Photo by Tony Gonzales
The Oakland Raiders officially kicked off the regular season this afternoon with their first practice of the 2014 campaign.
After practice, Head Coach Dennis Allen announced that the Fresno State product would be the team's starting quarterback.
"We made the decision to go with Derek Carr as the quarterback," Coach Allen announced during his post-practice press conference. "After watching him all throughout training camp and in the preseason, you just see a guy that continues to develop and continues to be mature beyond his years as a quarterback and a guy that we feel very comfortable putting him out there and helping us win football games."
While the news about Carr was the hot topic of discussion, Allen also addressed the team's health headed into the regular season and what he expects to see from Rex Ryan and the New York Jets defense.
"I think he's [Rex Ryan] going to be who he is and he's going to call the defenses how he's called them before," said Coach Allen. "You never really know what you're going to see in the opening game of the season because generally you don't show a ton of stuff in the preseason, but I would expect that we've got to be ready to see a lot of his pressure package and trying to get after a young quarterback."
Additionally, G/T Austin Howard spoke after practice about the team's excitement to begin the regular season and their preparations for taking on the Jets, Howard's former team.
"It was a good day," Howard said. "We had the extra day to prepare ourselves, mentally and physically for the challenges that we're going to see this weekend. I believe we're coming together as a team and really honing things down and making sure we're all going to be on the same page for the upcoming game on Sunday."
The Raiders return to work tomorrow, and will practice Tuesday and Wednesday before they leave for the East Coast on Thursday.
They will kick off the 2014 season on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. PT at MetLife Stadium when they take on Rex Ryan and the New York Jets.
