**
Raiders Head Coach Dennis Allen: **Practice-wise today guys, other than the guys that have been out, Taiwan Jones wasn't able to go today and Sio Moore, Latavius Murray, Juron Criner and Keenan Clayton again. Nothing season threatening or anything like that. I don't expect the guys to miss a lot of time. We have to get guys healthy. We have to get guys back out here, so those guys are missing a lot of time and they're falling behind the more practices they miss, especially the young guys.
After breaking down film of Friday's game, what did you see from Tyler Wilson?
Coach Allen:Well, at times I thought he did some good things out there. I thought he executed at times, but there's still just a little inconsistency there as far as accuracy issues. He had some issues just understanding where the protection was coming from. He's a rookie. Like a lot of rookies, he still has a long way to go and Tyler's continuing to work, and I think it's a good competition we have there between him and [Matt] McGloin.
I don't know if you've been asked this, but do you think about keeping four [quarterbacks]?
Coach Allen:My focus right now is trying to get this football team better. There will be a point in time when we have to make those types of decisions.
When you look at Brice Butler, yeah he made two catches and he showcased some talent there, but you need to see more than that right? What else do you need to see from him?
Coach Allen:Absolutely. That's one game for a rookie, you know what I mean? The challenge is can he put another game on top of that, so he'll get another opportunity this week against the Saints and see if he can stack one brick on top of another and continue to get better.
What areas has he gotten better at since the first day of camp?
Coach Allen:I think his route running has gotten much improved and he's been out here working. Make no mistake about it; he's been a nice surprise. When you get a seventh-round draft pick like that who's really developed, that's a good thing to have but at the same time, I don't want him reading too much of his press clippings and start feeling too good about himself. He's still a rookie. He still has a long way to go, but he's off to a nice start.* *
Q: What are your thoughts on the offensive line? At what point do you need to have those five guys?
Coach Allen: I think the sooner we can get to that spot, the better we're going to be. I want to make sure that when we line up against the Indianapolis Colts that we have the right five guys out there. So [it's] still an evaluation process, still a lot of competition to be had and there's a lot of preseason games to look at it.
Q: How much of a concern is [Mike] Brisiel's injury? Is it still the ankle from last year?
Coach Allen:Yeah, that's probably the biggest issue with Mike. We gave him a day off today to get him some rest. I want to try to get him some rest and get him back healthy to where he's really got a chance to showcase what he can do.
Q: Coach, you used the pistol formation and saw that around the league a lot of teams in the division are going to be using that. It's obviously an advantage for you guys or else you wouldn't be using it. Talk about defending the pistol and the challenges that brings up.
Coach Allen: Well, it's option responsibilities. You've got to be assignment-perfect on every play, especially when you're playing against an athletic quarterback that can exploit those challenges when you don't fit everything up exactly right. We've spent a good bit of time. It's nice having a guy like Terrelle Pryor on our team for our defense to have to defend against those things every day. That's part of what we're trying to incorporate some, and I think it's benefitting both our offense and our defense.* *
Q: Do you think there is a realistic shot for your starting defensive line to play on Friday? If so, or if not, how much of a setback is it to not have those starting four playing together?
Coach Allen:Number one, it's too early to tell whether or not those guys will be able to play on Friday. But, obviously I want to get those guys out there and let them begin to work together, and they need the work. It's hard to play this game without practicing. It's not a game where you can just line up on Friday night and think everything's good to go, and even more so than that it's not a game where you can just line up on Sundays and think that everything is going to be perfect. So, we need to get guys out here, we need to get guys out healthy, and we need to get them working.
Q: Were the setbacks that happened to [Menelik] Watson and [Pat] Sims the same injuries that they had before?
Coach Allen:Yeah, it's the same issues. Like I said before, it's frustrating to me and I know it's frustrating for them. Those are two guys that we're counting on, and we've got to get them out here.
Q: Still minor, it's not a major issue?
Coach Allen:Yeah, it's not anything that's going to put them on I.R. [Injured Reserve] or anything like that, and I'm hoping that they'll be out here. So, we'll see.* *
Q: Coach, after eight months, how good did it feel to get out there and play a game in front of the fans and get a win?
Coach Allen:Well listen, that's why we do what we do. I mean the games are obviously the fun things of this business, so it was good to get out there. I think getting out in front of Raider Nation, the home crowd, out there at the [O.co] Coliseum, it was a great environment for us to play in. I thought there was a lot of excitement in the stands, so that was a good thing. Listen, you develop habits every time you go out there, and winning's a habit, and that's one of the things we're trying to focus on with this team because we want to develop that habit.* *
Q: What did you see on film from [RBs Rashad] Jennings and [Latavius] Murray?
Coach Allen:I think Rashad Jennings did a nice job as far as running with some power, running behind his pads. He did a nice job in a short-yardage situation, so I thought that was good to see. Latavius Murray had a couple of good runs. A couple of them got called back because of penalties, but one run down the sideline he ended up being able to lower his shoulder and finish off the run pretty good. I saw some good things, but he wasn't out here today so being available and being accountable are two things that we have to make sure we're able to be.
Q: Maybe they weren't flashy, but were there some guys that, after you reviewed the tape, you thought had a really solid preseason performance?
Coach Allen:I thought that overall I was pleased with the performance. We all have a lot of work to do, so I don't want to get too high on anybody, and I don't want to get too low on anybody. It was our first preseason game, our first opportunity to get out there and play against somebody else, so I don't want to get into who had a great game, who didn't have a great game. I want these guys focused on how they can get better on a daily basis.
Q: You said you were looking forward to seeing [T Alex] Barron play because he had done so well in practice. How did he play in the game?
Coach Allen:I think he had his moments, both good and bad. That was the first game he's played in a while, so it was a good experience for him to get back out there [and] get in the flow of playing in a real-life football game. I'm hoping that he's going to take another step forward this week.
