Photo credit: Louis Grasse, Vegas Sports Today
The Las Vegas Raiders will take the field for the first time in the 2024 NFL campaign on Saturday when they open their preseason schedule with a date against the Vikings at US Bank Stadium in Minnesota.
Saturday’s game is slated for a 1pm PST kickoff. As always, Vegas Sports Today has got you covered with everything Raiders, all season long.
How to watch and listen
The Silver and Black’s first preseason game will once again air locally on FOX5 Las Vegas (KVVU) with Jason Horowitz calling the play-by-play action with a pair of former Raiders, color commentators Matt Millen and 2002 NFL MVP Rich Gannon. The NFL Network will broadcast Saturday’s game nationally with Paul Allen and Pete Bercich fulfilling the roles of Play-by-play commentator, and Color Analyst, respectively.
Another viewing option for Raiders Fans is to stream the TV broadcast of the game on Raiders.com at this link and in the Raiders app.
Radio Nation Radio 920 AM will feature venerable radio personality JT the Brick covering the action on the airwaves alongside two highly qualified analysts in legendary left tackle Lincoln Kennedy and the universally respected former Raider Eric Allen, who always provides a thorough and Knowledgable breakdown of every Raiders matchup.
Harry Ruiz’s energetic and one-of-a-kind play-by-play will once again takes the lead on the Spanish call, which can be found on Deportes Vegas 1460 AM, along with analyst Mayra Gomez.
Scouting the Vikings
The Raiders and Vikings have previously met seven times during the preseason, with Minnesota surprisingly winning five of those contests. The last time the two teams squared off in the preseason was back on Aug. 14, 2022, when the Raiders took home a hard fought 26-20 victory.
With the No. 10 overall pick in draft this year, the Vikings selected quarterback J.J. McCarthy from Michigan; and also added former Jets QB Sam Darnold in free agency. On the Vikings initial depth chart, former first round Draft pick Darnold is listed as QB1, which should come as no surprise, since Head Coach Kevin O’Connell has already appointed the former Southern Cal Trojan Darnold as the “starter, for now” before camp began, and Darnold has also reportedly received the lion’s share of first-team reps. Meanwhile, McCarthy is listed beside Nick Mullens in a battle for the QB2 backup spot.
QB competition cooking
After an offseason full of preparation and intense training, the battle for the right to be named the Raiders’ starting quarterback takes the spotlight. Through the first few weeks of training camp, Gardner Minshew II and Aidan O’Connell have been locked in a tight battle for the right to be named the Week One starter under center. Saturday’s game will give the Raiders staff a better look at where both signal callers stand at this early juncture, and also evaluate each player’s knowledge of coordinator Luke Getsy’s scheme. The expectation from newly appointed head coach Antonio Pierce is that both quarterbacks will play a quarter each, but AP hasn’t yet decided yet who will actually start on Saturday, per ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.
That being said, any decision as to who will be QB1 won’t be made hastily, as both Pierce and General Manager Tom Telesco expect to use the entire preseason to evaluate the options at quarterback.
New kickoff rules
While many football fans already got a first look at the way the new rules for kickoffs work in last week’s Hall of Fame Game, Saturday will be the first time this Raiders group will actually get to put it into action. This training camp has already seen multiple periods during practice sessions dedicated to special teams and adjusting to the new “landing zone,” (Click here for the full explanation on the rule change).
Speaking on the change, special teams coordinator Tom McMahon said “I don’t have all the answers, so (even) from a leverage standpoint, ‘Hey, these guys are doing something nice. These guys are doing something nice.’ But we feel good about where we’re at because it’s going to come down to the specialists and the returners.
“The pre-snap stuff that a lot of people don’t really realize, how do you hide where you’re going to kick it? What kind of kicks can you use? Get a different ball that’s not easy to catch. Vice versa from a returner standpoint, you’ve got to catch every single thing imaginable, every type of ball – knuckle balls, balls that curve. The communication is going to be big, and that’s the thing I think you’re really going to have to work out the whole season.”
