Raiders report: ‘Who drives an orange Porsche?’

PRESEASON

AT A GLANCE

Schedule

All practices at Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center, unless noted:

Thursday — Practice 10:50 a.m.-12:45 p.m

Friday — Practice 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m

Saturday — Off

Sunday — Preseason game vs. 49ers, Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif., 1 p.m.

Monday — Off

Tuesday — Off

Quote of the day

Coach Jon Gruden lit up when asked his thoughts on defensive end Maxx Crosby.

Apparently, Crosby was wearing a mic for a behind-the-scenes video on Wednesday’s practice. Gruden said he was looking forward to hearing what Crosby had to say before making a joke about all the attention the team received this week about reports Gruden tried to trade for former Raiders linebacker Khalil Mack.

Gruden then turned his attention back to the question.

“Maxx is doing great though, to answer your question,” he said. “Like I say about (rookie cornerback Nate) Hobbs, he has this thing about him. It’s just fun being around him. He likes coming to work. His car, he’s got an orange Porsche. Who the hell has an orange Porsche? I pull in here and there’s an orange Porsche. I know he’s in there. I leave at night and the orange Porsche is here. He’s a weird guy. He’s a fun guy. He’s a helluva football player. Thank God we got him.”

Play of the day

Derek Carr and Henry Ruggs hooked up for yet another deep ball on Wednesday, this time a lofted pass down the right sideline. Ruggs was able to beat Isaiah Johnson to the ball before Roderic Teamer could get over.

Carr wasn’t finished. He hit Zay Jones down the middle of the field on the next play for another score.

It was another pass from Carr that really stood out, however. He had running back Josh Jacobs split out wide to the left and zipped a pass to him down the left sideline between two defenders.

Jacobs has spent much of his time the last two offseasons working on his receiving skills. Carr credited the running back for the route he ran on the play.

“That play, usually guys don’t run as hard when they’re in that spot,” Carr said. “If he doesn’t run that hard, I can’t throw that ball. There’s so much detail that goes into it. He’s on it, I’ll just say that. He’s doing a really good job. He’s working hard at it. Before the Rams game, he’s sitting there running all the tight end routes. Whatever route they ran, he ran.

“He’s trying to get better at it. Today it was really cool that he caught that because you guys got to see it firsthand, his growth in that area.”

Emphasize this

The league has made it clear it intends to cut down on taunting this season by stressing the importance of referees throwing their flags for any infraction. Gruden doesn’t mind the decision.

“I think it’s a good point of emphasis,” he said. “Who needs that? Taunting. It’s okay I guess to have seven guys celebrating after an interception. I kind of see that as taunting. But whatever the points of emphasis are, if you’re a coach you have to emphasize it with your team.”

‘Nothing stays the same’

Sunday will be the final preseason game for the Raiders, who like every other team in the league will then have to cut down to 53 players by Tuesday.

That cutdown date is nearly two weeks before the Raiders open the regular season on Monday Night Football against the Ravens. Typically, final cuts are made eight days before most teams play for the first time.

With three preseason games instead of four and the new timeline, Gruden is still adjusting.

“Everything has changed,” he said. “I mean the number of players, when we cut players. The whole thing has changed. It’s not just the number of preseason games. We also have 17 regular-season games. The bye weeks have changed. Everything has changed. Nothing stays the same.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.