Oakland Raiders’ Preseason Game Wrap-Up

The Oakland Raiders dropped their first preseason game of the season to the Minnesota Vikings by the final score of 10-6.

As is the case during the preseason, there were both positives and negatives this evenings from the Oakland Raiders. Starting with the most important position on the field, quarterback, things were a bit shaky.

Matt Schaub, who owns the starting gig (as far as we can tell), did not have his best debut in the Silver and Black as he went just 3/7 for 21 yards. Just overall he was not all that sharp and failed to maintain any of the three drives he led. Instead he picked up just one first down throughout all three drives. That first down was gained on the ground. Even Schaub acknowledged they weren’t as good as they wanted to be tonight.

Derek Carr was average as best this evening as well, though Carr did get the the short end of the stick on a few occasions with dropped passes by his receivers. One of those passes, which was on a bootleg to his left, forced him to throw across his body. However, the pass went off the fingertips of his fullback Jamize Olawale and into the air and Kurt Coleman of the Vikings made a great play laying out for the interception.

As far as the running game was concerned, things looked very promising. Second-year running back Latavius Murray got the bulk of the work this evening and had a respectable seven rushes for 28 yards, or four yards per carry.

Darren McFadden also had a great 23-yard run on his lone rush of the night. Maurice Jones-Drew had a couple of carries for 10 yards. Matt McGloin, who entered later on in the second half, scored the only touchdown of the the game for the Oakland Raiders on a 10-yard scamper to the end zone.

This evening the defense was more impressive than the offense.

Kaelin Burnett led all Oakland Raiders with five tackles, an assisted tackle, and a sack while corner Tarrell Brown, formerly of the 49ers, finished with four tackles, one of which was assisted. First round pick Khalil Mack also had two tackles in the game.

Another defensive back, Chimdi Chekwa, had a great night and was impressive making a few great plays on the ball.

One of the major issues tonight for the Oakland Raiders was discipline and by the end of the game they had racked up 13 penalties for 94 total yards. Even head coach Dennis Allen realized this when he mentioned during the half that penalties really hurt his team.

Overall a rough start to the preseason, but we did see a few bright spots for the Oakland Raiders. Still, the passing game looks like it will need some work, but for now the defense looks solid as a unit and will only get better.