Well, it's been quite some time.... New developments? Kickoff point is moved up to the 35 yard line, no possibilites of a blue football field in the NFL, all scoring plays are to be reviewed. Interesting, its all for nothing as of right now....NO FOOTBALL! But there will be, too much to lose for too many people basically.
As far as the state of the Raiders -
Signing Seymour for 2 and Routt for 3 along with tagging Wimbley is sure to keep our defense somewhat intact. I say Nnamdi walks along with Huff and Oakland gambles with youth in the secondary. Walter McFadden, Jeremy Ware, and Stevie Brown all are talented yet raw, let Rod Woodson get a hold of them for OTA's and camp and we'll see progress. I like the fact that Al gave Miller and Bush high tenders in hopes that they will be restricted under a new CBA but even if they aren't I don't expect to see either in another uniform next year. Bye bye Robert Gallery, you weren't a bust by any means but you were never the left tackle of the future as all had thought and prospected. I see the Raiders looking to the draft for O-line help, linebackers, and possibly WR, we might see a Sims-Walker or some other vet WR to compliment the youthful WR core we have. Speaking of that, Heyward-Bey had better have a breakthrough season or he'll be the next bust in our midst. If Ford continues to make his case all over the field, and if Chaz doesn't injure himself pouring a cup of H2O at the cooler and if Murphy keeps making strides and becomes more reliable.......who needs 85 unless its OchoCinco? I like the idea that Hue has faith in Campbell, it should provide added confidence in him and he played well in the second half, if Locker/Mallet/or Kaepernick is there at 48 we need to at the very least take a look and see if the next QB is ready to get in line. As long as we retain Bush and DMC stays healthy we'll continue to see one of the NFL's best tandems that hasn't even peaked yet in my opinion, changing blocking schemes won't hurt them as many people think, we used hybrids of both throughout 2010. Well, here's to hoping we get to see football this year, although I wouldn't mind saving $300+ on Sunday Ticket for a season....
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
FOOTBALL ANYONE?
Posted by Anthony at 2:20 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Yeah, it's been a while but...OAKLAND IS BACK BABY!
I think the entire Raider Nation would agree that our team, in recent weeks, hasn't looked this good since....gulp....2002. We started 4-4 that year and we went to the big game....does that mean anything? Who knows. But what we do know is that we have been owning the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, players are playing for each other, there is continuity building in the form of confidence and positivity, and our team is executing the right plays at the right time (thanks Hue and Marshall for calling the right plays!). We face a Chiefs team that, while playing good football, struggled mightily against the lowly Bills last week and I think this is a very winnable division game at home......as a matter of fact, we will win. With the emergence of Veldheer at LT and Marcel Reece's Pieces at FB (or WR,TE,RB...dude is versitile), and the outstanding and dominant play by the entire D-Line, the Oakland Raiders have quite possibly reached the corner of Beast Ave. and Playoff Rd.
No doubt we still have questions and areas of improvement that need to be addressed. Can we get the WR's more involved? Do we mess with the QB situation when Grad is healthy? Campbell is still labeled as our backup. Most importantly.....injuries. I think the entire fan base took a collective gasp and we all slapped our hands to our cheeks when Nnamdi went down, it was heard across the whole Raider Nation. How long will he be out? I hope we hear more this week, and we all hope to hear that he'll be back after the bye. But you all know Al, hush hush about the injuries boys! Hush hush! As Jason Campbell said postgame last week, "How healthy can we stay? Injuries will decimate any team." Good question and accurate statement, lets hope our guys will keep up the great play and stay in uniform on Sundays.
Does anybody notice that the media is starting to form a line to the bandwagon? I love it!! Recognize!!!
Posted by Anthony at 11:15 AM 0 comments
Thursday, May 20, 2010
OTA's.....Just Practice Baby!
Big thanks to Jerry McDonald, the tweet-maniac who keeps Raider Nation up to speed on every play from the OTA's and training camp. I love it when my Blackberry chirps and it's yet another tweet from Jerry telling us what just happened, even better when it's a tweet about DHB catching a pass. While I'm on the Twitter topic, thanks to the Oakland Raiders players who participate in updating the fans after practices and workouts. The most active are, tyvonbranch, Mr.53 (T.Howard), Ekejiuba50, JayRichardson98, MikeMitchell34, j_holland7, QuentinGroves52, and mariohenderson, some other notables on the Twitter tip but are relatively quiet are nnamdi_asomugha, murph918, dmcfadden20, Chris_Johnson37, big_cel (Marcel Reece), and JasonCampbell17. Damn, I'm hungry for some Raider football, the buzz is in the air that something is turning for the better.......stay tuned Nation.
Posted by Anthony at 4:28 PM 0 comments
Thursday, May 13, 2010
THANK GOD FOR A DRAFT THAT MADE SENSE
Wow, one year later and here we are Raider Nation, looking much better than we did at this time a year ago. JaMarcus Russell has been given his walking papers, Rolando McClain and Lamarr Houston were added via the draft to a defense that is young, hungry, and fast, Jason Campbell was added at the cheap price of a 4th rounder in 2012.......all of this points to positive progress for the team. My favorite additions though, are Hue Jackson and Mike Waufle. Jackson, a quarterbacks coach from the Ravens, brings an impressive resume that includes the shaping of Joe Flacco, who has made Ravens fans forget about Troy Smith. Jackson will coordinate the Raider offense, which was close to last in almost all categories last year due to inexperience at WR, a patchwork O-line, and QB play that was, kindly, subpar (with the exception to every QB on the roster not named JaMarcus), but Jackson will have some new toys to work with in Veldheer and Bruce Campbell on the line and Campbell at QB, along with Cartwright and Bennett in the backfield (someone is going to get cut here I think). I think the general concensus is that we will see a more versitile and broader playbook now, no need to water it down for JaMarcus any longer. The Raiders will still be a run-first team for sure, Michael Bush I think is poised for a breakout year while DMC will have to prove he is durable enough to garner more carries and tough enough to break a tackle or two. With a playbook consisting of heavy running and play-action passing coupled with the insertion of more versitile audibles and an improved O-line for Campbell to work behind, the offense can only improve.
Defensively, the Raiders made a great step forward drafting McClain at #8 and Houston in the 2nd round. Oakland is going to have a better pass rush so we shouldn't see Chris Johnson abused so often while opposing QB's have time to find the guy not covered by Nnamdi. While Kirk Morrison was a great hometown talent, he wasn't a true MLB, but McClain is. Head Coach Tom Cable stated that, "this guy came back to us as a coach on the field", which I interpret as a skilled leader in the LB corps of a defense, something the Raiders needed. Oakland will be better outfitted to stop the run and get a good pass rush now, with Seymour leading the line and McClain running the LB's and Nnamdi taking charge of the secondary. Oh the secondary, I love this group of Raiders, I just wonder how we can get Nnamdi, Branch, Huff, and Mitchell on the field at the same time.....3-3-5 anyone?
Posted by Anthony at 4:47 PM 0 comments
Friday, May 22, 2009
SEEING THE SILVER LINING....
Posted by Anthony at 2:27 PM 0 comments
Thursday, May 21, 2009
WHY IT WAS HEYWARD-BEY....
Posted by Anthony at 12:15 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Project Russell -or- Dirty Garcia
Posted by Anthony at 4:56 PM 0 comments