Las Vegas Raiders offensive lineman Charles Grant may have put out his best film yet last week in the preseason opener against the Arizona Cardinals.

The task for the second-year pro is to try to follow it up against one of the best defensive fronts in the league this week as the Raiders conduct a joint practice with the Texans in Houston on Tuesday before Thursday’s preseason game at Reliant Stadium.

“It’s a great opportunity to improve and compete. We’re getting ready to play the best,” Grant said. “I’ve been watching them. They like getting up the field.”

Grant, a 2025 third-round pick out of William & Mary, wasn’t ready to assess his own performance from the loss to the Cardinals. But the tape showed a player who has made great strides in confidence after playing just 59 offensive snaps as a rookie.

The highlight was a block in which he completely deleted a defender from the play on Mike Washington Jr.’s 53-yard run in the second quarter.

Grant said what he saw on the play was a team effort in which everyone blocked who they were supposed to and even the receivers pitched in with downfield blocks.

That’s the kind of effort it is going to require for the offense to have any kind of success against the Texans this week, particularly in the joint practice setting that is typically better in terms of preparation for the season than even preseason games.

“I’m really excited about (it),” coach Klint Kubiak said. “It’s going to be extremely competitive. What a great defense that we’re going to be going against. Those pass rushers are impressive. Our offensive line is going to get some great work being out there in the heat. A different kind of heat will be a great challenge for us in our conditioning. This trip to Houston couldn’t have come at a better time for our team.”

It will certainly provide a chance for the starters on both sides of the ball to get extensive work against a different team, breaking from the monotony of lining up against the same teammates day after day.

The setting not only allows teams to rep specific situations, but also do it extensively with the starting units in a somewhat controlled environment. While preseason contests create unique game-like situations, starters only get so many reps. They can set up practice in conjunction with the Texans staff to get as much work as they want in whatever situation they want to emphasize.

“In preseason games, coaches don’t want to show everything,” safety Isaiah Pola-Mao said. “But joint practices, definitely. We’ll see some things that we have been working on, so it’ll be good for us.”

That doesn’t mean it won’t be highly competitive as joint practices have become known as much for fists flying as they are producing highlights.

“It’s definitely a little bit chaotic,” he added. “You’ve got guys out there definitely ready for a fight, but that’s our mindset as a defense. Every play, we’ve got to go out there ready to punch somebody in the mouth.”

Veteran defensive tackle Adam Butler is ready for that smoke.

“It’s supposed to be mayhem,” he said. “It’s a joint practice. Everybody’s fighting for a spot. A lot of money is on the line, people’s dreams are on the line, so it’s supposed to be mayhem.”

Kubiak, who held starters Maxx Crosby and Kirk Cousins out during a practice last week due a training camp fight, doesn’t seem like the type to embrace mayhem.

He does, however, understand the stakes are raised in this type of environment.

“Things shouldn’t change,” he said. “The intensity is going to ramp up, but the standards that we have here should carry over to Houston.”

That goes for both the joint practice and the preseason game.

Kubiak declined to share his plan for how much the starters will play in Thursday’s game, but they will all certainly see plenty of action Tuesday.

Butler said the ability to match up first units against each other for extended periods makes the joint practices more valuable than regular practices or preseason games.

“You get a lot more out of it because going against our team, our team does one thing, but somebody else does another,” he said. “Especially in the beginning weeks of training camp, you normally get just one look. Every team has their own different style and their own different schemes and stuff like that, and you have to adjust your game. You have to adjust your techniques to accommodate whatever schemes that they run. And it’s very beneficial to get those different looks. I’m excited.”

So is Kubiak, who said his team needs to improve in all facets of the game after last week’s loss to the Cardinals even though there were plenty of things he liked from the film.

One area that must get better is the defense, particularly against the run.

“Obviously, overall that wasn’t the way we want it,” he said.

Expect that to be a major point of emphasis in Houston.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.

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