Raiders’ tight ends may see more action against Ravens

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There are so many areas the Raiders are screaming “mulligan” about heading into Sunday’s game against the Ravens. It’s almost as if they thought last week’s season opener was a fifth preseason game.

Somewhere down the list, below throwing downfield, running the ball, pressuring the quarterback and covering receivers, is their tight end usage. Oakland signed Lee Smith from the Bills, drafted Clive Walford in the third round to go with Mychal Rivera and then Sunday … poof, nothing.

Four targets, two catches, 5 yards.

Meanwhile, the rest of the league is going tight-end crazy. The other teams had 232 targets, 151 receptions and 22 touchdowns (which was one more than wide receivers). The Bengals’ Tyler Eifert had nine receptions and two touchdowns against the Raiders by himself.

Oakland head coach Jack Del Rio has said he wouldn’t draw too many conclusions from the first game, and Rivera says offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave is in tune with the matchup problems good tight ends cause.

“Coach Musgrave does a great job, and he has a lot of plays in,” Rivera said. “He’s really tight-end friendly and I am excited to see what we pull out on Sunday. He has a lot of tricks and good plays.”

While Smith is known for his blocking — yet played only 19 snaps, despite the coaches’ insistence they want to establish the run — Rivera’s strengths are down the field, catching the ball.

Raiders tight end Mychal Rivera’s strength is being able to catch the ball downfield. Raiders tight end Mychal Rivera’s strength is being able to catch the ball downfield. Photo: Tony Avelar, Associated Press Photo: Tony Avelar, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Raiders’ tight ends may see more action against Ravens 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Walford is supposedly a combination of both and played 24 snaps Sunday despite missing most of training camp and the preseason with hamstring and knee injuries. Del Rio said he is progressing well.

“He’s been able to get more time in and more familiarity with the things we’re asking him to do,” Del Rio said. “He’s had a good couple of weeks now leading into this ballgame.”

The players aren’t looking back and say they feel comfortable that they and the coaches have made the right corrections. The Bengals jumped them early, but Smith is uncomfortable with the idea that they were more physical or tougher than the Raiders.

“I don’t want my 7-year-old son ever reading anything where I said someone was tougher than I am,” Smith said. “You have to give them the credit. They played great. They controlled our run game.

“It’s our job up front to get that run game going. We have to set the tempo and win our individual matchups.”

Smith and the offensive line do get a small break with Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs being out for the year with a torn Achilles tendon.

“There aren’t many benchmarks in this league that guy hasn’t reached,” Smith said. “He’s got rings, he’s got MVPs, the guy is a great player. But they’ve got (Elvis) Dumervil and Albert McClellan.

“I went to Marshall with Albert and I know firsthand from plenty of fistfights over the years that he is a big, strong man.”

Vic Tafur is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vtafur@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VicTafur