Sunday, November 25, 2007

The Curse is broken!!!

It's about damn time!! I thought we would never beat a division rival. I'm glad we punched herm edwards and the chiefs in the mouth in their home stadium. I can't believe they challenged that spot on the ball, lost the challenge and a time out then went for it on 4th and 1. Bringing back memories of when we used to stomp herm edwards when he was coaching the jets in the Gannon days!!

For all you doubters out there, Janikowski is a stud. That 55 yarder he hit would have been good from 65. The only field goal he has missed since his horrible start (which were all 50+ or long tries from the dirt) was a 64 yarder that damn near went in. Huggybear is also a stud. He's starting to remind me of Charlie Garner, quick to the whole and powerful even though he is not huge. I still think they should have let go of Rhodes and activated Bush to see what we have in him. I think Kiffin should sit down and talk w/Jordan and put it to him straight-Fargas should be the featured back and bring in Jordan in relief. Kind of like we used to use Wheatley and Garner.

I know that we played the chiefs and they are not all that great, but damn does it feel good to win!! Fargas looked good, Culpepper looked good, Jerry Porter was awesome-he took some wicked hits . Some stats:

Culpepper 15-22 for 170 yds
Fargas- 22 carries for 139 yds (6.32 yds/carry)
Porter- 3 receptions for 75 yds.
Janikowski- 2 field goals 25yds/55yds

Our run defense still looks like crap-this is the seventh game this season we have allowed a runner to gain over one hundred yards. Let's see our defense resurrects careers-ron dayne and also launches them w/allowing rookies to run for 100+. Something tells me this is not just personnel but is something that can be helped schematically!! I don't know, with this win we may not get to see J Russ next week. Why would Kiffin start Russell over Culpepper now w/another win under his belt. Would you bench the only QB to win you a game? Enjoy this Raider Nation-this is by far the best game that we have played in the last 2 seasons!! Hopefully we can manage a few more wins this season so we have something to look forward to next season!!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Some of what we have riding the pine.....

Ok so some of the choices being made by the head honchos is not making too much sense to me right now. We got 2 guys Rhodes and Jordan who do not want to be here. We have another running back who is desperate to get off the PUP list and get on the field-Michael Bush. So we are getting mixed signals here. Kiffin or Davis is saying that Jordan or Rhodes are not good enough to contribute to us winning but they are good enough to not waive in order for them not to beat us???? WTF. So what if denver or kansas city picks them up. It's obvious that this season has Tidy Bowl written all over it. Let's see what we got.

I was never too happy w/Fargas up until this season. He has rode the pine for three years on a team that was going no where. But he has shown a lot this season. He has never complained and just waited. Now he is shining. If they end up keeping Fargas him and Bush will probably battle it out for #1 next season. They should have cut Rhodes or Jordan and Walter and signed Bush to the roster so they could access him for next season.

Here is a glimpse of what we have sitting on our practice squad......

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xhAY7F8Ly38

Some J Russ:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JuHXGVudSGw

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mx1iaBhEujY

Now I know he is a starter and doesn't really fit but accidentally found this clips of Kirk Morrison....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=O_qRa0C1w6s

Monday, November 12, 2007

Boooorrrriiiinnngggg!!

Yeah I'm with everyone else in that this team is starting to get boring as hell to watch. The Radiers and niners are starting to become mirror images of each other-Ok defense w/NO OFFENSE!! I just can't stand that everyone knows our pass game sucks ass- 1) Can't pass protect 2) Receivers can't get open 3) When the receivers manage to get open the QB's overthrow them and 3) When they finally get a catchable ball it goes through their hands. Damn Mr. Whited and Doug Gabriel ain't looking that bad anymore are they?The bears respected us so much that when we went 3 wide they didn't even break out their nickel package. That's how bad it has gotten.

The Raiders are again getting to be amongst the leaders amongst the league in pass defense. Going into the bears game they were ranked #3. Last year we were #1. I have come to a conclusion for this year as well as last years defense. The reason we rank so high in pass defense is because everyone runs against us. Besides this last game any running back that has been really bad this year or their whole career has turned into Walter Payton against us-LaDanian Tomlinson, Ron Dayne, Larry Johnson, Ronnie Brown, etc, etc. So guess what our defense is not that great, they are mediocre at best. They did play pretty good this last game though. They held the bears down until the very end. You could only ask a 4th stringer (Chris Carr) to do so much. Although I have been down on the defense most of this season, I was proud of our squad this week.

Special teams did an awesome job as well-Janikowski is kickin the crap out of the ball as is Leckler. And our coverage team!!! Way to fuckin go. We kept Mr Hester in check all game except for the one play that got called back for holding. I am glad someone go the balls (coach Kif) to kick to this guy.

So now hopefully the dolphins don't start winning because if the niners get the #1 pick, guess who gets it-new england!! And if we get it, we saw how this year went. All I could hope for is a #2,3,4 or 5 pick and grab a speedy receiver. If that is not possible would love for the Raiders to trade down and pick up some new talent on the O-line or package the pick w/a RB and grab Chad Johnson from the bungles. That is so freakin sad that it is November and already I'm looking toward the drat. I just want a damn descent season. I am not even asking for playoffs here, just get us to 5 or 6 wins so we have something to look forward and say "Yeah we are better than last year, an it's only gonna get better. Come on J Russ!!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Word on the street....

Is that this Sunday Jamarcus Russell will be listed as the 2nd string quarterback. I was listening to 1140 a.m. (it's as close to a Raider flagship that we are going to get at this point) and they regularly have Raider players mostly Miller the TE and they have Greg Poppa in the mornings. The host hinted to Russell being listed at #2 for Sundays game. When miller finally came on he asked him point blamk: "A little birdy told me that Jamarcus Russell will be listed as the #2 quarterback for Sunday against the bears. Is this true." Miller didn't deny it just said that Russell has been taking a lot of snaps in practice but that McCown definitely will start and has taken the majority of the snaps with the first team.

Although I definitely know that Russell will not make us winners this season I definitely know that he needs as much experience this year as possible to be able to make next year interesting. With the same system and continuity at quarterback and hopefully running back w/Bush, Fargas or Jordan back there I definitely know next year will be an improvement. I know I'm not in the locker room like the blogs from the Trib and shit like that but the guys that post comments on their blogs say some crazy shit!! The other day there was a comment like "the Raiders are 2 games out and they can win the division and make the playoffs!" WTF honestly in a way I don't even want to make the playoffs with the way we are playing this season, unless they did a complete turnaround and started blowing everyone away!!

OK so let me play GM for a minute. There is a lot of grumbling that Chad Johnson is on his way out of cinci. What do they need? A running back!! Guess what we have? 4 viable running backs. Guess what we need? A speedy wide out! I say we trade one of our running backs along w/Jerry Porter or Ronald Curry (preferably) to cinci for Chad Johnson. This guys has been a terror until this year although his first four games he was tearing it up!! It's a win win. If they want we could even throw in a second or third rounder. We need a speed wide out to stretch the defense.

Although I'm in the minority here I think the O-line will be better next year w/maybe a change or two. This is a position that doesn't come around overnight. YES I called the whole O-lin "A" position because in reality that's what it is. It's 5-6 guys that have to work as one. It takes time for them to meld together and start working as one. Remember the O-line from the 5-6 years ago. Lincoln Kennedy, Steve Wisniewski, Barret Robins, etc. They were together for a while before turning into something as great as they were. They are a way underrated O-Line in NFL history. They were AWESOMe. Don't know if you guys listen to KNBR but that whiny "Razor" is the biggest Raider and Al Davis hater ever BUT just the other day he called that generation of Raider offensive lines a "thing of beauty" and said he never seen anything like it.

Well whoever's making out to the game this Sunday-have fun, don't get too crazy and lay off McCown a little. It's not ALL his fault. As soon as my kids get a little older I will be buying season tickets for me and my son. Until then I'll stick to my 1-2 games a year. Damn I miss the days of going to just about every game!!