WEBVTT
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Formerly of the Houston Chronicle, Sam Warren, who's been with
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us here before on a couple of occasions when he
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was covering the Texans. Technically he's covering the Texans again
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because the Raiders are in town. His beat out there
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in Vegas. So that heat, now this heat, and I
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don't know how much heat we're going to see inside
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Reliance Stadium tonight, but I'm hopeful that you could share
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with our listeners, Sam, some of what you saw on
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Tuesday I focused on the Texans offense. Did you have
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your eyeballs on the Kirk Cousin Fernando Mendoza led Vegas
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Raiders offense.
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Absolutely, That's what everybody's really interested about with this Raiders team.
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So they got some really awesome work against this top
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Texans defense, and yeah, it was definitely a learning experience
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for both Kirk Cousins, the veteran going into its fifteenth
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season and then the rookie Fernanda Mendoza going up against
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a top tier defense for the first time in the NFL.
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We were talking about Kirk Cousins because, for some reason,
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during our time together here on this show, Ac and I,
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he's been a constant talking point for totally ridiculous reasons. However,
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is this thought correct that maybe for the first time ever,
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this is a perfect place for Kirk Cousins. This is
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a great situation for the Raiders and Fernando Mendoza all
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things considered for what Kirk Cousins actually is and what
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his future is, and same for Fernando at this point
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in his career.
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Absolutely. I mean, the thing about Kirk is that he
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chose this destination knowing that the Raiders were fully going
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to go and take Fernando. So like when he was
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with the Falcons, you know, they surprised him with selecting
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Michael Pennix, but he selected the Raiders knowing that he
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was going to end up in sort of that mentorship
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role and have a guy that was going to come
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in and eventually supplant him. But it's been great for
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him so far with teaming back up with Clint Kubiak
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Andrew Guinoco, their offensive coordinator. He had his best years
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of his career with them in Minnesota, and he's the
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guy that's really been able to operate this Raiders deep,
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this Raiders offense and kind of get back to where
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he excels in in that Kubiak kind of zone scheme,
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working off play actions, those kinds of things. So it
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definitely is a perfect spot for him right now at
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this point in his career. And same thing with Fernando.
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I mean there's so many voices that and people that
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Fernando can rely on as a rookie, whether that's Clint
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and Andrew, whether that's his QB coach, Mike Sullivan who's
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won a Super Bowl, whether that's Tom Brady in the
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in the building with the ownership group, and then you
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know Kirk being the veteran QB and you've got Aidan
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O'Connell in there too, who's who started some games. So really,
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I don't think Fernando could have like any more resources
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as a rookie. So it's it's been a good experience
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for him jumping into the NFL as well.
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So if I'm hearing this right, Kirk Cousins said, I'll
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be a mentor when I want to be a mentor,
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and I'll show you Atlanta Falcons and I'm gonna go
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live in Vecas and the he looks at him and says.
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You like that? Is that how it went? Absolutely? Yeah?
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I mean he's he's really taken a good approach to
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this experience. You know, these guys, they keep saying that
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they're competing with each other, not against each other. It's
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definitely a competition, like it's Kirk's job to lose, but
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Fernando's been pushing him, and yeah, I think I think
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they're really learning from each other. All the camaraderie seems
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really good. The vibes in that room seem good. So
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so yeah, Kirk, Kirk consciously shows to come to the
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Raiders because he likes what the culture is there and
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he likes working with Fernando.
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Okay, Sam, this is completely not important, but it is
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Raiders and stadium related, And since we've got you here,
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I selfishly want to ask this question because I saw today.
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Is this true? They're asking for like one hundred and
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fifty plus million to renovate a brand new stadium that
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I've been in multiple times and is beautiful.
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Yeah, so they're proposing they're proposing a new project. I
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think it in like an hour or so at a meeting today.
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But yeah, they're they're trying to expand there's some some
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real estate for them to expand with in their I
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think one of their parking lots, trying to create kind
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of more of a fan experience as they go into
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the stadium. So it's Las Vegas, so they need to
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do everything big. Everything needs to be glitzy. So the
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more the more renovations they can make to the stadium,
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the more they can make that thing a spectacle. I
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think they're gonna, you know, go after it with all
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their might.
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Talk with Sam Warren of the Athletic as the Texans
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and Raiders had a joint practice Tuesday. They'll play their
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preseason game number two for each team tonight here at
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Reliance Stadium. Do you have a best guess or info
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on what you think the Raiders intend to throw out
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the Texans in terms of starters and playing time and
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things like that. It appears on our end some offensive
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starters for the Texans will play, but only briefly, and
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likely no defensive starters.
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Yeah. So Clint Kubiak has been coy with how he
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wants to with all his game plans for the preseason.
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He said that we'll see if the starters play, so
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not exactly experience. If Kirk Cousins is gonna be out
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there to start, we're definitely gonna see extensive reps for
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Fernando Mendoza. They've that's been really a focus for them
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during the preseason games, so you're gonna see a lot
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of the number one overall draft pick. I think something
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that will be interesting for me is whether Max Crosby
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gets out there and gets some reps. We didn't see
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him at all in the first preseason game. They kept
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him out by Clint Kubiak's decision, but it would be
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good to see him get some game reps in the
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preseason before you go out. So it goes out there
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for Week one.
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Sam I was just trying to figure out the timeline
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on this, and she just mentioned Max Crosby. You got
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to town, Like, what maybe a month after that whole
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debacle went down? Is that not the weirdest NFL story
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of recent memory involving a trade that wasn't And what
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what has Max Crosby been like from that point forward,
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at least since you got to the Raiders beat.
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Yeah. Absolutely, It definitely was a crazy thing knowing that
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I was going to walk into that situation, and to
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be honest, it's it's crazy that everything seems very amicable now.
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Coming back to the team, Max is pretty much saying
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everything that you want him to say given the situation.
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He's happy with the culture that they're bringing. Obviously, we'll
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see what happens if the Raiders don't start off the
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season too hot and and some of those struggles come back,
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and if he gets frustrated with the losing again. But
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so far, he's saying all the right things. It seems
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like there's a good relationship with the team and John Spytech,
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their general manager, and Clintcubac, the head coach. So it's
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it's crazy that, you know, a guy who wanted out
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now seems to be happy with UH, with the exchanges
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that have been made. But that's just kind of where
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we stand right now.
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Watching a bunch of Max both last year when the
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Texans played them and then more specifically Tuesday when they
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joint practiced with them, I thought the Texans had a
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much better plan for him in this joint practice and
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recognizing the need for usually at least two people to
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be focused on keeping him away from Stroud, even in
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a situation where he can't hit him. I'm curious on
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the other side of it, as you were watching the
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offense for the Raiders go against the Texans defense. It
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kind of goes without saying they had struggles up front
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with the two edges for the Texans. But beyond that,
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did you feel like the Texans you know, interior defensive
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line did a good job. I know, the Raiders didn't
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run the ball very well on this Tuesday joint practice.
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And then additionally, it felt like, from what I was
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hearing and seeing a little bit of the Texans secondary
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was just basically a total blanket and there was almost
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nowhere to go for any of the receivers to create
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separation in space for their quarterbacks.
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Yeah, so the interior defensive line looked pretty solid. They
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weren't The Raiders weren't able to run the ball pretty
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much at all against the Ones. I know, Logan Hall,
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I think got into the backfield a couple of times
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for some possible sacks, so he looked good. He's a
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guy that I didn't see the last two years when
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I was covering the Texans, so it seems like he
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could have a little bit of an impact. But yeah,
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I mean for a team that's that's kind of trying
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to establish its offensive identity in a new scheme, it's
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a pretty difficult challenge to go up against this Texans
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defense and a joint practice where they're able to throw
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everything at you. So the Raiders offense was definitely having
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some struggles. You were seeing both Kirk and Fernando get
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sped up by the pressure, seeing some off you know,
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some poor decisions from Kirk which we haven't seen, some
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off target throws that we haven't seen because he's looked
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for the most part, pretty dialed in during the preseason.
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But you would see, you know, a couple explosive plays
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here and there. I think Brock Bauers caught a touchdown
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in the end zone that was their one passing touchdown
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and then Brock ran kind of a go ball type
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route that Fernando just slotted into him for a big
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explosive play. But yeah, for the most part, the Texas
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defense was able to blanket things for against this this
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Raiders offense in the preseason, I mean, in the in
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the joint practice.
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Sam, I'll ask you something A lot of people probably
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are curious about, how much do you see Tom Brady
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and how much do you personally, you know, if you
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don't interact with him, Like, how much is he a
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part of things? I know he was here in Houston,
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but I've just it's such a unique dynamic with him,
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you know, having his part in that team and then
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also doing what he does from a broadcasting standpoint, what's
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it like being around Tom Brady in that role now?
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Yeah, so so Tom is definitely present. We've seen a
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practice a couple of times. We saw him at the
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joint practice, we saw him at the first preseason game.
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I imagine he might be there tonight as well. But yeah,
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he's not too front facing with the media, hasn't done anything,
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you know, this offseason in terms of in terms of
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talking you know, press conference or anything like that. But
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it's obvious that his his mark is being left on
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this Raiders team. They're doing it like it's it's clear
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that he is taking more of an active approach this season.
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I don't think he's been very happy with the results
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of the Raiders since he bought into the team. So
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now there it seems like they've done the competent things
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this offseason, which is kind of a far cry from
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what we've seen from the Raiders in recent years. When
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you know, you you bring in a veteran quarterback like
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Kirk Cousins, you get probably the top coaching option on
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the market, Like you are able to draw in the
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top coaching candidate on the market even after like firing
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your your coaches after for like the first season the
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past four seasons, which is which is kind of wild,
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but but yeah, it's it's clear that he's taking more
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of an active approach with the organization of the team,
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really getting involved with the quarterback room. Both Kirk and
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and Fernando have talked about his impact and being a
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voice of of you know, giving them advice and everything
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like that. So yeah, he's he's definitely involved, and I
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think that could only be a positive thing for the Raiders.
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Well, the conflict of interest thing has always been a
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fun topic and not often going to really come to pass,
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especially when I'm guessing Miami at Vegas opening Sunday is
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not for the Fox number one broadcast team, of which
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he is on. Sam, we really appreciate the time. Great
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to catch up with you at practice on Tuesday, and
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look forward to doing it a little bit more this
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evening and appreciate you joining our listeners this afternoon.
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Awesome, guys, thank you so much for having me back
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on
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Formerly of the Houston Chronicle, Sam Warren, who's been with
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us here before on a couple of occasions when he
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was covering the Texans. Technically he's covering the Texans again
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because the Raiders are in town. His beat out there
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in Vegas. So that heat, now this heat, and I
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don't know how much heat we're going to see inside
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Reliance Stadium tonight, but I'm hopeful that you could share
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with our listeners, Sam, some of what you saw on
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Tuesday I focused on the Texans offense. Did you have
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your eyeballs on the Kirk Cousin Fernando Mendoza led Vegas
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Raiders offense.
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Absolutely, That's what everybody's really interested about with this Raiders team.
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So they got some really awesome work against this top
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Texans defense, and yeah, it was definitely a learning experience
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for both Kirk Cousins, the veteran going into its fifteenth
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season and then the rookie Fernanda Mendoza going up against
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a top tier defense for the first time in the NFL.
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We were talking about Kirk Cousins because, for some reason,
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during our time together here on this show, Ac and I,
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he's been a constant talking point for totally ridiculous reasons. However,
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is this thought correct that maybe for the first time ever,
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this is a perfect place for Kirk Cousins. This is
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a great situation for the Raiders and Fernando Mendoza all
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things considered for what Kirk Cousins actually is and what
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his future is, and same for Fernando at this point
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in his career.
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Absolutely. I mean, the thing about Kirk is that he
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chose this destination knowing that the Raiders were fully going
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to go and take Fernando. So like when he was
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with the Falcons, you know, they surprised him with selecting
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Michael Pennix, but he selected the Raiders knowing that he
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was going to end up in sort of that mentorship
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role and have a guy that was going to come
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in and eventually supplant him. But it's been great for
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him so far with teaming back up with Clint Kubiak
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Andrew Guinoco, their offensive coordinator. He had his best years
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of his career with them in Minnesota, and he's the
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guy that's really been able to operate this Raiders deep,
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this Raiders offense and kind of get back to where
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he excels in in that Kubiak kind of zone scheme,
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working off play actions, those kinds of things. So it
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definitely is a perfect spot for him right now at
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this point in his career. And same thing with Fernando.
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I mean there's so many voices that and people that
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Fernando can rely on as a rookie, whether that's Clint
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and Andrew, whether that's his QB coach, Mike Sullivan who's
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won a Super Bowl, whether that's Tom Brady in the
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in the building with the ownership group, and then you
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know Kirk being the veteran QB and you've got Aidan
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O'Connell in there too, who's who started some games. So really,
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I don't think Fernando could have like any more resources
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as a rookie. So it's it's been a good experience
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for him jumping into the NFL as well.
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So if I'm hearing this right, Kirk Cousins said, I'll
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be a mentor when I want to be a mentor,
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and I'll show you Atlanta Falcons and I'm gonna go
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live in Vecas and the he looks at him and says.
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You like that? Is that how it went? Absolutely? Yeah?
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I mean he's he's really taken a good approach to
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this experience. You know, these guys, they keep saying that
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they're competing with each other, not against each other. It's
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definitely a competition, like it's Kirk's job to lose, but
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Fernando's been pushing him, and yeah, I think I think
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they're really learning from each other. All the camaraderie seems
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really good. The vibes in that room seem good. So
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so yeah, Kirk, Kirk consciously shows to come to the
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Raiders because he likes what the culture is there and
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he likes working with Fernando.
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Okay, Sam, this is completely not important, but it is
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Raiders and stadium related, And since we've got you here,
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I selfishly want to ask this question because I saw today.
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Is this true? They're asking for like one hundred and
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fifty plus million to renovate a brand new stadium that
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I've been in multiple times and is beautiful.
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Yeah, so they're proposing they're proposing a new project. I
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think it in like an hour or so at a meeting today.
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But yeah, they're they're trying to expand there's some some
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real estate for them to expand with in their I
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think one of their parking lots, trying to create kind
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of more of a fan experience as they go into
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the stadium. So it's Las Vegas, so they need to
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do everything big. Everything needs to be glitzy. So the
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more the more renovations they can make to the stadium,
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the more they can make that thing a spectacle. I
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think they're gonna, you know, go after it with all
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their might.
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Talk with Sam Warren of the Athletic as the Texans
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and Raiders had a joint practice Tuesday. They'll play their
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preseason game number two for each team tonight here at
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Reliance Stadium. Do you have a best guess or info
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on what you think the Raiders intend to throw out
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the Texans in terms of starters and playing time and
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things like that. It appears on our end some offensive
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starters for the Texans will play, but only briefly, and
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likely no defensive starters.
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Yeah. So Clint Kubiak has been coy with how he
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wants to with all his game plans for the preseason.
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He said that we'll see if the starters play, so
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not exactly experience. If Kirk Cousins is gonna be out
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there to start, we're definitely gonna see extensive reps for
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Fernando Mendoza. They've that's been really a focus for them
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during the preseason games, so you're gonna see a lot
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of the number one overall draft pick. I think something
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that will be interesting for me is whether Max Crosby
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gets out there and gets some reps. We didn't see
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him at all in the first preseason game. They kept
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him out by Clint Kubiak's decision, but it would be
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good to see him get some game reps in the
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preseason before you go out. So it goes out there
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for Week one.
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Sam I was just trying to figure out the timeline
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on this, and she just mentioned Max Crosby. You got
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to town, Like, what maybe a month after that whole
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debacle went down? Is that not the weirdest NFL story
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of recent memory involving a trade that wasn't And what
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what has Max Crosby been like from that point forward,
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at least since you got to the Raiders beat.
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Yeah. Absolutely, It definitely was a crazy thing knowing that
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I was going to walk into that situation, and to
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be honest, it's it's crazy that everything seems very amicable now.
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Coming back to the team, Max is pretty much saying
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everything that you want him to say given the situation.
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He's happy with the culture that they're bringing. Obviously, we'll
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see what happens if the Raiders don't start off the
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season too hot and and some of those struggles come back,
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and if he gets frustrated with the losing again. But
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so far, he's saying all the right things. It seems
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like there's a good relationship with the team and John Spytech,
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their general manager, and Clintcubac, the head coach. So it's
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it's crazy that, you know, a guy who wanted out
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now seems to be happy with UH, with the exchanges
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that have been made. But that's just kind of where
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we stand right now.
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Watching a bunch of Max both last year when the
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Texans played them and then more specifically Tuesday when they
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joint practiced with them, I thought the Texans had a
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much better plan for him in this joint practice and
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recognizing the need for usually at least two people to
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be focused on keeping him away from Stroud, even in
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a situation where he can't hit him. I'm curious on
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the other side of it, as you were watching the
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offense for the Raiders go against the Texans defense. It
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kind of goes without saying they had struggles up front
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with the two edges for the Texans. But beyond that,
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did you feel like the Texans you know, interior defensive
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line did a good job. I know, the Raiders didn't
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run the ball very well on this Tuesday joint practice.
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And then additionally, it felt like, from what I was
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hearing and seeing a little bit of the Texans secondary
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was just basically a total blanket and there was almost
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nowhere to go for any of the receivers to create
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separation in space for their quarterbacks.
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Yeah, so the interior defensive line looked pretty solid. They
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weren't The Raiders weren't able to run the ball pretty
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much at all against the Ones. I know, Logan Hall,
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I think got into the backfield a couple of times
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for some possible sacks, so he looked good. He's a
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guy that I didn't see the last two years when
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I was covering the Texans, so it seems like he
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could have a little bit of an impact. But yeah,
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I mean for a team that's that's kind of trying
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to establish its offensive identity in a new scheme, it's
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a pretty difficult challenge to go up against this Texans
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defense and a joint practice where they're able to throw
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everything at you. So the Raiders offense was definitely having
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some struggles. You were seeing both Kirk and Fernando get
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sped up by the pressure, seeing some off you know,
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some poor decisions from Kirk which we haven't seen, some
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off target throws that we haven't seen because he's looked
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for the most part, pretty dialed in during the preseason.
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But you would see, you know, a couple explosive plays
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here and there. I think Brock Bauers caught a touchdown
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in the end zone that was their one passing touchdown
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and then Brock ran kind of a go ball type
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route that Fernando just slotted into him for a big
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explosive play. But yeah, for the most part, the Texas
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defense was able to blanket things for against this this
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Raiders offense in the preseason, I mean, in the in
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the joint practice.
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Sam, I'll ask you something A lot of people probably
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are curious about, how much do you see Tom Brady
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and how much do you personally, you know, if you
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don't interact with him, Like, how much is he a
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part of things? I know he was here in Houston,
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but I've just it's such a unique dynamic with him,
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you know, having his part in that team and then
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also doing what he does from a broadcasting standpoint, what's
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it like being around Tom Brady in that role now?
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Yeah, so so Tom is definitely present. We've seen a
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practice a couple of times. We saw him at the
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joint practice, we saw him at the first preseason game.
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I imagine he might be there tonight as well. But yeah,
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he's not too front facing with the media, hasn't done anything,
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you know, this offseason in terms of in terms of
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talking you know, press conference or anything like that. But
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it's obvious that his his mark is being left on
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this Raiders team. They're doing it like it's it's clear
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that he is taking more of an active approach this season.
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I don't think he's been very happy with the results
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of the Raiders since he bought into the team. So
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now there it seems like they've done the competent things
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this offseason, which is kind of a far cry from
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what we've seen from the Raiders in recent years. When
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you know, you you bring in a veteran quarterback like
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Kirk Cousins, you get probably the top coaching option on
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the market, Like you are able to draw in the
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top coaching candidate on the market even after like firing
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your your coaches after for like the first season the
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past four seasons, which is which is kind of wild,
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but but yeah, it's it's clear that he's taking more
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of an active approach with the organization of the team,
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really getting involved with the quarterback room. Both Kirk and
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and Fernando have talked about his impact and being a
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voice of of you know, giving them advice and everything
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like that. So yeah, he's he's definitely involved, and I
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think that could only be a positive thing for the Raiders.
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Well, the conflict of interest thing has always been a
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fun topic and not often going to really come to pass,
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especially when I'm guessing Miami at Vegas opening Sunday is
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not for the Fox number one broadcast team, of which
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he is on. Sam, we really appreciate the time. Great
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to catch up with you at practice on Tuesday, and
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look forward to doing it a little bit more this
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evening and appreciate you joining our listeners this afternoon.
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Awesome, guys, thank you so much for having me back
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on
