Oakland Raiders have a short week before playing Arizona Cardinals
By Brad Weiss
Coming off a 14-3 victory on Saturday night, the Oakland Raiders have no time to waste, as they travel to Arizona to take on the Cardinals on Thursday.
It was a positive step in the right direction for the Oakland Raiders on Saturday night, as they picked up preseason win No. 1 against the Los Angeles Rams in the last ever preseason game in Oakland. The Raiders will be away from the Coliseum the rest of the preseason, and will not return until they take on the Denver Broncos in Week 1 of the regular season on Monday, September 9.
There were plenty of takeaways from Saturday night, as the Raiders played well on both sides of the ball. Quarterback Mike Glennon got the start, and looked good at times, but had two costly interceptions. Nathan Peterman, fighting with Glennon to be Derek Carr‘s backup, showed his athleticism, and this is a battle that should go down to the wire.
With so many injuries along the offensive line, the Raiders starting unit was a bit of a mashup, but that did not stop running back DeAndre Washington from dominating the opening drive. In what is a crowded running back room, he and undrafted free agent rookie Alec Ingold really stepped up on Saturday.
On defense, we got to see a ton of good ball from Arden Key, who looks like a completely different player in year No. 2. The secondary looked fast, and the defense as a whole held the Rams to only 109 yards of total offense.
With all the highs and lows of Saturday night, the Raiders must now crunch the tape, and move on to the next one, as they head to the desert to take on the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday. The Cardinals got a nice effort from No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray in their opener, and the expectation is the Raiders will see a bit more of him in preseason game No. 2.
Looking at the Raiders roster, this will be a homecoming for wide receiver J.J. Nelson, who played extremely well for the team Saturday, and is having a great camp. Nelson played his first four seasons in the NFL with the Cardinals, and will definitely be looking to put his stamp on this game Thursday night.
Next. Rams at Raiders: Highlights, score and recap. dark
There were plenty of starters who sat out on Saturday night, and with a short week, expect some of them to be in action against the Cardinals. The Raiders defense looked very good against the Rams, even if it was against their second team, and the expectation is that they will be a much-improved unit as a whole in 2019.