Reactions to Raiders' preseason game vs. Vikings
By Levi Dombro
Pleasant surprises
Losing Josh Jacobs this offseason was a gut punch for Raider Nation and the question marks surrounding Zamir White are a large reason why the league looks less favorably upon the Silver and Black this season. The team should feel confident about how he performed last night, averaging over four yards per carry on the first possession and then punching it in for a touchdown a few possessions later.
Janarius Robinson was a monster against the second unit. Within his first few plays, he had a pressure on McCarthy and a run stop near the line of the scrimmage. He was in the backfield a handful of other times as well.
Amari Burney showed some real flashes of being a rotational linebacker. He ran mainly with the second and third groups but he subbed into the game and had a good tackle for loss on one of his first plays. He did miss a tackle a few plays later but he teamed up with Luke Masterson to crack a receiver and cause an incompletion. He was solid in coverage as well and collected another tackle for loss later in the game.
Jaydon Grant made a number of great plays as well, collecting four tackles and a pass break up along the way. Ron Stone Jr. also had two pass deflections and was close to having a sack fumble, but it was ruled incomplete.
Elerson Smith was seemingly everywhere for a possession or two as well. After a good rush or two on his first go-around, he had an impressive chase-down tackle and battled a ball down at the line of scrimmage. He also picked up what would have been a fumble had they not called it an incompletion.
Tyreik McAllister had a few impressive punt returns as well, and although I don’t think he will make the roster, I would not be surprised if a few teams have eyes on him. He is lightning-fast with great ability to read the field as a returner, and as we know, special teams are paramount in 2024.
The offensive line group did not look as bad as many thought it would. Andrus Peat whiffed and allowed AOC to be sacked near the goal line, which was a major gaff, but outside of this play, the group seemed solid. Minshew never went down and even O’Connell was able to evade the pass rush, having a clean pocket to step up into a couple of times as well.