Head Coach Jack Del Rio
With one more day of padded practice left in the Oakland Raiders Training Camp in Napa, California, Head Coach Jack Del Rio continues to prepare the team for its first preseason game on Friday against the Arizona Cardinals. The team is ready to lace-up against a new opponent and get the 2016 campaign started. Del Rio remains focused on getting his guys ready and furthering their development.
Here are the key points from Del Rio's session:
The team had a day off yesterday, but Del Rio was pleased with how the team bounced back today.
"Good day, good day. It's always good when a team learns how to bounce back from time off. We had yesterday off, came out here today and had, I thought, a good solid practice. Not perfect, we have a lot of things to get better at, but the energy level was good. I thought we got going right away and a good, competitive practice."
He addressed the game plan going into the team's first preseason game and what to expect.
"Well, we just want to be crisp and play good football. We've really worked hard at eliminating silly pre-snap errors that good football teams don't make. So, we're going to look to see that and get a chance to do it for the first time against another opponent. So, that's the big thing. Obviously, we stress effort first in everything that we do. So, we want to see great effort from our football team and try and play everybody."
**Defensive backs Dexter and Dewey McDonald have impressed Del Rio through training camp so far.
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"I think the McDonald boys, both of them, Dexter and Dewey, no relation, but they've both had a nice camp. They've taken advantage of the time in the offseason, they've made improvement and they're pushing for a spot. They're right in the mix in the competition in the back end and doing a nice job for us."
Del Rio expressed his feelings about quarterback Derek Carr's growth and leadership on the team.
"Well I think he's natural as a leader, first of all. I think he's been around football for a long time. He's a good football player and he works at it. The progression that he's making, talented guys that work hard will improve. There's no question that he took a significant step forward last year and we think there's a lot of room for growth in front of him. We're excited about continuing to develop him."
Hall of Famer and current Fox Sports analyst Howie Long was at practice today and will be speaking to the team later this evening.
"I look forward to him coming in here and just talking about, you know, one of the reasons we invited him, it's about the big guys in the trenches. It's about what we get done in the trenches and I want him to speak to that, some of those topics. So, we'll look forward to hearing from him tonight."
