Raiders in the off season

[slive360]

As most of you all know Raiders replaced head Coach Tom Cable for Hue Jackson and his replacement at offensive coordinator is Al Saunder's who was probably one of the best offensive coaches available for grabs.

fat chunk directly underneath is about Tom Cable and Hue Jackson

Anyways for those who don't fully know what happened Tom Cable yes was the Head coach when the Raiders managed to get 8-8 the best the Raiders have done in a season since 2002, but Cable didn't call any offensive plays like he did during his earlier Head coaching years with the Raiders during last season, Hue Jackson was also looking for a head coaching Job, So what do you do if you was Al Davis? keep the head coach who wasn't the real reason why your team had its best season in almost a decade or lose the offensive coordinator that won you 8 games in a season in his 1st year with your team after years of your team losing streak....so did Al Davis pick badly no not really at least in my honest opinion you get 2 very talented offensive coaches and what did you lose a intern coach.

Lets start off bad news since I prefer the bad news first

Well first off course we lose Nnamdi Asomugha and we lost the fight for Zach miller to Seattle, lost what ever chance we had off getting Cromartie so we lost one our best corners ever and pro bowl tight end in just a few days

Somewhere around 15 players are injured including our star running back Darren Mcfadden, Jacoby Ford having the worst injuries Dmac has a broken orbit and ford broke his left hand.

Raiders were the most penalized team in the NFL last season and they have managed to get 7 officials to help them (quite literally throw the flags down) during practice to discipline the team.

Now the good news it would seem the Raiders are defiantly resigning our secondary RB Micheal Bush who was quite effective as a number 2 RB, Raiders recently manged to sign Kevin Boss (any Giants fan or someone who knows if he's any good) his stats with the Giants have been fairly consistent which I personally feel is a good thing, feels the void by Zach Miller's departure

Raiders have an interest in former Seattle LB Totapu (my gosh can't these players have simple last names) who if we manged to sign will most likely take the Lolb position from Quentin Groves who isn't the most instinctive LB in our defensive arsenal and i dunno about you but Totapu (that is how you spell his name right?) on the left and Mcclain in the middle with Wimbley on the right can be quite a force to face.

Denarius Moore a 5th round pick has been quite a surprise out performing his draft round in practice and which is to become expected with the Raiders with later draft picks especially in receivers in the last few years.

As for the void made by Nnamdi leaving we still have Standford Routt who has performed quite well for someone who gets the ball thrown his way more often then most number 2 corners last season and with Rod Woodson the former star Steelers Corner and the mentor of Nnamdi as DB coach the Raiders are quite likely to produce capable young corners and improve our veterans in next few years.

The Raider O-line was found wanting last season giving up over 40 sacks we have manged to get 2 rookies promising in their own aspects ones the nephew of a former Raider pro bowler and one just needs to put the effort in it, Raiders made some signing Jared Gaither (any Ravens fan about?) and others Stephon Heyer, Justin Smiley, Samson Satele and Seth Wand.

All in all the Raiders look like they are going in the right direction this off season compared to the past.

[BelieverInTeal]

Your leader, Al Davis needs to LET GO.

The Raiders had some marginal success last year but you know what? That was because he gave Cable control over the draft and various other personel moves. It doesn't help that they lost Miller and Asomugha but that's the nature of the business. It is up to the team to be able to draft or sign guys to provide depth for the team in case those guys lose and I doubt Big Al has a clue how to do that anymore. It's time he hired a real GM and stepped back from making personel decisions.

[slive360]

So your telling me you would keep Tom Cable and lose Hue Jackson so who will you have as offensive coordinator? and also don't forget it was Lane Kiffins/Tom Cable play calling that was holding Darren Mcfadden back.

Draft picks the only pick I see him having any influence on anyway was Rolondo McClain.

Tom Cable also was pretty much shuffling Bruce Gradkowski and Jason campbell about lead to a lot of inconsistency which probably pissed off everyone.

Tome Cable decided to keep Nick Miller as Punt returner without giving Jacoby Ford a shot.

Thomas Howard would of been a better Lolb then Quentin groves could of ever been yet he stayed sidelined.

from what I can tell he wasn't managing the team as greatly as he could of done.

Hue Jackson has took the mantle of head coach and the players are quite comfortable with him and only time will tell if he is better head coach compared to Tom Cable.

[BelieverInTeal]

I don't understand what you're saying about Tom Cable holding McFadden back. The Raiders also had a great back in Michael Bush and Justin Fargas the year before that and thus, they didn't have to go to McFadden 90% of the time like a traditional running attack. I don't have a problem with splitting carries with running backs or using McFadden as a slot receiever in certain formations.

From what I can tell the Raiders still need a QB. I don't think giving either of them more reps will do them any good. They need to draft a QB...and by draft I don't mean draft the best athlete or the guy with the biggest arm so they can keep the vertical passing offense. They need to build the offense around whoever it is they draft because their system of always looking for the deepest option first is not going to get them in the playoffs anymore.

If Jackson wanted to leave after last year if he didn't get the head coaching job, then that's his right. I don't understand why Cable had to be fired so he could be accomdated. Jackson might be a good QB developer but I'm not sure he should get all the credit and none of the blame for the success and failures of the offense last year. Yes, some bad playcalling led to some games that got blown last year (Jacksonville comes to mind) but I'm not sure who called those plays.

Sorry but it all goes back to Al Davis. No matter how bad Lane Kiffin, Tom Cable, etc. were you can't just hire head coach after head coach every two years. There needs to be more stability in the management. Second thing is, he's got to let people who know what they're doing dictate the style of offense and style of defense that the team wants to play and then ultimately let them decide what players to sign, trade or draft. Obviously that's not happening right now. If the Raiders want to keep propping up the whole "Committment to Excellence" slogan, they've got to show some committment to the guys that run the team so that they might have a chance at being excellent.

[slive360]

Actually Hue Jackson is doing precisely what you mentioned last he is building an offense he is creating a bully, for a QB coach the offense that is currently being built is quite balanced compared to our pass offense and rush offense our rush was by far the best it has been for some time especially when during most years when we do good or great we normally get less then 1500 rush yards. Hue Jackson also likes to use power running plays something that suits our running backs a lot better then passing the ball vertically especially when our O-Line was lacking greatly off course they went into a giant brick wall when facing the Steelers.

Jackson actually gets along with Al Davis a lot who is in fact letting have more freedom and influence over the team probably more then he did for Tom Cable.

Hue Jackson Im pretty sure took over playcalling on offense entirely for the season but the Jacksonville game was really a defensive woe due to our lacking in rush defense and also our ability to get penalized a lot which are both now being addressed; with new DB tactics that Rod Woodson will teach the DB to use and the help from officials.

Hue Jackson in Practice is also pushing the players a lot more harder then had done compared to last year turning them into a stronger team while also staying cautious and being extra careful with those already injured such as Dmac and Ford.

Jason Campbell is quite capable QB with decent back ups in Trent Edwards and Kyle Boller. Jason no longer has to learn a new playbook or get to know new teammates as much as he did last year.

[BelieverInTeal]

Then they should decide whether they want to win now or as I have suggested, start over from the ground up. Look, as good as Campbell might be, he's 30. The Raiders have some promising players like McFadden, like Ford and like McClain on defense but they are entering or have not yet reached their prime. Then you also have a bunch of guys who are like Campbell who are getting up there in age and are not going to be on the team in three, four, five years time if they choose to rebuild.

[slive360]

Campbell got like another 6-8 seasons to go before he reaches retiring and I don't see him going to another team unless he acts like a JaWarluss in that time frame.

our over 30 players are mostly veterans that have younger players surrounding them at their positions apart from WR. Their uses are as veteran mentors so I certainly don't see them rebuilding again anytime soon just because we are rebuilding and making use of our current veterans. Richard Seymour is pretty much the def captain and leader who is teaching the younger players such as Lamarr Houston the ropes, while we also have Rolando McClain who is already starting to become a defensive leader a mlb should be.

[guganation]

Who're the raiders going to start in place of Gallery? He was a bust at LT, but developed into a very good run blocker at G. I thought his play had a lot to do with the Raiders success running the ball last season.

[slive360]

the O-line starters are being disputed in practice with the coaches also experimenting with them as well.

Gallery probably was our best run blocker but his performance over the years with the raiders has been mediocre as a starter.

chances are when if healthy Bruce Campbell might take his spot instead or one of our recently signed players

[BelieverInTeal]

Campbell got like another 6-8 seasons to go before he reaches retiring and I don't see him going to another team unless he acts like a JaWarluss in that time frame.

our over 30 players are mostly veterans that have younger players surrounding them at their positions apart from WR. Their uses are as veteran mentors so I certainly don't see them rebuilding again anytime soon just because we are rebuilding and making use of our current veterans. Richard Seymour is pretty much the def captain and leader who is teaching the younger players such as Lamarr Houston the ropes, while we also have Rolando McClain who is already starting to become a defensive leader a mlb should be.

Still, he's 30 and he's not getting any younger. I would still draft the best QB available next year and build the team around him.

I don't agree that the Raiders are rebuilding though. I think that they've stuck in the worst position you can be in North American sports: not good enough to make the playoffs, not crappy enough to get a top pick. To use a more European term, they're "mid-table"...you know, they're not good enough to win the title but they're not so bad that they should get relegated to the USL I mentioned McClain, he looks like he's a good pick, but you can't always say that about the Raiders. Robert Gallery took some time to develope, and after finally finding a position for him to excel at, he's 31. Heyward-Bey was a mistake, Russell like you said was pretty dumb, Asomugh is gone, Huff sucks, Washington was a stiff...and I'm just thinking of their first round picks of late. They have to let the people who have a clue who to scout and have a clue about talent make the draft day decisions so that the rebuild will work successfully.