After a successful first day of joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams, the Las Vegas Raiders saw today’s 2nd joint practice come to an early end after a brawl between the two teams. While yesterday’s practice was heated and did feature a few skirmishes, today’s fighting was past acceptable for head coach Jon Gruden who sent his team to the buses.
Roderic Teamer and Rasul Douglas were the two Raiders players who were involved in the start of the skirmish on special teams. From there, it grew as players from both teams joined the frenzy and multiple punches were thrown.
Gruden had seen enough and ended practice for his team, sending them to the buses. The Rams continued to practice in the absence of the Raiders.
Before things were called off, there were a few standout plays made by Raiders players that were significant enough to single out. Trevon Moehrig had another nice pass breakup after a few big plays yesterday and Kenyan Drake scored a touchdown as a receiver, showcasing some of that dual-threat ability that has the Raiders so excited.
Gruden not impressed with end of 2nd joint practice
While he seemed to enjoy the performance and energy level of his team during the drills over the past two days, it was clear that Gruden wasn’t happy with the shenanigans that ended practice.
Some of the words that Gruden used to describe the event that ended practice included “child’s play,” “sickening” and saying he had “no idea what happened, but I had enough of that crap.”
While Gruden expressed his disappointment publicly, there’s no doubt that seeing the players stick up for each other at least gave him some reassurance as to the backbone of this team.
Still, discipline has been an issue for the Raiders in the past who have been penalized many times in crucial situations. It only takes going back to the game against the Miami Dolphins last year for an example as to where discipline cost them. Moving forward, they’re going to need to be able to express that energy in different ways.
Raiders players embracing the fire
Many of the Raiders players were active on social media shortly after practice and it’s clear that they are embracing this new energy that has led to multiple fights over the last few days. There seems to be a new attitude and swagger that the team has been missing in recent seasons, one that is reminiscent of some of the older Raiders teams.
“I like the fact that our team got the fighting spirit” commented running back Josh Jacobs after practice, “not only that but they had each others backs.”
Jacobs wasn’t the only one that was vocal after practice, though some players used social media as their medium of choice to voice their message.
Their hasn’t been this level of excitement around the defense since Derek Carr has taken over. Credit Gus Bradley for creating a culture that seems to have the players a lot more excited than they have been in the past.
Injuries to keep an eye on after 2nd joint practice
Two Raiders players left today’s practice with injuries. One was Ritchie Incognito and the other one was Nicholas Morrow.
Incognito left the field without needing support but was limping quite heavily according to Tashan Reed of The Athletic. With the offensive line depth already thin after an offseason overhaul, an injury to Incognito would be a big blow to the unit.
Morrow has been a player that the coaching staff has really liked during this training camp and over the course of last season. He also limped off the field through the injury according to Vic Tafur of The Atheltic but his injured seemed more dangerous at first as the medical staff was getting the stretcher ready.
Gruden didn’t have an update on either player after practice though he said that they will know more in the coming days.