The Raiders keep trimming down the rough edges in camp, and Monday’s practice was another sign that the work is starting to show. With their second-to-last training camp session in the books before Tuesday’s open practice at Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas spent the morning knocking out one more chunk of its preseason checklist.
The offense still wasn’t perfect. There were dropped passes and a few false starts mixed in, but the group looked sharper than it has in earlier practices.
That matters because the Raiders are still in the middle of figuring things out, and they’ve got about a month before Week 1 to keep building. If they keep making this kind of progress and use the preseason the right way, they should be in good shape when the games count.
A big reason for the optimism is Brock Bowers. Camp has made it obvious that when he’s healthy and operating in a functional offense, he can be a nightmare to handle. Monday felt like the Bowers show again, with the third-year tight end finding space routinely against the starting defense.
That’s a strong sign for a player who appears set up to thrive in a much better situation. The Raiders brought in an offensive-minded head coach, an offensive coordinator who knows how to deploy him, and a better supporting cast around him.
With an improved offensive line, a quarterback, and real receiving help beyond Bowers, he looks positioned to do in the regular season what he’s already been doing all camp. If the health holds and the offense keeps coming together, he could strengthen his case as the best tight end in the league.
On the other side of the ball, the defense continues to show what it wants to be. Stopping the run is going to define this group, and Monday brought more of the same: the Raiders made it hard for their own offense to get anything going on the ground. That has been a recurring theme throughout camp, and it looks like a natural strength of this unit.
The front has had a few breakdowns, including times when it filled the wrong gap, and the offense has had some success on the ground here and there. But those moments have been rare. Last season, the Raiders started well against the run before things changed, and it’ll be worth watching whether they can open this year the same way and keep it going.
That identity is no accident. With former defensive line coach Robbie Leonard now running the defense, the Raiders’ front is being built to win at the line of scrimmage and make life miserable for opposing runners. Interior lineman Thomas Booker laid out the message clearly after practice.
“He wants us to reset the line of scrimmage, cause havoc, but also be responsible and accountable to your gaps. But one thing that you hear from Robbie [Rob Leonard], I’ve said it before, is that he emphasizes it's the way that we play,” Booker said following training camp.
“Scheme is important. We'll coach scheme, those are things that we can coach.
But again, are we playing flat backs, inside hands, resetting the line of scrimmage or whatever else. And if we're doing that, we can figure out the scheme stuff and go around that.
So, I think that's what we're trying to do. Is instill a style of play, first and foremost."
In Other News...
Kirk Cousins Responded To Camp Drama With A Statement Practice
Kirk Cousins did not let a tense training camp moment linger for long. After the Raiders quarterback room was jolted by an altercation with Maxx Crosby, Cousins came back to practice and delivered one of his strongest sessions, showing the kind of steadiness the team has been looking for as the competition at quarterback continues to settle.
The timing mattered, too, because Cousins has been stacking better days than rookie Fernando Mendoza, who has had his share of ups and downs while working through the offense. Even with Mendoza still getting chances to push the battle, Cousins looked composed and in control, offering a reminder that in camp, how a quarterback responds after turbulence can matter almost as much as the drama itself. [Read more 🡒]
Mark Davis Just Sent A Clear Message About The Raiders Direction
Mark Davis has spent plenty of time watching this franchise search for stability, so it stood out when he voiced confidence in the Raiders quarterback room and the direction it is taking. The mix includes veteran Kirk Cousins, rookie Fernando Mendoza and Aidan OConnell, giving Las Vegas a blend of experience and upside at the most important position, and Davis tone suggested he believes the group is at least pointing toward something more settled than the usual churn.
The bigger signal may have come from the way head coach Klint Kubiak handled a practice altercation between Cousins and Maxx Crosby. By sitting both players out of the next practice, Kubiak sent a message about accountability before anything else, and Davis has taken that kind of structure as part of the current leaderships appeal. After years of uneven results, the Raiders owner appears ready to judge this stretch by the tone being set as much as by what happens on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Fans Will Read Into This Strange Maxx Crosby Incident
A routine Raiders training camp session got a little too real when Maxx Crosby struck quarterback Kirk Cousins twice on his throwing arm, turning practice into a brief confrontation and giving everyone on the sideline something to talk about. Crosby has spent the summer as one of the biggest names on the roster, and any hard edge from a player like that tends to get noticed fast, especially when it involves a quarterback in camp.
The strange part is how quickly the moment drifted beyond the field. Former NBA player Joe Johnson floated a theory that Crosbys actions were tied to a desire to land with the Cowboys, a notion that has not been confirmed and sits squarely in rumor territory. Crosby, for his part, has denied that trade speculation has changed his focus and remains with the Raiders, but once a scene like this leaks out, it is the sort of thing Cowboys fans are going to keep reading into. [Read more 🡒]