Training Camp Day 6: Offense bounces back in front of star-studded audience

On Wednesday morning in Costa Mesa, the Las Vegas Raiders had their second padded practice of the preseason. Former Raiders stars Richie Incognito and Eric Allen made an appearance, as did the Raiders' all-time sack leader, Greg Townsend. Antonio Pierce's former Super Bowl-winning head coach and current mentor, Tom Coughlin, was also spotted at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex taking in Raiders training camp.

The changing kickoff rules in the NFL this season have caused the Raiders to put a premium on special teams reps in both OTAs and training camp, so special teams coordinator Tom McMahon took the podium before practice and spoke with the media.

The whole interview is entertaining, and it covers all things special teams. McMahon said on multiple occasions that he would take the blame for all of the blunders that occur by his unit early on. He is incredibly excited for the preseason to begin because the new kickoff rules will be on display, and there will be tons of film to study on the topic. He seemed to be keeping certain strategies close to the vest, as he played dumb about defensive players being kickoff specialists, even though multiple reports confirmed that guys like Jack Jones and Tommy Eichenberg were doing so in OTAs.

Of course, he was asked about the rookie Dylan Laube and had nothing but positive things to say about him. He spoke positively of the whole unit actually, which is encouraging for a franchise that has not had a kick return for a touchdown since 2012.

Notes from camp

At long last, the offense played well today in Costa Mesa. Raider Nation has been waiting for this proclamation for a while now, but the time is finally here to declare that truthfully. It was Gardner Minshew's turn to run with the first group at practice, and the unit had their best day of camp.

Antonio Pierce even had to yell at the defense because of how well the offense was doing, which is a change of pace for Raiders camp to this point. Nobody is cheering against the defense or the offense, but this is the kind of give and take that a team can hope for in camp.

The team continued with 1-on-1s between receivers and the secondary, which always produces noteworthy plays. The last few days, the play of Nate Hobbs and Jack Jones was the talk of these battles, but the script was flipped today.

It is no coincidence that the offense's best day coincided with Davante Adams' most effective outing. Levi Edwards of Raiders.com alluded to Adams' increased workload and said he was making the secondary pay for it. Adams and Minshew seemed to develop some chemistry in Wednesday's practice which could play a major factor in the ongoing quarterback battle. Minshew outperformed Aidan O'Connell today according to Vic Tafur of The Athletic, who made a few other interesting observations:

It is disappointing to see that Tre Tucker is struggling, considering how much work he put in this offseason and the hype surrounding his growth. It does soften the blow a bit knowing that Brock Bowers is all that he was billed to be, so he could fill the void that Tucker was projected to fill. It is still very early in training camp, so Tucker has time to continue developing, but these are not the news reports Raiders fans expected to see coming out of camp.

Once again, Logan Reever of 8News Now provided the best recap of camp by detailing each play of the live 11-on-11 period between the first teams. It is easy to see how the impression from Costa Mesa today was that the offense won the day.

Obviously, there are a lot of positive plays here for the offense. There are still a few things to clean up, but this is back and forth. This is the give-and-take that great teams have in camp. Rookie LB Tommy Eichenberg made two plays in succession according to Levi Edwards, as he made a defensive stop followed by a near interception. The best play of the day, however, came from AOC as he found DJ Turner for a 30-yard touchdown in the corner of the endzone.

It should be recognized too that the defense had some struggles of their own today, independent of the offense's success. Tafur noted that Jakorian Bennett had multiple pass interferences called on him, which is discouraging because he seems to be in line for the starting cornerback position opposite of Jones. Like Tucker, these guys are both second-year players with limited game reps, so these experiences in practice are critical for them. It is not time to panic or sound the alarms, but rather, a time for them to be making these mistakes before they take the field when it counts. I am not too worried about either of them.