Them Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are a contending team this year. Correction with the right quarterback the Raiders are contenders.


Let us start with the good, that would be the defense. Did you see that Monday night game against the Chargers? They were dominating. Richard Seymour, Greg Ellis, Trevor Scott, Tommy Kelly and rookie from Harvard Desmond Bryant and all a force when working together on that line. Kirk Morrison, Thomas Howard, and Ricky Brown are one of the top 5 linebacking cores in the league when healthy and are extremely athletic. Nnamdi Asomugha is the best corner in the game period, he takes away half the field because no one wants to throw on him and fail. Chris Johnson is a great, almost outstanding number two corner, hopefully he keeps it up. And at safety they are young and fast, they could develop with continued good line play.

Now with the bad on defense. That line is pretty old and the tackles are kind of unproven. Playing next to Ellis and Seymour will help, they just need to stay healthy. Same with the linebackers they can be undisciplined and need to stay in good health. The corners are great, but past the starters there is nothing. They are in dire need of a nickle corner and more. Also the safety's could suffer from inconsistent play and not improve. Actually depth is a slight issue all over the defense period.

The good parts on offense. This team is tailor made for Jamarcus Russell. The receivers are speed demons and only getting better. They have a top 5 tight end and an amazing, amazing running game. This offensive line is playing together and fits the needs of the team. All of which can be effective against any defense in the league. Hell they even have great special teams play. Now the bad parts of this offense. That offensive line can be inconsistent as well. This is an obvious theme with the whole team, including the young speedy receivers. I don't see Javon Walker coming back and he is the only experienced wideout on the roster. They should really sign a possession guy like Matt Jones, but honestly even a Bobby Wade would suffice and help their receiving corps. As good as the run game is you can't run if you are down in a game and then that can hurt the receivers. Also I have to point out that even though Zach Miller is a great tight end, he can't do any good being under or over thrown!

But the biggest enigma, the biggest (and I mean biggest) hit or miss of the entire team is Jamarcus Russell. Arm strength can only get you so far kid. You need to be accurate and smart and make good, quick reads. Watching him, he seems content with wear he is as a player. He needs to want more, want to get smarter and throw an accurate ball. Instead of a staying a big, dumb, cannon armed punk. He'll kill this team, this is a year where they can strike and I don't see him developing what so ever.

posted by: Jason