*Update* It's being reported that Chaz's foot is sore. There is no damage. He didn't participate in the morning practice and left the field early yesterday as a precaution. There is no new reason for concern--except maybe the further dread that his foot may never be right. On a team with the two highest paid kickers in the history of the game does Chaz have the most valuable foot on the squad? Full camp updates later.
The first day of the new era in Raiders football is in the books. And as the Raiders wake up tomorrow exhausted from a long day of two grueling walk-through practices they will find themselves with only 43 days until they are faced with the task of showing the world that Titans may impressively clash with each other, but when taking on a group of well trained and disciplined pirates the only thing Titanish about the Titans will be the way they are titanically sinking.
Enough preambling jibberish, there is real football action to report...kind of. So, without further ado and from my first hand knowledge of other's first hand reporting, bullet points that may be of interest (each word is a separate link to my "sources").
- Chaz Schillens left the field early and did not return. There is, as of yet, no word on why. He was not limping when he left. In other words, I have no idea if I should panic yet or not.
- Khalif Barnes also walked off the field early with a member of the training staff. He was not limping either.
- Cable had a long talk with Mario Henderson after practice. No idea what it was about, but I am guessing it wasn't Cable lavishing praise upon him.
Hit the jump for news that doesn't blow.
- The first team D-line today was: Shaughnessy, Kelly, Seymour, Houston
- The rest of the 1st and 2nd squads seemed to be as expected. Huff was first team FS over Eugene and Scott was first team OLB over Howard. Rookie Travis Goethel got run as 2nd string MLB.
- On offense, Bush was running with the first team. Veldheer and Campbell were 2nd at LT and RG respectively.
- Thanks for...the OTA's I guess? Defensive tackle Ryan Boschetti and wide receiver Damola Adenjii were waived.
- Nnam and DHB stayed after and worked on the release with Nnam jamming DHB on the line.
- Coach Cable was impressed with how much of the system was retained by the new guys from the OTA's. He is still sticking to his four days of learning practices, though.
- The afternoon session saw a lot more 7 on 7 passing drills. By all accounts the defense was getting better of the offense. At one point, Hue--the overachieving chap that he is--was yelling that they were going to be the best pass catching team in the league. At least one guy heard him. Ol' faithful Z. Miller made a diving catch, which prompted Hue to yell, "I got one guy that can catch."
- Nnam picked off a pass and handed the ball right to Hue. Message to Hue, who had playfully called out Nnam in OTA's, Nnam will get ya.
- The first scuffle of the season. Any guesses as to who was involved...? That's right, it was LaMarr I-dish-not-accept Houston. Apparently he and Gallery had a nice introduction today. No punches were seen, but LaMarr, who had his helmet on at the start of the play, did not at the end.
- Here's to hoping personal fouls on LaMarr is<than personal fouls he generates.
- Luis Murphy was not at all satisfied with his rookie season and he seems hungry to improve. Here's what he had to say:
There’s a lot of plays I left out there, man,’’ Murphy said. “I broke down every film, every play, of the entire year, I could have had a thousand yards.
That’s what I really have to do this year, is tone it down. I remember one time in particularly I came in so amped up I forgot the first play.
I’ll tone it down, man, (I’m) feeling my way through the NFL. This second year, I feel way more comfortable. It’s a great feeling.
- Mike Mitchell's hamstring, and the rest of his body, is feeling good after day one. Mitchell:
This is the best shape I’ve been in since I’ve been a Raider. I’m excited. I was flying around today even though we weren’t supposed to. I’m just excited to show everybody what I can do this year. It’s going to be a big Year 2 for me.
- Jason Campbell thinks this is going to be a versatile offense.
It’s not like it’s going to be a run team or just a passing team. We’re going to do a lot of different things. Our whole game is to keep defenses off balance. It’s kind of like we do what we have to do to test defenses.
- What do the players think of the learning style practices? Well, I think the teams' Dick sums it best when he said:
Trust me, I'm not complaining. C'mon think about it. You've got wine country, you've got this weather, it's a nice way to come to camp. We're in T-shirts and helmets, you definitely can't beat that.
- Seymour, who spent the day lined up at RDT inside of Houston also added:
I am a natural inside player, but will play wherever they tell me.
- Cable guy warned not to read too much into the his positioning today, because they still plan on moving him around.
- All in all a solid Day One...unless Chaz is hurt, then it bites.