No team more boom or bust than Raiders

One word comes to mind for Josh McDaniels when asked about the joint practices coming this week with the Patriots at the Raiders’ training facility.

“Fun,” McDaniels said. “There’s obviously a lot of people over there that I’m very fond of. Looking forward to seeing Bill [Belichick], Berj [Najarian], the coaches, the guys on the team. And I think both teams will get something out of it.”

But before the Raiders host the Patriots for two practices and a preseason game, I wanted to see McDaniels alone in his element. I attended Raiders practices on Wednesday and Thursday to see how McDaniels is handling his second stint as a head coach, and how his Raiders are learning a new offense.

Here are some other impressions and observations of the Raiders after spending two days at the beautiful Intermountain Health Performance Center:

• The Raiders have a lot of positive momentum. They’re coming off a 10-7 season and playoff appearance while fighting through major adversity with the departures of coach Jon Gruden and receiver Henry Ruggs. They have the makings of an elite passing attack with Derek Carr, Davante Adams, Hunter Renfrow, and Darren Waller. They have potential star pass rushers in Maxx Crosby and Chandler Jones. And now in McDaniels they have a proven winner and the architect of the NFL’s most potent offense of the last two decades.

But the Raiders also play in the NFL’s toughest division, the AFC West. All four quarterbacks are MVP candidates (Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Russell Wilson, and Carr), and all four teams believe they can win the Super Bowl.

The Raiders’ new offense might not click right away, despite all of the impressive talent. McDaniels’s scheme certainly isn’t easy, and adding a superstar such as Adams can change the dynamic for everyone else, which could take some getting used to. In Thursday’s practice, the offense noticeably struggled to punch the ball into the end zone on a goal-line drill. McDaniels said that early in the season, the offense is probably going to be simplified, with the hope of building throughout the year.

The Raiders are perhaps the NFL’s biggest boom-or-bust team this year. How very Vegas.

• McDaniels, who over the past two years worked with a past-his-prime Cam Newton and rookie Mac Jones, raves about working with Carr, now in his ninth NFL season.

“He’s a great dude,” McDaniels said with emphasis. “Great person. Really loves football. Works very hard, practices hard every day. Wants to do it exactly

the way you want it done. Doesn’t want to miss . . . a . . . thing. Which, I love that. That’s what you want in a quarterback. Great leader, they all respect him, and fun to work with.”

• Adams, acquired in a big trade with the Packers this offseason, is going to be a fun chess piece for McDaniels. He caught a 50-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline in Wednesday’s practice, and took many snaps out of the slot on both days.

“He just does it all, really,” safety Duron Harmon said. “Runs great routes, has great hands, great route detail, he makes everything look the same, and he’s faster than what people think. He’s a burner. If there was a perfect receiver, that’s who it would be.”

And Renfrow, coming off career highs of 103 catches, 1,038 yards, and 9 touchdowns, could be in line for another big season out of the slot.

“Has great hands, quick as a cat, understands leverage” Harmon said. “A pivotal piece of our offense.”

• It will be interesting to see how McDaniels handles the tight end position. Waller is a superstar when healthy, going for 1,100-plus yards in both 2019 and 2020. But he’s a thin, athletic tight end who really is just a big wide receiver and doesn’t add much in run blocking. McDaniels will find ways to get Waller the ball, but he usually preferred the classic in-line tight ends who can block. Fourth-year tight end

Foster Moreau looks the part a little bit more, and I could see him having a nice impact.

• If you want to know why the Raiders have only made the playoffs twice since 2002, and haven’t won a playoff game, look at the defense. The Raiders haven’t finished higher than 20th in points allowed since 2006, when they were 18th. Last year, the Raiders were 26th in points allowed, and their six interceptions were the fewest in the league.

In charge of the unit this year is Patrick Graham, a Patriots coach from 2009-15 who has been a defensive coordinator the last three years with the Dolphins and Giants. The Raiders’ only addition to the secondary is former Colts cornerback Rock Ya-Sin, but the Raiders hope that pairing Chandler Jones (10.5 sacks last year) with Crosby (eight sacks) can produce more turnover opportunities.

• The biggest surprise of training camp for McDaniels? “The weather,” he said. And in a good way. It’s obviously hot in Las Vegas in August, but the temperatures during morning practices have been relatively balmy — in the 90s and low 100s, and not 115. It has allowed the Raiders to practice outside in full pads more than McDaniels expected.

“The fact that it hasn’t been 115 degrees — talking to the people that have been here, my take is that this is a different, a unique last three weeks here,” McDaniels said Thursday. “Today we’re going to go at 9:30 outside just like we did yesterday, because we feel like we can. Prior to camp starting, that conversation was pretty much null and void relative to being able to do that.

So, that’s been a different thing.”

• Dave Ziegler, the new general manager, spends most of practice charting plays from a distance, but also takes an active role in certain periods. Ziegler will play catch to help the quarterbacks stay loose during downtime, and Ziegler always spends special teams periods standing with the punt and kick returners, charting their returns and providing pointers. Ziegler was a Division 3 All-American kick returner at John Carroll University 20 years ago.

• One interesting quirk about McDaniels’s coaching staff — still employed as an assistant strength coach is Deuce Gruden, son of former head coach Jon Gruden. Deuce is now in his fifth year with the Raiders.

• One player fighting for a roster spot is guard/tackle Jermaine Eluemunor, a six-year veteran who spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons with the Patriots. Eluemunor started eight games for the Patriots in 2020 — five at right tackle, three at left tackle — and said he didn’t take his opportunity seriously enough. Eluemunor, who joined the Raiders last year before McDaniels and Ziegler arrived, said he has trimmed down and started with a clean slate with his bosses.

“When I was in New England, I was overweight, I was sloppy, and it left a bad taste in my mouth and everyone else’s mouth of me playing left tackle,” he said. “If you watch my tape from when I was in New England, my set, it looks like I’m just a big blob really trying to force myself back there. Now I’m having to slow down because I’m a lot quicker than I used to be. I lost a lot of weight because I used to be real plump.

So yeah, I definitely feel the difference out there. Then also when it comes to conditioning, I’m able to go on 13-, 14-, 15-play drives, and although I’m somewhat tired, I’m not as tired as I used to be coming to the sideline needing an [oxygen] tank to get me going again. So, it has definitely been beneficial.”