Greg Van Roten – Page 3 – Syndication Server

These 17 Raiders are slated to be free agents in March

There are no more games for the Raiders to play this season. And several of the players who suited up for the team this season won’t be back. Over the final couple weeks of the season the players begin thinking about coveting the time they have …

There are no more games for the Raiders to play this season. And several of the players who suited up for the team this season won’t be back.

Over the final couple weeks of the season the players begin thinking about coveting the time they have together, because the way this business is it’s unavoidable that the locker room will not be the same by the time they re-convene in April.

Some players will be in demand should they hit the market. Others will not. The ones who are re-signed are not necessarily the ones the team wants more. Likewise the ones that get away are not necessarily the ones they didn’t want. There are always a few free agents they may have wanted to bring back, but got an offer they liked better elsewhere.

At least 17 of those players will hit free agency unless the Raiders re-sign them beforehand.

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 17 loss to Colts

Raiders went out swinging, but went out just the same.

After a big win at Arrowhead over the defending champion Chiefs in Week 16, a trip to Indianapolis to face Gardner Minshew and the Colts seemed like a very winnable game for the Raiders.

It isn’t really that simple, though. The Raiders beat the Chiefs thanks to a couple of defensive TD’s. They can’t rely on that every week.

By half time, the Colts had scored off two big catches and the Raiders offense managed just a field goal. The Colts didn’t need to score a touchdown in the second half and still pulled out the win.[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 9 win vs Giants

You won’t see many more lopsided victories than the Raiders had over the Giants Sunday. It was made all the more amazing when compared to how they looked over the first eight games of this season.

They stopped the Giants with a three-and-out to start things off and then drove for a touchdown. The next three Giants drives were a turnover on downs, consecutive sacks to put them in third and 27 and a punt, and a three and out.

Then midway through the second quarter, the Raiders drove for another touchdown, intercepted the ball, scored a third touchdown, intercepted the ball again, added a field goal at the end of the first half, and another one to begin the third to go up 27-0.

It was enough to make your head spin. At least if you were the Giants.

Ballers

HC Antonio Pierce

He brought the Raiders ready to play and itching to get him a big win in his debut of the post-Josh McDaniels era. The players came out pumped and the Giants got caught under the wheels of that bus.

The offense scored over 20 points for the first time this season, Josh Jacobs had a season-high rushing yards, and the defense had eight sacks, two turnovers off interceptions, and four others on downs. Then they sparked up cigars afterward to celebrate being out from under Josh McDaniels’s thumb and finally having fun again.

DE Maxx Crosby

Crosby came into the game outside the top ten in sacks. And left tied for second with TJ Watt. And even with three sacks in the game, he was still more valuable than his sack total.

The first Giants possession saw them line up in fourth and one to go for it. Then Maxx got the right guard to jump and they had to punt instead. The next drive saw the Giants again go for it on fourth and one. This time Crosby led the way in making the stop at the line for no gain.

The third drive ended with Crosby chasing down Daniel Jones for the sack. Jones attempted to get away from Crosby and tore his ACL.

Already up 27-0 in the third quarter, Crosby saw to it they didn’t close that gap. He got pressure on first down and got his second sack on third down to force another three-and-out. That series pretty much slammed the door on the Giants’ chances of coming back. But just for good measure, he would add one more sack early in the fourth quarter.

Even with the Raiders defense finally stepping up to match his energy, he still led the way for this team. And had cigars ready for the whole team after the game.

CB Amik Robertson

With the Raiders up 14-0 in the second quarter, the Giants knew they needed to make a big play. QB Tommy DeVito launched one for the end zone and Robertson flew over, got up in the air and picked it off, much like he did to win the game against the Packers a few weeks ago. He would get up and return this one to th 40-yard-line and the Raiders would capitalize on the turnover with their third touchdown of the day.

Early in the fourth quarter, he made a hard hit on a catch to knock the ball out on fourth down. And a bit later he added a forced fumble to his stat line just for good measure. Have yourself a game, Amik.

RB Josh Jacobs

Set the tone early and kept it going. He had 31 yards on on four runs on the opening touchdown drive, 33 yards and the touchdown run from two yards out on the second scoring drive, and scored again from two yards out on the next drive.

He already had a season-high 85 yards rushing by half time and the Raiders led 24-0. He surpassed 100 yards for a moment before a loss on a run put him back at 98 yards.

DT Bilal Nichols, DT John Jenkins

The 34-year-old was playing like he was ten years younger, showing rare pass rush and sideline-to-sideline run stopping abilities for a 327-pounder. He got pressure on the second play of the game to force an incompletion and the Giants started the game with a three-and-out.

The second Giants drive saw them line up in third and three and Nichols made the run stop short of the sticks. Then on fourth and one, he teamed up with Crosby and Jenkins to stop the tush push for no gain.

The first possession of the second quarter saw Jenkins race down the line to make a tackle for loss in the left flat, leading to another three-and-out.

Pressure was coming from all over the Raiders line, but Nichols was doing some nice complementary football with Crosby in this one. On consecutive plays in the fourth quarter Nichols had a pressure that led to a Crosby sack and then Crosby had pressure that led to a Nichols sack. That’s how it’s supposed to be done.

QB Aidan O’Connell

The rookie scored on the opening drive while delivering a strike on a slant to Jakobi Meyers that went for 25 yards.

The next scoring drive, he reminded us that Hunter Renfrow is on this team with consecutive connections to the shifty slot receiver for 19 yards and 13 yards to put the Raiders in first and goal. They scored the TD on the next play.

Following the Amik Robertson interception, O’Connell threw deep on the first play for a gorgeous 50-yard hookup with speedster Tre Turner to put the Raiders in first and goal at the ten. They scored three plays later.

He opened the second half by completing passes on four third downs, converting the first three and putting them in field goal range with the fourth one to make it a 27-0 game.

The rookie didn’t have massive numbers, but he delivered some strikes, ran the offense perfectly, and didn’t turn the ball over. Not much more you can ask of him than that.

LT Kolton Miller, LG Dylan Parham, C Andre James, RG Greg Van Roten, RT Jermaine Eluemunor

The entire Oline played every snap, didn’t give up a single sack, and opened holes for Josh Jacobs to hit 100 yards and two touchdowns.

On the second TD drive, Eluemunor and Van Roten made key blocks on a 15-yard Jacobs run and Eluemunor laid a key block on the touchdown run. Miller, Parham, and Van Roten got out left to make key blocks on a 15-yard catch in the left flat by DeAndre Carter to get things going in the third quarter.

Honorable Mention

WR Jakobi Meyers — Scored the Raiders first TD on a sweep and made some nice blocks in the game as well.

RB Ameer Abdullah — Did some great dirty work on offense and special teams.

WR Tre Tucker — Made an incredible diving 50-yard grab that set up the Raiders’ second touchdown of the game.

Busters

None

This was about as flawless a performance as you’ll see on both sides of the ball. The Raiders were up 24-0 by half time and were up 27-0 midway through the third before the Giants got on the board for the first time. Hard to find blame for anything when one team scores that much and gives up nothing.

Antonio Pierce attended all Raiders OL meetings last week, they responded in big way

Antonio Pierce attended all Raiders OL meetings last week and they responded in big way

For as bad as the Giants have been this year, their defensive line has been pretty good. And defensive coordinator Wink Martindale is known for bringing the heat on opposing quarterbacks.

The duo of Kayvon Thibodeaux and Dexter Lawrence have a combined 11.5 sacks and 24 QB hits. But on Sunday in Vegas they combined for zero in both categories.

The entire starting five for the Raiders played every snap in the game. Those five from left to right were LT Kolton Miller, LG Dylan Parham, C Andre James, RG Greg Van Roten, and RT Jermaine Eluemunor.

New interim head coach Antonio Pierce — who spent the latter half of his ten-year NFL career as a player with the Giants — was determined to make sure these guys were put in the best position to help the Raiders offense function at a high level.

“I was in every meeting with the Oline this week. I was their best friend,” said Pierce, with a smile. “I was encouraging them, I was trying to learn the terminology obviously, coming from the other side of the ball the last two years and not really focusing on their terminology, their techniques, their fundamentals and how they coach and talk. But being over there just to give words of encouragement because that’s a good group. And they’re a tight knit group. And I think that was showcased last night. If you really go back and watch the game, watch where guys come off the ball to the second level. It was impressive. They set the tone the first drive of the game. They are the reason why we’re going to move forward and keep moving forward is because of those guys.”

Along with allowing zero sacks in the game and just one QB hit on rookie Aidan O’Connell, the line opened up holes for Josh Jacobs all game long. It led to Jacobs having his best game of the season, and for a moment late in the game going over 100 yards (before a tackle for loss put him back to 98 yards).

Jacobs setting the tone along with the ability for O’Connell to survey the field and find his receivers went a long way to helping the offense score 30 points when they hadn’t broken 20 points in the previous eight games this season.

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 8 loss vs Lions

Every week seems to be worse than the last for these Raiders. Which is saying a lot considering how terrible they looked last week in Chicago.

This week they were in Detroit against a much better team. And they were thoroughly outclassed and outcoached en route to a Lions 26-14 win.

Despite three takeaways, the offense Raiders never led.

They were down 9-0 early on. The Raiders had an improbable touchdown drive in the game. Improbable considering they did absolutely nothing on offense the rest of the game. The Raiders twice pulled to within two points, but both Raiders scores were immediately answered with a touchdown drive by the Lions.

Ballers

DE Maxx Crosby

Crosby’s place atop the Ballers is becoming like the RSTLNE on Wheel of Fortune. It’s the given.

Crosby flew in to make a tackle for no gain on a run that put the Lions in third and long on their first drive and they settled for a field goal. Later in the first quarter, he forced Jared Goff to step up in the pocket where he was hit and threw incomplete. They couldn’t pick up the third and long and punted. One of just two Lions punts in the game.

He wasn’t fooled on an end around in the second quarter lay a big hit on Jameson Williams that knocked his helmet off for a six-yard loss. The Lions would settle for another field goal to make it a 9-0 lead. He had another run stuff for no gain to start the next drive.

The first drive of the third quarter for the Lions, Crosby had a run stuff at the line and later ripped the ball out inside the four-yard-line to keep the Lions from putting the game away. They would ultimately put the game away, but Crosby’s efforts kept the Raiders in it until the fourth quarter.

DT Adam Butler

To lead out the second quarter, the Lions were in scoring position again. They would line up in second and goal from the 16 and Butler made a run stop for a two-yard loss to put them in third and goal from the 18. They couldn’t pick it up and settled for another field goal.

The next drive, on third and nine from the 15, Butler batted down a pass at the line, and the Lions settled for a third field goal. He added a QB hit for an incompletion in the third quarter.

CB Marcus Peters

He finally got one. After going for the pick or the strip at the expense of making the tackle in the first seven games, Peters finally got an interception. And as he has done six times previously in his career, Peters took that pick and returned it for a touchdown. He went 75 yards for that score too, scoring as many points all by himself as the entire offense did.

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Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 2 loss to Bills

Raiders Week 2 Ballers & Busters

Safe to say this is one the Raiders would like to put behind them. But hopefully not before they try and learn from it. If there is anything to learn other than that they just can’t hang with a team like the Bills.

Things looked promising on the opening drive for the Raiders, just as they did in the opener in Denver. But it didn’t last long. A 7-0 lead in the first three minutes was a 21-10 deficit at the half and ended with a 38-10 demolition.

It’s hard to pinpoint much of anything that was actually working for the Raiders. Which should be pretty clear in this weeks Busters. But before we get to those details, let’s get the few Ballers out of the way.

Ballers

WR Davante Adams

As if often the case, Adams is a rare bright light in the darkness. He made a 16-yard back shoulder grab to convert the first third down of the game and then ended the opening drive by taking a screen pass 17 yards to the house.

The other scoring drive for the Raiders, Adams caught a 19-yard pass on third and 11 and later in the drive put the team in scoring range by breaking off his route and getting behind the DB to make a 21-yard catch.

He finished with six catches for 84 yards and a touchdown.

T Kolton Miller

He kept Garoppolo’s blind side protected all day and on the Adams touchdown screen, he got out wide to make the block.

S Marcus Epps

Epps did his best to stop to the Bills from scoring in the first quarter. He broke on a pass in the flat to stop it for a loss and two plays later made the stop on third down to bring up fourth and one. But as happened most of the day, the Bills converted it and went on to score anyway.

The one time in the game the Raiders were actually able to stop the Bills on fourth and short, Epps set it up by making the stop on a Josh Allen scramble at the goal line.

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Greg Van Roten ‘seamless fit’ on Raiders OL, in line to be new starting right guard

Raiders set to have new starting right guard this season in Greg Van Roten.

Day two of Raiders joint practices with the Rams is in the books. Another day with Greg Van Roten firmly entrenched as the Raiders first team right guard.

The 12th year lineman has been a mainstay with the rest of the first team of late. And there’s no reason to believe that will change anytime soon.

“Greg’s a tough guy. Very smart. Kind of fits the mold of what we like up front,” head coach Josh McDaniels said today. “Aggressive, on the same page, good communicator, can play multiple positions, and just he’s a fighter inside, which is what you want. Really good addition. Love the guy in terms of what he brings to our team and the makeup of our locker room. He’s been a seamless fit in our offensive line room.”

That room had several positions settled coming out of last season. Alex Bars at right guard seemed to be the only one that was still having obvious issues, making the position in dire need of addressing.

Through the first few months of the offseason, the Raiders had yet to add anyone. Not in free agency and not in the draft.

Van Roten’s addition didn’t come until early May. The veteran guard started 54 games the past five seasons, including being the Jets’ full time starter for two seasons in 2020-21. And suddenly the Raiders had an established and experienced guard in the building.

The former undrafted guard out of University of Pennsylvania took a few years to find a foothold in the NFL. He appeared in ten games with no starts his first couple years and then couldn’t get on a roster for three seasons from 2014-16.

He finally broke back in with the Panthers in 2017 and hasn’t looked back.

“It’s being consistent and working hard every day,” said Van Roten of his journey. “It sounds simple, but it’s a hard thing to do. Because once you’re consistent, coaches will trust you and they’ll give you more opportunity and that’s just kind of how it goes. So, I’ve been lucky to play a lot and get exposed to a lot and be around a lot of good coaches and just helped my career get to this point.”

Van Roten waiting out the first few waves of free agency and the draft before signing with a team looks to have been a wise decision. And it has worked out well for the Raiders too. The team needed competition at guard and he needed a team where he had a legit shot at the job.

From there it was about showing the Raiders he was their guy.

“I’ve played a lot of football, I have a lot of experience and I kind of know how it goes, so the more you can do the more opportunity you’re going to have,” Van Roten added. “And I just try to make the most of the opportunities that I get when I get in there. So, who knows how it all shakes out, but I’m just trying to do my best when my best is needed.”

Van Roten’s emergence sets the Raiders starting five at LT Kolton Miller, LG Dylan Parham, C Andre James, RG Van Roten, and RT Jermaine Eluemunor.

Meanwhile, Alex Bars consistently takes the field with the second team, battling for one of the interior utility reserve jobs.

Raiders slow start to joint practices with Rams ‘unacceptable’ by their standards

Raiders first day of joint practices with Rams was ‘unacceptable’ by their standards (and pretty much any standard)

If the Raiders are to have a joint practice session with the Rams that looks anywhere near as good as the ones they had against the 49ers, they’re really going to have to pick it up. Because the first day was considerably disappointing by that standard.

Teams sessions were lacking on both sides of the ball for the Raiders.

Last week in joint practices, the story was interceptions. The Raiders had four in team sessions and another four in seven-on-sevens. Today the only turnover was an interception by Sam Webb off a deflection of a bad Stetson Bennett pass. A very similar play to the one Webb had in the game against the 49ers last Sunday from Brandon Allen.

But whenever Matt Stafford stepped on the field, he was carving up the Raiders secondary. It was pretty if you were the Rams offense. Not so much if you were the Raiders defense.

“As practice goes on, everybody’s watching the same thing that’s going on on the field. We can all feel it,” said safety Roderic Teamer. “We know as a team that we can perform better. And we always expect to dominate no matter what, so if we don’t do that then after practice we know we got more work to do.”

The Raiders’ battery is Maxx Crosby. He was not happy with what he saw at all.

“The standard is you show up and get better. For me as a leader it’s unacceptable,” said Crosby.

“Some days you’re going to feel like shit, some days you’re going to feel great. It is what it is. You got to get better and find ways to improve. Those are the days you get better; when you don’t feel like you want to go. When you’re feeling bad for yourself. That’s when you really got to go to that dark place. So, for me, no matter what it is, I’m trying to get to that place. No matter what and just bring my teammates with me.”

Late in practice, Maxx’s aggressive practice tendencies weren’t well received by Cam Akers. Akers lowered his helmet into him on a run, then Crosby chased Akers down and swatted the ball out of his hands. This led to a mad fury of Akers swinging on Crosby and the fight was on.

Said Crosby of the altercation “I was just doing what I do and he didn’t like that, so he got what he got. It is what it is.”

What Akers got was in a fight with a much bigger dude and then thrown out of practice for throwing the first punch, not to mention full on coming to blows.

For Maxx, it meant being relegated to the sideline for the rest of team sessions. He was replaced in the lineup by Jordan Willis.

And that was just the defense. The offense wasn’t exactly on point either.

It was good to see Davante Adams out there looking like 100% for the first time since he left practice with a right leg injury a week ago. And he did catch a few passes in team sessions.

But the drives rarely ended in a score and at the end of one session, several attempts at touchdowns fades — including to Adams — all ended with incompletions. Some were not on target, and some were knocked down by the DB. These same fades were successful against the 49ers last week.

“We have a lot to learn from the tape and that’s kind of the point of these,” said guard Greg Van Roten.

“You’re seeing a different front, different personnel, we’re running different plays than we have against a different team, so it’s kind of like this is what training camp is and this is what joint practice is for, it’s to get a different look and work on new techniques.”

Sunday’s hero in the preseason opener struggled as well. Aidan O’Connell came in at QB to close out practice with a drive in which he completed just one pass. All others were either dropped, defended, or off target.

Clearly, the Raiders will have to regroup, study the tape from today, and put in the work to try and put together a better practice tomorrow. It’s their final joint practice, and if last preseason is any indication, many starters’ last chance to go against an opponent prior to the start of the regular season.

5 big questions on offense as Raiders wrap up minicamp

Raiders have a lot of pretty big questions facing them as they enter the heart of the offseason. Here are 5 facing the offense.

Every offseason brings questions that need answers. For this Raiders team, they may have more questions than answers. Some of these questions are no small thing.

Last week the Raiders wrapped up their offseason practices with their three-day mandatory minicamp. That means they have now entered the longest and final portion of the offseason. The next time these players convene will be training camp at the end of July.

They enter this six weeks with many things unsettled. Most of which will still be unsettled when camp begins, giving them a lot to think about over the next six weeks.

Raiders sign free agent veteran guard Greg Van Roten

Raiders just added some competition at right guard veteran starter Greg Van Roten

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Just ahead of OTA’s the Raiders have added some much needed competition at the guard position. Joining the battle for the starting right guard spot is former Jets and Panthers starting guard Greg Van Roten.

The ninth year pro has appeared in 93 career games and started 54 games over the past five seasons for the Panthers, Jets, and Bills.

Van Roten went undrafted out of Penn in 2012 and signed with the Green Bay Packers. After three seasons as a backup, he was named the starting left guard for the Panthers, where he would remain for two seasons. From there he spent the next two seasons as the starting right guard for the Jets.

The 6-3, 305-pounder spent last season in Buffalo, starting four games; three at right guard and one at center.

Van Roten is expected to compete at right guard with 2022 starter Alex Bars, practice squad signee Netane Muti, and undrafted rookie McClendon Curtis.