned.
Isaiah Johnson chased Ruggs up the sideline, and without turning around, he judged when the ball would be arriving and swiped to disrupt it. The ball ricocheted off Ruggs’s hands and sort of hung in the air a moment where Johnson simply clutched it for the long interception. The Raiders put this clip out as well.
.@_bigplayzay flashes the hands đ pic.twitter.com/JEgzQt8y2G
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) August 21, 2020
To get the big yards, Carr would have to find his Mr. Dependable from late last season. Hunter Renfrow got behind Dallin Leavitt on a cross from left to right and Carr found him over the middle for a long score.
Marcus Mariota was up next and had a bit of a bounce-back day for him. And on one play, he showed his pocket presence and mobility, stepping up in the pocket and delivering a strike on the move to Keelan Doss for a good gain.
One of the areas where Mariota has had issues is in the short passes; the swing passes and dumps and such. Friday he threw a quick screen pass for Nelson Agholor that was low and behind him and Agholor couldn’t get ahold of it as it fell incomplete.
Carr came back in and had a bit of a rough go of it, first overthrowing Darren Waller on a deep corner route, then getting sacked by Carl Nassib.
Mariota came back in a bit later and found Waller up the left sideline. Mariota saw Waller had Madre Harper turned around and threw it for him. Waller came toward the ball and caught before Harper knew what happened.
Next Mariota found Keelan Doss on a left side corner route, beating Trayvon Mullen for the touchdown.
When Carr came back in, things picked up for him. He threw for Waller again, this time on an out route near the left pylon with Jeff Heath not able to get there in time to break up the catch, but stopped him at the goal line.
A short time later, Rod Smith made an outstanding concentration catch in short yardage. He went on a swing pass out right and Carr threw it to him, but over his back shoulder, so Smith did a pirouette in the air, made the catch and kept his stride for the score.
Bryan Edwards finished it off by breaking wide open on a slant for a huge gain on a pass from Carr. Edwards was running with the first team full-time Friday in place of the absent Tyrell Williams.
Linebacking
Cory Littleton showed off his coverage abilities, sniffing out a screen attempt by Carr for Devontae Booker, slapping down the pass attempt.
Meanwhile, fellow new addition Nick Kwiatkoski came up to make a big hit on Lynn Bowden Jr at the line. You could hear the clap of the pads from the press box high atop Allegiant stadium.
Trench warfare
Up to this point, I had yet to see Kolton Miller get beaten by Clelin Ferrell, or really anyone for that matter. That changed today. Ferrell got the better of Miller on what would have been a hard sack on Derek Carr.
Ferrell getting pressure around the edge is the area of his game that has been somewhat lacking. So, it should be a welcome sight. And don’t worry, he was still getting his pressure up the middle. On separate plays from the inside, he abused Jordan Roos and Kamaal Seymour.
Others getting pressure included Daniel Ross who got the better of Richie Incognito, Mike Panasiuk who knocked Andre James off balance to get pressure, and Ade Aruna who put a charge into the chest of Brandon Parker, knocking him flat on his back.
Arden Key has shown his violent edge-rushing abilities. He was giving Kolton Miller all he could handle at times. He is got great burst and quick hands, often executing two or three different moves on his rush. The question remains if he can get through those moves and get into the backfield fast enough to get to the quarterback with regularity. It always seems like he’s *right there.*
Sam Young showed why he is getting the first-team reps while Trent Brown is not practicing and why he leads the way for the swing tackle job. His ability to mirror the edge rusher is superb. On one rush, he was blocking Nassib and like Visa, he was everywhere Nassib wanted to be.
The kicker
Daniel Carlson then came in for the field goal try and was good from 45 and 48 yards. The Raiders will need to see a lot more of that from him in games this season after he missed four of ten field-goal tries from that range last season.
[vertical-gallery id=72292]
[lawrence-newsletter]