Studs and Duds From Week 2

 Posted by at 2:56 PM  No Responses »
Sep 212010
 

It wasn’t pretty, but the Raiders got a win to improve to 1-1.

Studs

Tommy Kelly and John Henderson

Stopping the run was the goal and these two guys were the biggest reason. Henderson’s efforts were almost entirely stopping the run, while Kelly also was getting to the passer. Kelly did have two penalties, but on this day he was dominant despite them.

Darren McFadden

A recipe for success is stopping the run and running it well. The Raiders were able to do this Sunday. Tom Cable has been impressed with McFadden “running behind his pads.” Indeed that could have been part of his issues in the past, lower his head and basically losing balance too often. McFadden is also pumping his legs after contact. This is newly learned skill for McFadden and it is benefiting him greatly with yards after he is first hit. Certainly his health and Hue Jackson’s scheme are helping him. He even had a couple nice blitz pickups.

Bruce Gradkowski

He came in and ignited the offense. He got the ball out quick, was very accurate and got his team a win. A lot of what Bruce was able to do was just having confidence his receivers would get to the open spot. Throwing to spots was allowing for a better rhythm and tempo. The quick designed plays were helping out the offensive line. The offense changed in the second half with shorter timing routes and Gradkowski executed perfectly almost the entire time he played.

Duds

Jason Campbell

He didn’t have many opportunities to make plays with the defensive line in his face. When he did he couldn’t manage to make the play. He had a couple of overthrows of wide-open receivers and just missed on a couple others. He was never able to get his timing down. The offensive line woes appear to be getting into his head. He looks scared out there behind this porous line. In contrast, Gradkowski is fearless. Given time, Campbell is still the superior quarterback, but if the Raiders can’t block for him he won’t produce.

Langston Walker

Worst player on the field on Sunday. His run blocking and pass blocking were terrible. Lineman routinely dominate him physically and speed rushers just go around him. He makes poor decisions on who to block on running plays. The second straight terrible performance from him. If he isn’t benched soon he better improve, because he could be on this list all season.

Rolando McClain

He graded him out basically neutral, but he should be the one making plays in the middle of the defense. McClain struggled in the first half, particularly in the first quarter. It is no surprise his play coincided with the defense as a whole. He had an above average second half. No better test for a rookie than Chris Johnson and Steven Jackson, so he had a steep learning curve. McClain can only get better from here, but he still needs to get better. He makes too many mistakes in coverage and arm tackles aren’t going to get the job done.

Studs and Duds From Week 1

 Posted by at 3:43 AM  1 Response »
Sep 152010
 

Duds

Jason Campbell
(+6/-7)
Overall -1

Old habits may die hard for Campbell. The Titans found and used a tell in Campbell’s game. He tips pass plays by sinking and sliding away from center just before he snaps the ball. This was the case in Tennessee and at various points last year. This puts the offensive line at an disadvantage, as they begin their rush as soon as Campbell sinks. The offensive line is put as a disadvantage and this group of offensive lineman aren’t very good to begin with. Correctable, but a very poor habit.

Cooper Carlisle
(+0/-8)
Overall -8

Carlisle was the worst of the offensive lineman. Even Mario Henderson held his ground in pass protection better. He was blown into the backfield by the bull rush, blitzers just went around him and on more than one occasion Carlisle just blocked the wrong player. In some cases Carlisle would disengage his blocker to help out Langston Walker, leaving his man to pressure Campbell. It would be hard to imagine Daniel Loper or rookie Bruce Campbell doing worse.

Tyvon Branch
(+3/-5)
Overall -2

Tyvon was directly responsible for 21 of the 38 points the Raiders surrendered Sunday. He bit on the play action pass leaving Nate Washington open for the long touchdown. He also missed a tackle in the hole on Chris Johnson on the 76-yard touchdown run and was fooled on play action again and lost track of the tight end for an easy flip pass touchdown from Vince Young. He happened to make a few plays as well, but it was a horrible game for Branch. One he wishes to soon forget.

Mario Henderson
(+0/-3)
Overall -3

Most fans were irate when Mario Henderson allowed a strip sack of Jason Campbell in the first quarter. Jacob Ford blew by Henderson who was slow to get off the line of scrimmage. Henderson was lucky to touch the defender down while he complained to officials that Ford was offsides. Reality was Henderson got off the ball slow and the defender got an excellent jump thanks to Campbell’s subtle tell.

In the end, Mario struggled with the speed rush most of the game and didn’t make any good plays to redeem himself. It wasn’t nearly as bad as previously suspected and he improved significantly later in the game.

Langston Walker
(+1, -4)
Overall -3

He had trouble with speed, was pushed around by the bull rush and consistently allowed the Titans into the backfield. He had one excellent run block that sprung McFadden for a few extra yards, but one decent play is not enough to forgive his transgressions.

Jared Veldheer
(+1/-4)
Overall -3

When four of the duds are on the offensive line things aren’t going well. A bad snap, two penalties are enough to doom any center. Since Veldheer was playing his first game at center in a long time and it was his first NFL game, he gets a pass. He did do some solid run blocking which was a significant improvement over Samson Satele.

Studs

Richard Seymour
(+8/-1)
Overall +7

At least the Raiders are getting great play out of their 2011 first-round pick. Seymour was absolutely mashing the excellent Titans offensive line. Seymour was a big reason why the Raiders contained Chris Johnson well early. It come as no surprise that Seymour was  held on Chris Johnson’s 76-yard touchdown run. His lone poor play coming when he was blocked out of the hole on Javon Ringer’s 15-yard touchdown.

Darren McFadden
(+10/-1)
Overall +9

What a great day for Darren McFadden. He use his speed, he stiff armed defenders and made them miss. McFadden even ran over smaller defenders in route to 150 total yards. He dropped an easy dump off pass for Campbell, but had a great day. This is the player the Raiders thought they drafted three years ago.

John Henderson
(+4/-1)
Overall +3

It gets harder to find studs after the first two, but Henderson was clogging up running lanes on just about every snap he played. A great addition to the Raiders defense should pay dividends as the season progresses.

Stanford Routt
(+4/-1)
Overall +3

Routt had tight coverage and came up in run support the entire game. He played to expectations for once. The Raiders will be looking for Routt to continue his solid play.

Complete Grades

Cartwright (+1/-0)
Houston (+1/-0)
Scott (+2/-2)
Gallery (+1/-2)
Murphy (+1/-1)
Eugene (+1/-3)
Z. Miller (+1/-1)
Kelly (+1/-1)
C. Johnson (+0/-1)
Shaughnessy (+2/-1)
Alford (+1/-1)
Asomugha (+1/-0)
Loper (+1/-0)
Heyward-Bey (+1/-0)
Huff (+2/-4)
Wimbley (+1/-1)
Barnes (+0/-1)
Groves (+2/-3)
McClain (+5/-5)

Overall Team (+61/-59)

*Each grade is based not upon offense or defensive failure, but upon above or below average plays. Good examples would be a running back breaking a tackle, a lineman getting a big block to spring a player free, a tackle for a loss, missed tackles, poor coverage, bad reads, etc.

Kelly Trims Down

 Posted by at 3:06 PM  No Responses »
Aug 172010
 

In 2008, the Raiders gave Tommy Kelly a monster contract in the form of $18.125 million in guarantees with $25.125 million total in the first three years.

It is worth noting, Kelly stands to make about $4.5 million in 2010, having already collected all but $300,000 in bonus money. He will also now be bound to the Raiders until 2014 with only base salaries. He could be easily cut in future seasons.

The Raiders get much for those millions they paid Kelly as he recorded just 5.5 sacks in the two years since signing the deal.

All of this adds up to Tommy Kelly being a lightning rod for criticism. Some of the criticism merited and some not.

Instead of waste away as another member of Al Davis’ 2008 spending spree, Kelly has remained a professional. After playing the season at nearly 350 pounds, Kelly has trimmed down to 315.

Kelly looked quick and punishing as a 295 pound defensive end. Moving him inside to the pass rushing three-technique tackle position was logical, but after two seasons the Raiders are pulling the plug.

Kelly will move to the nose tackle position vacated by the release of Gerard Warren. Warren was much like Kelly in that he was much better rushing the passer than stopping the run.

Desmond Bryant, who played nose tackle last season, will see time as the backup at the three-technique to Richard Seymour and newly acquired John Henderson will backup Kelly at the nose.

Typically the nose tackle position is played by players upwards of 330 pounds. Henderson fits that mold perfectly, yet it is Kelly getting first team reps.

What is clear, the defensive tackle spots will be an ongoing rotation of players in 2010. Perhaps keeping the lineman fresh is just what the doctor ordered for the Raiders sickly run defense.

Despite a change in role, Kelly put in the work to trim down and has taken the position change in stride saying, “I’m strong enough and tough enough to play the nose, so I’m not even worried about it.’’

Fans were immediately excited when Lamarr Houston was drafted and when John Henderson signed, hoping that the moves would put an end to Tommy Kelly starting. Yet Kelly remains, trimmer and leaner starting along-side Richard Seymour and the young defensive end Matt Shaughnessy.

If the Raiders are more successful stopping the run in 2010, much of the success will be given to first-round draft selection Rolando McClain. If it is unimproved or worse, all that blame will be placed upon Tommy Kelly. Neither characterizations are accurate.

An improved run defense should be attributed to the entirely new front seven. Kelly and Seymour remain, but playing different positions. Shaughnessy and Trevor Scott ascended up the depth charts last season to end the year as starters. The remaining four were additions.

Don’t forget Kelly when distributing credit when the Raiders run defense is improved. Although he may never justify the contract, he might just turn a few critics into believers in 2010.

Raiders Sign John Henderson

 Posted by at 6:56 PM  No Responses »
Jun 112010
 

According to Adam Schefter, the Raiders have signed former Jaguars defensive tackle John Henderson.

Henderson is likely to be in the rotation, but don’t be surprised if he plays behind Desmond Bryant.

Good veteran defensive tackles are very underrated commodities. Keeping those big guys fresh is probably the most important thing for a football team.

Henderson is likely to play the 1-technique spot.

If you are confused as to what that means here is a good breakdown of the defensive line positions.

zero technique – would mean a nose tackle aligned nose-to-nose with a center.
1 technique – lined up in the middle of the A gap.
2 technique – nose-to-nose with the offensive guard.
3 technique – lined up in the middle of the B gap or outside shade of the guard. He is responsible for maintaining outside leverage and not letting himself get hook or reached blocked by the offense.
4 technique – lined up nose-to-nose with the offensive tackle.
5 technique – the defensive lineman had his nose on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle.
6 technique – was nose-to-nose with the offensive tight end.
7 technique – nose on the inside shoulder of the offensive tight end.
8 technique – aligned on air outside the outside shoulder of the offensive tight end.
9 technique – nose on the outside shoulder of the offensive tight end.

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