HENDERSON, Nev. - The Las Vegas Raiders are past their first preseason test, and training camp has already started to feel a whole lot less forgiving.
By Sunday, the pace had sharpened across the board. Joe DeCamillis was visibly fired up during special teams work, Maxx Crosby was bringing full-speed energy during team periods, and players were reacting loudly after nearly every rep. The message was hard to miss: with the regular season creeping closer, the room is running out of chances to make noise.
Head coach Klint Kubiak made the expectation plain after practice.
“Just as a team, we got to improve,” said Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak after Sunday’s practice.
“There’s a lot of improvement [on] offense, defense, special teams. There’s things that I liked.
There’s things that we got to do better. We put a lot of time into that yesterday and we all know it is our fourth week of training camp and we’re a team that’s still jelling together.”
That urgency has been especially clear on defense. Thursday’s preseason opener against the Arizona Cardinals wasn’t the kind of performance that unit wanted to put on tape.
The pass rush didn’t really get rolling until late, and the secondary opened by allowing 16 straight completions. Even so, Sunday brought a much cleaner response, with the defense working better against a first-team offense that was without Brock Bowers.
At times, the defensive line was giving Kirk Cousins plenty to deal with, and that created chances for players like Decamerion Richardson and Tommy Eichenberg to get involved.
“As a secondary, we never want to put that on our resume, but it happens,” said cornerback Darien Porter on Thursday’s effort. “Now, we just have to learn from it and…just try to put that to rest and not let that happen again.”
On the other side of the ball, Kubiak keeps pushing the idea of a physical run game that can take some pressure off everything else. That starts with the fullbacks, and Connor Heyward and Patrick Gurd have both been getting work in a role that asks for a lot: lead blocking, pass protection, and even serving as a receiving outlet when needed. Kubiak has said the fullback has to be the smartest player on offense, and the job description makes that obvious.
“I feel like me and Pat…we’re versatile, but everybody on the offensive side, you got to be able to play multiple positions,” said Heyward.
“We have a lot of capable receivers and a lot of versatile guys on offense, and I’m just trying to do my 111. You guys might view it as that, but I just view it as doing my job.”
The backs have had to show that same flexibility, too. The screen game has gotten work from the whole group, and Mike Washington made the loudest statement of the day with a 53-yard run that stood out as the Raiders’ biggest offensive highlight against Arizona.
“He’s just a bruiser, man,” said running back Dylan Laube on his rookie teammate. “He’s a special talent since day one.
He’s come in and just work. He’s a very fun player to watch.”
The Raiders’ next chance to show what they’ve got comes on the road against the Houston Texans, a defense that will provide a stern test. With roster spots tightening and the 53-man cutdown getting closer, every strong practice and every clean preseason rep matters a little more now.
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Mayer is expected to be part of a two-headed tight end attack with Brock Bowers, giving the Raiders a pair of capable options in a scheme that still wants to lean on a physical run game. For a team looking to build something more balanced and dependable, that kind of usage could turn Mayer into a much bigger piece of the offense than he has been in previous stretches. [Read more 🡒]