A Clean Slate Awaits Raiders' EDGE Chandler Jones

Las Vegas Raiders pass rusher Chandler Jones had what most considered to be a down year last season.

What may go unnoticed, though, is that Jones was reaching his peak and looking like the Chandler Jones of old late in the season, just before going down due to season-ending elbow injury on Christmas Eve.

Now, a new season nears, and it's time to let go of what was and what could have been.

"Chandler has been doing this for a long time," Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said when he addressed the media on Thursday. "He knows last year, whatever happened, it doesn't matter. So, for him, it's about just steady improvement, especially at the defensive line position. It starts to become real football now. It's really about getting back to your fundamentals and technique; a body on a body, defeating blocks, getting your reads and your key work. So, it's not anything really specific to Chandler, it's really for all those guys, especially when you're talking about the front guys where they're getting used to real football."

Jones knows what it takes to get into that rhythm of finding your groove; as after all, he's had 11 seasons of experience.

"I understand that being injured is a part of the game," Jones said. "I don't want to label it a good or a bad stretch. In this profession you'll have a good game, you'll have a bad game if you look at the stats. My biggest thing always was just being graded well. At the end of the day, if I went back and sat down with the coaches and they said: 'Hey, you did your job. You got an A grade.' Then I was fine if it was a sack or not. But the biggest thing is just being consistent, doing your job, putting the team first, and always ignoring the noise."

The Silver and Black open the preseason by hosting the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Aug. 13, at 4 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. PDT.

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