Raiders hope defensive lapses in first 2 preseason games aren’t a sign of what’s to come

HENDERSON, Nev. — The Raiders put a top-10 scoring defense on the field last season, added star tackle Christian Wilkins to the lineup and then dominated the Las Vegas offense in the early days of training camp. Add in end Malcolm Koonce and tackle John Jenkins, and the Raiders could build on a scoring defense that was ninth last season, allowing 19.5 points per game. There were too many open lanes where those running backs were coming down full speed down in the second level and even up to our safeties and obviously created big plays.” Minshew talks about starting Gardner Minshew, who is known for being a spark off the bench, spoke to reporters Tuesday night for the first time since beating out Aidan O’Connell for the starting quarterback job. “I think any time you step in there as a quarterback, whatever the situation, it’s your team at that point and you have to treat it like that,” Minshew said. “I think we have a lot of stuff we can work on — really get dialed in now, get the reps, get some good conversations with these guys and just figuring out our identity and what we’re going to look like.” O’Connell began last season as a backup, but was named the starter at midseason and went 5-4 the rest of the way.