1st & Goal: Lincoln Kennedy, Las Vegas Raiders Radio Analyst

I'm the one, I worked to put that deal together for Brady and Gronk to come to the Raiders and it was almost a done deal and at the last minute Gruden blew the deal up and said that he didn't want him and whoa all hell broke loose man it was crazy and and Brady was already looking at houses and it wasn't being said yet that Gronk was coming so Las Vegas would have had Brady and Gronk the year that the Fox won the Super Bowl except Gruden blew the deal up and there's so much story that goes along with this behind the scenes and I was never going to tell that story till Gronk just said it but uh yeah and Dana that is exactly what happened and you just told the story the NFL season is inching closer and closer who are the contenders and who are the pretenders we have four downs to figure out your team's future it's time now for first and goal on the Zach Gelb show that was Dana White from UFC 278 with Rob Gronkowski on that Gronk cast it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio time to preview the Las Vegas Raiders and we go out to one of our favorites Lincoln Kennedy who's a great job on the team broadcast and he's a former first team ball pro and played a bunch of years for the Raiders Lincoln what did you make of that audio when you heard it over the weekend well you know what what's funny is that Dana said that he wasn't going to tell that story until now well I mean what compelled him to tell the story now but anyways some people just can't keep things in themselves it's all good he sort of told the story before because I'm a Patriot fan and he's from Boston and I got mad at him and I even said on the show why are you advocating for Brady to go to the Raiders when that happens in 2020 and he goes oh I have a luxury box in Las Vegas at the new stadium so I thought that was a little fraudulent at the time well probably but you know what what I could believe that there's some truth to it because there were a lot of rumors circulating around Brady with Gruden whether or not he was going to keep Derek Carr he was going to go after Brady and he weren't you weren't going to be able to keep both so naturally you know the rumors were circulating especially about Brady being on the free agency market and him being highly touted here's the part that I don't get why would John Gruden say no to this well John Gruden is a little bit of a loyalist himself I mean he was loyal to Derek Carr for all those years believing in him for all the years that he had him and even even when Derek Carr supposedly tore his groin and in one of the games towards the end of the year he did the charger game and Mariota went in there and played pretty well and they almost beat the Chargers that game uh he you know Derek still got to start the next week when he was supposed to be out for at least 10 days or two weeks so you know John Gruden's always been somewhat of a quarterback loyalist to to to maybe to you know to an error but it's it's always been a part of him do you view that as a mistake if that's true that Brady wanted to go there and then Gruden just said no no I mean I think you got to live with what you live with I mean no one could have ever expected that Brady was going to go down to Tampa Bay and and bring them there you know the Super Bowl in their home stadium that year you know no one could ever predict it it just felt like that but you know here's the thing what we saw with that that team and Brady that year in Tampa Bay is that after a while Bruce Arians you know gave up calling plays let Brady just call his own plays while he was out there because he was you know understanding enough I don't know if John Gruden would allow that as arrogant as he can be when it comes to that type of stuff let's get to the next down Lincoln Kennedy here with us how do you view Derek Carr going into this season Lincoln no more excuses I mean I've viewed Derek Carr for the last three years with no more excuses you you've got now you really that you've got what you want you've got everything you want you've got a run game you've got a passing you got receivers you got everything you want you might not have the total offensive line but you have a system in place that's conducive to a pocket passer that's conducive to using running backs out of the backfield which you've seen him do with check downs and other things like that and also it makes the slot in the tight ends worthwhile having an offense you've got that so you have the added cupcake if you will with Devontae Adams on the outside who can stretch any defense possible and with his size and his catching ability all you have to do is put it up around him he's gonna go up and get it so there's no reason why this team this offense should not be successful when you say no more excuses is that Super Bowl or bust in your mind or not to that level I don't say I don't think they're a Super Bowl caliber team and the reason I say that Zach is because they haven't beaten their arch nemesis the Kansas City Chiefs I mean they've been what once in the last 10 years you can't you can't imagine or dream of a Super Bowl if you can't take care of your division and you can't say that you're going to take care of your division if you can't beat one of the teams in your division and they've handed you you know they've handed you soundly over the last couple years so no they're not a Super Bowl bound team besides the AFC is packed but I do think this they have to I think the Raiders are capable of making a deep run in the playoffs and what I mean by that is I think that all four of the teams out of this division are going to be over 500 now that you have the extra game which has never happened in the NFL history but you're going to have to have somebody's going to have to go on the road play against a Buffalo or one of those other worthwhile teams or even meet one of the teams in the division win that before they can even look at the AFC Championship. Do you still give that edge to Kansas City in that division? No I think the edge is actually going to the Chargers I like the Chargers what they've done to move the system if their coach didn't make so many mistakes last year and mismanaging the game and getting arrogant and greedy I think they could have won a lot more games I think he's learned his lesson he'll be better this year.

Let's get to the next down. Talking to Lincoln Kennedy what have been your impressions so far of Josh McDaniel's? Really impressed really impressed with the order and the control that he's had he's maintained over the team and held this team accountable look for what it's worth this is probably one of the most disciplined Raiders teams I have ever seen and then including the ones that I played on they don't kill themselves with penalties and mistakes they don't make a lot of mistakes and each one of their guys have played hard throughout the preseason even though we haven't seen the starters so you know for what it's worth I think he's on the right trail and we'll see this week when they practice against the Patriots because you know the thing is is that I still believe that if Al Davis was alive probably probably wouldn't still would not have had the Patriots in his home state in practice against them no matter what but they probably do on the neutral turf but it's happening and these two teams are going to come together they're going to practice together it's going to bring out best in competition I expect there's going to be a lot of fights but you know for the most part I think it's going to be clean. If Al Davis was still alive I think the only way they would have those joint practices is if he had Belichick be honest about the tuck rule now me being a Patriot fan I had no problem with it but I think Al Davis would make that as a requirement Belichick would have to admit that it was a fumble. It was a fumble.

I've learned to live with it it's what was the fumble they got us and it is what it is. Going back to McDaniels and I think McDaniels is going to learn a lot from his first stint as a head coach but what do you think he's going to learn from those two years or year and a half in Denver going all the way back to 2009-2010? Well I think I think when you go back you look at those years you look at those teams and the way they played and what they were able to create or achieve you humble yourself in the sense that you've been around a program you saw what has been done for decades in the Patriots and you know what you can do now that you have a talent in the team when you have a quarterback you have a chance he's got a quarterback and he's got talent around the quarterback they got talent on both sides of the ball you've got a fan base that absolutely adores you you've got a beautiful stadium you've got you know beautiful amenities and facilities and stuff like that you've got an owner who's willing to give you anything you want so it's a very similar situation that he had in New England with Robert Kraft it's just a new territory and a new terrain to take over in Las Vegas.

Let's get to the next down. Linky Kennedy here with us we're previewing the Raiders I know everyone wants to talk offense Derek Carr, Devonta Adams, Darren Waller, Hunter Renfro too but defensively I love Max Crosby I love Chandler Jones what else though is there to love about this defense when you watch them? Well you know what the reason why they went out and got Patrick Graham the defensive coordinator from the Giants is because he was the only one that really slowed down the Kansas City Chiefs last year so we're going to see if he can use his defensive prowess to do that again this year and make a difference for this team going forward and I think that's the re-emergence of Jonathan Abram in the past I thought I've been was really critical of Jonathan because I thought he became a little bit of a liability in coverage they found ways and not necessarily disguises but make him still keep them active on the field and not you know not become a detriment so far from what we've seen the way teams have protected the Raiders so I like things that come in the defensive secondary and what's not to like when you've got guys like Trayvon Mullen or Nate Hobbs who is in the way he played his work a year. Do you think that Adama Kinsu is going to wind up because I like the move of Bilal Nichols but everyone keeps on linking Sue to the Raiders you think that ends up happening?

Yeah I mean it depends on what they do and you know they made the move by cutting King and Drake and probably use some of that money that they have left over to try to make a play for Sue but it probably depends on how much he wants and how much guaranteed money he wants. Early on we know Devontae Adams has been you know is going to be an absolute stud for this team has anything surprised you with Devontae Adams with what you've heard and what you've seen in Green Bay to now the way that he's practicing with the Raiders? Nothing at all he's a true pro and and he's setting an example for a lot of young receivers you know they've got a number of notable young receivers that are in that room and here's the thing when you look at what Darren Waller has done and what he's capable of at tight end spots you look at Hunter Renfro in the wide receiver room how he's emerged and and the tremendous fear that he had and know how this offense kind of placates to the slot receiver because you've seen with Danny Amendola, Wes Welker and those guys but the Patriots have done so you see how valuable the slot is in this offense it's just an added caveat the way that that Devontae goes out and works and he's still hungry to be out there and be a part of the offense even if he thinks he's probably not going to be the focal point he was the focal point in Green Bay and rightfully so Aaron Rodgers made a point to get them the ball now mind you you hear what I'm saying Derek Carr is going to throw the ball to Adams there's no doubt about it he's going to make a point to throw but it might not be the only focal point on this offensive weapon when you've got so many others. When you get into the red zone there's also going to be someone that we're not talking about now that's going to emerge because they have so many weapons inside the red zone too. Well here's one of the things this team has struggled with in the past most recently the years is short yardage and red zone offense generating touchdowns in the past they've been able to move the ball between the 20s but when they get into the red zone they have a hard time putting it in it's going to have to be and I've been critical of John Gruden back in those days the lack of creativity being very predictable I think Joshua Daniels is going to be different this time around and with the weapons that he has I think the sky's the limit. Last thing I'll ask you Lincoln Kennedy so I'm with you I like the Chargers I'm leaning towards the Chargers to win this division I think three AFC West teams are going to get in I've been going with the Chargers I've been going with the Chiefs and then I gave these slight edge to the Raiders over the Broncos how many get in from the AFC West in the playoffs? Well I mean depends on how it falls if I you know like I said earlier I think all four teams are going to be over 500 that means the last team probably will be like nine and eight and depends on how the rest of the playoffs fall but you know this is a very competitive conference the AFC when you take a look at Buffalo you know what you have in the AFC West but you got to have somebody's going to come out of the central right whether it's Tennessee or you know I mean the south and then the central has Cincinnati and playing well or returning pretty much everyone from their AFC championship team the fact is is that if if they play if they get that offensive line figured out Cincinnati's gonna be dangerous so there's gonna be a lot of teams that are gonna be in the mix when it's all said and done. Lincoln Kennedy always appreciate the time we'll be talking to you throughout the season thanks so much. All right Zach take care brother.