Cook is fitting in well at tight end

The veteran displays a good rapport with quarterback Carr

Jared Cook got lost amid the Week 1 story lines of Marshawn Lynch and Giorgio Tavecchio, similar to how the veteran tight end leaked to his right and got loose for a 22-yard gain from Derek Carr the first time he caught the ball as a Raider.

“It felt good, man,” Cook said Tuesday as the Raiders began preparations to host the New York Jets in their home opener. “Just being able to keep the chains moving, get some big first-down conversions and keeping us on the field. Mine and Derek’s rapport is something we’ve been working on all offseason and I think it’s paying off.”

Cook wasn’t done contributing to a season-opening 26-16 win over the Tennessee Titans. He wound up catching all five passes for 56 yards, four of them for first downs. It gives opposing teams one more thing to worry about with Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree working outside and Seth Roberts in the slot.

The pick-your-poison plan worked as schemed against the Titans, with Crabtree catching five passes for 83 yards, Cooper five for 62 and a touchdown and Roberts making his only reception count with a 19-yard touchdown grab to put the Raiders up 23-13 early in the fourth quarter.

First-year offensive coordinator Todd Downing proved adept at exploiting the soft areas of the Tennessee defense.

“He takes advantage of the mismatches that are on the field and that’s what you need to do in this league,” Cook said. “No matter where they line up as a defense, they’re going to have weak points and we need to take advantage of those weak points the defense shows you.”

Cook has never caught more than 52 passes in a season during his eight-year career, but other than 10 games last season in Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers, he’s never had a quarterback like Carr or an offense like the Raiders,either.

He and Carr have built trust through repetition.

“It’s what we talked about and worked on all offseason,” Cook said. “Going into the game is like clockwork, the same thing we’ve been going through from months on end. That’s why you practice, so you get in game situations and it will be flawless.”

Cook, 6-foot-5 and 254 pounds, is known for his receiving skills,

but left tackle Donald Penn noticed something else that warms the heart of the offensive line.

“He’s really taking accountability on run blocking,” Penn said. “He wasn’t a big run blocker, but now he’s in there and he’s putting his nose in there and he’s fighting and battling and that’s what we need him to do. He’s saying, ‘Whatever I need to do to help y’all win I’m going to do it’ whether it’s catching passes or blocking, and I love that about him.”

• The Raiders watched film of the Titans game before turning their attention to the Jets, acknowledging errors but with a good feeling about the general level of execution in all three phases.

Downing’s first game was seamless in terms of tempo. The Raiders got their plays in on time with plenty to spare, without Carr frantically waving his arms waiting for either a play-call or substitution.

“It didn’t seem like it was his first game as offensive coordinator,” Penn said. “I don’t think we had to use any time outs or anything like that. I thought we did a good job as a group being poised in that noise and Rodney (Hudson) and Derek did a great job of communication.”

Defensively, after a shaky first series, the Raiders substituted freely and without confusion, with rookie middle linebacker Marquel Lee giving way to Tyrell Adams on passing downs.

“We’ve been doing it for a minute now, cycling guys in and out, subbing, for about four or five months,” Adams said. “We’re getting better at it, it’s coming more natural and it frees us up to make plays.”

Adams, besides 41 defensive snaps, also had 10 on special teams, an area that came in as a question mark after losing core specialteams players such as Taiwan Jones, Brynden Trawick, Daren Bates and Andre Holmes.

Adams said specialteams coach Brad Seely had talked of the possibility of an onsides kickoff by Tennessee during the week.

It happened on the opening kickoff, with Shalom Luani making the recovery.

“He knows what they’re going to do to you and gives you a lot of different scenarios,” Adams said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys out there, but we were coached well and everyone knew their jobs to a T.”

• Penn was concerned enough about his conditioning after his 26-day holdout that he had a pregame IV and talked with Mike Tice about being prepared in case he needed a series or two off.

He wound up playing all 66 snaps.

“I’m not going to lie, I was worried,” Penn said. “I was pushing myself harder than I usually do trying to get ready because I really didn’t know … once I started playing, I was surprised at how good of shape I was in.”

Penn admitted he was the one who failed to block Jurell Casey, the two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle who got flattened by Marshawn Lynch in the fourth quarter on a 6-yard run.

“I saw it and I heard the impact,” Penn said. “I told Coach, ‘We don’t need no more from him.’ That’s what Marshawn does. We’re not supposed to leave anyone unblocked, but that one time I did and he ran right through him and got those extra yards we need.”