Raidersblog.com

On Offense With all the discussion about last week’s emotional win in Houston it is easy to forget that statistically, last week was the Raiders worse offensive game. Last week, the Raiders finished with 278 offensive yards marking the first time since week 1 the team did not reach 300 yards. The Raiders offense were out-gaineed by nearly 200 yards, by far the largest amount so far this season. The most the Raiders had been out-gained this season was by 56 in Week 3 when Mark Sanchez and the Jets were playing catch-up and attempted 44 passes. To improve this week, it starts up front with the big hogs. The Raiders offensive line last gave up 3 sacks in week 5 after only allowing two total in the other four games this season. The Browns have 11 sacks in four games and a pass rush that could pose problems to the Raiders offensive line. Darren McFadden totaled only 51 rushing yards in week 5 and 75 in week 4. The opposition has done a good job shrinking the running lanes the past two weeks...

Darrius Heyward-Bey. You read that right. Darrius Heyward-Bey the much maligned first-round draft pick two seasons ago will the be Raiders breakout player. For the record, I think Matt Shaughnessy is going to have a monster year, but he was good last year. He had seven sacks. He's hardly unknown to the Raider Nation even if he isn't a household name around the NFL yet. Since my primary audience is the Raider Nation, I think is only appropriate to select Heyward-Bey. Why Darrius Heyward-Bey? What have I seen that makes me think Heyward-Bey will have a breakout season? Heyward-Bey enters his third season. The theory for a long time was that receivers breakout in their third season. Two years ago Football Outsiders examined this theory.  The results were that receives were equally likely to breakout in their second, third and even fourth year. As raw as Heyward-Bey was entering the league, it only makes sense that he would take some time to develop.  Given he didn't breakout i...

What can you expect of the Raiders this season? More on that in the season preview later this week. This is about bold predictions. We will revist them at the end of the season and see how we did. I try to keep this as positive as possible so this is going to have a homer-like vibe to it. Just know, this is bold predictions. Hitting on 1/3 of them is probably an excellent hit rate, like baseball. 1. Matt Shaughnessy will have 10 sacks or more. 2. Taiwan Jones will have at least two touchdowns longer than 70 yards. 3. Darren McFadden will have 2000 total yards from scrimmage. 4. Darrius Heyward-Bey will catch twice as many passes as he did last year. 5. Jason Campbell will have 3000+ yards passing and 20 touchdowns. 6. Denarius Moore will return two punts for touchdowns. 7. Jacoby Ford will return two kicks for touchdowns (despite the new rules). 8. Michael Bush will rush for just 500 yards....but with 10 touchdowns. 9. The Raiders will have a top 5 offense and lead the league in rushin...

Remember the dumb brother from the movie "Corky Romano"? Trying to order rum raisin nut, rocky road, then pistachio. The guy keeps telling him we only have the three flavors on the sign; Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry. That's what Hue Jackson has served us this pre-season, a big cup of vanilla-flavored offense. Which is perfectly fine, he gets to see what the players can execute and at the same time doesn't expose too much to other teams. Insert one Chuck Bresnahan. The old/new defensive coordinator re-hired by Al Davis in the off-season. When he was initially brought in his role on the staff was not given, was he the linebackers coach? This leads one to believe Al had someone else in mind that he wasn't able to land for the position of defensive coordinator. So after a week or so the Raiders quietly named Chuck the coordinator and everyone said "oh....". Bresnahan went into this preseason with a defense who just lost its biggest name, Nnamdi Asomugha. H...

It is common belief that Terrelle Pryor was suspended five games by the NFL because of his miss steps at Ohio State. This is simply untrue. Terrelle Pryor was suspended five games for not following the rules of the supplemental draft entry process. Pryor hired Drew Rosenhaus before he was ruled ineligible for the first five games at Ohio State. Based on the rules of the supplemental draft Pryor should have been ineligible for entry. The power of the media and his agent put the league in a tough position. Instead of doing what they should have done and forced Pryor to sit for a year, the NFL allowed his entry while trying to appear tough. There are basically two arguments Pryor will be able to make to get the suspension lifted. 1) The NFL is punishing Pryor because they chose to not follow their own rules. There is no precedent or rule that allows for any such suspension. 2) The five-game suspension is the NFL is punishing Pryor for his college mistakes. This is also unprecedented. The ...

First news of cuts come in and my roster prediction already looks terrible. The Raiders parted ways with Walter McFadden. I should have gone with my gut and my belief he would be cut for months. Lito Sheppard looked good last night, but I suppose didn't do enough to merit a job over the Raiders younger options. These two cuts bode well for Jeremy Ware and Sterling Moore. We'll know for sure within the hour. Update: Jeremy Ware and Stevie Brown have been cut as well. We are past the deadline so news should trickle in until Hue has a call with the media at 4. Looks like Joe Porter may make the roster.

Appeared on WONE Ohio last week to talk Terrelle Pryor and the Battle of the Bay.

It was 2009 the last time the Raiders played the Saints in the preseason. The New Orleans Saints were still the "Aints" and the Raiders were a team headed into the Tom Cable era without a true identity. That game-also in Oakland and the third preseason game-was a 45-7 shellacking at the hands of the eventual Super Bowl Champion Saints. The Raiders would win five games, none by more than four points. Preseason is usually a time to evaluate individual performances over team performance, but the first half of the third preseason game is the closest we will get to predicting how a team might play during the regular season. The coaches scheme a bit and the starters play at least a full half. Let's take a look at third preseason games over the past few years. 2007 first-half score Rams 3 @ Raiders 17. Rams would finish 3-13. The Raiders would finish 4-12 If it had been any other team besides the Rams, would the Raiders have even won? Both teams were terrible in 2007 and the fac...

ESPN has devised a new system to replace the outdated Passer Rating system. Total Quarterback Rating system, or QBR, is somewhat easy to follow and more accurately reflects a quarterback's skills. While there are some intricate formulas that only mathematicians will understand , we can follow the numbers and basics they lay out for us.  The Basics The system takes into account passing, rushing, sacks, fumbles and everything else a quarterback does. In the previous system, a QB would get a higher rating for yards after a pass, meaning the yards the wide receiver got. This has very little to do with the QB and, therefore, is not used in this system. Red zone plays will give him more points than if the same play is run in the middle of the field. Also, points will vary depending on the closeness of the game. The Scoring The QBR score is based on 100, which makes it easy to score and follow. Scores from 100 to 75 mean that the QB is an MVP candidate, which takes guess-work out of the ...

Attempt to think back to when the Raiders went 12-4, won the AFC West and led the NFL in rushing. It was the year 2000 when the Raiders did exactly that. With a similar two-headed monster in the backfield of Tyrone Wheatley, the bruiser, and Napolean Kaufman, the speed guy, the Raiders ran all over opponents. In 2010 the Raiders were second in the NFL in rushing with Darren McFadden, the shifty speed guy, and Michael Bush, the bruiser. The Raiders running game was tough for any front seven to handle, but it may be necessary for the Raiders to improve the rushing game even more in 2011 because of the mediocrity of the passing game and rush defense. If Hue Jackson is going to achieve his goal of "building a bully" and earning a 2011 playoff berth these two areas must improve dramatically. The key to this season’s offense is improving the passing game. The Raiders ranked 23rd in passing with 3180 passing yards. However in 2000, the Raiders finished with just a middle of the road...

Darren McFadden's most recent injury has made it even more clear how important it is for the Raiders to ink a long-term deal with restricted free agent Michael Bush. On Thursday, coach Hue Jackson revealed that McFadden was out for at least two weeks with an orbital fracture. Michael Bush signed his restricted free agent tender on Saturday, after a practice Friday in which Louis Rankin and Rock Cartwright took all the snaps. In a press conference a few days ago, Jackson joked saying that McFadden looked handsome and he had no doubt the running back will return in two weeks. Jackson also reminded every one of last preseason when McFadden missed a considerable amount of time due to a hamstring injury and came back to have 1157 yards and a break-out season. Still, McFadden has yet to play an entire season without missing time. It's the elephant in the room-McFadden is prone to injury. There is a severe lack of depth in the Raiders running-back depth chart. After McFadden and Bush,...

Although the Oakland Raiders operated a run first offense in 2010 with Darren McFadden rushing for over 1100 yards and coming in third in the NFL with 5.2 yards per carry, it is imperative that the Raiders help Jason Campbell in 2011. The Raiders have to get Campbell a reliable target at tight end. Zach Miller was targeted 14 more times than any other receiver on the team in 2010. The 92 balls he thrown his way made him the 10 th most targeted tight end in the NFL. He's now a Seahawk. Adding Kevin Boss is a no brainer. Although Boss had 25 less catches than Miller last year, he had just 150 yards less than Miller. He averaged nearly 4 yards more per catch than Miller. He may not be a better receiver, but he is a more proven blocker and is the best available tight end left in free agency. By adding a veteran wide out, the Raiders passing game could improve enough to make the loss in tight end production and afterthought. Boss is just 27 and has a lot of miles left on his body. He c...

The Raiders took the field for the first time in 2011. Missing were key free agents Nnamdi Asomugha, Zach Miller and Michael Huff and restricted free agents Michael Bush and Marcel Reece. Missing also were the slow tempo learning-intensive practices deployed by Hue Jackson's predecessor Tom Cable. Training Camp Report Hue Jackson is taking a different approach. Jackson's practice was high tempo and he wants it even faster. With practices shortened an an abbreviated offseason, Jackson must install the playbook in significantly less time. Higher tempo means more learning in less amount of time. It's simple, the Raiders should have high tempo practices to get as much done as possible before the season. Stefen Wisniewski probably had the most interesting media session when he mentioned the new playbook. He mentioned how the Raiders are going to use a lot of misdirection and motion to utilize the Raiders excellent offensive speed. It's something worth keeping your eye on. -...

Bruce Campbell was recently on Jay Richardson's Radio show and confirmed he would be moving back to tackle in 2011. This is surprising considering the drafting of Joseph Barksdale and the pending release of Cooper Carlisle and begs the question if Mario Henderson and Langston Walker will be retained. It will also be very interesting if Campbell and rookie Joseph Barksdale battle for the starting job at right tackle. The other possibility is the Raiders are sticking Campbell behind Veldheer at left tackle and his opportunity for snaps will decrease even further. It could also be a sign that the Raiders have targeted a guard in free agency and are shuffling the line around to accommodate him.

It's natural for fans to get excited about football players . The fan DNA is encoded to cheer and root for athletes we could only dream of being. It can be dangerous when fans get carried away and before we know it a rookie receiver becomes a savior. It's not negative to point out what players are having unrealistic expectations placed on them. This list isn't to say the player is not good or to thrash on them. Rather it is like hitting the reset button because you have been playing Madden on rookie for too long. The coaching staff is also having to work with a short training camp and no mini-camp. It wouldn't be surprising to see many young players have their professional growth stunted by the abbreviated offseason. So what players are overrated?   Nnamdi Asomugha He isn't likely to be a Raider in 2011, but this might be the last opportunity to point out the fans that the Raiders will not be significantly worse in the secondary without Asomugha. Even the best corne...