Raiders-Chiefs Christmas Day Game Played a Factor in James Cregg Joining Coaching Staff

Las Vegas Raiders offensive line coach James Cregg said he and the San Francisco 49ers studied the Raiders-Kansas City Chiefs Christmas game ahead of Super Bowl LVIII.

Las Vegas Raiders Dylan Parham and Thayer Munford from OTAs / Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

Las Vegas Raiders offensive line coach James Cregg was quite familiar with the Raiders and their culture from his two seasons as the assistant offensive line coach in 2007 and 2008.

But Cregg was also well aware of the current team before joining the coaching staff this offseason.

Cregg, who was the San Francisco 49ers' assistant offensive line coach over the past two seasons, and his former team had actually studied some Raiders film ahead of their matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII.

"I was really excited [to take the new role]," Cregg said last week. "It was a funny story, I was obviously at San Francisco last year, we were playing in the Super Bowl here in Vegas. So I came to Vegas, I didn't know I was going to be staying in Vegas. I had no idea, but watching the game, going over the game plan and going over it with Chris Foerster, the line coach and watching these guys. The Raider game against Kansas City -- obviously we were preparing for Kansas -- really stuck out to us. And I was watching those guys for two weeks just on tape, and I saw it. And then soon as I got a call from Luke Getsy to see if I'd be interested in taking this opportunity, I jumped at it because I watched what I saw on the tape.

"I saw Thayer Munford. I saw those kinds of guys like that. I saw Andre James. I saw all those guys. Kolton [Miller] was the missing piece in that game, but I know Kolton Miller, I've seen a ton of his film. And so I jumped at the chance to be here, and then back in a great organization, I didn't think twice about it. It's a great opportunity for me, and I'm excited as heck to work with these guys. It's going to be cool, man. I can't wait."

While the Raiders' offensive line has been learning the new system, there are some aspects that remain the same.

"We still do a little bit of what they do too," Cregg said. "It's funny, I don't spend as much time
drilling that, because they sort of know how to do it already. So, I'm not going to spend my time doing
something they already know, and I'm spending more time right now trying to implement our stuff with them because we do variations of what they did before and their technique is pretty sound with that, so I'm not really messing around with that right now."

Cregg has been coaching football for over a quarter of a century and has much experience coaching at the NFL level.

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