Gruden sits starters because Raiders open with Rams

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. [www.reviewjournal.com]

Coach Jon Gruden was dumbfounded in April when the NFL scheduled two games against the Los Angeles Rams, one a second exhibition and the other a season opener, 23 days apart. His response was to rest 21 key players, including 15 on offense, for a 19-15 preseason loss that featured a snoozefest start.

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. [profootballtalk.nbcsports.com]

Jon Gruden sits 15 offensive starters because Raiders open with Rams

The Raiders returned to the Los Angeles Coliseum for the first time in 23 years, but if the Raiders fans who showed up en masse wanted to see their team’s stars, they were out of luck.

Oakland sat 15 offensive players, Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. That included quarterback Derek Carr, running back Marshawn Lynch and receivers Jordy Nelson and Amari Cooper.

The matchup was one of two this weekend featuring teams that play again in the regular season. But the Seahawks and Chargers don’t play again until November 4. The Raiders and Rams meet again in three weeks in a season-opening Monday night game in Oakland.

Thus, Raiders coach Jon Gruden wasn’t about to show the Rams anything they could use in preparation for Week One.
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“I’ve never been in a preseason game like this,” Gruden said, via Greg Beacham of the Associated Press. “This is tough, in our first training camp as a football team, to have our second [preseason game] against a team we open up with.

“I don’t know in the history of the NFL if that’s ever happened. I’m not going to sit up here and cry about it, because it’s the same for them as it is us. But we didn’t want to play our starters, and we didn’t want them to hear our audibles and hand signals. I don’t think they wanted us to get a feel for them either, so it was a strange ball game.”