Raiders dominate Rams backups in 14-3 home preseason win

The first game of preseason was a success for the Raiders, who defeated the visiting Rams 14-3 in what was the final preseason game ever played at the Oakland Coliseum. The Raiders’ offense showed it could move the ball while the defense played far better than many expected.

Oakland gave up a third-down conversion on the first drive on a Blake Bortles pass, and it would have been easy to shake your head and say, “same old Raiders.” But the defense locked down and forced a punt, chasing Bortles all over the field and making him throw two incompletions.

The Raiders’ offense got going, with the big play being a 38-yard dart from Mike Glennon to JJ Nelson. The diminutive receiver has been making big plays all camp and he kept it up here, snagging one over the head of a Rams corner who was not turned around. The drive culminated in a seven-yard touchdown run up the gut from Deandre Washington, and Oakland led 7-0.

Los Angeles kept shooting themselves in the foot with penalties and punted again. Near the end of the first quarter, Glennon threw an extremely ill-advised pass which was intercepted by Kevin Peterson. Even though the Rams had great field position, the Raiders’ defense made them punt again after an Arden Key sack.

Glennon again led the Raiders down to the red zone with around three minutes left in the first half, but threw another pick to Steven Parker on the 1-yard line which was returned to the 40. The Rams got a field goal out of it, and the score at the half was 7-3.

Oakland got the ball to start the second half, and Nathan Peterman was at the helm. He showed off his poise and his wheels with a 50-yard run that brought Oakland into the red zone. He capped off this drive with a short slant pass to Keelan Doss for a touchdown, and Oakland led 14-3. That was the end of the scoring for the game, as the third-stringers couldn’t get much going against one another in the fourth quarter. However, Mack Brown looked good rushing for Oakland, and had 37 yards on nine carries.

The Raiders rushed for 149 yards, much of that coming from Peterman. They passed for 258 yards in total, and held Los Angeles to 190 yards from scrimmage. There’s a lot to build on here. Oakland will take on the Cardinals next Thursday in Glendale.