Tape of little use to Raiders in preparing for revamped Rams team Last season the Rams were one of the best teams in football. They finished 11-5 with a resurgence new head coach Sean McVay and coordinators Matt LaFleur and Wade Phillips. Even going 11-5 and winning the NFC West https://www.raiderslockerroom.com/authentic-derek-carr-jersey , the Rams figure to be even better this year.Top receiver Cooper Kupp is back but he will have a new starter across from him in Brandin Cooks who replaces Sammy Watkins. Cooks had nearly double the yards last season of Watkins, so that figures to be an upgrade for an already potent offense that features Todd Gurley and Jared Goff.Most of the additions, however, come on the defensive side of the ball. Wade Phillips has been like a kid in a candy story this offseason. They brought in two All Pro former AFC West corners in Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters and added Ndamukong Suh to the defensive line. Then they got NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald locked into a new long term deal.Head coach Jon Gruden on facing defensive front with Suh and Donald next to each other?“That’s a big challenge, no question. They’ve got some young guys that we need to learn about on the outside. Robert Quinn is not there, Connor Barwin is not there, they have a new inside backer, [Alec] Ogletree is not there. They’ve got two new corners that are also there. That’s why you can’t really watch last year’s tape to help you get ready for this game. They didn’t play them in the preseason more than half a dozen plays. We’re going to see where they are and they’ll see where we are.”What Gruden is talking about with regard to the young guys is a host of unknowns who will be tasked with replacing the departed Quinn, Barwin, and Ogletree. So not every new player on that Rams defense is considered an upgrade. Some are a bit of a mystery.Even middle linebacker Mark Barron, who started 14 games last season looks unlikely to play Monday as he is missing practice while dealing with an Achilles injury. That leaves the Rams — much like the Raiders — with a completely new linebacking corps.Formerly undrafted linebacker Cory Littleton is expected to start after having started just five games in his first two seasons. While on the outside, Matt Longacre and Samson Ebukam who could start. With three combined career starts between them, the Rams could field an entire linebacking corps with 8 combined starts.On one hand, that says they could be ripe for the picking. On the other hand, it doesn’t reveal a lot of tendencies on tape to exploit for Gruden and Derek Carr.What is clear, however, is with a lot of new faces on the Rams defense, and therefore some unpredictability, it should be easy to predict the defensive line and secondary is going to be stout and going after the linebackers will be the best plan of attack for this Raiders offense.Oh, and don’t let Brandin Cooks do to the Raiders new group of corners what he did to their predecessors in the 2016 season opener.Follow @LeviDamien Raiders newsWith Roger Goodell February deadline upon us Derek Carr Jersey White , Raiders still telling season ticket holders they have no idea where the team will play in 2019 | Silver and Black PrideThis game is equal parts comical and sad at this point. And certainly ridiculous and unprecedented.Grading Raiders 2018 rookie draft class | Silver and Black PrideOn the other hand, Miller was selected 15th overall ahead of Derwin James, Leighton Vander Esch, and Tremaine Edmunds all players who had superior rookie years. According to pro football focus, Miller earned an overall grade of 48.2, one of the lowest among offensive tackles.Does Von Miller really think Derek Carr is an ‘incredible quarterback’? | Silver and Black PrideHow much of what Miller said is genuine? Miller mentioned that Carr is an incredible player, but he also mentioned that the Raiders had an incredible team last year. And while it is possible he thinks Carr is a good quarterback, it is not remotely plausible to refer the team the Raiders’ fielded last season as incredible. Oakland won four games last year and has won just eight times total since Marshawn Lynch danced on the sideline against the New York Jets in the 2017 home opener.Raiders new defensive line coach Brentson Buckner sees potential in group | SF ChronicleSome might look at a Raiders defensive line that relied heavily on rookies Maurice Hurst, Arden Key and P.J. Hall last season and see inexperience.Raiders ‘Global’ Brand Is a Myth | East Bay ExpressLike Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster — it’s one of those things that’s often talked about for fun but doesn’t actually exist. AFC WestAnthony Lynn led Chargers back to the playoffs, wins coach of year | ESPN.comLynn has helped the Chargers to a 21-11 record in his first two seasons with the team and deftly navigated relocation from San Diego to Los Angeles by keeping players’ focus on executing on the field.ESPN projects Chiefs Vegas win total for 2019 | 247sports.comIt’s still a bit early to tell exactly what kind of team the Chiefs will have on defense next season, but with most of the offense set to return around quarterback Patrick Mahomes, there’s reason to think they’ll be right back in the thick of Super Bowl competition in the AFC. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell sees things that way as well, projecting that Vegas will list the Chiefs’ 2019 win total at 11 games.Tom Brady explains why beating Chiefs was among “great joys” of his life | Yahoo SportsHe put his arms in the air, flung his helmet off, ran toward his teammates and leaped into their arms. It was as emotional as we’ve seen him after a playoff win. New Broncos offensive coordinator aims to go back to old, reliable scheme | ESPN.comEach time the franchise has put a shiny, new Lombardi Trophy in the lobby of the team complex after a Super Bowl win, the team has used the foundation of the same offensive playbook to do it.Could Browns trade for Broncos LB Von Miller? | NBC WKYCJohn Elway made it known earlier this offseason that he committed to doing whatever is necessary to get the Denver Broncos back into contention, even if that means parting ways with All-Pro edge rusher Von Miller.NFL NewsPredicting 2019 Vegas win totals, over/unders for all 32 NFL teams | ESPN.comThis is not my projection of how each team will finish in 2019. I’ll have my own thoughts on that as we hit the summer. This is merely trying to estimate what Vegas will set as the average expectation for each of the league’s 32 teams in 2019 this spring.NFL expected to ‘refine’ rules after Saints blunder | Yahoo SportsBlank Womens Bo Jackson Jersey , the billionaire boss of the Atlanta Falcons, told reporters that the NFL’s competition committee would address the blunder that overshadowed the Saints’ NFC Championship loss to the Los Angeles Rams.Madden Is As Full Of Anonymous Players As The NFL Itself | DeadspinYet the vast majority of semi-anonymous NFL dudes don’t have their real faces in the game. Instead they wear generic masks, one of the 146 Madden heads that look vaguely like football players but not exactly like any one of them. There just aren’t enough hours in a development cycle to get everybody in every year, so deciding who makes an appearance and who doesn’t is both a workload and a budgetary matter. Quarterbacks get first priority, then skill players, then defensive stars. Robey-Coleman on Tom Brady: Age has ‘taken a toll’ | NFL.comSeemingly unrattled by the negative aftermath from the NFC title game, Robey-Coleman seems likewise unworried about the prospects of providing fuel to the Patriots, who are still here if you haven’t heard.The NFL, not the federal government, should pay for Super Bowl security | Washington PostAccording to an FBI spokesman, USA Today reports, “more than 1,500 public safety personnel” will be involved in security for the upcoming Super Bowl, including an unspecified numbers of federal officials. At the local level, an Atlanta police spokesman told CNN, “every Atlanta police officer will be on duty, working 12-hour shifts from January 26 to February 5.”