The Oakland Raiders will kickoff the 2014 regular season with a cross-country trip to New York to face the Jets on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 10:00 a.m. PT. This will mark the fourth time in the last five years that Oakland will open up away from home, and the second cosecutive season its opener will take place in the Eastern time zone. The game will also mark the second consecutive year that the Raiders will travel to MetLife Stadium to play the Jets. The Raiders are coming off a preseason in which they went 2-2, winning both games at home against the Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks, while falling on the road to the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers. The Jets also finished up the exhibition slate at 2-2, beating the Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals, but losing to the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.
Sunday's contest will mark the regular season debuts for a number of Raiders who joined the team this offseason, including RB Maurice Jones-Drew, CB Tarell Brown, CB Carlos Rogers, DE LaMarr Woodley, T Donald Penn, G/T Austin Howard (who will be facing his former team), WR James Jones, DE Justin Tuck and DL Antonio Smith. Oakland's rookie class will also be making their Silver and Black debuts, including the No. 5 overall selection from this past May's NFL Draft, LB Khalil Mack.
Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan leads his team into the regular season coming off of an 8-8 record a season ago. QB Geno Smith, heading into his second season as the starter, leads the offense, while the defense is led by DE Muhammad Wilkerson, LB David Harris and a talented secondary.
Following Sunday's game, the Raiders will return to Oakland for their home opener next weekend against the Houston Texans. The Jets will travel to face an NFC opponent, heading north to play the Green Bay Packers.
QUOTING D.A.
"We're obviously excited about opening up the season. We've got a tough challenge going on the road to New York against a good football team. Just watching their football team, I think they're improved of-fensively. Defensively, they have been and will continue to be, a very good defense. I think Rex Ryan is one of the best defensive coaches in football, so obviously that's a challenge." - Raiders Head Coach Dennis Allen
BROADCAST INFO
TELEVISION
CBS
Play-by-play: Jim Nantz
Color Analyst: Phil Simms
Sideline: Tracy Wolfson
RADIO
Raiders Radio Network (31 stations)
Flagship: 95.7 The Game/98.5 KFOX
(Sunday's game will be on KFOX 98.5/102.9 KBLX)
Play-by-play: Greg Papa
Color Analyst: Tom Flores
Sideline: Lincoln Kennedy
Spanish Radio
KSOL 98.9 FM ("Radio Estereo Sol, 98.9 y 99.1")
Play-by-play: Fernando Arias
Color Analyst: Ambrosio Rico
JETS SNAPSHOT
Overview: The New York Jets open their sixth season under Head Coach Rex Ryan against the Raiders on Sunday. Ryan, who led the Jets to the AFC Championship Game in each of his first two seasons, has posted a 42-38 career record (.525) and a 4-2 mark in the postseason. The Jets are coming off an 8-8 season, two games better than the previous year's mark, though they finished second in the AFC East behind New England.
Offense: Second-year QB Geno Smith earned the starting job over veteran QB Michael Vick after starting all 16 games in his rookie season. Smith completed 247-of-443 passes (55.8 percent) with 3,046 yards, 12 TDs and 21 INTs during his rookie season. The Jets went through 2013 with two feature backs: Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell. Ivory led the team with 182 attempts and 833 yards (4.58 avg.) and had three TDs. To supplement that tandem, the Jets brought in free agent RB Chris Johnson from the Tennessee Titans, where he posted his sixth 1,000-yard season in as many years with 1,077 yards rushing on 279 carries (3.9 avg.) and six TDs. New York added WR Eric Decker, who caught 87 passes for 1,288 yards (14.8 avg.) and 11 TDs for Denver in 2013.
Defense: During Ryan's tenure, New York's defense has consistently ranked among the league's top units. The defense, led by DE Muhammad Wilkerson and DT Sheldon Richardson, held opponents to only 88.3 rushing yards per game last season, third in the NFL. LB David Harris led the team in tackles with 124 stops (70 solo), adding two sacks. Wilkerson led the team with 10.5 sacks and LB Calvin Pace added 10 sacks, each player's first double-digit sack season. With Ed Reed and Antonio Cromartie no longer with the team, CB Dee Milliner and the Jets will look to CB Kyle Wilson and safeties Antonio Allen and Calvin Pryor to make plays.
[
](http://www.pntra.com/t/R0BKSkdFREBKTERGSEBISEtERw)NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
Pro Connections
•Raiders director of player personnel Joey Clinkscales spent 17 seasons with the Jets before joining Oakland in 2012, serving as a scout and working his way up the ranks to vice president-college scouting.
•Raiders quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo served as assistant quarterbacks coach for the Jets in 2009.
•Raiders assistant head coach/offensive line Tony Sparano was the offensive coordinator for the Jets in 2012, and is the father of Jets offensive assistant Tony Sparano, Jr.
•Raiders G/T Austin Howard was with the Jets from 2011-13, starting all 32 games from 2012-13.
•Raiders special teams coordinator Bobby April is the father of Jets linebackers coach Bobby April III.
•Jets wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal was a member of the Raiders coaching staff from 2007-11, serving as assistant wide receivers/quality control (2007-08) before becoming the wide receivers coach (2009-11).
•Jets defensive assistant-defensive line/linebackers Jeff Weeks served as a defensive assistant for the Raiders in 2008.
•Raiders special teams coordinator Bobby April and G/T Austin Howard were members of the Philadelphia Eagles in the same capacity in 2010 when Jets offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg was the offensive coordinator/assistant head coach there (2004-12) and linebackers coach Bobby April III served as quality control/defense (2011-12).
College Connections
•Raiders WR Rod Streater and Jets DL Muhammad Wilkerson played together in 2010 at Temple. Wilkerson was the Jets' first-round pick (30th overall) in the 2011 NFL Draft.
•Raiders DL Antonio Smith played on the defensive line (2002-03) at Oklahoma State and was coached by Jets defensive line coach Karl Dunbarwhen he served in the same capacity there (2002-03).
•Raiders RB Darren McFadden played at Arkansas (2005-07) under the direction of Jets quarterbacks coach David Lee when he was the offensive coordinator/running backs coach there.
•Raiders DE LaMarr Woodley (2003-06) played on the same defensive unit at Michigan as Jets LB David Harris (2004-06).
•Jets wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal started his collegiate coaching career in Northern California, starting as the wide receivers coach at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, Calif. (2003), the quarterbacks/strength, speed and conditioning coach at St. Mary's College in Moraga, Calif. (2004) and as an offensive assistant/quarterbacks at the University of California (2004-06).
•Jets tight ends coach Steven Hagen served on the coaching staff as of-fensive coordinator/quarterbacks at Fresno State in 2006 and at the University of California from 1999-2000. He was also the offensive coordinator/QBs/recruiting coordinator at San Jose State from 1997-98.
Raiders from New York and Jets from Northern California/Hometown Connections
•Raiders S Tyvon Branch is from Cicero, N.Y., and attended Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
•Raiders RB Latavius Murray is from Nedrow, N.Y. where he attended Onondaga Central High School.
•Jets wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal attended high school in Orinda, Calif. and began his coaching career as a passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach at Miramonte (CA) High School in Orinda.
•Jets TE Zach Sudfeld is from Modesto, Calif., and attended Modesto Christian High School.
