Yeah.

So, you know, nine of 21, right? So that means 12 balls are going other places.

Yeah.

Those six went to Mike and those six went to Ashton.

That's not as far as I would be surprised if Mike Washington Jr. gets in the mix and catches the ball because I think he's a natural pass catcher.

But the reason we were able to – right? Overcome that.

And you give up two of 10 on third down as a defense.

Right.

Right,

right.

But we have Brock, a guy that could put that kind of successful type of games with 8, 9, 10, 12 catches, and that Jefferson was kind of that security blanket.

Yeah.

The synergy that those guys have, Kubiak's offense is predicated on making quick reads, quick decisions, and not turning the ball over.

And that might look like death by a thousand paper cuts, and that's okay.

But also we have to play to what we have.

So what do you, I guess, how do you feel now as we move back and talk about this rushing attack as a whole here? How do you feel about the way the Raiders are set up with their current offensive line system and their current, you know, deal in the backfield with Ashton Gentry and Mike Washington Jr.? And also keep into account that early on in the season here, Ashton Gentry hobbled with that ankle injury, sounding like he's going to be playing week one here.

I think that's why Ian Thomas gets the nod here because I think he's a guy that they can count on Even on a regular basis, I think the snaps are going to be something that surprises people because of what he can do as a blocker, given how much 12 and 22 and 13 personnel they're going to be doing.

Yeah.

My question to you, before I comment on all that, Carter Runyon, I remember during the last day of minicamp, and I can't remember if I talked to you or somebody else on the sideline, but I saw somebody that had an Achilles issue.

And my question, you would go in a boot if like, cause I had a, I had a, where my Achilles attaches to my calf, it's called your tendinous junction.

I had a second degree rupture of that when I played in NFL Europe.

And let me tell you, I don't, but it's like the precursor, right? You, most guys that tear their Achilles, like have some sort of Achilles soreness, especially if you think like NBA, like all these guys are like, yeah, it was super sore.

And then Yeah, it snaps.

uh Kian yeah I believe he was yeah which that's where I think though again like in terms of waivers they're going to be able to get him back on the practice squad like I think that's a no doubter to me

Yeah, you don't want to show a lot

...

so you don't want to show them much at all.

So I kind of get the fact that we were pretty vanilla, but I guess, you know, going off of what you and I watched in practices, uh, this training camp and even back in OTAs, like, w- we don't, we don't throw the ball down the field.

We don't attack the middle of the field.

Um, obviously Brock is gonna do his thing, but y- you need to be able to do that, otherwise teams are gonna just play, you know, 10 guys within eight yards of the line of scrimmage, and that's gonna be impossible for anybody to run the football against.

It's gonna be impossible for anybody.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Because you're gonna be like, "We're gonna do it this way," and you're gonna have to adjust.

In the pros, you're having to adjust and tinker every single week, and that's something that takes some adjustment.

And again, when you have a veteran quarterback like Kirk Cousins, who's what? 13 years in the NFL.

Like every single time he go- he's seen it all.

He can adjust and adapt and whether it's pre-snap motion or whatever, he's seen it all.

Fernando's in a, you know, he's still trying to make sure, "Okay, what are all the five people that are eligible? What are they all doing on this route? Okay, and, and now pre-snap they just moved.

Yeah.

In the meantime, let's get back to the show.

Yeah, but before the game started, I was looking at two things, Jesse.

I was looking at alignment and assignment, and I really wanted to see that, and I wanted to see how our coaching staff was going to approach preseason.

I think it's really smart when you put a rookie quarterback out there and allow him to play you know, two and a half quarters, three quarters of work.

Like we got Fernando to really just give him the opportunity to see what the speed of the game is.

And obviously when you're working against the twos and the threes, it's a little different, but still you're getting those live reps. You're getting it under the Allegiant lights and things like that.

So I was really happy to see their philosophy on allowing him to get those reps.

yeah there's i mean there's a lot of guys yeah

Mm-hmm.

Uh, so I, I guess I was a little disappointed that, you know, now that he's, he's the guy, that he didn't just take it and run with it.

Whereas, you know, I think Fernando being the number two now, or at least in, in practice today, looked, you know, all the, all the part of, of a potential starting NFL quarterback.

Whereas in mini camp, I know you and I looked at each other as like, "Okay, [laughs] we got some, we got some, uh, work to do there." He, he actually commanded, uh, the huddle and the offense at, better than I was anticipating, and I think Kirk probably wishes he could have this one back.

Yeah

... that you're giving so many guys these, these valuable reps, or is it a bit of a red flag in identifying, okay, maybe we, you know, when you have four corners that are rotating in, does that mean you have no corners that are taking the job and looking like a true number one like you would hope Darian Porter or eventually Mickey, uh, McCoy and all those things? So that, that's what I'm kinda looking at right now.

So key.

And, you know, we weren't, you know, not only did we not have a, a top 22 roster in the NFL, right? I think we were one of, you know, the lower five teams probably in the NFL as terms of roster construction.

But you look at our depth, and we didn't have a ton of depth, nor did those guys even get an opportunity to play.

We were one of the five healthiest teams in the NFL last year, Jesse, so those guys didn't get a lot of reps.

Once you hit training camp, you're preparing not just for pre-sea-, you're preparing for that week one, and all your install and focus is on how can we win that first game against the Miami Dolphins.

And so, a lot of times, I would, especially early in my career, there would be days when in training camp, I didn't get any reps, right?

Yeah

... or whomever I was playing with, uh, next to, right? So, uh, I love the fact that, you know, the philosophy was we need to just get these guys on tape.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Right.

But, uh, to, to know that there is this veteran presence that has, you know, a hundred plus games of starting in the NFL under his wings and, and to be able to know that, okay, he's done, he's been there, he's done that, he's seen just about everything.

That takes a little bit of pressure off of me in knowing that if I end up entering the game, it's going to be because I either beat out a really, really good quarterback or we're in a situation where, you know, the season looks a lot different than we were hoping from, you know, training camp, and now it's, now it's my time to shine and, and there's a little less pressure on my shoulders.

Yeah.

And in order to alleviate that, to minimize that, right? There's always gonna be naysayers and haters and this and that, and our record may not be a winning record, and that's the reality.

But if you can set yourself up, script for success by, to your point, putting a veteran quarterback in that position saying, "You know what? Here's our trial run.