The Oakland Raiders will begin the 2014 season with a cross-country trip to take on the New York Jets in Met Life Stadium.
The Raiders made veteran additions on both sides of the ball by bringing in receiver James Jones, running back Maurice Jones-Drew, defensive end Justin Tuck, and linebacker LaMarr Woodley. Perhaps the new face that excites Raiders fans the most is quarterback and second-round pick, Derek Carr, who finished the preseason with a +2.7 overall grade.
The defensive line was a strong point for the Jets in 2013, and leading the unit was defensive tackle Damon Harrison who boasted an overall grade of +29.0. Harrison excelled in run defense where he finished with a position-topping +33.2 grade while running mate Sheldon Richardson posted a +22.4 mark that was second-best among 3-4DEs behind only J.J. Watt.
Here are three other notable numbers for each side:
New York Jets
Jeremy Kerley – The Jets' receiver was thrown at 63 times in 2013 and only dropped one pass while catching 43 of them for 523 yards.
Muhammed Wilkerson – Although Wilkerson didn’t match his very impressive 2012 season, the defensive end was able to post a +9.8 as a pass rusher and finished eighth with 32 quarterback hurries.
Nick Mangold – Mangold has been one of the premier centers in the league and despite 2013 being something of a down year by his standards, he rated as the fourth-best center in pass blocking with a +5.3 while not allowing a single sack all season.
Oakland Raiders
Stefan Wisniewski – Wisniewski only allowed two hits to the quarterback and no sacks in 930 snaps, while also earning a +10.0 in run blocking during the 2013 season.
Marcel Reece – The fullback position is known mostly for blocking, but Reece brings a receiving aspect to the Raiders as well shown by his +3.0 grade in receiving, which placed him second among fullbacks in the category.
Sio Moore – The rookie linebacker played the run especially well in 2013, finishing with a +10.7 in run defense on 287 snaps of run D.
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