The Immense Value in Raiders Knowing Thy Foe

The Raiders and Patriots have many new pieces that have essentially formed a game that is a toss up, as neither team knows exactly what the other is going to do. However, Carroll has been in the league a while, he knows enough about the Patriots' coaching staff to put a plan together.

"They're physical, like you would think. Josh [McDaniels] has run the ball a lot in his history, and Mike Vrabel wants to run the football, too. They're very physical about it. The running backs run really hard, and they have, like Josh has traditionally had, a really downhill attack. It's pretty classic, and it's really good," Carroll said.

"It's absolutely in the middle of the preparation because he is so apt. He ran for almost 500 yards last year, and I think our numbers were like he's the second most scrambling guy last year. We know that he can take off and run, and he can make things happen. And he did it in preseason, and he made it look easy. So that's a big factor in their favor as a running team as well. It's even more important." 

The Raiders made several moves leading up to Week 1 that they feel will help make their team much more competitive this season than it was last season. Carroll explained that all options are on the table when it comes to helping the team improve.

"Well, analytics aren't new to me, but these guys are new. We got new people, and they have different backgrounds, and they come with different strengths and experiences and all that. So we're trying to incorporate the best that they have to offer. That's been the challenge for us. We're working well together right now,” Carroll said. 

“We spend a lot of time together, and it's not just talking numbers and analytics, it's just talking football and principles and approach and philosophy and approach that will dictate the situation calls that we make. Our communications have been okay in the first four attempts that we've had, but we'll get better as we go. We need the experience, but I feel really confident that the situations that will arise, we will have already prepared for. So that's a good thing, and we just got to hope that the headsets work so we can all talk."