Raidertopia

I’m not going to make too much out of the first preseason game win over the Cowboys because, well, it was the first preseason game after all.  Although I’ll note that it was Dallas’ second.

The offense didn’t look much better than the 2009 version, but a new QB needs time with a new system and receivers.  I’m optimistic things will improve.  The two things that stuck out was that the WR corps needs a veteran (Terrell Owens might have been a good signing) and the center position is weak.  Satele is no Samson – he was run over and through at least a couple of times.  Maybe Veldheer will be moved up from 2nd team.  DHB had one pass thrown his way and it was broken up because he didn’t go get the ball – sound familiar?

Defense, especially against the run, looked much improved, but I need to see more to get too excited about it.

The game was not very well played, but the hardest part about sitting through a preseason game where the starters only play about a quarter, is sitting through a preseason game against Dallas with their homer announcing team.  NFL Network used to do half the game with each team’s announcers, but I guess the rules are different when Dallas is playing.  I didn’t think it was possible to be worse than the Redskin announcers in terms of shameless rooting for the local team, but these Dallas guys easily surpass them.  I mean, they didn’t even have the courtesy to give us the Raider starters’ names.  That’s plain rude.  The most attention they gave the Raiders was when they mocked them for their “Team of the Decades” motto, the many underachieving first round draft picks on the roster, the Jamarcus Russell debacle, or when they committed a penalty.  The typical “there go the Raiders again” spiel.

They win their first playoff game in about 15 years and their fairly recent mediocrity is forgotten, while no one seems to remember the Raiders’ 2003 Super Bowl appearance, the infamous tuck call that robbed them of a Super Bowl the year before, and Tony Siragusa’s pancake tackle on Rich Gannon in the 2000 AFC Championship game.

Evidently, this Dallas team has no weaknesses and it’s just a foregone conclusion that they’ll be in the Super Bowl in 2011….a handful of players that they’ll cut will end up starting for other teams.  Blah, blah blah.  Almost as bad as the Patriots and their fans in the media.

Back to the Silver and Black – I liked what  I saw with Michael Bennett, but I also like Rock Cartwright’s versatility.  Hope they are able to keep both.  Yamon Figures looked best among the WRs and he can return punts, so JLH might be sent packing.  It’s early, so we’ll see.  The offense and Jason Campbell must improve though.  I’m confident they will, but WRs and the OL could use help.

The quarterback of a football team is supposed to be the leader. The guy who speaks for the team and takes responsibility for the team’s failures, especially offensively since he controls the ball on every snap.  He’s accountable.Not the Raider’s quarterback.Therein lies the problem.Whether he’s too young and immature or just happy to have his 30 million guaranteed dollars and just doesn’t care, it’s plain to see that JaMarcus Russell does not feel like he’s accountable.

“I don’t think it’s me personally, I really don’t. It’s a bad combination of one guy doesn’t do something right one time.”

What quarterback says that? Add his comments to the way he conducts himself off the field, most notably his weight, rumors of missing meetings, and general lack of commitment to this football team. And watch him on the sideline. He reportedly sits in his usual spot on the bench and doesn’t engage other players or coaches much at all. The most animated he has been was cheerleading for Bruce Gradkowski when he replaced him last Sunday.

Miller said he didn’t talk to Russell about being benched but hopes it will have a positive effect in that he’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s Cable’s plan, anyway.“You hope so. If a guy’s wired right, that’s exactly how they’ll use it,” Cable said. (more)

Let’s all hope that this guy is “wired right”. All signs point the other way right now.

Want a laugh?  Try this site: Vote JaMarcus Russell for the 2010 Pro Bowl!

Here’s the main reason the Raiders are so inept offensively: horrible drafting.  They have Russell, McFadden, and Heyward Bey when they could have Adrian Peterson, Joe Flacco, and Crabtree or Maclin.  The sad thing is, they have so much invested in these players, they’re going to have to suffer with them until it’s obvious beyond any reasonable doubt that they are busts.  These lean years will continue because of it.

Crabtree watch:  In his first game, Crabtree has already surpassed Heyward-Bey’s productivity.  DHB has played virtually every snap for seven games.  They could be tied if he hadn’t dropped a touchdown pass late in the Jets game. Bad hands, but man he can run really fast.

Blindly loyal.

That’s me.

Won ton at Bleacher Report writes exactly what I feel, though I have about 10 more years as a Raider fan on him.  I’m not going to be spending any ticket or tog money on them, but I’m not jumping ship.  I can understand how others might be and I can’t say that I blame them.  My nature dooms me to endure the pain.

Jarrod Cooper gives a frank assessment of the team on KNBR and he speaks the unfortunate truth.

It’s nothing that isn’t now totally obvious.  Take what NY Giant Antonio Pierce, who grew up a Raider fan, said about playing against the pathetic Raider offense. It sounds a lot like what the 49ers were saying in a pre-season scrimmage, but at least that actually was a scrimmage.

It’s a truly depressing situation where hope is dwindling. I never thought it would come to this, but Ray Ratto is now a voice of reason and someone whose writing I am know plugging. Read his latest on the Raiders and what they’ve become. Us Raider fans like to point out the 2002 Super Bowl but it really has been sandwiched by about 20 years of some pretty sad football…

Yes, quarter-century. Going back to 1986, the Raiders have made the playoffs six times; of the teams that have existed that long, only Arizona and Cincinnati have been less January. The last six years and change have been spectacularly awful, but this has gone on a lot longer than anyone wants to admit.

Obviously, the pre-2000 slump pales in comparison to what we’ve been seeing the past 6-7 years and it appear to not be getting any better. I should have seen this coming with the selection of Heyward-Bey at number 7 this spring. Oh, and by the way, the guy I wanted, Jeremy Maclin, had a great game last week and will undoubtedly be showcased against the Raiders on Sunday. I hope Al is watching. And it will add to the Raiders embarrassment when Crabtree, just across the bay, starts playing at first rounder’s level while Heyward-Bey continues to struggle.

And JaMarcus Russell?  I’ve almost lost all hope in him.  I don’t see any improvement in him.  I don’t think an inaccurate passer can suddenly become accurate.  I don’t think he’ll work hard enough to be a good quarterback and I don’t think he has the leadership qualities (see Antonio Pierce’s comments).  I also think that Al Davis is totally off base in comparing him to other, slow-starting QBs that became great ones.  That’s like the Heyward-Bey pick – a reach.  And wishful thinking.

More drama in Raiderland.

Pretty much all bad.

First, the guy having the best camp gets a broken foot.  Chaz Schilens was looking great at perhaps the most critical skill position – WR.  Or at least, the skill position that needed to be improved the most.  Even more important when you consider the fact that the #7 overall draft choice, Heyward-Bey, looks to have hands of stone.

Then, there’s the beat down the Raiders evidently received from the 49ers in a recent scrimmage.  That was truly depressing to read about.

Lastly, the news that Tom Cable punched out an assistant coach and might be charged with something or suspended by the league.

Cable….Bumaye! might be funny, but definitely not what the Raiders needed to start a season – more distraction and controversy.  And more fodder for the Raider-hating media.

Darrius Heyward-Bey?

Seventh overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.

25th ranked player on the board.  50th on some.

4th ranked WR on the board by most raters!

Note: The other three WRs were available.

This is a classic “reach” pick.

However much we Raider fans hope things have changed in Raiderville, it appears they haven’t changed at all.  Al Davis will take a clockwatch time over football production and football skills every time.  It is truly reached ridiculous proportions.  ESPN put up a graphic listing many of these stopwatch guys and, surprise, most of them were busts.

If they were really so enamored with Heyward-Bey, the Raiders should have traded down and taken him later.  They didn’t even wait their ten minutes to pick in case someone called in with an offer.  I think they chose after only a couple of minutes.  Rare for the Raiders.

The guy has inconsistent hands and was even shut out in two big ACC games last year.  You don’t pick a guy #7 that disappears for a couple of games.  In college!

I was hoping for Maclin, but wouldn’t have been disappointed if it was Crabtree.  But Heyward-Bey?

This joke of a pick will just fuel the Raider haters and we’ll see plenty more Raider ridicule in both the press and TV media.  Sorry, but they’ll deserve it.

And this just in, the Forty-Niners just picked Crabtree so old Uncle Al will just have to look across the bay to see his mistake or pick up the Chron to read about it.

I am very disappointed in the pick.