Raiders coordinators prepare for unknowns of Panthers staff

Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule will coach his first NFL game on Sunday. That means Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther is preparing for an offense he’s never seen.

At the NFL level, anyway.

But Guenther is not too concerned since his defense has had to contend with Jon Gruden’s multiple attack in training camp. “He’s got every play known to mankind. He’s given us enough to prepare for.,” Guenther said. “Play sound, play aggressive, don’t worry about making mistakes and make sure we’re tackling good.”

Rhule coached at Baylor last year with defensive coordinator Phil Snow, who hasn’t worked in the NFL since 2008 — or ever been a pro coordinator. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady came to Carolina by way of LSU, where he was the passing game coordinator.

There is no NFL game tape of Carolina’s offense or defense.

Guenther said he watched “quite a bit” of game tape from LSU’s 2019 season.

“They have a lot of different people on their staff that come from different places,” Guenther said. “We had an opportunity, sitting around during COVID in the spring, looking at all that stuff trying to figure out and hone in on what we think their skillsets match up with. … It’s part of the preparation.”

Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Olson expressed a similar sentiment. He said “it’s difficult (preparing) without any film to watch, without any preseason games.

“We’ve tried to prepare for a lot of different looks and a lot of different coverages for this opening game,” Olson said. “Thankfully, we have pretty much a veteran offensive group … that’s been together. … We feel like if we follow our rules, that we’ll be fine on Sunday.”

No fans? No problem

The Raiders won’t have fans at Allegiant Stadium this season amid the coronavirus pandemic. They’ll begin adjusting to the atmosphere, or lack therof, on Sunday.

Rookie wide receiver Henry Ruggs said “it’ll definitely be different” playing in an empty stadium, but doesn’t think he’ll have a problem against Carolina.

“When you see the other team out there, you know you’re going to compete,” Ruggs said. “If you’re not motivated to compete against anybody that’s going against you, going to give everything they’ve got, then you’re doing the wrong thing.”

Injury report

Raiders right tackle Trent Brown practiced in full on Thursday and looked healthy, per Olson. He was limited in practice on Wednesday. Defensive tackle Maliek Collins was also a full participant Thursday after being limited Wednesday. Offensive guard Richie Incognito was a limited participant Wednesday.

Tight end Foster Moreau was not on the injury report Wednesday, but was listed Thursday with a knee injury despite practicing in full.

Fellow tight end Jason Witten didn’t practice Thursday, presumably a rest day for the 38-year-old.

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.