Raiders Blog and Q&A

NAPA - As part of my NBA lockout duties I'll be checking in on my old beat, the Oakland Raiders. I just filed a story about tight end Kevin Boss working out for the Raiders as the team looks to fill the void left by Zach Miller's departure.

Boss is one of the better options available to replace Miller, assuming the New York Giants don't become more aggressive in re-signing Boss following today's workout.

Boss has stated he'd like to be back in New York.

But on to some quick hits about today's practice:

*Rookie wide receiver Denarius Moore had a good practice today. He showed off some good hands, especially on a slant route from Kyle Boller, and beat Stanford Routt deep on a pass from Jason Campbell.

"I feel like I'm starting to get the groove of things, starting to get the plays down play by play, day by day," Moore said.

Here's quarterback Jason Campbell on Moore:

"Denarius Moore is like another Jacoby (Ford). He's like one of those those guys that you pick up late in the draft, and you wonder, how did this guy fall? He's so talented, he's so athletic. When you see Jacoby it's kind of like you have to do a double-glimpse, make sure it's him or 17. The guy's playing hard. He runs hard in practice, he has that factor, some things you just can't coach, he has about him. He's a guy that can add a lot to our offense this year and what we do."

*Running back Darren McFadden left practice with what coach Hue Jackson described as a "nick" and didn't' seem too concerned about it. Other "nicked up" players included Cooper Carlisle and Louis Murphy.

*Offensive lineman Bruce Campbell said he's close to practicing.

"It's really frustrating with the new CBA and everything else. It's like, I want to be out here but I can't and I'm looking at everybody else, like the free agents that can't practice 'til a certain date and it's like, I feel like I'm just missing out on an opportunity. But it's football. It's going to come so, just waiting."

Campbell said he doesn't know if he'll be playing guard or tackle or if he'd be on the left or right side of the line.

*Re-signed center Samson Satele said his goal was to return to the Raiders:

"I know they drafted a center and everything but Robert left so there's another open spot. And Langston's not here so they only have me and Coop from last year. If me and Coop can work together then the other there guys can (play) off of us. I wanted to come back because I know this offense. I've been in three different offenses in four years and it's been kinda hard but it's all crammed up into one offense and this is the offense so I kinda know what's going on."

*The Raiders practiced in pads for about an hour. Jackson didn't like what he saw after the team took the pads off.

"That wasn't a Raider practice. I told them that. One thing I am going to always do is be very honest with my team. I took the pads off and all of a sudden we decided we wanted to take some plays down. But that's ok. I think you're going to have some of those days. That's part of the process. They had a day off, and all of a sudden your bodies try to get back, they're adjusting to all of this ... The veteran players understand where I am coming from, because I can see them talking about it. If we're going to be the type of team that I tell you we're building, it doesn't matter if it's raining, hot, mud - it just doesn't matter ... we come out and we get after it. But today we didn't. As well as I would have liked to. I know these guys will respond tomorrow."

So why take pads off?

"We've got some nicks here and there, and we're down at some positions now. We only had five linebackers ... what you do is everything you can do to make sure your team finishes practice. I didn't want all of the banging at that time, so let's take them off and continue to get the process that we're in. The intensity needs to be higher when we do it."