Oakland Raiders Training Camp: News and Notes from Day 1

Stuart Kovacs – Jul 30, 2012

After a long down period, Raider Nation can finally rejoice as the Oakland Raiders are back on the practice field preparing for the 2012 NFL season.

The Raiders held their first practice of training camp after the players reported to camp this past Saturday.

Here are some news and notes from the first day of Raiders’ training camp from various reporters of the team.  

In terms of attendance at the practice, there are a couple of players that weren’t able to participate due to injuries suffered during the offseason.

According to Paul Gutierrez’s Twitter page, punter Shane Lechler, linebacker Aaron Curry, defensive lineman Travis Ivey, and cornerback Ron Bartell all sat out of practice with various injuries.

Curry, who missed most of the team’s mandatory mini-camp with a soft tissue injury in his knee, was placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list, according to Gutierrez.

Rookie linebacker Miles Burris out of San Diego State took Curry’s spot on the first-team defense and likely will for the foreseeable future.

Ivey did not participate in practice but was running on a treadmill, according to Steve Corkran’s Twitter page.  He was held out of practice due to conditioning issues.

Lechler (knee) and Bartell (hamstring) did not practice but were in attendance, according to Gutierrez. Both injuries appear to be minor.

Lechler’s punting duties were taken over by rookie punter Marquette King as well as kicker Sebastian Janikowski.  

Bartell was replaced by DeMarcus Van Dyke at his starting cornerback spot.  According to Levi Damien’s Twitter page, Bartell was practicing making cuts with cones. He was on another field with a trainer.

During the session, there was a slight injury scare. Wide receiver Jacoby Ford injured his left knee while making a cut during a receiving drill, according to Gutierrez.

However, after walking off the field on his own power, Ford would soon return to action on both offense and special teams.

In terms of positive injury news, center Stefen Wisniewski and wide receiver Denarius Moore both practiced with the first-team offense after recovering from their respective injuries.

Defensive lineman Matt Shaughnessy also practiced with the first-team defense after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery.

During the practice there weren’t many surprises in terms of playing time. Wide receiver Juron Criner, who signed his contract yesterday, didn’t participate in any drills until the very end of the practice, according to Corkran.

The first-team offensive line had no surprises as everyone seemed to be in their expected positions.

However, the second-team featured Joseph Barksdale playing left tackle, Tony Bergstrom playing left guard, and Zach Hurd playing right tackle, as Corkran observed.

On offense, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Denarius Moore, and Brandon Myers spent most of their time with the first-team, said Gutierrez. Jacoby Ford and Eddie McGee spent a majority of the session with the second-team.

In terms of performance, there were a few plays of note. Steve Corkran observed that starting quarterback Carson Palmer looked extremely sharp throughout the entire practice. This was evident in a deep throw he made to McGee.

According to Damien, he made an exceptional play where he rolled out to his left and completed a pass to Ford.

However, the same positives cannot be said for the other two quarterbacks. Matt Leinart had some good moments as well as a few bad ones while Terrelle Pryor made countless errors.

Leinart, who played for the Texans last season under the Raiders’ new offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, threw some really nice deep passes including deep passes to Rod Streater and Thomas Mayo.

Leinart’s one notable mistake came when Chimdi Chekwa intercepted one of his passes that was deflected by Pat Lee, according to Corkran.

Gutierrez noted that Leinart threw several nice deep balls. However, the problem for the former Southern California Trojan was his short passes getting batted down at the line of scrimmage.

It was a difficult practice for second-year quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who lost his father last week. The former Ohio State Buckeye fumbled on his first snap and almost tripped on his second, according to Gutierrez.   

On the last play of practice, Corkran observed that Pryor stumbled before throwing a poor pass that was intercepted by Christo Bilukidi for a touchdown.

Star running back Darren McFadden also stood out. According to Corkran, McFadden looked “really good.”

On defense, DeMarcus Van Dyke made a huge impact as he replaced injured cornerback Ron Bartell.

The second-year player out of the University of Miami broke up a pass from Palmer to fellow Hurricane Richard Gordon early in the practice. Later on, Van Dyke broke up a pass from Palmer to Moore.

While it is only one day into Raiders’ training camp, it is important to keep track of the players’ progress.

The team, as it did on Monday, will practice without pads for one more day.

On Wednesday, more observations can be made regarding the team’s running game and defense based on the ability to hit.

Tomorrow’s practice will take place at 2:20 PST. Raider Nation Times will continue to monitor the practices closely.

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