Arizona Cardinals’ Jared Veldheer: Winning in Oakland ‘pretty special to me’
Oct 20, 2014, 6:28 PM | Updated: 6:29 pm
Jared Veldheer spent the first four seasons of his NFL career in Oakland playing for the Raiders before signing with the Arizona Cardinals last March.
So, it should come as no surprise that his new team’s recent game against his former team felt a bit different for the 28-year-old.
“It was a crazy morning, it was very nostalgic just from getting on the bus to getting to the stadium, seeing all the tailgates set up,” Veldheer told Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Monday morning. “Just being back to where I was the first four years, it just brought back a lot of memories, a lot of emotion.
“Some good and some bad, but it was definitely an emotionally charged pregame and then when it was time for football you’ve got to set that stuff out because you’ve got Khalil Mack in front of you. You can’t be thinking about other stuff, that’s for sure.”
Making his return even better was that Veldheer and his Cardinals left with a 24-13 win over many of his former teammates. He did not allow a sack in the game, and the team ran for 123 yards on the afternoon. He said the infamous “Black Hole” treated him pretty well during the game, only giving him a bit of a hard time before the game.
“It was just beyond words being able to win there, on my part, playing there for four years and kind of struggling the last few years,” Veldheer said. “Being able to go in there and get a big win was pretty special to me.”
