Preseason Game 1 - Vikes @ Raiders

 All good things!   Thanks for the share! 

The illegal contact shenanigan's was not fun. They didn't even show them on replays to make matters worse to see what they even actually did.

I was most impressed with Kene and Chandler. Sure they had some big holes sometimes but they made a lot of defenders miss as well. I think both are RB2s in this league at minimum already. There really is no reason to have Mattison on this roster right now I would be looking for a trade immediately. Take advantage of Kene and Chandler on rookie contracts. Mattison is gone next year anyway.

Mond started off slow and how ppl have described him in practice, but it was nice to see him settle down and get into a little rhythm. You could see the flashes so im not going to give up on him yet and at the same time im not going to say I would be comfortable with him as QB2 if he ever needed to go into a real game. I still would take him in there over Mannion is useless. There was no reason to even put him back in that game in the second half. He is who he is. At least Mond has a chance to develop. I thought that was foolish to take away meaningful snaps for Mond especially after a TD drive.

I didnt notice Ingram, which I would say is a good thing as a G, but nice to see him get good reviews. Id start him right away.

Im just going to call him #33 as I cant spell his last name, but I think we may have something there in the rookie LB. He was flying around and making tackles. Looks pretty solid and big as well I thought it was knock that he was a smaller guy coming out. Patrick Jones got in there too pressuring and although didnt get a sack I believe he was the reason for at least 2 of them. Philips looks solid in the run as well just as we needed.

It was just one preseason game but there were some positives to take away I think. Main thing is to stay healthy and see the full product come September.

Purple Insider's Takeaways:


Two huge wins!

And what is this? OL and DL depth?!

You're welcome.

I should've also highlighted the 5 pressures from Patrick Jones ll, with so many posters bagging on him during the game.

The biggest part for me is that we stay healthy heading into the season so yesterday was a big positive.

I still don't have a ton of faith in Mond but the way he played in the 2nd half gives a glimmer of hope. If he can keep developing and continues to seemingly learn with more reps he might just be worth a real shot as a starter one day. I think at this point he should clearly be the #2 over Mannion.

Nwangwu/Chandler both looked good, I honestly don't see much of a need for Mattison at this point personally. We have a very talented group of RB's.

I am not sure anyone overly separated themselves among wrs but Wilson had a solid game. I think ISM was a bit more up and down than a performance securing the 4th spot. The battle should be interesting between ISM/Nailor/Wilson/Jackson/Mitchel. I also wonder how many we will end up keeping given said competition here and at RB (especially with Ham included).

I was impressed with the offensive line play from the 2nd unit. If the starting offensive line has issues (interior especially with Bradbury/Davis), we might have some legitimate options to try and replace them with. Ingram seems like he will be a starter at some point this season.

Defensive line showed up in terms of rushing the passer. It felt like there were some more opportunities to make plays instead of just get pressure but it was still nice to see. It seemed like there was a bit too much given in the run game at times to me, not sure if that was solely on the dline or not though.

Hicks and Asamoah showed well among the LB group, wasn't that impressed with anyone else.

I thought the secondary had kind of a tough game, especially at the nickel corner spot. Dantzler didn't seem to do much (probably a good thing) and Booth outside those penalties was solid. Didn't feel like there was much standout play here though and the nickels seemed to get targeted easily.


Overall there was more good than bad despite the final score which doesn't matter anyways. Some promising notes on a lot of young talent, hopefully it keeps developing. I am still worried about the secondary but a lot of the issues came from one area (nickel) which can maybe be adjusted for if it continues.

Mods, can this excellent post be split out into its own thread? I feel like there is too much great info here that risks being lost on page 26 of a game thread.