With as much transition as this team is dealing with, they need all the regular season-like experience they can manage.
This certainly is not a groundbreaking idea. The third preseason game is typically the one teams use to treat most like the regular season as they play starters into the third quarter, but for the Raiders, this is about much more than getting the first-stringers some extra run.
This is clearly not lost on offensive coordinator Greg Knapp. Check out his quote, which was captured by The Contra Costa Times' Steve Corkran:
We’re doing this week like it’s a mock in-season week, the way we teach our third-down presentation this morning, red zone, tomorrow short-yardage and goal-line. So, there’s a growth going on right now with the players and with the coaches. It’s not only we’re just coaching the players here, we’re coaching coaches because it’s a new staff being worked together and this is really the first time we’ve prepared for a game.
Yep, the Raiders have to get a lot of moving parts on the same page. While much of the starting lineup returns from last season, these guys have to learn a new system on offense, which includes the move to a zone-blocking system from a power-blocking one.
Defensively, they have to adjust from their archaic man-to-man system to something a touch more modern. They will do so under the guidance of a rookie head coach and a staff that has to get used to working together.
This is the first chance for them to do any real game-planning and get the team to execute that game plan.
They want to get all the little details of preparation ironed out before the games start counting. Much of this will exist behind the sce...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
