Raiders HC Josh McDaniels looking forward to being 'tested' by Rams

Justin Churchill — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer

Aug 14, 2023 9:05 PM EDT

The Las Vegas Raiders are already showing improvements compared to where they were last season. They have shown that they have depth and can run the offense as it should. Even better, they showed that the defense got better too.

Sure, it's just the preseason, and the San Francisco 49ers didn't play their starters either, but they are still a good, well-coached team. Yet, they beat up on them to start the preseason off with a bang.

Now, they are off to Los Angeles, where they will practice with the Rams for two days and then play them for their second preseason game. As for head coach Josh McDaniels, he is ready for the test.

Raiders ready for Rams in Week 2 of preseason

The Rams may have been bad last year, but they are no slouch. They dealt with more injuries in 2022 than just about any other team, however, their injuries were to each of their best players. Aaron Donald was banged up, Cooper Kupp missed a large portion of the season, as did their starting quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Now all of those guys are ready, and McDaniels knows it won't be easy.

"I think we'll get tested in every phase for two-straight days with a really good team that's well coached and has a lot of really good players. So this will be a great opportunity for us to get challenged in a different way," McDaniels said after Sunday's win.

"Some of their strengths might be a little different than San Francisco's. The scheme is definitively different on both sides. And so, that was kind of what we thought about relative to putting these things together and how we could benefit. So, there's going to be a lot of work that we put in here in the next 48 hours to get ourselves ready to go for Wednesday. And I'm looking forward to this opportunity for our team."

Let's not forget that this team beat the Raiders last season; only they did it with a quarterback in Baker Mayfield, who had only been with the team for two whole days. They didn't have any of their superstar players, and they still crazily won the game.
Now, it will be similar to that, as in the Rams still won't play starters, but neither with the Raiders. Sure, this is the preseason, but McDaniels is absolutely right; this is where the depth of the Raiders will get tested. However, I think they have the answers to the test.