Raiders preparing for Chargers and element of surprise

A moment is bound to occur Sunday when the Raiders open their season against the Chargers. Chances are a handful of them, in fact, in which, the Raiders will have been taken by surprise by something the Chargers are doing on offense and defense.

Something that didn’t show up on film or wasn’t accounted for or, quite frankly, something that may not have been on the radar leading up to the game.

“You may see some things that you never practiced that week,” Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said.

He should know, as he’s trying to apply the same mental pressure on the Chargers as they will to his team.

“You don’t go into opening day and it’s just vanilla ice cream,” McDaniels said. “Usually there’s maybe some chocolate and some sprinkles somewhere.”

Such was the case last year when the Raiders opened their season against the Ravens. The Raiders thought Baltimore would defend them one way, only for the Ravens to completely flip the script.

“They all-out blitzed the heck out of us,” quarterback Derek Carr remembers. “All the way to the last play. Sending people from everywhere.”

The sneak attack element is prevalent every week in the NFL. But it is especially so in a season-opening game. It’s why coaches and teams approach them with trepidation.

Or, as Raiders wide receiver Hunter Renfrow put it: “When you lay awake at night, and you kind of lay in bed and go over what you think the game will be, you’re kind of getting prepared for the unprepared.”

Added Raiders tackle Kolton Miller: “You just have to prepare for everything, trust your technique and fundamentals and work off that.”

Nevertheless, the element of surprise will occur. The Raiders are bracing for it.

“Especially against a defense like this,” Carr said. “Great coaches. Very smart. Great players. They can do whatever they want to do. They’ve got so many guys that can do so many things. So you just never know.”

When that moment arrives, time will certainly be of the essence as McDaniels and his staff try to come up with answers to questions they didn’t necessarily account for beforehand.

“If you’re seeing something for the first time, you may need to go over there and have a conversation about how we handle it on defense, or special teams, or offense,” McDaniels said.

But a part of him might just allow himself to smile a bit too.

“The strategic part of this is fun,” McDaniels said. “That’s why we do this.”

The challenge of matching wits with his coaching counterparts is a part of the game McDaniels enjoys.

“There are great coaches on the other sideline this week, and there is every week,” McDaniels said. “So, they’re going to present some challenges to us, we know that. That won’t be the first time and so that’s our responsibility to try to provide our players with an answer, or a solution, if there’s something that’s bothering us, and we’ll try to do that as quickly as we can.”

It also puts a premium on the Raiders understanding exactly who they are and mastering their own game plan, then letting that confidence and precision help guide them on a day that will present its share of surprises.

“We just got to … figure out exactly how we’re going to play the game on our terms,” McDaniels said. “So, let our guys go out there and know what their assignments are, be confident in what they’re doing.”

Beyond that, both teams are just making assumptions based on past history. Even then, the ever-changing race to stay one step ahead of the posse in the NFL means teams make so many adjustments from one season to the next that whatever film you’re working off might be completely outdated.

Hence, the importance of mastering your own game plan.

“The best you can do is give your players an opportunity to an educated opinion on what we might see,” McDaniels said. “We’ve seen some film from the preseason. It’s not extensive in terms of scheme. It’s not extensive in terms of players playing with one another. But you have a roundabout idea of what it’s going to be.”

Opening day, McDaniels said, is about two things, following your rules and “finding out a lot about yourself.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.