You know the training camp grind is in full effect when you start seeing the kind of sloppy play the Raiders displayed today. It wasn’t altogether terrible, but it wasn’t the efficiency we had seen the first few days.
There were a few penalties, many of which were of the pre-snap variety which frustrate coaches the most — false starts, offsides, etc. There was a fumbled handoff between Connor Cook and George Aktinson III, and Derek Carr and EJ Manuel weren’t as sharp.
“I thought today was just OK, a little sloppy,” said Del Rio. “Ball on the ground a little too much, some offsides issues, but Day 4 of camp. We’re so far away from where we need to be.”
“It’s not good enough, that’s all. I explained it to our guys. It’s not what we needed to do. We needed to come out and practice crisper, sharper, cleaner football. It’s one day. Just like if it’s one period, you learn a lesson. I always shoot straight with our guys. I don’t always share it with you but I just gave you a little synopsis of what just happened.”
Tomorrow is the team’s first day off of camp and it would appear it comes at a good time.
Gareon Conley was on the sideline for the first time since being cleared of any charges from what now appear to be false allegations of sexual assault.
Jack Del Rio spoke for the first time with a similar sentiment to that of Reggie McKenzie.
“I know we had good news for Gareon [Conley] yesterday,” said Del Rio. “That was pretty much anticipated by us, so I am just happy we can now turn our full attention toward football and I know he’s relieved.”
Del Rio, McKenzie, and Conley are all now vindicated. It’s a good day knowing not only was this woman not sexually assaulted, but that the investigation is closed and Conley has that weight lifted. The next step is returning to practice, which hopefully he can do soon.
Notes:
- We had our first new injury of camp with Amari Cooper sidelined. He was banged up midway through practice Monday. Del Rio does not comment on injuries or their severity, so we can only look to see if he is able to return once the team returns to practice Thursday. He was standing on the side during practice.
- One player who went out injured the first day of camp, but had slipped my mention of it, is defensive lineman Fadol Brown. He has not practiced since that first day.
- Still on the NFI list are Mario Edwards Jr, Bruce Irvin, Ben Heeney, and Cooper Helfet. Edwards was working on the side during practice on tackle dummies. Irvin is always a presence around the other pass rushers trying to take mental reps and stay involved.
- Still on the PUP list are Gareon Conley, Jon Feliciano, and Jihad Ward. Only Conley is seen regularly along the sideline during practice.
- Catch of the day: Jared Cook went on a seam route, getting a step on Obi Melifonwu and with Reggie Nelson bearing down on him, made an impressive over the shoulder fingertip grab on a perfectly placed Derek Carr pass. Karl Joseph was also in the area.
- Hitting the B button: DeAndre Washington took a handoff out left where Karl Joseph was waiting to seal the edge. Richard made the snap decision, put his foot in the turf and spun inside without breaking stride, leaving Joseph grasping at air.
- Defensive play of the day: Second team tight end Clive Walford caught a pass out in the flat from EJ Manuel, turn around to head upfield only to meet James Cowser who grabbed at the ball with both arms and ripped it out of Walford’s grip and took it the other way.
- Karl’s revenge: Later in practice, Elijah Hood took a run up the middle and Joseph came up and laid a solid stick on him to stop him in his tracks. A couple plays later, he came around the left edge on a blitz and EJ Manuel tried to get the ball out to the flat, but Joseph got his hands up to knock it down.
- There were no interceptions, but undrafted rookie Breon Borders made another pass breakup on a Manuel pass out right.
- Darius Latham batted down a Manuel pass at the line too.
- KJ Brent had a nice day. He got up for a tough leaping grab in the back right corner from Manuel despite what appeared to be double coverage. Earlier he came back to get a pass from Manuel in tight coverage from Antonio Hamilton. He caught an in route on Hamilton a bit later as well.
- Practice ended with Cordarrelle Patterson finding a soft spot in the end zone between Marqel Lee and Karl Joseph and Manuel finding him for the touchdown.
- No camp practice tomorrow.
Correction: Originally I said it was Jalen Richard who hit the spin move on Joseph. It was actually DeAndre Washington.
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