By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — The Raiders’ 18-3 victory over the St. Louis Rams in both team’s preseason debut last Friday night at O.co Coliseum, showed that Oakland and new head coach Jack Del Rio are definitely heading in the right track.

Oh and did I mention that with the win, Del Rio became the first Raiders’ head coach to win his preseason debut since Lane Kiffin in 2007?

Heading into Minnesota Saturday, Oakland looks to build off the momentum that it garnered in their win against St. Louis.

Outside of Derek Carr’s red zone interception that appeared to be miscommunication between Carr and fourth overall pick Amari Cooper, Oakland played clean football committing just two penalties.

Carr found Cooper early and often completing three passes to Oakland’s project No. 1 wide receiver for 22 yards. Cooper also added a 3-yard run on an end-around.

Carr led Oakland’s first-team on two drive before heading to the sidelines for the night.

“We’re heading the right way,” Carr said after the game. “Is there’s stuff to clean up, just like every game? Yes. But I’d say we’re heading in the right direction. All the hard work is paying off, but we have to continue to grind and we can’t just think one preseason game means everything. It’s a good start but we have a long way to go.”

The battle to be Carr’s backup will be an interesting one for Raiders fans to pay close attention for the remainder of camp between former Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder and Matt McGloin.

Both players showed promised against the Rams second and third-teamers.

Ponder finished 6-of-8 for 59 yards and an interception, but connected with wide receiver Andre Holmes for a 3-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

According to a report by ESPN‘s Adam Schefter, Holmes suffered a broken hand in Sunday’s practice and will be out 3-4 weeks.  Holmes, who is battling for Oakland’s No. 3 wide receiver position, will almost certainly slip down on the team’s depth chart.

McGloin completed 10-of-11 passes for 104 yards, with a 16-yard touchdown toss to wide receiver Brice Butler in the fourth quarter.

Butler finished with six catches for 57 yards.

“As coaches, there’s so much we’re going to go back and agonize over,” Del Rio said. “How are we going to make this better? It was an excellent night. It was a clean night. We came out relatively healthy and got some good work so all and all I was pleased with the effort.”

Minnesota is coming off a 14-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL’s annual Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger were among the notable players who watched the game from the sidelines.

Vikings starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater completed 5-of-6 passes for 44 yards on his one series of the game. Vikings backup quarterback Mike Kafka threw a touchdown pass, while running back Joe Banyard ran for another score.