OK time for a first quarter Raider report since I never did do the initial one:
I give the Raiders a B-. Overall, the team has certainly improved since the horrific times of JaMarcus Russell. The defense is the biggest problem. Lack of pass rushing, not covering open receivers, getting beat on plays, all of this is happening way too often. I don’t know if it’s the players themselves and their lack of talent or if it’s the clear lack of discipline in their play. I think the defense in particular suffers from all the defensive penalties. It seems like every time they have a major defensive penalty, they then give up a big offensive play. And I think what’s happening is the defense just takes plays off. Why bust your ass when some fool on the defense is just going to get called for a penalty anyway? Hue Jackson must get discipline into the defense otherwise he and his team won’t be going to the playoffs this year. It’s just that simple. Without discipline it’s impossible to judge the actual talent they have on defense. I don’t know if he can do it, or how he’s going to do it, but it must be done. I’m not even going to discuss run defense and pass defense, it’s irrelevant until they get rid of the penalties.
The offense is basically in much better shape. They get called for far fewer penalties too. Jason Campbell (I and others call him Soup) is developing as a QB. Some say he manages a game and has no real talent, but I would disagree. First off, he was the 10th best QB last week and the 12th best this week, better than Phillip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger, and no one says they manage games. Yes, he hands off to McFadden, but that doesn’t necessarily diminish him as a QB. If Brady had McFadden or Adrian Peterson to hand off to, that wouldn’t change Brady as a QB so why should it change Soup?
Soup has thrown for more than 300 yards twice this year, both in losing causes (which at least one of can be pinned directly to the defense) and only has three INT’s. So I’m cautiously optimistic with him. They have an awesome receiving core which will only get better next year. This is the last year of guaranteed money for Heyward-Bey, which should result in either him getting cut or at least off the top of the WR depth chart. I can’t wait. Yesterday he missed a cut which resulted in the INT in the end zone. He dropped a ball that hit him right in the chest which would have resulted in a first down. He’s the worst WR they have without a doubt. If they got rid of him, Soup would get even better.
And of course our number one most awesome of awesomeness RB, Darren McFadden, otherwise known as Run DMC. Run DMC even has me rooting for Arkansas, an SEC team, I’m just that impressed with him:). Dude wants to play, he wants to run, and Hue Jackson let’s him do exactly that. I really see him as a great fit on this developing team. It’s always comforting for a team to know they have someone who can handle the ball, catch the ball and even do a little blocking if needed, particularly for the chaos that the Raiders team can be.
Nothing much needs to be said about the kicking game except that it kicks ass. It’s unfortunate that Seabass apparently chose to abuse a woman but he’ll pay the price and I would not be surprised to see him lose some games because of it. And our punter Lechler has surpassed the great Ray Guy in punting, something I would have thought impossible.
I pegged the Raiders at 9-7 at the start of the year and I really don’t see why they won’t get there. They might make a couple more games, or fall short by one but I really do think they’ll have a winning season finally. They have the parts, they just need the attention, focus and discipline to get over the losing hump.
*Oh and for the record I think the Raiders miss Woodson much more than they’ll ever miss Asomugha.
