Studs and Duds From the Bye Week

 Posted by at 3:59 PM  No Responses »
Nov 012011
 

Who said there wouldn’t be studs and duds because of the bye week?

Studs

Phillip Rivers

Thanks for dropping the ball. The Chiefs are the luckiest 4-3 team in the league right now and the Chargers now have the most difficult second half schedule. A Chiefs win put the Raiders in the driver’s seat in the AFC west despite not playing a game. Thanks Mr. Rivers!

Raiders Receivers

Giving up your vacation to work isn’t a choice a lot of people would make. Most of the Raiders receivers stayed to get their timing down with Carson Palmer. Darrius Heyward-Bey, Jacoby Ford and Louis Murphy were together at dinner on one of the off days indicating they stayed behind. It’s possible other receivers stayed also. Studs of the bye week.

John Fox/John Elway

Thanks for sticking with Tim Tebow for one more week. Poor guy might not make it out of Oakland uninjured.

 

Duds

Hue Jackson

Stop it. If you wanted to bring in T.J. Houshmandzadeh since the beginning of the season and he was any good he would have been brought in for a workout earlier. Just admit that Carson Palmer feels comfortable with Houshmadnzadeh and sometimes you bring in a guy to help your new quarterback. Then go on to explain he is now healthy and still a good player. Sometimes Mr. Jackson, you don’t need to play games. The fans still like you Mr. Jackson, but don’t win and the BS starts tasting bitter.

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Raiders’ Week 7 Fantasy Impact

 Posted by at 1:15 PM  No Responses »
Oct 212011
 

Quarterback

Not sure what to tell you here except don’t play Campbell or Boller. Obviously. Al Saunders basically told everyone that Palmer will start, but Jackson is trying to “surprise” people on Sunday. Hue, your surprises are welcome in Raider Nation, but not in Fantasy Land. Pick up Palmer as your QB if you need one this week because chances are very good he’ll start. That being said, he has a big playbook to learn. He’s worked with Jackson before at USC and Cincy, so he knows his style, but hasn’t had the time to memorize the NFL’s most prolific playbook. This leaves the chance of interceptions if he gets routes confused, so most likely he’ll be handing off a lot. Running is what the Raiders do best, but it gets you nowhere in Fantasy. Pick up Palmer, but don’t play him just yet, unless you’re QB-less.

Running Backs

If DMC is going to have a huge, monster week, this is it. Not only will he be able to run all over the Chief’s defense, his quarterback will require it. No matter if it’s Boller or Palmer, they’ll be demanding a lot of McFadden this week. He’ll generate RB points that you have only seen in your, well, fantasies. Michael Bush may also get his season high yardage in this game. DMC can do a lot, but he can’t do it on his own. Bush will be right there to back him up. You may even get a TD out of him. Rock is listed as questionable, so that’s an obvious no. and he’s primarily special teams player. Taiwan Jones may get some carries, since the run game will be so heavily used, but not enough to advise playing him.

Wide Receivers

The wide receivers you want to own in Oakland is Darrius Heyward-Bey and Denarius Moore at the present time. With the arrival of Palmer in Oakland, anyone of the young Raiders receivers may have sneaky value in the second half of the season. The rapport Palmer had with Terrell Owens was great chemistry and smart fantasy owners are invited to scout the return of Louis Murphy. Murphy is a do-it-all receiver, making his stamp in the possession game. Murphy and QB Bruce Gradkowski had great chemistry before injuries plagued this QB and WR combo. If you held on to Jacoby Ford since your fantasy draft day, it’s safe to let him go unless you are in deeper leagues. Ford is relegated to kick and punt returns to utilize his great speed, but is untrustworthy in fantasy purposes in terms of the kind of steady production he will provide you. Maybe wait one more week before cutting Ford loose to see if his role continues to expand as he gets healthy. Our money in terms of the rest of the season production lies in DHB, Moore, and possibly Ford and Murphy.

Tight Ends

While you’re scouting Murphy, Kevin Boss is a player that can make an impact during your fantasy playoffs as well. Once QB Palmer and Boss have a couple of games under their belt, Palmer may lean on Boss to move the chains and play possession ball that Head Coach Hue Jackson and the Raiders will want to employ. Boss scored a touchdown against the Browns on a fake punt thrown by Shane Lechler. Keep Boss in your “players to watch” list.

Kicker

Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Raiders are auditioning kickers due to injury to Sebastian Janikowski. If your fantasy team depth is enough to hold two kickers, I advise you hold onto Janikowski because his leg is truly special. However, fantasy wise, kickers are replaceable as their output is unpredictable. Monitor the situation with Janikowski closely. A great play this week would the Seahawk’s Steven Hauschka as they play the Browns this week or the Ravens’ Billy Cundiff as he put up 20 points in most leagues last week.

Defense/Special Teams

A lot of fantasy owners are clamoring for the Dallas defense this week and deservedly so due to their matchup vs. the hapless Rams. But if you lost out on the waiver wire add, consider the Raiders defense this week. They are playing the Chiefs who got blown out the first two weeks of the season and beat two below average teams in the Vikings and the Colts. There is no faith now that the Chiefs are better than their 2-3 records suggest. They are trotting out RB Jackie Battle, a former special teamer and Matt Cassel was throwing a ton in their last game against the Colts. Word out of their camp was that Head Coach Todd Haley would have gotten fired if they lost against the Colts. What makes the Raiders D/ST a great play is the ability of KR Ford to take it to the house as he did vs. the Browns for those valuable special teams points. This week the Raiders will put the hammer down on this AFC West rival and continue their undefeated streak in the division.

Special Teams is Raiders’ X-Factor

 Posted by at 10:25 AM  No Responses »
Oct 212011
 

Kickers are usually the guy you tease; the “weakling” on the team. When they make tackles, guys nudge each other and say “That was the kicker! Bet he’s happy.” Sure, everyone knows that the kicker is absolutely essential. At times the entire game rests on his shoulders. Even still, special teams is the “special” team on the field. This is absolutely not the case with the Raiders, and the entire NFL knows it.

Perusing the Raiders’ longest plays in history, current Raiders like Shane Lechler, Sebastian Janikowski and Jacoby Ford hold many of the records. Janikowski in fact holds just about every field goal record ranging from 55 to 63 yards. Lechler has the longest punt at 77 yards. Jacoby Ford holds 4/6 of the longest kickoff returns, after last week. All this to say, while many teams’ special teams are decent, none in the NFL compares overall to the Raiders. Some may have a key player or two, like Devin Hester, but the Raiders have special teams weapons at every turn.

Last week, Shane Lechler became the first punter since Hunter Smith in 2009 to throw for a touchdown. In the wake of Jason Campbell’s injury, and Boller’s implosion rusty arm, Lechler was a weapon no one saw coming. He not only threw for a touchdown, but threw in a 4th and punt situation. What team can defend against that? This isn’t your grandpa’s wildcat offense; what the Raiders have the weapons to create is an entirely new beast. They also have the creative, aggressive coach who can make it happen.

These are few teams who can legitimately say their special teams helped them win the game week after week. Sure, they contributed, but they weren’t an actual factor. The Raiders’ special team is a factor in each and every week. Let’s hope Janikowski’s hamstring injury is not too severe.

Studs and Duds From Week 6

 Posted by at 7:30 AM  No Responses »
Oct 192011
 

The Raiders dominated the Browns yet only squeezed out the victory. What players stood out on Sunday and which went unnoticed in the victory?

Studs

Jacoby Ford – A 101-yard kick return gets you into studs about 99 times out of 100. He broke another long return and almost busted out on an offensive play. Ford isn’t getting the snaps he is used to getting, but that could change this week.

Kamerion Wimbley – Sure his sack numbers aren’t adding up just yet, but he spent the afternoon in Colt McCoy’s face. He’s drawing a ton of attention and that is freeing up the defensive tackles to wreak havoc up the middle.

Richard Seymour – Double teams are no match for Mr. Seymour. The man sure loved to push around the Browns interior lineman and was drawing holds and double teams just about every play. Superior game by the Raiders defensive captain.

Michael Huff – No one was better than Huff in coverage on Sunday. He played mostly cornerback and Matt Giordano gets an honorable mention for holding it down and having a darn good day at free safety.

Honorable Mentions

Demarcus Van Dyke (might have made the studs list if he was willing and able to make a tackle) & Darrius Heyward-Bey (Pats self on back)

Duds

Rolando McClain – I realize by putting McClain here I put myself at risk of “hating” on McClain or people thinking I have some unnatural bias against McClain. In fact, I thought McClain had a very good game when I watched the game live, but after watching the game again I realized McClain’s game was average. Better than he has been and he did make a few impact plays so maybe McClain is coming on. He missed two tackles and made six. That 1:3 ratio needs to improve. Unfortunately average puts you on the duds list if you are both the middle linebacker, a first-round pick and there aren’t many options for duds that week. That’s this week.

Jerome Boyd – One snap. One touchdown. Released. After leaving the field only for the ghost of Al Davis to save the Raiders the week prior in Houston, Boyd only played one defensive snap and promptly allowed a touchdown. He allowed 12 receptions for 236 yards and two touchdowns while only being thrown at 16 times on the season according to profootballfocus.com stats. That’s a staggering 156.3 QB rating against. Just not good enough when the Raiders have plenty of safeties.

Samson Satele – Tough way to get on the duds list. Satele was bothered with an injury and still played 70 snaps. He wasn’t himself on the afternoon and now has had two games in a row that he hasn’t looked as good as he did for the first four games. Chalk this one up to the injury and the bye week coming up after this week could be a welcome sign for the Raiders center.

Dishonorable Mentions

Michael Bush, Trevor Scott, Jarvis Moss – Step up your game fellas.

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Hue Jackson Bets the Farm

 Posted by at 2:49 PM  No Responses »
Oct 182011
 

Huge action from Hue Jackson. Aaron Curry last week. Carson Palmer today.

The Raiders gave up a lot for Palmer, but he’s a better quarterback than Jason  Campbell. The Raiders lost Campbell for a significant period of time and were faced with starting Kyle Boller for the rest of the season if they didn’t make a move for a quarterback.

The time is now for the Raiders and Hue Jackson pushed all his chips into the middle by bringing in Carson Palmer. The Raiders have only two picks left in the 2012 draft and with the Carson Palmer trade started dealing 2013 draft selections.

This trade and the moves of the past two seasons setup the Raiders for success going forward. Allow us to examine position-by-position and pick-by-pick and what the future may hold for this team and why the move for Carson Palmer was still a good one.

If the Raiders go far in the playoffs under Palmer those draft picks become low in each round and with most of the young players on the roster locked up for the next two seasons the time is now for the Silver and Black. Below is a snapshot of the Raiders outlook going forward.

2012 Draft
1st: Carson Palmer
2nd: Taiwan Jones and Joseph Barksdale
3rd: Terrelle Pryor
4th: Jason Campbell
7th: Aaron Curry

Compensatory Picks for Nnamdi Asomugha, Robert Gallery and Zach Miller should net a third and up to a fourth-round pick.

2013 Draft

1st: Palmer if team gets team to AFC Championship game*
2nd: Palmer if the team doesn’t  get to AFC Championship*

*Conflicting reports as to the compensation.

Notable 2012 Free Agents

Michael Bush – Will he be content to be a backup or will he be able to get a mega-deal elsewhere? Time will tell and he could be a casualty of the Raiders cap situation.

Chaz Schilens – His injuries really sidelined his career. He could be retained for cheap as a backend WR.

Tyvon Branch – Is Mike Mitchell ready? Has Branch taken the leap that the Raiders have wanted him to make? Either way, he shouldn’t command a large amount

Marcel Reece – He’s a fullback and the Raiders will pay him well for that position.

Jason Campbell – He’ll find a new home next season. Good dude, average quarterback. Unfortunate circumstances.

Quarterback

Carson Palmer is the guy now and for the next few years. Pryor will be given the Aaron Rodgers treatment.

Runningback

Darren McFadden and Taiwan Jones. Michael Bush is unknown going forward. The Raiders will need to add some depth at the position, but as long as McFadden is healthy this is still the biggest strength on the team. Reece will be back next season as well.

Receiver

Darrius Heyward-Bey, Denarius Moore, Jacoby Ford, Louis Murphy are all under contract through 2012. Those guys are the anchors of this group and Chaz Schilens and various other will fill it out. An exciting young group that was a huge weakness just two seasons ago.

Offensive line

Very young group that has come together nicely this season. The Raiders will eventually ease Bruce Campbell and Joseph Barksdale into the mix on the left side. Needs to add depth, but they should be able to find quality depth for cheap on the free agent market if needed.

Defensive line

Richard Seymour is around for at least two more seasons along with Tommy Kelly. The Raiders defensive line may begin to show signs of age in the coming seasons, but as it stands now this is a strong group. Expect the Raiders to re-tool the defensive line in the 2013 draft.

Linebacker

Rolando McClain is playing in his sophomore season so he has at least two more seasons before the Raiders look elsewhere. Kamerion Wimbley just signed a new deal and the Raiders think they can make something out of Aaron Curry. The group still needs depth and there are some questions here, but it isn’t the most pressing need on the team and the Raiders can likely address it without a high draft pick.

Cornerback

Stanford Routt signed a new deal and the Raiders drafted two corners in Demarcus Van Dyke and Chimdi Chekwa. The position needs depth. When one player goes down the Raiders turn to free safety Michael Huff as a corner. If there is one position to worry about not having many 2012 draft picks it is at the cornerback position.

Safety

Michael Huff signed a new deal this offseason. Branch is a free agent in 2012 and unless the Raiders feel like Mitchell can play at the same level as Branch he’ll likely be the Raiders top priority going into 2012.

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