Oakland Raiders: A Few Things Worth Keeping An Eye On Against The Rams

The Oakland Raiders square off with the Rams in the second of their four preseason tilts – here are a few things worth keeping an eye on.

The Oakland Raiders roll into their second exhibition game with plenty of concerns and question marks. Lucky for them, they’ll be facing a Los Angeles Rams squad who has even more concerns and question marks of their own.

Quarterback Derek Carr and the starting offensive unit are scheduled to play against the Rams. HC Jack Del Rio has predetermined the number of snaps they’ll take – which means their time on the field could possibly stretch through the first and into the second quarter of the game.

We’ll have to wait and see how long it takes them to get to that magic number Del Rio set.

Oakland’s exhibition opener against the Cardinals – a 20-10 defeat – didn’t quite go as smoothly as the team had hoped. But beyond the score, you could see some incremental improvements here and there. There are definitely encouraging signs, especially from a defense that spent the 2016 season as everybody’s whipping boy.

One of those improvements was in the “big play” department – a big play being defined as a play that goes for 20 yards or more. A dubious category in which the Raiders led the entire NFL – by far.

Against Arizona though, the Oakland defense — a defense that was mostly made up of reserves – and players on the roster bubble – surrendered just two “big plays.”

But where this defense stubbed its toe was on third downs. Specifically, their inability to stop Arizona’s third down conversion attempts and get off the field, allowing them to extend drives.

The silver lining of course, is that this is the exhibition season and there is still time to continue to improve. This team just needs to build on last week’s successes and carry them forward into their game against the Rams.

With that in mind, here are a few things worth keeping an eye on against the Rams…