Oakland Raiders: The good, bad, and ugly from preseason win over Seahawks

Ugly: Penalties

At this point, they may as well go ahead and start coloring the penalty flags Silver and Black.

For years upon years upon years, the raiders have been synonymous with penalty flags. Where as once, it was for rough – maybe out of bounds – hard nosed play, and intimidation tactics, these days, it’s more just for shooting themselves in the foot.

Las Vegas Raiders

Annually, the Raiders are among the league leaders in the dubious categories of number of penalties accepted, and amount of yardage marked off due to those penalties. It’s like clockwork.

With notorious disciplinarian Gruden marching the sidelines again, the thinking was that he’d whip them into shape, and make them a tighter, more disciplined unit. And, to be fair, he still might. The preseason, with all of its sloppy and ragged play, isn’t necessarily the end-all, be-all fortune telling device that predicts how the season will play out.

But, the four-game preseason slate was a disaster, penalty-wise. The Raiders came into the game averaging about 10 penalties, and 100 penalty yards per contest. They saved the best for last apparently, because they hit preseason highs against Seattle, racking up 12 penalties for 113 yards.

No team can afford to give up 100 penalty yards – or more – of field position per game, and expect to find any success. Penalties kill drives. Kill momentum. And can absolutely take points off the board.

If the penalties were on effort plays, that would be one thing. But, by and large, the Raiders make a lot of mental errors, and shoot themselves in the foot time and time again. They can’t afford to keep giving up field position with stupid, unforced errors.

If they’re going to find success on the field, it’s critical they greatly reduce the number of flags they take each and every game.