Alright…. this has gone too far. It’s gone too far, and we’re not even to the NBC Sunday night game. But this Matt Dodge kid is getting thrown under the bus pretty hard today. At some point during both Jets-Steelers and Raiders-Broncos, the CBS coverage crews were dumping on him pretty hard. Now, ESPN Sportsnation is getting a few kicks in with their latest poll. Who do you blame more, the Giants defense or MATT DODGE? Do we really believe he was told deliberately not to punt to Desean Jackson, and he just munsoned it? I’ve got to give him more credit than that. This one’s on the coaches if you ask me. In every operation, you’ve got people in charge of making decisions, and it’s their job to put certain people in the right situations. If you’re getting paid to run the show, then you should probably make a point to make sure your punter knows to not punt to Jackson. It’s just a simple lack of preparation. We all do it, but damn, they’re really letting this kid take the fall for it this time. Just because he’s the league leader in blocked punts doesn’t mean he’s an idiot. Not sure why I’m defending this guy – I’d never even heard of him before today. The Legend of Michael Vick just grew a whole nother chapter though…..
Which makes me want to weigh in, for the first time really, on Michael Vick. Chris Berman said (overdramatically) that players didn’t want to let Vick down. This is true because a lot of players could have been dragged down with him, but he basically took the fall for the whole league. He didn’t run a dogfighting ring; he bred dogs. He bred them and sold them to his colleagues. Naturally they wanted badass dogs that could fight and his business evolved. He made some costly decisions, but in the end, he took the fall for a lot of other people’s actions – and never threw anyone under the bus in the process. As a result, the majority of the NFL is going out their way to have his back in return for him having theirs. If there is a way for the Eagles to play in Atlanta against the Falcons in the playoffs, sign me up. That’s looking like the likely NFC Championship game right now.
In West Coast news, Tim Tebow made his first NFL start – in Oakland. The most Christian player in the league has to make his debut in the Black Hole, with demons and skeletons everywhere. It brought a smile to my face last night when I heard the news he was getting the start. Much to my delight, the Raiders pulled away in the second half and came away with a 39-23 win. That’s a total of 98 points on the Broncos this year in two games. Shanahan would’ve never stood for this, but he’s got his own share of problems right now. As for the Raiders, they’ll host the Colts next week, in a game that’s unfortunately important for Indianapolis. Oakland is now 2 games back with two to play. The upside is that they’re really only one game back from a winner-take-all showdown in Kansas City. The possibility of the Chiefs losing to Tennessee just got a little more promising today with the Titans showing signs of life and beating Houston. The Colts game is one the Raiders really have no business winning, but it makes the game worth watching, and those are two words I haven’t used to describe a Week 16 Raiders game in a long time.
I don’t really have any analysis on the game, since I was busy putting up Christmas lights at my parents’ house, but what a win for the Silver and Black today! I really didn’t see much hope for the Raiders to sweep the season series against a San Diego team that hadn’t lost in December since Philip Rivers became the most maligned player in the NFL, so I didn’t go out of my way to catch. I’ve wasted too many Sundays watching games like the ones against Miami and Pittsburgh. A December showdown AT San Diego didn’t really seem like one worth catching. But alas, the GOOD Raiders showed up once again and dominated the Chargers en route to a 4-0 division record – for the first time since 1990, which could prove huge with Kansas City leading the way just two games ahead. The two teams still have a matchup looming on the schedule. All I know is, being in the hunt at 6-6 this late in the season may be the best thing going for an Oakland fan these days. Even if they end 6-10, you can’t take away the fact that they won both games against the team that had won the division for the last I-don’t-know-how-many years.
Richard Seymour was fined $25,000 today by the NFL for his open hand punch to the face of Ben Roethlisberger. I’m still trying to decide how I feel about this. I mean, obviously the $25k fine is whatever, (for someone on an NFL salary of course, not me) but what does this mean in my conflicted struggle to like Seymour? The Raiders have brought in their share of players that took me a while to warm up to, but nothing close to to when they acquired him last year. First, Seymour played in the Tuck Rule game, so that’s reason enough to hate him right there. But he also went on to win multiple Super Bowl titles with the Patriots. Add to that, he’s widely considered the dirtiest player in the league. And furthermore, he seemed, or at least was portrayed to be, hesitant to leave New England and join a loser in Oakland, and perhaps rightfully so.
This season, he’s seemed like a catalyst for a team that’s finally turning it around. He was giving 100% and guys were feeding on that. I might even say off the record that he and Tommy Kelly are the best tandem in the NFL at defensive tackle. It feels like if Seymour is in the game, the Raiders are in the game. On Sunday, though, it looked as though Seymour gave up. He realized they were no match for the Steelers and didn’t want to stick around to see the end of it. Felt symbolic of the game as a whole, let’s just hope not for the season.
On the other hand, I might like the guy a whole lot more now. Though Roethlisberger has a pretty good reputation despite possibly raping an ugly girl, I got some gratitude out seeing him get clocked in the face. It looked like he was flopping when he went to the ground, but they did show a quick shot of a trainer checking him out looking pretty concerned that he took a solid shot. What I really want to know is what Big Ben said. That’s the key evidence I need to see to make my decision here. I don’t buy the “Let’s get ready for the extra point” line. Anyone know what he really said?
It’s taken me a little while to collect my thoughts on the Raiders game, and I probably wasn’t coherent enough to write about it last night. All I keep thinking is, “I can’t believe they didn’t give up.” The first half was REALLY hard for me to watch, and I honestly thought they were about to get reamed worse than I did on the tables this weekend. It looked like Jamarcus threw on a #8 jersey and led the passing attack to 9 yards, but no, that was Campbell’s first half total. His throws were hitting feet and going over receiver’s heads, which made me think we didn’t have a shot. The refs weren’t helping much either botching calls, and making this game pretty stagnant when they couldn’t even figure out why they threw flags in the first place. The Chiefs first touchdown was the direct result of a pass interference call that the Raiders CB, Chris Johnson nearly intercepted. He had his head turned, beat the receiver to the ball, and for some reason there was still a 37 yard PI called. I’m still mad about that call. There were numerous curious calls in the first half that seemed to go against the Raiders a lot, and they were very fortunate to only be down 10-0 at the half. I thought they’d give up with all the bad luck they had, and would lose some confidence when there were some very questionable play selections like a McFadden pass into triple coverage, and a Rock Cartwright run on a punt fake on a 4th and 6, but they didn’t!
Then the second half started, and so did Jacoby Ford’s breakout party. I remember back when I wrote about the draft I thought he’d be a great return man, and yesterday he showed exactly how great he could be. I have no regrets handing over Kirk Morrison for the draft pick where we grabbed him. I thought he was somewhat one dimensional, but yesterday he showed everyone he might not only be a great kick returner, but he could be their best receiver we have. He sure was yesterday catching 168 of Jason Campbell’s 180 total yards passing including the catches that set up the tie in regulation and win in overtime. I’m not going to expect Ford to put up a performance to match this one anytime soon, but it makes me want to see him on the field A LOT more.
The other great thing about our offense yesterday was Darren McFadden. No, he didn’t have that amazing of a game (17 carries 89 yards), but he looked like a man possessed when he had the ball. I’d never really seen him looking for contact the he was yesterday. Any defender that came close to him he loaded up to either dish a hit or he tossed them aside with a stiff arm. I think all of his yards yesterday might have come after contact, okay, probably not all of them, but I’ll guesstimate over 50% of them.
None of the field goals or great plays by Ford would’ve mattered had it not been for our defense. We didn’t even have the services of the best corner in the league (Nnamdi) who sidelined with a high ankle sprain. We lost middle linebacker Rolando McClain early in the 2nd quarter. We lost starting safety Tyvon Branch early in the third quarter, but none of that mattered as the game progressed. Richard Seymour led the D-line, and completely suffocated the number one rushing offense in the NFL. Our defense also forced two turnovers against a Chiefs team that only has turned the ball over four times all season long with one coming in the redzone, and the other from sure handed Thomas Jones. The bye week couldn’t come at a better time having a few guys get dinged up. Hopefully Gradkowski will be back as well in Week 10. I just find it amazing that I care about this team half way through the year! Even if they don’t win the division, they have already shown that they want to win baby!
Yes, the Oakland Raiders finally can say they’ve won two in a row. It predates Doin Work’s existence, and is the first time that it’s happened since 2008 when Jamarcus made us think he was improving. This time it’s much different though as we are actually in the divisional race. We’ve looked good on both sides of the ball, and I think the guys are finally starting to believe they can win. McFadden finally has decided to be one of those elite backs we were all hoping he would be. Yesterday was the first time we’ve put up 500 yards of offense since 2002 when we had Gannon. It’s also the first time we’ve had fantasy relevant players! Heyward-Bey finally got over the century mark in receiving yards for a game, and scored his second career TD. Our defense has been sacking QB’s at an amazing rate, and already have 24 on the season witch is good enough to tie the Giants for third in the league. They are ranked 9th in defense overall, and getting pressure on the QB has helped the not as good corner opposite Nnamdi look a little better. The offense hasn’t been explosive per say, but just efficient enough, and chewing up enough clock to keep our defense from being tired like they were at the end of every game last year. That has been the biggest difference this year by a long shot. It feels foreign to me to see them actually improving from week to week instead of improving then regressing. I’m happy to say that my prediction for them making the AFC Championship game is still alive 8 weeks in. This weekend we have a huge divisional match up for what could be a factor in deciding the division as they take on the first place Chiefs. Thankfully this match up is at home and is supposedly sold out, so it should be on TV for once! Another thing I’m starting to love about these wins is it’s pissing off Patriots fans because they see their possibilities of having a top ten pick next year dwindle by the week!
Watching lots of NBA action, and I forgot about a team in the West…
Since we are all blessed with the NBA League pass for the first week of the season for free, I ended up seeing quite a few teams that I normally don’t get to see much since they aren’t contenders or in a big market. A few teams impressed me like Indiana, Portland, New Orleans, and Sacramento, but one team made more of an impression on me for some reason was the Memphis Grizzlies. Are they actually a good team? Memphis was nearly .500 last year, but I wasn’t really sure if they were a “good” close to .500 team or a “lucky” close to .500 team, since I didn’t get to see them play much. I watched good portions of them beating Dallas and Minnesota over the weekend, and have to say that this team actually has some solid potential. They got 22 steals against Minnesota, and pretty much dominated them. Dallas they snuck away with a victory, but got the W nonetheless. This team is very young, but they have all their starting spots filled with quality guys that are just entering their 2nd or 3rd seasons. Even though I don’t see any of them being superstars, much like OKC they have a solid core of young talent that likes playing with eachother. Everyone knocks Rudy Gay, but the guy was clutch against Dallas, and if they have a closer, they already have more than some teams. OJ Mayo is a great scorer. He’s not as exciting as I originally thought he’d be coming out of college, but he can fill up the cup. Marc Gasol is improving about as fast as his older brother did. Mike Conley is shockingly better than I thought he’d be when he was playing at Ohio State. Darell Arthur seems to be a great glue guy who you don’t have to run plays for but still finds a way to chip in 15 on any given night, and is filling in admirably for Zach Randolph nursing his tailbone. Their bench isn’t all that exciting, and may hold this team back, but just based off the starting five, they are pretty solid.
World Series Ratings
Yes, we get it, the World Series ratings are extremely low. So what if it means more people would rather watch a regular season matchup of either MIN/NYJ or PIT/NO. Does that influence me to watch those games over the WS? Not really, I still took in the fall classic, because I’m intrigued by the teams and storylines. I think this once again proves that the Eastcoast media bias has too strong of a hold on what were supposed to care about. Just because it’s non-Eastcoast teams we are lead to believe that we aren’t supposed to care about it. If you like baseball, why wouldn’t you be into the WS? I for one find the most important games of a sport that I watched for 7 months more intriguing than football games midway through the regular season… I think the problem with the ratings is more that far more people like football, its just a fact. If baseball had half of the football audience, and everyone didn’t hate listening to Joe Buck, I’m sure they’d have higher ratings. If Lincecum vs. Lee doesn’t get you excited, then you probably aren’t a baseball fan.
It wasn’t quite as exciting as the home win over San Diego two weeks ago, but it sure was nice to see the Raiders hang 59 points of the Broncos at Mile High. They’re lucky to get 59 points in four games, let alone four quarters. The Raiders got on the board quick with a 43 yard touchdown pass from Jason Campbell to a wide open Zach Miller. Right about at that point I realized, WE HAVE A GAME. It’s a great feeling that a Raider fan only gets to experience three or four times a year. You never know when they’re going to show up. Even if you try to guess when they will, they definitely won’t. So today when I saw Campbell and Miller connect on their opening drive touchdown, I decided I’d better knock out my weekly Sunday chores now rather than wait till the second half when the Raiders are long out of it. I bounced out to the garage for what seemed like 5 minutes to vacuum my car, and when I came back in, it was 21-0! Fortunately, they weren’t done, so I got to see the next 38 points that followed. It was bittersweet that Darren McFadden’s four touchdowns went to my fantasy opponent, but for a win like this, I’ll take it. At least he had Kyle Orton… Anyway, now that the Raiders sit firmly in second place, just 1.5 games back of division leader Kansas City, it’s time for one of those can the Raiders be a playoff contender? Let’s predict their win-loss record game by game for the rest of the season and see where they end up deals…
Wk 7: @Denver. 59-14 Win. (3-4) The best Raiders performance of the last 7 seasons gives them a 2-0 record in the division.
Wk 8: Seattle. 13-24 Loss. (3-5) Seattle realizes it’s suddenly 4-2 and in the driver’s seat in the NFC West and decides to make a run at it.
Wk 9: Kansas City. 10-35 Loss. (3-6) The Chiefs continue with an easy schedule by cruising through Buffalo and have the division in their back pocket.
Wk 10: BYE (3-6) A tough matchup, but it’s usually the one week the Raiders never lose.
Wk 11: @Pittsburgh. 3-35 Loss. (3-7) Not sure how you manage to draw the Steelers in Pittsburgh two years in a row, but probably not gonna win two in a row.
Wk 12: Miami. 24-28 Loss. (3-8) Oakland’s had a tough time with Miami, only winning once this decade in the regular season. There was a shutout playoff victory in there.
Wk 13: @San Diego. 6-27 Loss. (3-9) I should’ve known they weren’t gonna be able to pull it off twice in a row.
Wk 14: @Jacksonville. 30-13 Win. (4-9) Ah, finally a game against a bad team. That always helps remind the Raiders they can be good.
Wk 15: Denver. 34-42 Loss. (4-10) The Broncos avenge their week 7 massacre behind three rushing TDs for Tim Tebow.
Wk 16: Indianapolis. 9-38 Loss. (4-11) The Colts are fighting for a playoff spot and the Raiders are downward spiraling into draft position. This can’t end well.
Wk 17: @Kansas City. 17-13 Win. (5-11) With the division sewn up, the Chiefs rest their starters and Oakland withstands a late game drive by Brodie Croyle to lock up another 5-11 season for Tom Cable.
Call me a pessimist if you must, just call me right when the season is over.
It’s been a looong time since the Raiders have beaten the Chargers. So long that I couldn’t even remember the last time I was able to talk sh** to my Chargers friends, and one of the reasons I picked the Chargers to piss on our rug in Week 5, but amazingly that didn’t happen! I guess I was just used to it, and even turned down the offer to go see this game live with MCeezy, because I figured I’d just be disappointed if I went. Their losing streak to the Chargers has gone longer than I’ve lived in Socal (6 years), and it was great to fire out those texts immediately following the game for once instead of just receiving them, and responding with something along the lines of “Congratulations, that was a shocker”. For the past decade the Chargers were the white unicorn that always seemed to get away. Yesterday with some improbable special teams plays, and just enough offense we outlasted that lightning bolt of a unicorn. It was kind of like how the Chiefs beat the Chargers on that opening Monday night game. Were the Raiders the best team on the field yesterday? Probably not, but they showed for the first time that they can close out a game, and will play the entire 60 minutes. Aside from week one, the best thing I’ve seen about this season is that they don’t give up even when they have some bad breaks that don’t go their way, a far cry from teams past. They actually seem to care, which might even make Raider Nation come back out for the home games and maybe save them from a blackout or two! How can I say the Nation is back? We had some high expectations for improvement this year (like me predicting a AFC Championship appearance), but there was one moment yesterday when I knew the fans had turned. Instead of booing the Raiders off the field they decided to throw stuff at Rivers all game long from the stands! That’s the classy way I remember the Raider Nation behaving, and I couldn’t have been more proud that they were doing it to Phillip cry me a river!
Why did the Raiders finally win this year against the Chargers? Aside from having some breaks go their way (blocked punts, Rivers fumble not being called a pass in a correct ruling of the tuck rule), but I believe the true reason was because they didn’t have LT. Tomlinson would always torch us to the tune of 150 yards, and two or three TD’s every time he played against Oakland. I know that LT went over 200 yards rushing against us on many occasions. LT always had an extra spring in his step when he faced the Raiders. This year is different though for the Chargers, they need to throw the ball way more than even their norm (which was a lot). Ryan Matthews was their leading rusher with 59 yards on 9 carries yesterday!?! They had the lead for nearly all the second half, and their top rusher only had 9 carries!?! Tolbert had 12 carries for 11 yards, but when you’re ahead don’t you think one of those guys should hit the 20’s in carries? As sweet as their passing game may be, they need someone to get some yards on the ground. Matthews might be good, but this year the Chargers are truly missing their running game of years past. Norv, should worry that Rivers arm might fall off throwing it 50 times a game. I’m happy they managed to pull out that win, and it’s a good sign of things to come as they fell just short against Houston and Arizona, so the way I see it the Raiders really are on the rise, and any rise is better than none. Who knows, now that the Chargers are 0-2 in the division, maybe the Raiders have a shot at the playoffs. With all the parody in this league, anything can happen, even at 2-3.
Friday’s aren’t always all that busy at work, and we had some time to break down the AFC West between a Chargers, Broncos, and Raiders fan.
Cali4Dre: So I was looking at the Chiefs schedule the rest of the way, here’s what it looks like with my assumptions highlighted (green=win, red=loss, yellow=too close to call). My apologies to Oakland for not giving them a chance in their two games, and to Denver for calling their home game too close to call I gave the Chargers the win at home because their loss in week one was on the road, and they still had a chance to win on the final drive of that fluky, stormy game.
I can easily see them winning at least 9 games, and if the split the yellow ones it looks more like an easy 11 win season. Pretty scary for the Chargers and Broncos, they have to be fairly perfect clean the rest of the way to keep up cause it looks like the Chiefs will be 6-2 going into the second week of Nov…
After Sunday’s game against the Colts, the Chiefs play only two more games against teams that were in the playoffs in 2009
Chiefs’ Remaining 2010 Schedule
Date
Opponent
Sunday, Oct. 10
at Indianapolis
Sunday, Oct. 17
at Houston
Sunday, Oct. 24
Jacksonville
Sunday, Oct. 31
Buffalo
Sunday, Nov. 7
at Oakland
Sunday, Nov. 14
at Denver
Sunday, Nov. 21
Arizona (Changed to Win)
Sunday, Nov. 28
at Seattle
Sunday, Dec. 5
Denver
Sunday, Dec. 12
at San Diego
Sunday, Dec. 19
at St. Louis
Sunday, Dec. 26
Tennessee
Sunday, Jan. 2
Oakland
Chappy: You have them losing to AZ!?! I guess you’re a Max hall/BYU fan…
I guess of anyone, I wouldn’t mind the Chiefs taking the division, kinda like me rooting for the Rangers to take the AL West this year…
It’s funny at the beginning of the year I chalked up the Chief’s games as wins for Oakland, but now I’d question any game they play as a win.
Comstock: tough day at work, huh?
I think it’s a little premature to say this team will win 10 games, as their 3 wins have come in the MNF “fluke,” pulling out a late win vs. a not very good Cleveland team, and blowing out a grossly overrated Niners team at home. we’ll find out a lot about how good this team really is with 2 significant road tests in a row.
BUT they should beat Arizona at home…it’s safe to say after 4 weeks that team sucks.
Cali4Dre: Sorry guys, I did mean to put the Arizona game in green… my bad. So if that’s the case, then they will definitely finish above .500???
Comstock: I can get down with that…they may not turn out to be a playoff team, but the turnaround is definitely well under way.
Chappy: I have my doubts that they will for sure be over .500, because didn’t the Broncos start 6-0 or something like that last year?!? That didn’t turn out so well…
Cali4Dre: With all the parity this year, such as the Colts not looking so dominant and owning the South division spot, there is a definite possibility that two teams will come out of the West this year… Continue reading
Looks like we both need to re-evaluate how we are making these picks. We got one right out of ten last week, setting the lowest week total of wins since I’ve started doing this. Just like New Orleans picked itself up after Hurricane Katrina, we will have to do the same. We just need to hope that this turnaround happens a little faster than the real life one. This losing streak is showing me that no matter how much you think you know going into a game, you don’t really know crap compared to those lines makers. Just like the Geek and Sammy we have proven that we are good a pickin losers so far. It can’t be this bad for the rest of the year can it!?! I doubt it, so on to the picks.
What is the writing equivalent to being so ashamed, that you can’t even show your face in public? Would it be, being so ashamed that you wouldn’t want to let anyone read your words? Because that is how I feel after three consecutive, embarrassing weeks of football picks. If you fancy my words, or my humor, or perhaps lack there of, I appreciate your loyalty to me. But please, I beg of you, please do not read my picks for … *gasp* my picks. After going 1/5 last week, it absolutely dawned on me. I suck at this. I suck at this bad. Do I give up? No. But I am not cruel enough to wish bad upon our readers, so I hope you all either run as far away as you can from my picks, or simply pick the opposite. My picks should have yellow caution tape surrounding them. With that said, here are this week’s losers …
Last Week (Chappy 0-5, By 1-4) Overall (Chappy 8-14-1, By 6-12-2)
Week one didn’t go bad, but it didn’t go all that well either. I went a less than impressive (2-3-1), while By kept it mediocre with a 2-2 start. Now that we’ve seen a whole week of football action, we are experts and shouldn’t miss another pick for the rest of the year, right!?! I’m still shocked that By called that Texans game. I actually could see the Colts winning the next nine games without anyone noticing. I don’t buy TMQ’s argument that this is Armageddon because the Texans won, but do agree it would be hilarious if Houston ended up playing in the Super Bowl in Jerry Jones billion dollar stadium. Anyways, this should be another fun week, and I’m excited to win the money back that I lost in week one, so here are our picks for week 2!
What a roller coaster opening week for me. I hit the ground running like a Chris Johnson breakaway, after my prediction of the Texans upsetting the Colts came true. I began imagining myself hoisting up the “I Told You So” trophy after that one. Unfortunately that image shattered immediately, as the Houston/Indy game didn’t equate to the biggest upset of the day. The biggest upset of the day went to me. Because I was so damn upset at my 49ers! What a waste of one and a half hours of a beautiful Sunday afternoon. As you can guess, I stopped watching midway through. Anyway, to brighten up my mediocre week, let me just say, “How about ‘dem Cowboys, huh!?” I wanted to stay away from the Jets/Ravens game, but ultimately couldn’t resist. I originally wanted to take KC over SD, but couldn’t pull the trigger on another significant upset. Lesson learned, always go with the gut. But like Chappy said, we learned everything I needed to know about all the teams after the first week, and ala Vernon Davis, I predict we win on all of our picks the rest of the way! Continue reading
I was too disappointed to post something yesterday, plus my computer crapped out with some Trojan virus on Friday. I’m the one to blame for that since I didn’t ever buy one of those virus protectors…. Anyways, now that I’m a little bit more calm and collected, and at work with a working computer, I can actually assess what happened to the bay area teams. This was supposed to be the year of hope for both franchises, since their divisions suck, and they both made solid offseason moves, but in week one, they were huge disappointments having everyone in the bay saying nothing has changed. Neither team was in their game at the end of the half, which was very disturbing to see both of them give up on both sides of the ball when the game was out of hand. Usually you like to get a couple positives going for the next game during garbage time, but there wasn’t even much of that to draw any hope from. A grade of an F- for both of these franchises to start the season. Actually, I’ll give them an incomplete to start the year since they didn’t even finish all their assignments for week 1.
The Raiders had everything going for them coming into the game, even their “Taking it to them” t-shirts they wore all of training camp. The temperature was mild (77 degrees), and it was surprisingly un-humid in Tennessee. If it was humid, I can only imagine what the score could’ve been. The Raiders had a chance to pull within 14 at the end of the half, and chose to only be down by twenty after kicking a field goal instead. With the ball at the 15, and a yard to go on fourth down we really needed a touchdown. Cable’s fat ass called in the kicking unit, and it felt like we were mailing it in before the half. If we really wanted to be in this game, we don’t go for a field goal when the offense is struggling, and actually has the ball in the redzone for once. Three points wasn’t going give us that boost of confidence we needed going into the locker room. I would’ve been much happier seeing them go for it, and not get the first down, even if that meant we scored zero points on that possession. The most worrisome part of the day was easily the o-line. We couldn’t figure out the no name Tennessee defense. They knocked Campbell down every time he dropped back, and made me hesitantly think, maybe Jamarcus wasn’t completely the problem. Campbell’s line looked familiar for Raiders starting QB’s over the past few years two fumbles, one pick, and one garbage time TD. I might finally be jumping on the fire Cable bandwagon. He seems to have the respect of the players, but what the hell is wrong with our o-line. Isn’t that your specialty Tom!?! If you can’t get your team to be good at what you are supposed to be good at (former o-line coach), then how are you helping this team improve!?! He already gave up the offensive play calling to Hue Jackson, so shouldn’t he be more responsible for other things like coaching the offensive line. The one silver lining is that they played a Tennessee team that is supposed to be pretty good, and a team that was on fire to end last season. If they can’t show up against the Rams, I’m going to be very worried about this team. There was one part of the game that I found entertaining, the Titans mascot ate a cheerleader!
The 49ers had an even worse day than the Raiders. They couldn’t even get a touchdown, and looked terrible in every facet of the game against a team that both By and I predicted to having a good shot at that #1 pick next year in our Doin Lines picks. Coach Singletary thought it was a good “wake up” call for the team, and hopefully he’s right for their sake. If losing to the Seahawks isn’t a wake up call, then I don’t know what this team expects to do this year. Maybe their players were partying in the Castro District a little too much over the offseason and that made them soft, or maybe Vernon Davis is taking to curling more than football… Ok, ok, Vernon was one of the few guys that played well. Seattle played off their 12th man, and somehow looked like the 2007 Seahawks that were perennial playoff contenders. They do have a great home crowd, but the 49ers should’ve made this one at least a little close. It’s sad that they can’t even pin this all on Alex Smith, because every part of their game plan was executed poorly. The scariest part for the Niners is that this isn’t a good team, and preseason this was one of the games I had inked in a W. At least the Raiders got beat down by someone that has playoff aspirations. It’s only one game, but both of these teams have a lot to work on before they are considered anything near a playoff caliber team.
WARNING A BOLD PREDICTION IS IN PROGRESS! The Raiders will make it to the AFC Championship game in 2010. No, I’m not delusional like Al Davis, but this prediction comes because of fate and history. I’m happy to let you know that my fate, is to become a billionaire, and the Raiders fate this year, is to make it to the AFC Championship game. The Raiders are the team of the decades, and one reason they took to this name was because of their success at the beginning of each decade. The Raiders have made it to the AFC Championship game every year that ended in a zero since 1960. It means nothing what I predict or what the shortcomings of the team are, it’s just destiny. Continue reading
Here’s an e-mail forward I got from my mom, who was born and raised in Oakland…..
The coach had put together the perfect team for the Oakland Raiders The only thing that was missing was a good quarterback. He had scouted all the colleges and even the Canadian and European Leagues, but he couldn’t find a ringer who could ensure a Super Bowl win.
Then one night while watching CNN he saw a war-zone scene in Afghanistan . In one corner of the background, he spotted a young Afghan Muslim soldier with a truly incredible arm. He threw a hand-grenade straight into a 15th story window 100 yards away.
KABOOM!
He threw another hand-grenade 75 yards away, right into a chimney.
KA-BLOOEY!
Then he threw another at a passing car going 90 mph.
BULLS-EYE!
“I’ve got to get this guy!” Coach said to himself. “He has the perfect arm!”
So, he brings him to the States and teaches him the great game of football. And the Raiders go on to win the Super Bowl.
The young Afghan is hailed as the great hero of football, and when the coach asks him what he wants, all the young man wants is to call his mother.
“Mom,” he says into the phone, “I just won the Super Bowl!”
“I don’t want to talk to you, the old Muslim woman says.”You are not my son!”
“I don’t think you understand, Mother,” the young man pleads. “I’ve won the greatest sporting event in the world. I’m here among thousands of my adoring fans.”
“No! Let me tell you!” his mother retorts. “At this very moment, there are gunshots all around us. The neighborhood is a pile of rubble. Your two brothers were beaten within an inch of their lives last week, and I have to keep your sister in the house so she doesn’t get raped!” The old lady pauses, and then tearfully says,
“I will never forgive you for making us move to Oakland !!”
Our favorite Raiders quarterback of all-time is being sued/had a grievance filed against him by the Raiders for $9 million of the $39 million they wasted on him today. It’s a rough break for Russell, now he might have to return some of that ice he layered himself with. I think he might lose a little resale value on anything he put himself on, like this awesome diamond encrusted Jamarcus jersey. Before you know it he will be back to wearing his hippy cloak, and be on the huge list of athletes who have gone broke. It’s okay though, I hear McDonald’s doesn’t mind if you have a lazy work ethic, and occasionally fumble things in to the deep fryers. Too bad Al can’t devise some kind of lawsuit that would take back a million for every game he lost for them (7-18). I’d say he lost at least 15 of them. If you want to know about his highlights as a Raider yous can check out this post. For some reason I find this comical, because Al stood by the marshmellow man for so long, firing Kiffin, and making Cable play him, but now, Al decides to sue his ass! I’m sure there’s some warrant to the lawsuit or Al wouldn’t waste his time. This is one of the main reasons the NFL needs to change up the rookie pay scale for the first round draft picks. Maybe the new CBA will bring that for us. Anyways, one thing Al has been bad at lately is winning, except when it comes to court cases. He will drag them out, and whether the lawsuit is against a city or the NFL, or a player, he usually wins. My advice to Jamarcus, just give it back or you’re going to spend more fighting to get it back, and have to pay Al at the end of the day anyways! Actually, maybe he doesn’t even have $9 million to give back…
Well it’s finally been announced that the Raiders will give in and cut JaMarcus Russell. As Cali4Dre said, “they paid him $5 1/2M per win.” He was paid in excess of $39M, and will likely go down as one of the biggest draft busts of all time. It’s awesome that Al decided to do this, it took him a long time, but he is old, so I forgive him for moving slow. I was actually kind of scared that when Jamarcus was told he was being cut, he might have eaten Mr. Davis, and that was why it took so long. Anyways, the writing was on the wall for awhile, and it was surprising that it took Al this long to realize it. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t listen to anyone. Maybe he is starting to listen, because he had a sane draft, and seems to be making some quality moves. I just hope this isn’t a Jack Cust with the A’s, and they end up signing JaMarcus back on for a discount. He’s wasted too much of our time to ever have him wear the silver and black again. Maybe he’d be a good fit as a lineman in the CFL or maybe, just maybe, there is some team stupid enough to sign him. Whatever his future, I wanted to revisit his top moments in the silver and black.
The 2007 Holdout – Russell held out until week 2 of the 2007 regular season to sign his monstrous $68M ($31.5M guaranteed) six year contract. It was well worth the wait, for him that is. I remember wondering why it was taking so long to get a deal done, and Len Pasqurelli at the time said “the long holdout seems to have garnered Russell a very advantageous payout structure. Of course, it also cost him any opportunity to win the starting job in training camp.” What?!? He wanted to start!?! I had no idea! Continue reading
Which makes me want to weigh in, for the first time really, on Michael Vick. Chris Berman said (overdramatically) that players didn’t want to let Vick down. This is true because a lot of players could have been dragged down with him, but he basically took the fall for the whole league. He didn’t run a dogfighting ring; he bred dogs. He bred them and sold them to his colleagues. Naturally they wanted badass dogs that could fight and his business evolved. He made some costly decisions, but in the end, he took the fall for a lot of other people’s actions – and never threw anyone under the bus in the process. As a result, the majority of the NFL is going out their way to have his back in return for him having theirs. If there is a way for the Eagles to play in Atlanta against the Falcons in the playoffs, sign me up. That’s looking like the likely NFC Championship game right now.
of problems right now. As for the Raiders, they’ll host the Colts next week, in a game that’s unfortunately important for Indianapolis. Oakland is now 2 games back with two to play. The upside is that they’re really only one game back from a winner-take-all showdown in Kansas City. The possibility of the Chiefs losing to Tennessee just got a little more promising today with the Titans showing signs of life and beating Houston. The Colts game is one the Raiders really have no business winning, but it makes the game worth watching, and those are two words I haven’t used to describe a Week 16 Raiders game in a long time. 
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cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 