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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Current Raiders Depth Chart

Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:15 AM.

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Current state of the depth chart as of Week 5

Oakland Raiders Depth Chart - 1
Regular Offense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
WR	Jacoby Ford	D. Heyward-Bey	Denarius Moore	Louis Murphy
TE	Kevin Boss	Brandon Meyers
LT	J. Valdheer
LG	S. Wisniewski
C	Shaun O'Hara
RG	Cooper Carlisle
RT	Khalif Barnes
QB	Carson Palmer	Jason Campbell	Terrel Pryor
FB	Marcel Reese
HB	Darren McFadden	Michael Bush	Taiwan Jones
Base 4-3 Defense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LDE	Lamar Houston	Trevor Scott
LDT	Richard Seymour	Stephen Paea
RDT	Tommy Kelly	John Henderson
RDE	M. Shaughnessy	Jarvis Moss
WLB	Aaron Curry	Quentin Groves
MLB	Rolando McClain	Darryl Blackstock
SLB	Kamerion Wimbley
CB	Stanford Routt	Chris Johnson	D. Van ****	Chimdi Chekwa
SS	Tyvon Branch	Michael Mitchell
FS	Michael Huff	Matt Giordano
Special Teams
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
K	Sebastian Janikowski
P	Shane Lechler
PR	Taiwan Jones	Denarius Moore
KR	Jacoby Ford	Taiwan Jones

Raiders Scout Linebackers and Defensive Backs

Posted on December 3, 2011 at 02:40 AM.

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The Raiders took a look at more defensive players with this round of scouting before week 5's game with the Texans.

Right now, the highest kid on the team's early draft board is SS Blake Miller, currently playing college ball at Stanford. Miller has quite the dynamic skill set for a strong safety. Scouts already rate his hit power at 99, which is something the team will like as they look to build a physically intimidating defense.

However, what also attracts the team's attention is his pass rushing. Strong safeties are usually good at blitzing, but Miller looks like he could engage a blocker and beat him. He has perhaps average pass rush moves, but with honing at that NFL level, he might end up shining in this capacity. He even has a decent ability at impact blocking, perhaps making him a special teams asset on returns.

Another kid topping the charts is MLB Sam Keller from Rice. Not as much is known about him as there is about Miller, but what is known is that Keller is another hard hitter. The lack of information about his overall skill set and his projected draft round, 5th round at this early stage, is making the team somewhat cautious about this kid, but he's sure to get more looks later on in the process.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Drops, Wasted Opportunities Cost Raiders In 20-18 Loss

Posted on December 1, 2011 at 02:36 AM.

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The Raiders defense really showed up in this game. For the longest, they held down Brady and the Patriots to just a couple field goals. They even picked off two Brady passes before he threw his first TD pass.

However, the offense continually stalled in the red zone, sometimes even inside the five yard line.

Then later...the drops occurred.

The receivers betrayed their QB with drop after drop as the defense kept the game in reach though the Patriots were starting to get into rhythm.

However, with 3 minutes left, the receivers started catching passes and the team moved down the field. McFadden got things started by holding on to the ball on some passes over the middle, then Ford and Bey got in the mix. Denarius Moore made a catch and a couple nifty moves to get tackled at the one yard line. A couple plays later, Moore caught a one yard pass to make the score 20-18.

With only 32 seconds left, the team went for two. Palmer found an open man in the front of the end zone, but, perhaps fittingly, Boss, the most reliable receiver up to this point with 7 catches and 101 yds receiving, dropped the pass that would have likely forced overtime.

The Raiders failed the onside kick and that was the ballgame.

Palmer threw 53 passes, something the team didn't want to have to do. Of course, if the TEN drops hadn't happened, Palmer would have had a great day to show for it. McFadden was strong again, picking up over 120 yds on the ground and tacking on some more as a receiver. Janikowski was 4 for 4 in FG attempts.

The loss drops the Raiders to 1-3. The team faces the 2-2 Texans next.

Injury Report:
The team lost two players to injury, both relatively serious. Rolando McClain will miss the next 5 weeks with a broken collarbone. Lamarr Houston will miss 6 weeks with a torn tricep. The team will not place him on injured reserve.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Oakland Gets First Win 25-13 over Jets..or was it 31-13?

Posted on November 27, 2011 at 04:41 AM.

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After two bad games, the team was all cold, basically.

But the defense stepped up and harassed the Jets while the offense wasted a lot of opportunities for TD, settling for just FGs.

Final score was 25-13...

Or was it?

Scoring summary says we won 31-13. Late in the game, McFadden had a 51 yd run to ice the game, and he got pushed out at the "1-inch line".

But the scoring summary said that was a TD. It certainly LOOKED like a TD. But since it was inside of 2:00, I couldn't challenge and since it wasn't a scoring play, it didn't get reviewed.

So is this the game admitting it cheated on me?

In any rate, McFadden broke the 200 yd mark. Palmer was efficient for once, even in the face of those Jets blitzes, and Oakland gets a win.

Notes:
Chekwa got his first INT in the game... That was the only turnover until Palmer fumbled on a scramble early in the 4th quarter, ruining a chance for the team to extend the lead...Janikowski made 4 of 5 FG, missing from 55 yards wide right.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Beginning the Climb Upward

Posted on November 24, 2011 at 04:36 AM.

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(This is a 1-team franchise, I have other 32-team franchises, so I need one that's more hands-off due to time and situation constraints. Will also be uncapped, to see if the game AI manages teams better without having to worry about money)

The Raiders are finally treading water. They are no longer a totally desperate team that's looking to get out of the depths, but are now a team looking to go forward.

However, with a new GM, the team is in a state of uncertainty. How will the new GM take things from here. Rumors are that this new blood loves defense.

"I want to make the team a defense to be feared, a team that might actually scare opposing offenses," KB spoke.

Reports are that will begin with the linebackers as KB is noted for being a lover of linebacker play and making them the anchor of the entire defensive scheme. Scouts have mentioned that KB has spent a lot of time with the linebackers coaches already and taking a long look at McClain during training camp.

"I want to see if he's our middle linebacker, or perhaps he's better suited for the outside and we need to bring in new players out of the draft. He'll have every chance to prove we should make him the captain of the defense, " GM KB spoke.

Offensively, KB is a big supporter of the HB corps, except perhaps Cartwright, as well as the run-first mentality of the team. There is speculation that he is high on Pryor as well and the team may start him to see if they can't work some offense with him. Should he start, he'd be on a very short leash with Campbell and Palmer around.

Previous management paid blood for Palmer, but KB loves quarterbacks that can move around and potential pick up yards with their legs. Still, though, Pryor might prove too raw to make use of the receivers on the team.

"Unless he wants to 'Tebow it', Pryor would be a bad choice. Go with Palmer or Campbell if he likes mobility that much, " one analyst commented.

One thing is for certain, Boller is already gone. Some say Boller was the first player he talked to...and let go.

The preseason is underway, and soon, it will be first Sunday in which the games count.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Halfbacks do it all against Seahawks. Win 27-7

Posted on September 21, 2011 at 03:03 PM.

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This time, the pass attack was actually something resembling decent. Campbell still didn't have a wonderful day - in fact, he only threw 18 passes.

Most of the offense went through the halfbacks, especially McFadden and rookie Taiwan Jones. Campbell's two touchdown passes came via the halfbacks.

The first was a pass to Taiwan Jones on a release from the backfield. Jones found a clearing in the middle of the field and Campbell led him into the end zone with the 10 yd pass.

The second was a screen to McFadden that took the distance for the score. Seattle got caught in a blitz and the man that was covering McFadden got blocked to start the screen off and running.

McFadden was having a tough day, but then he found room on the outside as the defense may have been wearing down late in the third quarter. McFadden took the stretch play and found room. He made a defender miss and out ran the pursuit to the end zone.

Raiders played conservative offense after that, content mostly to run the ball for first downs and punt when they couldn't convert. Seahawks got on the board when Leon Washington caught the defense playing pass and scooted in for the 15 yd TD run.

This closes the preseason at 3-1 for Oakland, but signs of concern linger. The pass game is very inconsistent and the defense looks like it will struggle in stopping the pass. Getting pressure will have to come from the front four, and it did in the last preseason game, but it didn't happen against the Saints in the first half.

Ford, McFadden carry the day. Win 24-12

Posted on September 21, 2011 at 02:53 PM.

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The passing game again looked bad.

Except for two plays to Jacoby Ford. Campbell found Ford for a 16 yd touchdown pass in the 2nd quarter.

Then in the third, Terrell Pryor found Ford again, this time for 25 yd and a score.

Mixed in with this was a big day for McFadden, capped with a 70-yd TD run.

The pass defense didn't exactly stop Brees in the first half, as he went 13 for 21 with 175 yds passing in the half, but the team came up with enough stops to keep them out of the end zone.