Oakland Raiders: Decline Since Opener Shows Team Is Its Own Worst Enemy

The truth is out there…and it’s a scary prospect.

Nothing is more frustrating than watching the team you love struggle, than watching the coach pretend things are okay.

Tom Cable, things are not okay. And by the looks of it, they are not getting better each week.

JaMarcus Russell is still the laughingstock of the NFL.

Dropped passes, fumbles and poor play quality adds up to a team that needs to sit down and figure out a way out of this mess.

Back in Week 1, the Raiders were minutes from a win against the San Diego Chargers.

What changed between Week 1 and Week 2?

In the weeks that have followed, the defense has progressively deteriorated to the point that the Texans made the Raiders look like a high school team during Sunday’s first half.

Oakland’s season started off with some promise. And the Raiders are not completely out of the picture in the AFC West. They’re just a game behind San Diego.

But unless they can find a way to right their own ship, Oakland’s worst opponent won’t wear another team’s colors.

It will be themselves.

It’s time for the Raiders to wake up and get back to page one before the season is lost.

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Tom Cable and the Raiders: Tightrope Time?

Sometimes you gotta wonder if this guy is paid enough.

On one side you have the job as a coach. He has to look at the roster, figure out the opposing team, find weaknesses, bounce ideas off the coaches, talk to the media and then play babysitter to millionaires.

All that, before Sunday.

Then comes the other side…Al Davis.

With this side, he has to constantly listen to an owner who wants to be involved in all aspects of the game, never mind the fact the media has painted him as being in various forms of dementia, out of touch with reality, and that the game has passed him by.

Now as the JaMarcus Russell experiment seems to be falling apart again, questions are being asked, who is calling the shots in Oakland…and are they the right shots?

To one degree, it is understandable why Tom Cable doesn’t yank Russell off the field, drop him in the locker room, and be done with it. It’s called job security. Russell is still Al’s prize catch and as long as Al is alive, Russell is going to be given every chance to start. Cable, to this extent has to try every possible method to make Russell succeed.

Difficult? Yes. Annoying? Yes.

It could also be said that if Cable leaves, Russell would probably find himself in an interesting tug-of-war. The new coach coming in would either be forced to work with Russell, or if no-one steps forward Russell would finally be discarded, as an expensive, underperforming player.

Is there a way both sides can win at this experiment?

There are two ways things could work, but both would take some big steps forward.

For one, Russell doesn’t have to become Peyton Manning. He simply has to have better games. Throw a touchdown a week would be a good step forward, two or three and the boo-birds would have nowhere to roost. The Defense, able to rest between drives could lock down games and the running game could become useful again.

The second way this could turn out good, is Al Davis has a stroke or other condition that renders him unable to interfere…strike that, help the team in it’s daily actions. Should this happen, the coach would be able to call his own plays, handle management details and if Russell is playing like he did against Denver…bench him after the first half.

Lastly…it could easily get worse.

Could you imagine John Herrera as the GM?

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Panic Sweeping The Raider Nation? Not All of Us, Not All at Once

Call me the eternal optimist.

Or, call me completely delusional.

Reading through the media in the last couple days you would think the Raiders have lost the last two straight seasons 0-16 and we are resorting to calling Jeff George out of retirement.

Folks, it’s been one loss.

One.

For the season, we are 1-2, in third place in the AFC West.

San Diego is 2-1 and Denver is at 3-0.

Why am I not running like a chicken with it’s head cut off?

Several reasons. For one, it’s only three weeks into the season. Three weeks. Predicting the playoffs or even how the teams will set up for the draft is about as scientific as throwing darts at the wall. Could any of us see Robert Gallery going down in the second week of the preseason? Or how about Chaz Schilens getting hurt in April?

The simple fact is, no one can predict when these things happen.

For the same matter, no one can predict when JaMarcus Russell will go from playing horribly to being the go-to guy for the Raiders. We’ve seen him at his best, and now, I hope we’ve seen him at his worst.

There also is the fact that all three teams will be facing a truly difficult task in the coming weeks. Who wants to go play the New York Giants? They just got done throttling the Tampa Bay Bucs so bad, they switched starters this week.

Baltimore already enjoyed on AFC West team, beating the Chargers in San Diego. The Steelers, who are 1-2, may prove to be more difficult as the season progresses.

And of course all three teams get to face Cinci and Cleveland, who Denver won against.

Oakland has it’s own things to attend to. Getting JaMarcus to practice, learn and if it turns out he is no longer worth the money, get rid of the guy and bring someone in that can make this team work.

As for me, I remain loyal to the colors and the team I have followed.

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Oakland Raiders: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and The Stripes

Ugh.

If I had paid $600 dollars for a flight, $76 dollars for a hotel room and then another $80 for the ticket…I’d want my money back.

The Raiders, who were 1-1 going into this game, discovered there are a lot of problems to fix.

Some things were out of our control, obviously. You can’t replace Robert Gallery and expect his replacement to be as good.

But for the Raiders and the Nation, not a lot could be good about today’s game.

For the Good, you could look at Oakland’s Defense on a number of stops, including an opening drive for the Broncos that died on a fourth-and-goal.

Also, Denver could only score two touchdowns, holding Denver to field goals on other drives. Twenty-three points was at least within a ballpark…losing by 41 would have been much more painful.

Also for the good side, Oakland’s running game, when it was used, did have some nice numbers. McFadden and Bush both combined for 65 yards, however it was obvious that Cable didn’t want the run to win this game, he was looking for passing.

The last good point to make, was related to Sebastian Janikowski, who thankfully hit a 48 yard field goal. Without this, Oakland would have been shut out.

The bad side of things, as you can imagine, wasn’t hard to find. Bad passing, bad ball control, and bad play calling.

JaMarcus Russell, is easily in this field, with two interceptions in short order. One was shortly after the Raiders had stopped Denver on a goal-line stand and then with a tired defense, was turned into a touchdown. The second INT, became a 10-0 lead.

Darren McFadden, while partially responsible for not hanging onto the ball securely, wasn’t nearly as effective as hoped. It might be due to Robert Gallery being out, or due to Denver’s effort to stack the box. Whatever the reason may be, McFadden wasn’t given time to perform properly.

The mismatches, primarily created by Denver to exploit Oakland’s man-to-man coverage, helped Denver march often and easily, but also made the Raiders prone to giving up large pieces of yardage. As stated before, this game could have been much worse. But for it’s action, the defense—with a few tweaks—could carry the team.

The ugly aspects, are what makes me worried about the Raiders, in general.

For this, JaMarcus Russell falls into the bad and ugly category. Twelve for 21, his passing numbers were up, but for only 61 yards. On his two interceptions, both were attempts to Darrius Heyward-Bey. One the first one, Darrius looked like he was falling down, and on the second one, the ball simply overflew the receiver and the covering player, turned into a receiver.

Tom Cable, as well gets a nod on this. Early in the game, a drive would start up and the Raiders could convert first downs. For some reason then, Cable would switch to passing the ball, with predictable results. If you know what your teams’ strengths are, use them, don’t use the game as a practice session.

I don’t know what sort of practice sessions they have with the Darrius Heyward-Bey…but after today’s action, I hope they lock this guy in a room with Tim Brown.

Lastly for Ugly, comes the offensive line. These guys need to find some way to find some unity, giving up three sacks was unacceptable—as were the penalties. At the same time, this leads to the last phase: the stripes.

Is it a bad sign, when the announcer for CBS reports that, “this is the first game for Ed Hochuli since last year’s week two game?” We all remember Ed as the reason why Denver won the “fumble game” against the Chargers, for his blowing of a whistle, then seeing Denver keep the ball, scoring a touchdown and inflating Mike Shanahan’s head.

On this afternoon, Ed would have a field day, for different reasons. For one, was a called fumble by Darren McFadden, who when down, lost the ball, had it roll out of bounds and then get picked up by Brian Dawkins. What was also interesting, was that Brian went out of bounds and then back in, to recover the ball.

According to Ed, this is legal. It doesn’t matter that McFadden was down, or that the ball was wobbling out of bounds…Denver would get the ball.

Also on Ed’s to-miss list, was a pushoff by Brandon Marshall. It wouldn’t normally irritate me, but considering he had flagged Chris Johnson for a pass interference call, it was pretty easy to draw your own conclusions on how the stripes would call things.

Missed holding, illegal blocks to the back, a can of pencils for Ed would be in order.

For Oakland, I hope they learn a few things from this mess. JaMarcus Russell has to fix himself…or find himself another team to play for.

They need to find some offense to go along with this defense.

Or we’re going to be seeing more of these games.

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Oakland Raiders Vs Denver Broncos: Welcome to The Black Hole, Orton

For two teams in the AFC West, this matchup is going to be pivotal.

For the Denver Broncos, a win would move them into the forefront of the AFC teams playing.

For the Oakland Raiders, it would help prove the team is moving forward and back towards respect that has been lacking for years.

But this game means oh so much more than this.

For Denver, it is a chance to face an AFC West team. Their two opponents so far, the Bengals and the Browns combined for eight wins. Not bad if you had one team, but together it was four wins each.

In their first game, Denver was held down by a Bengals defense, until a small miracle of deflection gave Denver a win.

In their second game, they played a team that has scored a single offensive TD in the last 32 games.

For the Raiders, after a hard-fought game one loss to San Diego, Oakland went on the road to Kansas City and were on the right side of some very odd stats. Kansas City had over 400 yards. They controlled the ball for the majority of the game. They had their marquee player back in action, Matt Cassel.

The result? Oakland held Kansas City to 10 points and won the game, 13-10. Incidentally, it might have not been that close if Nnamdi Asomugha hadn’t suffered from dehydration when Dwayne Bowe made his touchdown grab.

The important aspect to remember about this rivalry, is that when it comes down to these two teams, the records go out the window. The players, the coaches, even the fans take it to another level. Oakland and the Raider Nation look forward to this rivalry, be the team 2-8, 5-5, or even twice in three weeks.

Welcome to the AFC West, Kyle Orton.

Try to stay on your feet.

Prediction, Oakland 24-21

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Darren McFadden Returning for a Second Helping in Kansas City?

I can just imagine the Chiefs players not looking forward to this.

Darren McFadden last year came to Kansas City last year after a ho-hum start to the season against Denver in the opener. His stats in week one?

Nine carries, 46 yards.

And the stat line against the Chiefs in Kansas City?

Twenty-one carries, 164 yards, one touchdown, and 7.8 yards per carry.

Sadly, just like a lit candle, Darren McFadden’s game of glory was blown out by a rash of injury, turf toes the main culprit.

Coming into 2009, the Raiders knew they had the three-headed monster to work with. Last week Michael Bush helped power this tandem as Justin Fargas was still nursing one injury and the combo rushed for 123 yards, while Bush added a touchdown as well.

And last week, this Kansas City defense was shredded by a Balitmore Ravens offense, for over 500 yards.

Questions remain in Oakland, as Nick Miller is now out, due to a fractured leg and it’s not known id Johnnie Lee Higgins will be back, due to getting clocked this week.

With a running game this potent, i’d take the gloves off and let McFadden and company have some fun.

It would give the team a good chance to recover, heal up, and be ready for the game against Denver.

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In The Can: Oakland Raiders Start to Look at Kansas City Game

As one old Raider used to say, “It’s in the can.”

The meaning was simple: the game is over, don’t dwell on it, and move on to the next week.

For the Raiders, it was a tough game that ran two minutes too long.

But, as it goes, the Raiders learned some good lessons.

For one, they have a defense that, if allowed time to rest, could be potent. They dropped several players and going into the Sunday matchup against the Chiefs, should have an easier time.

Their offense, while spotty, did pass for over 200 yards, and the running game produced over 100 yards between Darren McFadden and Michael Bush.

We should have had two TDs from Louis Murphy, but it does show his drafting was a good pull.

How does all this compare up against the Kansas City Chiefs?

For one, there is still no “yes” or “no” regarding Matt Cassel’s start for KC. Brodie Croyle lost last week to a Baltimore Ravens team that rolled up 501 yards on offense. To his credit, Croyle did have a 116.1 rating with two TDs. But his team managed only 188 yards and got spotty help on the ground.

If the Raiders can turn in a comparable defense to remove Larry Johnson’s ability and Richard Seymour can get into Brodie’s face on a constant basis, Oakland should have a better game here, evening their schedule.

And a little side note: That Baltimore team gets to go play the Chargers next week, too.

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Oakland-San Diego: Can Oakland Change History Again?

If Tom Cable wants something to inspire his players with, maybe he should dust off the week 16 tape against the Houston Texans.

Last year, Oakland was going into their last two games and most people were wondering if the Raiders would finish with a 3-13 record. For the Raiders, playing the last game at home would put them up against a team they never had beaten in three attempts. For Oakland, the season was already gone: At 3-11, there was nothing to play for.

Nothing, that is, except pride.

Oakland, along with the loyal home crowd, would go on to shock the Texans, who were entertaining the thought of a season above .500 for the first time in their history. They had two very big pieces of offense in 2008. Steve Slaton had over 1,200 yards on the ground and 377 yards in catches. Andre Johnson would have over 1,500 yards by the end of the year.

Even the betting odds were unkind: 92 percent of the Pro-Football-Pickem group would think the Texans had an easy win.

That is why we play the games, I guess.

Oakland’s offense, which started to come to life at the end of the New England game, carried some momentum into this game with JaMarcus Russell and Chaz Schilens hooking up for a 20-yard touchdown. The Texans would respond with their own TD before the Raiders dropped two field goals.

Houston would tie the score again with field goals of their own, making it 13 all at halftime.

Oakland would then put 14 points on the board, both touchdowns from Johnnie Lee Higgins. One would come from a TD pass of 29 yards and the other from an 80-yard punt return to finish the scoring for the Raiders. The Texans would add a single field goal at the end, but the win would go to Oakland.

Some will argue that the Chargers defense is much stronger than the Texans. Others will say the Raiders offense is missing Chaz Schilens.

With a healthy Darren McFadden and the Raiders looking to change their history, this is a brand new year.

And this is why we play the games.

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Left Hand, Right Hand: What Is Going On, Richard Seymour?

Seems the rollercoaster ride for the Raiders has been about the same thing, all along.

Money.

Richard Seymour was to be traded from the New England Patriots to the Oakland Raiders for a first round pick in 2011. By the Patriots side and the NFL side, this is a done deal, with the lone exception being a physical needing to be done.

Then for some reason, Richard doesn’t show up. Tom Cable, as being questioned by the media on this case, says that the player is taking care of details with the Patriots. The Patriots in turn, say that they are happy with the deal, which leads to the question…did Richard want to leave New England?

Granted it would be a change on several levels. For one, his family has grown up in New England, going to school, has a house….would they want to be uprooted and hauled across the country?

And for two, even if it’s just business…would Richard want to go from the Patriots with their chances as winning a Super Bowl being a lot better than the Raiders?

More rumors and speculation flew overnight, as one report that isn’t confirmed that Seymour was vetoing the deal and forcing the Patriots to look for another team. Another report has Richard in Oakland and working on a long term deal, something New England wasn’t going to do.

Since this was a hot topic, enter Rodney Harrison.

Rodney and Richard were teammates and according to a source, had talked about this and Rodney was not too positive on the deal, saying that Richard wasn’t thrilled.

Exactly when did Rodney have this talk? About the same time, when did Cable talk with Richard? And of course, with any good piece of information you have to remember the source. Rodney Harrison played with the Chargers, a main rival of the Raiders.

All bias aside, I think if Richard gets his deal inked, he is going to play for the Raiders. If it doesn’t happen, it still would be wise for him to play, as this is a contract year and he’d want good stats to show for another club that wants to sign him.

The drawback, is this was the same logic that was tried on Derrick Burgess, and he never showed up for camp.

Will update as more news comes out of Oakland.

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Oakland Lands Richard Seymour: Good Idea or Waste of a First Round Pick?

Time for another fun debate.

I first read about this on twitter. It appears the Raiders have hit a gold nugget, but gave up a first round pick in 2011 for him. Richard Seymour, who has a tremendous upside, will be 30 this year. A draft pick in 2011 will be a completely new player…or a bust pick with no upside.

So, let’s look at Richard Seymour a moment.

A five-time Pro Bowler, Richard has 227 tackles in his career, six fumbles recovered, and 39 sacks in 111 games, starting 105 of those.

Those are decent stats. About the only reason Belichick let him walk was due to a youth movement taking over in New England.

For a Draft Pick, several factors come into play. First of all, finding gold in the draft. Will you get a Peyton Manning, or a Ryan Leaf? A Ki-Jana Carter or a Barry Sanders?

And where will the Raiders draft, come 2011? Some so-called experts think it will be a top 10 pick. One possible question this could lead into is if the Raiders have to deal with Nnamdi Asomugha’s pending free agency, will this lead to his departure by Al Davis’ plan?

What is also interesting is that while the media has been congratulating Belichick for this move, not one outlet has thought of this as a good move for Oakland, who now have a big name player who has the skills the Raiders need.

Lastly, Richard’s contract runs out after this year…does he resign with Oakland, or move on again?

 

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