Oakland Raiders @ Arizona Cardinals: Winners and Losers

Losers

Dewey McDonald

Dewey has been hyped as a surprise player in training camp, as someone who is a threat to Nate Allen and Keith McGill’s job. But he was nothing short of terrible in the first game, in really every facet.

McDonald struggled to tackle, failing to wrap up on multiple occasions. He was also beat in coverage on at least two plays, and it was overall just a rough night for him. It’s just one game, so there is still plenty of time for him to improve, but he has some catching up to do.

Jalen Richard and Taiwan Jones

Many were excited to see Richard in action — another player who has been highly touted in training camp. But he ended up being inactive, as he was injured earlier in the week.

For Taiwan Jones, he was healthy, but hardly played in the game.

The reason why they are both listed as losers, is because of how well both Atkinson and Washington played. Washington was locked in as the backup, but Atkinson certainly gained some ground on both Richard and Taiwan.

Shilique Calhoun

The Raiders third-round pick struggled all game long. He got lost in coverage on a couple of plays, and was manhandled on the goal line on one particular play, where a rushing touchdown took place right where he was supposed to be.

Getting stronger so he can support the run is an area that would be a known issue for him, but it looks like he still has a little ways to go. His forte is pass rushing, but we didn’t see anything from him there, either.

Discipline

Sure, this one probably should get a pass because it’s the first preseason game, but there is a lot of discipline-related issues that need to be cleaned up.

On the first series of the game, there were two unnecessary penalties committed, that were simply just gaffes. Not what you want to see from the first-team offense.

And the other area is missed tackles. Several players were just trying to lay big hits, instead of wrapping up, which led to missed tackles.

Mario Edwards Jr.

The most worrisome concern from the game is the status of Mario Edwards Jr., who suffered a hip injury in the first quarter.

The team doesn’t believe the injury is serious, but as someone who has already dealt with one serious injury, it’s not what you want to see.

Dan Williams

Outside of Khalil Mack, Dan Williams might have been the Raiders best defensive player in 2015. He played at a very high level, and was one of the best interior defensive lineman in the league.

Fast forward to the first preseason game, and Williams was playing in the third quarter with the third-team. Yikes.

He reported to camp out of shape and his conditioning issues haven’t improved much, so this was likely just a message from Jack Del Rio — shape up or ship out, essentially.

Pass rush

For a team that has been lauded as having an excellent pass rush, including with the depth, it sure didn’t look like it on Friday.

The pass rush was non-existent, as Drew Iddings logged the only sack of the game. Mack hardly played and he’ll be fine, and the same can probably be said for Bruce Irvin, but the team struggled to put pressure on the quarterback for the majority of the game.