Raiders’ Allen looks to develop winning habits

Oakland Raiders Head Coach Dennis Allen spoke to media Sunday following practice and the first preseason victory of 2013. He touched on many different subjects — while ducking others.

Allen was evasive in answering questions directly about the competition between quarterbacks Tyler Wilson and Matthew McGloin, but said he was impressed by the performance of rookie wide receiver Brice Butler:

“That’s one game for a rookie, so the challenge is can he put another game on top of that … he’ll get another chance against the Saints and we’ll see if he can stack one brick on top of another.”

Butler caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from McGloin during the opener, one of his two catches on six targets. Allen said he liked what he saw from the home crowd:

“… it was good to get in front of Raider Nation. … It was a great environment for us to play in and that was a good thing. You develop habits everytime you go out there, and winning is a habit. That’s one thing we want to focus on as a team, to develop that habit.”

After Friday’s 19-17 victory over Dallas, Sio Moore, Taiwan Jones, Latavius Murray Juron Criner and Keenan Clayton missed practice with undisclosed injuries, all of which Allen believes to be minor:

“I don’t expect the guys to miss a lot of time. … We gotta get guys healthy, we gotta get guys back out here. Those guys are missing a lot of time and they’re falling behind, the more practices they miss. Especially the young guys.”

Melenik Watson and Pat Sims also left Sunday’s practice early. Watson has been dealing with a calf injury for nearly all of training camp. Moore, Criner and Murray are nearly certain to make the 53-man roster once the regular season begins, but Jones and Clayton are fighting for a job. Jones served as the second-string running back last season, but has since made the conversion to cornerback. One player who returned to practice Monday was first round draft selection DJ Hayden. The rookie University of Houston product picked off four passes during his final college season and batted 12 passes from the hands of receivers. Moore also returned Monday.

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