Skip to main content

Post Game Wrap: Raiders 17, Cowboys 9

News and notes from the Raiders 10-point victory Thursday night in Dallas:

Football season has arrived, officially, with the first game preseason game.

It doesn't count and the score doesn't matter, but the new season started and the fans were looking for hope in a new team lead by a new quarterback.

While the offense appeared calm, controlled and more organized under Campbell, the production wasn't there. Campbell went 7 of 15 for 49 yards. Darrius Heyward-Bey didn't have a catch. Zach Miller had three catches for just 15 yards.

Campbell only converted one third down out of six and didn't lead the offense to a score.

Kyle Boller played the remainder of the game after Campbell took a seat in the second quarter. After a rocky start Boller settled in and ended the night 12 of 21 for 148 yards and a touchdown.


Observations:

- Johnnie Lee Higgins appears to be playing with the swagger he had in 2008. He had a few catches, even if he did tip a ball into the air that should have been intercepted.

- Yamon Figurs has a few nice catches, but was uneven (good/bad) as a return man.

- Nick Miller continues to impress and I'd be surprised if he is cut at this point.

- Michael Bennett is clearly the superior running back, but Rock Cartwright is much more versatile. The competition is now a dead heat.

- Michael Bush is a load to bring down when the defenders can't square him up, but he is clearly the type of back that gets better as the game goes on.

- The starting offensive line allowed one sack and it was ugly. Three defenders blew by Samson Satele and Cooper Carlisle. Langston Walker also had a false-start penalty.

- Kyle Boller's success was directly proportional to the blocking of the second and third string offensive line.Shaky early; solid later.

- Jared Veldheer does a good job run blocking for the center position. Can he put heat on Satele?

- Chris Johnson can't cover the opposing team's top wide receiver. It is important for Nnamdi Asomugha to shadow the opposition's top receiver in 2010.

- Walter McFadden and Jeremy Ware aren't going to put the pressure on Stanford Routt and Johnson anytime soon. That said, both seemed to grow as they received more playing time.

- Travis Goethel and Stevie Brown are among the lower round draft picks that could have an unexpected impact.

- Lamarr Houston benefited from good coverage and recorded two sacks. This will be a confidence boost for the rookie, who played off and on into the fourth quarter.

- Matt Shaughnessy was the most impressive defensive lineman Thursday night. He brought the pressure in the pass game and was getting plenty of penetration stopping the run.

- Rolando McClain didn't see a ton of action, more wait than see for this year's top draft pick.

- Trevor Scott is going to be moved around a lot, specifically as a nickel rush end with his hand in the dirt.

- Ricky Brown continues to be a preseason star. If only he could stay healthy.

Comments

  1. Thanks for the post-game skinny. I feel really good about the defense and am hopeful we can see some improvement with our offense over the next couple preseason games.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oakland Raiders Swing for the Fences in 2016 NFL Draft

[embed align="center"]http://gty.im/153039819[/embed] These aren't your daddy's Oakland Raiders or even your younger self's Raiders. If anything, these are your newborn's Raiders or your puppy's Raiders. These are the Raiders we've never seen before. Indicative of the freshness of the franchise was their 2016 NFL Draft. No longer slave to a high draft pick and desperate needs, the theme of the draft for the Raiders was upside. It's as if general manager Reggie McKenzie got so used to hitting his draft picks out of the park that he started swinging for the fences. We'll have to wait a couple of years before we know if he struck out or if he'll continue his Ruthian ways. First, McKenzie boldly went with a safety at No. 14 overall. Kyle Joseph is coming off a torn ACL and fills a major need, but safety isn't a premium position. Only a handful of safeties have been drafted in the first 14 picks in the last 15 years and include names like Ea

2012 NFL Strength of Schedule

  Disclaimer Some strength of schedule models calculate strength of schedule based on the opponents the team has faced to date.  My model calculates strength of schedule based on all the opponents on a team's schedule.  The reason for this is because it reduces weekly fluctuations. For example, when a team plays their Week 17 game, in the traditional model their strength of schedule would change by 31 games...their Week 17 opponent's 16 games plus the additional game played by each of their prior 15 opponents.  In my model, when a team plays their Week 17 game their strength of schedule will only change by 15 games...one additional game for each of the opponents on their schedule.

The Raiders aren't who we thought they were....they're better

The Oakland Raiders are tired of being the team that will be good in a year or two. The team expects to win now and it is winning now. We thought the Raiders needed more talent. We thought that being in the playoff hunt was a year away for this team, but we were wrong. This isn't the team we thought they were, they're better. On Sunday, they moved to 3-3 on Sunday with a 37-29 win over the San Diego Chargers that wasn't close until the final minute. It was also the Raiders second road win of the season. The last time the Raiders had two road wins by their sixth game was 2011. Before that, a five-year streak from 1998-2002. The Raiders went 8-8 in 1998, 1999 and 2011 and narrowly missed the playoffs each year.  They made the playoffs in 2000, 2001 and 2002. They didn't have a losing record in any of those seasons because teams that can win on the road are usually pretty good. As the season matures, there is more and more evidence that some of the "best-case scenario