>> raiders! >> without mack, they have to find a way to reign in the rams. >> i can't wait to see how they do it. >> it's monday night football here on abc 7. this was the scene moments ago in oakland, fans ready for the start of the 2018 season, all smiles right there. john gruden back where he belongs, thrilled to kick it off right here on abc 7. raider nation a few minutes away from kickoff on monday night football, rams versus raiders on abc 7. i'm larry biel, and this familiar face, eric allen, wore the silver and black from 2008 to 2001. >> good year. >> still lean and mean. >> i'm waiting for a call, maybe a dime package, maybe me and you can roll up in there. >> i don't know about me. john gruden likes older players. >> he does. >> may have a chance. >> maybe. >> could get a call.

your last season with the raiders was john's last season as well. >> yes. >> you went to the tampa bay buccaneers, won the super bowl the following year. what do you expect from john gruden tonight and in the long haul with the raiders? >> well, well, tonight, it's really important to see what's going to happen with dynamics of the players. i mean, role players. how are you able to fit in lynch, doug martin, what's the roles going to be? how do you define the roles on offense? i think, again, football's football, right? how is john gruden dealing with the personalities of today? we deal with our children, atoh dthe to really get in and teach because they pretty much voted themselves off the practic the bargaining agreement, and john sees players in the building. for him, that means you try to get better. right now, the players are in a situation they don't spend a lot of time this practice or around

the facility. john's going to have to figure out a way to really develop that chemistry with the players and have great relationships, and it's going to be difficult. that's the one thing i talked to him before and after he signed, that's the one thing i talked to him about. how are you going to deal with the players of today? i know the football stuff, xs, o os. great at that. not worried about that, but the players' relationships are the biggest obstacle this year and in the coming years. >> it's a millennial mentality. >> yes. >> and the collective bargaining agreement he's complained about because you can't spend that many hours with the players. >> right. >> it is nuts. abc 7 is on the sidelines at the oakland coliseum for live interviews after the game. here's mindi on the field. >> john and mcveigh are known for abilities in developing the quarterback and designing an offense around that quarterback's strengths. last season, with cal product

under center, goff, there was 30 points a game, the most in the nfl, and examinatipectations arr this season. >> a bunch of stuff we worked on in the offseason we are ready to display monday night, and a lot of the stuff from last season as well we'll continue to do and there's a lot of new stuff we're doing. >> they have a lot of secrets up their sleeves they have not shown, so that's why we have the microsoft tablets now on the sidelines to make the adjustments as soon as possible. >> you sit there and everything's against you. everything's saying it's going to be hard. everything's saying, you can't do it, you know, and all those things, and i think it makes me more determined and motivated. from the beginning, like, no, when we go out there, man, i want to look like coach and i have been together for ten years. >> ff said he was mindful offseason of checking his bad habits, the tells and the tips, the defensive backs look for, and while he was a broadcaster, john gruden had goff in a quarterback seminar and gave him pointers, so, larry, talking about making adjustments on the

microsoft pads, there's a few of the things he's looking for. >> thank you, mindi. a lot of plugs for microsoft. the commercial spokesman knows what he's doing. how tangibly can gruden help carr? look at the numbers from last year, 22 touchdowns, 13 picks. what can he do from an x and o standpoint to help the young quarterback? >> what that says for the picks is you're predictable, and the one thing that john's going to give you is going to give you the ability to get to the line of scrimmage and break trends that may be a defensive back has studied for the whole entire week, so when you have one offensive set that usually you get a slant from one side on 1st and 0, he's going to give you the opportunity there, carr, to look over theutif guy is tryingo cheat on you and stealing that slant. he's going to give you the opportunity to change that plan in the line of scrimmage, same formation, throw the slant, and go. rather than an interception, it's a touchdown.

the volume of information is going to be tremendous tonight for carr, and that's the one thing that carr has been able to digest is that playbook. it's going to be a great situation for carr going forward to be able to have all that at his disposal. when john loves a quarterback, that quarterback is basically like him on the football field. john was not a good football player, but he loved guys who can go up to the football field and take his mind on the football field like rich gannon. he was so, so great at the line of scrimmage, changing the play, getting to the plays, and sometimes john smiling because, hey, that was the play i would have called, but i can't execute it like gannon or carr. >> he wants to run the west coast offense, and many run rpos, run pass options, he calls ridiculous protection offense, sitting down with goff. can the offense work in the modern nfl? >> there has to be adjustments, of course, to adjust to the great players of today, an

that's what the league is about. the league's about great players. if you have great players, give them the opportunity to take advantage of their skill set, and there may be rpos today with carr because he has tremendous ability to be able to get outside the pocket, and, again, that's what i come back to. you have to figure out which type of players are going to be able to really explode and have great success in the situations, right, so marshawn lynch, maybe first down back, and doug martin, first goal back tonight. in those situations, we could see a little rpo pulled out and get the ball to jordy nelson quick. it's all about situational football, and gruden, like any coach, you are successful with great players and a great system, and he gives them the opportunity tonight. >> talking about explosions, tht who can blow up your offense, okay? talking about msue up front. >> oh, my goodness. >> talking about them earlier,

they played in the same division. >> yeah. >> talib with the broncos, and donald the main attraction. suh is a monster. >> yeah, yeah, larry, let me tell you, jackson and hudson and many have their hands full tonight, right? so what i think is the best early, the best thing to do is run away from them, from the zone outside runs, have throwbacks, have some situations where we're screening, we're trying to get those big defensive tackles to be in a situation where in the third quarter, hands are on the hips or on the sidelines so then we run at them a little bit. you can't run at the guys early. they will be excited to play some football, suh is a monster, as we all know, and aaron donald could be the best player in the league right now, and so early on, run away. screen. quick passes. get these offensive linemen opportunities to get the hands on those defensive linemen later in the game. >> you mean best defensive

player in mack? >> oh, there we go. >> sneaking that in somewhere. more to come as we countdown to kickoff between the rams and raiders here on abc 7. gruden wants to control the clock against the explosive rams so is beast mode in beast mode? keep it here on abc 7 for the fe post game coverage and eric and bowls to serve teriyaki. see that right there? you can't say that. i can't tell people to try my bowls? no. check out my bowls? nope. what about my billboard? (sighs) what? try my teriyaki bowls. this is long distance with the best wifi experience, long-distance relationship. plus the most free shows to stream. and with savings on wireless, this is a relationship with more money to spend on the important things. this is how xfinity makes life... simple. easy. awesome.

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i'm just excited to get the butterflie butterflies, you know, same way every year, especially opening day is special. this is really special for me doing everything i can to help bring the raiders back, and i really like the effort the team put forth. >> hoping it's a special night. return of chucky minutes away as raiders and rams kickoff the final game of week one in the 2018 season. the raiders coverage is preempting "wheel of fortune" and "jeopardy" so sorry about that, but it's chucky's night. he wants to run the ball and control the clock. how many times do you want to see marshawn lynch get the ball, and can the raiders be effective against the rams' front if they go with the jumbo package or whatever? >> again, that's what we talked about early on. you have to use tempo, but run away from the defensive tackles. you have to find a way to get to the edge. those zone left, zone right, outside run, and a lot of screen, and if he's anywhere from 20 and under, as long as the other backs are contributing

also, that would be a great night for him. i love to see him using goal line package like zach used back when we were playing. >> oh, man, yeah, yaeeah. >> celebrate that momentum on your side, scoring touchdown, throwing the ball in the stands, great for him to be used in that goal line package, but 20 and under as long as the other backs are heavily involved also on third down. >> to catch the ball in the back. >> yeah. tempo. get away from the defensive tacks, just run from them. >> okay, run. since we're talking running game, todd didn't realize he's 6'1", 231. reminds me of steven jackson. i stood next to him at 6'2", 2 had 40, old rams'do who would t this dude. >> i took the family to the super bowl, and he was there, and i couldn't believe how just big he was. just a great at athlete, all the

tools, catching the back field, run it, jump, outstanding athlete, so, again, they have something to deal with right now because goff is still a young player, right? you want to put situations on him that is very difficult, but if they run the ball and are effective at that, it's difficult to try and put all that pressure on goff. gurley is the real deal. >> as a defensive back at 190, your thought coming around the corner? >> screaming at the defensive linemen and linebackers they didn't get him. >> and he'll clean up. address the elephant in the room or the all-pro not in the room anymore, mack, raiders traded away the best player for draft picks. this move is universally panned around the nfl, unless you love the bears, this is great. testifies great last night although rodgers got him in the end. who needs to come up big in this raiders' defense? bruce irvin is experienced, key is the young guys the raiders have high hopes for, but what do you do? >> right.

the one -- the best position on the bills or the team, if gruden is coaching, is the defensive coordinator. they never hear about you. it's up to him to find a way. had a top five defense in 2015 with the cincinnati bengals, he has to get pressure on the quarterback, but when you're the raiders, i think raiders, and i think success, when they have someone in the secondary who makes plays, whether it's charles woodson, whether it's mike haynes or lester hayes. the raiders have to find a way to secure the secondary and play from the bottom to the top mentality which means make sure coverage is together and covering kbguys up and once youe able to get coverage, the defensive linemen get great confidence, and sometimes guys are doubled in the sacks who you don't know who they are. paul has to find a way to get the unit on defense playing a very high level. you want 20, 21 interceptions

throughout the year and to finish in the top ten. that's when you give the ball back to the offense and able to get it done. paul gunther is very, very important for the football team being the defensive accocoordin of the oakland raiders. >> i would have felt better if you named the roster like connelly maybe. what's the mentality of the guys with the trade? gruden has to sell on a deal that's not going to pay off with the two draft picks until well done the road. >> it's difficult. i've been in the situation before. when i was with the philadelphia eagles, we traded ray reggie white, a hall of famer at the time. locker room had to find a way to get together and say defensively, what can we do to show that we're still a legit defense, and it was difficult. it's going to be difficult tonight. some guys early are going to have to makes plays, rally around each other. this has to be a defense that game tackles, that gets around the ball, calls turnovers.

when you don't have that superstar, it's bout getting the ball back for the offense. >> hard to do. >> hard to do, yep. >> we mentioned the teacher versus pupil aspect of the matchup with gruden and mcveigh. mcveigh unusually decided, you know, i'm not risking injury with the starters in the preseason. the teams met in the second game of the preseason. none of the start ers played on either side. rams did that the entire preseason. is this the trend or an anomaly? >> because you have so many outstanding star-type players with the rams, two corners all-pros, defensive tackles all-pros, running back, your quarterback, so, yes, this is not going to be a trend, maybe for the rams because they have those players who don't need preseason because they searsta e to ask this -- >> it's not a trend, though. >> when you got talib and peters in the secondary, don't they have to work together somewhat in a real game or not so much? >> rarely are they on the same side of the football.

our corners, maybe line up in the slot every now and then, but when you're a corner, after year five or six, it's about preparation. like i told you back in the green room, my first three, four years, i mean, i loved preseason. i was playing all day. after year four, five, when the tape is out of other receivers, all you do is study and break it down. you want to know offense is good or better than the receivers. i know what routes you run on 3rd and short, 1st and 10, but these guys are like that. they are down in, and they understand what's kind of going on as far as the game plan's concerned, so they don't need that. the two defensive tackles are amazing football players. they don't need the practice, and, of course, todd gurley, you don't want him injured or the quarterback. again, this is a little specific because the rams are just filled with, like, an all-star team. >> right. >> but if you have a rookie, a running back or linebacker, he needs to play and get used to the speed you're going to see on sunday over monday night. >> interesting to see.

maybe the rams rusty coming out. moments from kickoff. we'll see you right after the game here on abc 7. different ts the star running back.>> joe: >> joe: they have an elite defensive delineman.d and we have booger mcfarland asf the field level analyst.boog, boog, the rams acquired three pro bowl stars. how doespro it m i impact sthem? booge >> booger: you talk about ndamuk ndamukong suh. the fwhunl thinumber one thing tha will do is against the rams, and you you move it to the back end, anh they have ey hav talib, he talib, he wants to get in your face and make your day miserable. he's a ball hog. he likes to play off man. he is also going to go after every ball you throw at him. but the fwhunl thing they bring, joe, is swag. and personality. they felt the defense didn't

have any swag. you bring that on this defense, they have swag in l.a. >> joe: meeting with them last night, they are not afraid to talk about the pro bowls among them. let's bring in lisa salters, the veteran sideline reporter in ""monday night football."" >> lisa: i caught up with jon in pregame warmups. he was standing in the middle of the i could tell he was taking everything in. i asked him what are you feeling right now? and he said, a little nerves. just excited. he told us before, this is a special, special place for him. this stadium, where it all started for him as a head coach, so he is excited to be back. and you better believe he is really eager to prove his status out there. he said they are throughout. he is eager to prove that he can still do this thing. more than anything else, jon grud season ready to get this thing going. tess? >> joe: 16 seasons, sustaining a

team. and he's opposite his once under study, sean mcvay, the coach of the year last year, did that at 31. the youngest head coach to ever win the award. the raiders will receive. >> booger: this crowd, they have been weight on this a long time, joe. they are going crazy. >> joe: you can hear the roar. dwayne harris, set back, the pro bowler, veteran, strong leg. kicking ace for the rams to get us under way.