Oakland Raiders to host Los Angeles Rams prior to preseason game No. 1

The Oakland Raiders are preparing for their first action of the season. The Super Bowl runner up Los Angeles Rams is making the eight-hour drive north to Oakland next Saturday, August 10th, with an 8pm PT kickoff time.

The Oakland Raiders will be taking on the Los Angeles Rams to kick off their preseason slate next weekend. Last season, the Rams made it all the way to the Super Bowl, falling to the New England Patriots by the score of 13-3.

Before the game Saturday evening, the Raiders will actually be hosting the Rams at their practice field in Napa, California. Both teams are ready to prove themselves this year. The Rams are hungry for a Super Bowl victory and the Raiders are eager to prove their offseason additions will make a difference in the 4-12 record last season produced.

According to the team site, Derek Carr took to the media to express his excitement:

"“Again, it’s good to go against a different scheme,” the Raiders signal-caller said. “I really enjoy it and especially when it’s two really professional teams that aren’t trying to prove their manhood or prove their toughness to each other. Obviously, football is a physical game, but when there is just fights and brawls, I think that’s pointless, but when you can get good, physical, hard, fast work against a different scheme that kind of stuff is invaluable, honestly. I think it’s more valuable than a preseason game if I am just going to be honest. Doing these joint things, you get different situations. A third-down situation, you get some of [defensive coordinator] Coach [Wade] Phillips’ stuff. You get first-and-10 versus this personnel and you get this look and that look, different blitz patterns and things like that. You are getting more reps and it’s way more valuable than a preseason game to me.”"

Coach Gruden expressed his excitement too:

"“Yeah, probably, because the starters will get a lot of work where they won’t in the first preseason game, so we’ll be able to see our young corners against some great receivers and vice versa,” Gruden said Friday when asked whether the joint practice is more important than preseason. “And we’ll see how we stack up against the NFC champs and it will be a great challenge for us.”"

The team hosted the Rams in the opening game last season on Monday Night Football and lost. However, the Raiders are eager to prove they deserve a place at the adult’s table this year.

The Raiders team site also reported:

"-Raiders superstar wide receiver Antonio Brown didn’t participate in practice Saturday as he continues to recover from a foot injury. AB wasn’t the only player to miss practice Saturday though, as both tight ends Darren Waller and Paul Butler weren’t out on the field."

Antonio Brown continues to miss practice but I’m not worried about his status for week 1. I think this is just protecting one of their biggest assets and a major piece of their offense.

"–Karl Joseph came on a blitz, also during 11-on-11, and burst through the hole. Had it occurred during a real game, the play would have resulted in a sack."

Joseph continues to impress and looks to be a big part of the defense.

Derek Carr was asked which rookies impressed him during training camp:

"“You know who has impressed me is those two young corners that we drafted, Isaiah [Johnson] and Trayvon [Mullen], they are really impressive. Usually when you get young corners, I’m like, ‘Okay. It’s routes on air and I’m just going to pick on them all day kind of a thing.’ And those guys have been competitive. They ask me questions. One of my favorite pictures is actually there is a picture of me and Trayvon sitting over here, and he takes five minutes and he’s like, ‘Hey man. Talk to me about this route. What you are thinking? What you are seeing?’ And that doesn’t happen very often, so those guys have been very impressive."

Whatever the outcome of the game is on Saturday, the team is building for the future.