Las Vegas Raiders

Five key stats from the Raiders vs. Seahawks game

Published Sep. 8, 2015 9:35 a.m. ET

foxsports

By James Arcellana

Best Starter on

Offense: John Feliciano

Defense: Denico Autry

Remember, since this was the fourth and final preseason game of the year, the Raiders sat basically all of their starters. The only player who could end up a starter in week one who played in this game was D.J. Hayden. Because of that, none of the actual starters for the team would qualify for this stat. The nice thing for the Raiders is, the two who took the best scores on offense and defense this week are two guys the team hopes could be building blocks for this team. John Feliciano was drafted in the fourth round with the hope that he would eventually be a starter opposite of Gabe Jackson at the right guard position. So far, he’s done much better in the preseason than many expected and could be a very solid backup this season and potential starter down the road.

Autry is a guy who has impressed all preseason and was pushed other players like Shelby Harris but came out on top in the end as he made the final roster but Harris did not. Part of that was due to the fact that Autry once again had a big game to finish up the preseason, He graded out to a +1.2 with a +1.7 in run defense and had one quarterback hurry. Autry was an undrafted free agent last season and though he spend much of his time on the practice squad, he did make it into games last season. This season, he has looked much improved and like he is ready to have an impact on the team as a situational player at defensive end. And unlike some times in the past, the Raiders are not playing him because they have no one better, he has actually proven himself and earned this chance.

Best Backup on

Offense: Seth Roberts

Defense: Tevin McDonald

Seth Roberts may have had the best preseason of any player on the Raiders roster not named Khalil Mack. Much like Autry, Roberts was an undrafted free agent last season when he joined the Raiders. Unlike Autry, Roberts never made the game day roster but showed enough to stick around for another offseason. That, in turn, was enough to convince coaches that he deserved a spot on the 53 man roster. Roberts had a big day in the final preseason game catching seven balls for 110 yards and a beautiful touchdown grab in the corner of the end zone. His +4.0 grade was the best of any player on the Raiders in that game.

Tevin McDonald was unable to make the 53 man roster this season, but this time next year, we could be talking about him the way we are about Denico Autry and Seth Roberts. Another undrafted free agent, McDonald has impressed all offseason. The Raiders have a need for safeties in the future as Charles Woodson continues to age (even if he isn’t showing his age) and Nate Allen being a guy that might not be a long term solution. McDonald is a project that the Raiders may be able to coach up into a contributor the way they did with Autry and Roberts. If so, this could end up being a team full of undrafted free agents.

Best/Worst Grades for a Rookie

Best: Tevin McDonald

Worst: Anthony Morris

We already talked about McDonald above, but this gives you an idea of just how well he has played. The Raiders very well may have been comfortable going into the season with him as depth for the safety position, but they saw an opportunity to stash McDonald on the practice squad while also getting another young undrafted free agent in Keenan Lambert from Seattle. McDonald will have a chance to play for the Raiders in the future if he can continue to improve while on the practice squad. He’s had a solid preseason and with some more hard work he can get to the point of making the roster in the next year or two.

Anthony Morris, on the other hand, will likely never wear silver and black again. The seventh round pick for the Raiders turned out to be a bust. He had a pretty terrible preseason where he never really impressed or showed flashes of being an NFL player. Using a seventh round pick on a guy who ends up being cut is really no big deal, especially when you had three seventh round picks this year. Seventh round picks often do not make the roster so Morris failing to do that or make the practice squad is just part of what happens. That being said, you have to wonder if the Raiders should have used one of those seventh round picks on La’el Collins instead.

Raiders finish in top ten on defense, middle of the pack on offense

With the preseason officially in the books, we can look and see where the Raiders finished with their overall cumulative grades from Pro Football Focus. On offense, the Raiders graded out at a -45.2, which was good for the 15th best score in the league. That number looks pretty terrible but as is often true in the preseason, offenses struggled across the board with the highest ranking offense finishing with a -0.4 and the second best was no where near that number with a -17.5 grade.

On defense, the Raiders finished in the top ten with the seventh best defensive grade on Pro Football Focus. The Raiders received a +22.2 on defense while the best grade on defense was a +58.1 for the San Francisco 49ers. The Raiders did especially well in the pass rush where they finished with a +28.2, which was the second best team score for pass rushing in the league. Unfortunately for the Raiders, they scored in the negative in every other defensive category. But hey, if you’re gonna be really good at one thing on defense, rushing the passer is the thing to be good at.

Matt McGloin retains his title of preseason king

Matt McGloin may only be the backup once the season starts, but during the preseason, he reigned as king once again. The Raiders were getting blown out of the water by the Seattle backups and it was looking like things would get really, really ugly. Like 52-0 against the St. Louis Rams kind of ugly. Until the preseason king took his throne. He led the team on a few scoring drives and suddenly the game was watchable again. No, he didn’t lead one of his patented preseason comebacks but he did play well. The only player on the Raiders to have a higher cumulative preseason score than McGloin was Seth Roberts. McGloin finished the preseason with a +3.7 completing 42 of 57 attempts for 424 yards and four touchdowns. That was good for a 73.7 completion percentage and 7.4 yards per pass play and a 110.6 quarterback rating. Perhaps the best thing the coaching staff did this preseason was get rid of Christian Ponder and let McGloin man the backup role.

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