Stripped! Raiders Lose Two OTA’s

 Posted by at 1:55 AM  No Responses »
Jun 112010
 

The Raiders were stripped of two days (12 hours, four on-field) of organized team activities (OTA’s) for violating off-season workout rules.

No reason was given for the forfeiture of the days by the NFL or NFLPA.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement outlines these rules for OTA’s.

- Max 14 days
- No weekends
- Totally Voluntary (can’t threaten to cut a player for not showing up).
- Max 4 days a week
- No live contact (bump and run, tackling, pass rushing drills)
- No offensive vs. defensive line drills
- Six total hours per day max
- Two hours on-field work max
- “The intensity and tempo of the drills should be at a level conducive to learning, with player safety as the highest priority, and not as a level where one player is in a physical contest with another player.”

There are also rules governing workouts that are not a part of OTA’s. It is doubtful these were the rules violated that resulted in the penalty, but they may be applicable.

- Four total hours a day max
- 90 minutes max on-field
- 2 hours max suggested facility hours
- The other 2 hours weight lifting at player’s option when weight room is open.

How much of a loss is 12 hours of instruction at OTA’s?

Not much. There is a reason few teams make a huge deal of it and why it is worth the risk to practice in the gray area.

Teams don’t want to give up these days, but they are will to risk them to see things they otherwise wouldn’t know. Such as if Walter McFadden can play bump and run or if Lamarr Houston can bull rush.

Training camp is much longer, there is live contact, and is where jobs are won and lost. If a team can replicate some contact in OTA’s, they benefit.

The mystery is why the complaints are filed on some teams and not others. It is obvious to everyone that most NFL teams push the line on the no live contact rules.

Raiders Working on Key Areas

 Posted by at 6:24 PM  No Responses »
May 202010
 

According to most reports, the Raiders worked primarily on blitz pickup and red zone passing during practice on Wednesday.

The Raiders ranked 29th in the league in red zone scoring in 2009 and scored on just 41.4% of their red zone possessions.

Red zone scoring is often time a predictor of playoff teams and four of the top five teams in red zone scoring qualified for the playoffs in 2009. The top five teams in 2009 were Arizona, Miami, Indianapolis, Minnesota and New Orleans.

The passing game behind JaMarcus Russell was especially weak in 2009, but the team only managed to put up 0.6 passing touchdowns per game, good (or not good) for last in the league. Again, four of the top five teams in passing touchdowns per game were playoff teams, New Orleans, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Green Bay and Houston.

Another factor to consider as a key to winning is the all important third down conversion percentage. It is also well known that blitzes are often used on third down.

Getting first downs and keeping a drive alive was a reoccurring theme during the Gruden years. Three of the top five teams in third down conversion percentage made the playoffs in 2009. The top teams were Miami, Indianapolis, Green Bay, Jacksonville and Minnesota. The Raiders ranked 30th in third down conversion percentage at 29.6%.

So while these practices aren’t mandatory, the Raiders are attempting to get the most of them by working on areas of significant weakness.

If you were wondering, the Raiders defense ranked 9th in red zone scoring percentage, 4th in passing touchdowns against and 7th in third down conversions against. Pretty good?

You could make a case that the Raiders were working on blitzing and not blitz pickup, but they may be a poor assumption considering the pad-free environment and the stats below.

The Raiders ranked 4th in the league in sack percentage at 7.8%, behind only Minnesota, Miami and Pittsburgh. In the final three games, the Raiders were the top team in the league with a sack percentage of 11.4%. If the Raiders can stop the run or put a few points on the board, the defense has the potential to be very good without added blitzing.

The Raiders did blitz more last season than in recent years. With Trevor Scott and Kamerion Wimbley at outside linebacker expect more of the same.

Decide for yourself if the Raider need to blitz more and keep this in mind, if the Raiders stop the run and score more points on offense, they may blitz more if only because their opponents will need to pass more.

For more interesting NFL stats go here: http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/

First Day of OTAs: Watch the Passing Game

 Posted by at 5:10 PM  No Responses »
May 182010
 

The first of 12 organized team activities begins today. Media access will be Wednesday.

Fans and media are left to speculate on what the Raiders might be doing behind closed doors. A large tweak of the defense this offseason might be enough to headline offseason coverage on most teams, but the biggest question will continue to be the development of the offense.

If starting positions or roster spots aren’t won during OTAs, then what is the point to following them?

The truth is that this time can be important for team development. The coaching staff is installation new offensive and defensive plays and the coaching staff is sizing up a rough depth chart to use for training camp.

Players will be on the roster bubble. One rookie didn’t make it to camp last season, so these times are definitely important for players on the backend of the roster.

Starters may not be decided, but there will be evaluation at positions with significant competition.

Some positions are probably easier than others to evaluate, such as wide receiver and cornerback. Route running, catching the football, coverage ability and ball skills are fairly easy to evaluate in an environment without pads.

Still, there will be areas that are impossible to evaluate without pads such as tackling anything to do with the offensive and defensive lines. Half the battle in football is being where you should be and perhaps that is where most of the evaluation will be taking place.

In that way, watching and listening to what the coaches are saying on the field is more important than how a runningback looks in non-contact drills.

There is surprisingly little that the fan and media will be able to see, but we continue to pick each little thing apart. How is it better? How is it worse?

Keeping an eye on the passing game is probably the easiest thing to do. Jason Campbell should find it easy to pick up another offense; he should be an expert of learning a new playbook having done it eight times before. Everyone will be watching him.

One thing interesting about mini-camp was Campbell’s wobbling, but very accurate passes. After watching ESPN’s Sportscience on Drew Brees, wobble actually helps accuracy.

Darrius Heyward-Bey needs to get open and catch the ball away from his body with more consistency. Chaz Schilens, more than anything, needs to stay healthy. The Raiders need to find out if Jacoby Ford can help as a receiver. Todd Watkins, Yamon Figurs and Johnnie Lee Higgins are probably on the roster bubble.

Undrafted players will make the roster, but which ones will be hard to determine until the end of training camp. Starters at some positions are predetermined, but for those that aren’t this is a classroom environment for the players. How well are they are learning and can they apply what they are learning on the fly will be important as coaches do not want to have to re-explain things in training camp they went over during OTAs.

Notable:

- I’ve had correspondence with Raiders PR man Mike Taylor regarding a media credential. I’m still waiting for the official word.

- My cousin, Danny Thomas, participated in the Nike Oakland Combine and had the top SPARQ rating at 116.58, good for 17th in the country and the Tim Tebow award. Many Raiders including Nnamdi Asomugha, Louis Murphy, Chaz Schilens were in attendance as well as Tim Tebow.