It’s a new week in Raiders training camp. Coming back from their day off, they took to the field for day four and the second day of offense versus defense. With the way Jon Gruden spoke of Marcus Mariota and his ‘dazzling’ day on Friday, all eyes were on the quarterbacks.

Derek Carr

There was one interception on the day and it was thrown by Carr. He was going for Darren Waller over the middle on a cross and underthrew it badly. Nicholas Morrow was in position to leap up and pull it down.

Most of Carr’s other passes were pretty good balls. His placement on short passes and swing routes was perfect. He threw a long touchdown to Henry Ruggs III, but it was behind him. The speedy rookie had broken wide open up the left sideline on a pass that, had it been thrown deeper, he could have easily caught it in stride. But it was behind him, so Ruggs had to come back for it and pluck it out of the air instead. It’s clear Carr has not yet caught up to Ruggs’s speed. It’s still early yet, so there’s time to get that down.

His best pass was probably the one where he dropped it into Devontae Booker over his shoulder for some big yards after catch up the left sideline. That’s a tough pass and he made it look effortless.

There were a couple times where Carr scanned the field and took off. That was something Gruden and offensive coordinator Greg Olson have hammered home with him. They want to see him make more plays with his legs. And he’s trying to do that.

Marcus Mariota

Specifically, the part of Mariota’s game that dazzled Gruden was what Mariota can do with his legs. Unlike Carr, Mariota is often looking for running lanes the moment he steps behind center. At least once, he dropped back to pass, saw an opening up the gut and took it, racing for big yardage before he was even touched by a defender. He also had a nice run in which he got the left edge and ran in for the score just inside the pylon.

The questions for Mariota are what he does with his arm. He’s got plenty of arm, there’s no question there. It can be his touch that is off.

At least twice, he was off target on a short pass. He threw wide and incomplete once on a short dump, and another time on a pass into the flat, he threw at the receiver’s feet. Both were ugly and can’t happen with regularity.

For the most part, Mariota’s deep ball was on point. He had a masterful throw to Bryan Edwards in the end zone with defenders in the area. He threw it high where Edwards was able to jump up and get it. Mariota also had a nice pass to Nelson Agholor up the left sideline, another well-thrown pass to Edwards on a crossing route, and a laser in traffic over the middle to Henry Ruggs III. Mariota’s last pass of the day was a deep touchdown on a post route to Foster Moreau.

Basically, clean up those short passes and there’s a lot to like about what he did today.

The Ice Box

The team put what they call the “Ice Box” on the sideline today. It basically looks like a shipping crate with bench seats inside and windows. The temperature inside is kept at a cozy 17 degrees.

It was 8:30 a.m. and the temp was already 95 degrees. So, the offensive linemen and tight ends made their way over there and hopped in. They don’t stay in for long. About 30 seconds to a minute, then they come out looking refreshed.

After a while, some of the receivers come over and take their turn in the box. Perhaps they made the box available for the offense because they were in black today.

Attendance

Josh Jacobs was back on the field after being held out of practice the past few days.

Trent Brown is still not practicing. He has yet to practice during media access.

Others missing today included G Denzelle Good, WR Keelan Doss, and DE Ade Aruna. Rod Smith remains on the reserve/COVID-19 list. CB Nick Nelson is on the PUP list. TE Nick O’Leary is on the NFI list.

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