Reports out of training camp indicate that the Las Vegas Raiders offense produced their fair share of highlights during a joint session with the Los Angeles Rams.
The Silver and Black have made efforts to shore up some firepower on this side of the ball in recent years. Despite some turnover in the receiving corps in free agency, there are high hopes that quarterback Derek Carr will find more opportunities for explosive plays downfield.
The Raiders put some of their plays to the test against a Rams defense that finished the 2020 campaign as the No. 1-ranked group in the league. Reports suggest that they managed to hold their own with several big plays against the secondary.
Even if it was merely a practice session, Carr is optimistic about this group’s big-play ability.
“Well, we got a couple of our big-play guys back,” Carr said. “Obviously, we lost Nelly [Nelson Agholor], but Henry [Ruggs III] is back with that ability. [Darren] Waller obviously is back with that ability. [Hunter] Renfrow is back, he has that ability. He does it in a more sneaky way I guess, but he has that ability. To say that I don’t expect it or anything, that would be wrong. We expect to hit those plays. I’m actually still mad; there was a 7-on-7 rep, it should have been a perfect day for Hunter, but we misconnected on one in the back right corner of the end zone. But we fully expect to make those plays and knowing that it’s not going to happen every time. I think they were the best defense in the NFL last year, or if not one of, and we understand that they are going to have their plays but for us to be able to show that our plays and our designs and our guys could win against the best gives us confidence obviously going forward, knowing that they’ll make some too, but whenever you can make a few on a defense like that, you feel good about it going forward.”
Carr has long relied on tight end Darren Waller as his go-to option in the passing game. Although this blueprint has led to historic results for Waller, the onus will fall on the receiving corps to help take the pressure off.
The Raiders are still looking for ways to get Henry Ruggs’ game-breaking speed to translate to the next level. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see if Hunter Renfrow will extend his route tree downfield this season.
Regardless, Carr has already shown he can lead a top-10 offense despite some of their shortcomings.
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