Raider Nation Has Yet to See "Raider Ball"

Raider Nation Has Yet to See "Raider Ball"...and That's a Good Thing by Pat Cowan (Scribe) Written on September 01, 2009

45-7!
That
was the final score when the Raiders hosted the New Orleans Saints last
Saturday. Since that day, Raider Nation has been anything but positive.
There has been panic, anger, and even depression...over a preseason
game.
A preseason game?
So far what I have seen is a coach that
has used the preseason not to practice what the Raiders do well, but to
work on what they don't. To see this, one will have to look at every
preseason game.
En route to winning 31-10 against the Cowboys, the
Raiders rushed the ball 29 times for 127 yards and held the ball for 30
minutes. They also passed 37 times for 280 yards and totaled 457 yards.
Not bad, but the defensive line showed cracks during the game, yielding
176 yards.
In the next game against the 49ers, the Raiders rushed
only 18 times vs. 27 passing attempts. Even with a 14-3 lead, the
Raiders continued to evaluate the passing game, sacrificing a sure win
and forcing the defense to play 38 minutes. The defense gave up a gaudy
275 yards on the ground on 47 attempts.
The question that came to
mind was: If the 49ers plan to name their QB after that game, why did
they choose to run 47 times? Which coach was evaluating the team and
which coach wanted to simply win the game?
Last week the Raiders
hosted the New Orleans Saints and the result was a 45-7 shellacking,
but looking at the game closer, a route was inevitable. The Raiders
threw the rock 33 times vs. 11 rushes. Of those 11 rushes, only nine
were by running backs. At the half, the score was 31-0 and the Raiders
had rushed just four times.
In other words, Cable sent his offense
out to have a shootout against 2008's No. 1 offense and against only
the second quarterback in NFL history to eclipse the 5,000 yards
passing mark. Drew Brees was one dropped ball away from breaking Dan
Marino's record!
Maybe this will put things in perspective:

New Orleans-2008
Point per game- 28.9 (1st)
Yards per game- 410.7 (1st)
Passing yards per game- 311.1 (1st)

Cable's
plan was to pass the whole game to get the timing down between Jamarcus
Russell and his young receiving corps. The result was a game of near
misses, drops, and miscues. Problems were exposed. Meanwhile, it forced
the defense into the undesirable situation of having to fend off the
NFL's No. 1 offense for a staggering 39 minutes!
During the Cowboys
game, the defense showed many fronts. There were stunts, zone blitzes,
and a lot of different packages, and even though they surrendered 176
rushing yards, they stiffened up and yielded only 10 points.
The
following week the first and second string defenses yielded six points.
It wasn't until the starting rotation was off the field that a
touchdown was surrendered and that was without a game plan from
defensive coordinator John Marshall, who stated that he wasn't going to
send them out with one. Against New Orleans there wasn't anything
special going on, other than sending a massive blitz at a pro bowl
quarterback with a lightning quick release. That's a no-no.
Before
Raider Nation gets too depressed, they need to sit back and reflect on
last year at this time. The Raiders had a successful preseason, showing
that they could run the ball and get pressure on the quarterback only
to get bludgeoned in the season opener by the Denver Broncos. No one
expected the Raiders defense to look that bad, but then again, no one
addressed it during preseason so there was no time to fix it.
Cable
already knows that the strength of this team will be it's stable of
running backs. However, with Chaz Schillens getting hurt and Javon
Walker having yet to show that he is still effective, the Raiders are
left with a young receiving corps that has to grow up in a hurry.
The
other thing that has become a revelation is that the defense has
regressed under pressure by missing tackles and not being responsible
for their assignments. If there were any egos that needed bruised,
mission accomplished.
One pleasant surprise was yielded from
Saturday’s game. Voices that haven't been heard in a long time began to
cry out. Greg Ellis and Ricky Brown spoke up and reprimanded the
defenses effort. They accused the team of not preparing and taking
responsibility. They put it on the player’s shoulders and not the
coaches. Finally! The defensive line and linebackers have a voice.
Now
that the weaknesses have been exposed there will be opportunities to
fix them. Soon, teams around the NFL will be cutting down to 53 man
roster and anyone who hasn’t performed will be cut and replaced by
players who just missed the cut on other teams.
Cable has taken the
approach that preseason football is there to evaluate players and to
expose potential weakness, and unlike last year it is not too late to
correct these mistakes. Many good teams have been routed in preseason
and go on to win their divisions. There's no reason to think
differently at this point.
When the season starts, the Raiders will
have a balanced offense, something they haven't exhibited in the
preseason. They will be all about ball control and controlling the
clock. Raider Nation has to take a step back and realize that they have
yet to see the Raider's play their game.
Other teams are doing what
they do well in preseason, while the Raiders are addressing what they
can and can't do and are fixing what needs to be fixed greatly, like
Tom Landry did while he was coach of the Cowboys. He had a notoriously
bad preseason record. I, for one, am not panicking because we have yet
to see 2009 Raider football

Whatever.. Everything u are saying or quoting feroman article is the same situation the other teams were in.. This is why the pre season doesn't matter at all.. To put it in "madden terms" both teams were labbing and no matter who looks better u really don't get a grip on who's really better.. Stop trying to talk urself into thinking the raiders were "labbing" and the opposing team wasn't...

if sf was labbing they would have been testing out the qb situation instead of running the ball and trying 2 win the game. this post isnt for u so i dont appreciate ur comments. thank you and dont not respond to my message.

Who's it for then? Just for raider fans so they can buy in to the garbage u posted? The niners knew who their qb was gona be in sean hill they needed to see other things like if gore goes down who will take his place? Every team has different issues and rbs get hit so much they are always suspect to injuries.. Guess what the niners found out?! Glen coffee could replace frank gore if need be... U should really look at everyones situation besides just the raiders and make an educated post before u tell me not to respond! Pre season means nothing and u just wanted raider fans to jump on this article like it means something... U can tell very few things from pre season and as much as I doubt how good u think the raiders are working is the same as I feel about brady.. Looks good on paper but we will see come real regular season time!! Sorry if u don't like my opinion but u should PM raider fans if u don't want a neutral opinion!

whatever just stfu u bandwagon jumping patriots fan. just wait 2 the pats finally start losing then u will jump ship to the next great franchise. at least i stick w/ one team no matter what. patriot fan in fresno give me a break. and i honestly dont expect oakland 2 win more then 5 gms this yr due 2 a poor d-line o-line and some poor nickel backs. im just posting something some1 else wrote. i did not write this article. im just posting it for other raider fans 2 read. im hoping that this guy proves me wrong and is right. that is why i posted it

good god...wtf is this???? i sense some tension here....look...its cool...i have faith in the raiders, and they will get better eventually....hopefully its this season....i could care less about the preseason...let the season start already.......thats it for now.

Honestly, I think Oakland will be 6-10, maybe up to 8-8.

Btw, I'm a Giants fan and I grew up in the Bay Area...hated the Raiders and the 49ers are my family's team so I felt like I was in the in-crowd. I live in Virginia now...am I a bandwagon too?

Yea and if u knew anything u would know I'm from lynn, mass... I barely moved to fresno in november.. I've been through 1-15 seasons with tha pats and stuck with them through it all.. I aint no bandwagon punk like a lot of people are.. U see I live in cali and assume I'm a bandwagon jumping fag when in actuality I spent 23 years of my life in massachusetts... Sorry to burst ur bubble about it just being pre season and u feel the need to take it personal.. U posted this and I posted my opinion on it.. I like how everyone that argues with me tries to make it personal cuz they have no real argument except **** u and the pats! Haha

Which is funny, I lived in Fresno before I moved to Virginia...

God I hate it here! Everyone assumes I'm a bandwagon jumper, they assume I'm racist cuz mass is really known for racism, and they assume that I can't argue west coast sports with them.. And its hot as **** here! I miss my home back east... People here think they are so bad ass but I run into some of the dumbest motherfuckers all the time over here.. I shoulda never moved here but I had to get away from my lifestyle before I got held down where I couldn't make anything of myself and I had family here so I came.. It sux here but better for me that I'm here not there anymore..

so u lived in teh bay area then moved 2 fresno and now u live in virgiaia hmmmm anyways quit crying beaner jesus christ u complain more the a bi**h. u didn't burst my bubble like i said i dont expect anything from oakland. there is a reason why teams like the giants steelers patriots etc are great teams b/c they actually build great lines on the offensive side and defensive side of the ball. as where a poor team like the raiders build their team around dbs who run hella fast and qbs who can throw 100 yrds. russell might get it done this yr but it wont mean anything when the opposing team can run at will or the qb has 10 days to throw the ball. i pity al davis

I aint crying about s***.. U the one crying about my opinions about the pre season and the raiders.. U are just like most people I meet from the west coast, u try to get into a real convorsation and when ur argument is no longer affective u start throwing out personal insults.. It makes me laugh how almost my entire life I got asked how can u like the patriots? They suck and now that they are a premier team in the NFL those same people are the same people who will now say I'm a bandwagon jumper.. When I lose an argument I bow out and admit I was wrong, u on the other hand don't like my opinion and u start throwing personal insults out like u can really hurt me over the internet..

no 1 was arguing u came on here and started arguing just give it up already. and personal insults wtf. calling u a bandwagon jumper is a personal insult ok. i dont see anytihng personal about that but if ppl gave u a hard time growing up dont take it out on me.

Zx_DMC_DHB_TD_xZ wrote:

so u lived in teh bay area then moved 2 fresno and now u live in virgiaia hmmmm anyways quit crying beaner jesus christ u complain more the a bi**h. u didn't burst my bubble like i said i dont expect anything from oakland. there is a reason why teams like the giants steelers patriots etc are great teams b/c they actually build great lines on the offensive side and defensive side of the ball. as where a poor team like the raiders build their team around dbs who run hella fast and qbs who can throw 100 yrds. russell might get it done this yr but it wont mean anything when the opposing team can run at will or the qb has 10 days to throw the ball. i pity al davis

I've moved 17 times in my life dude, 5 different states. It's too long to explain.

And why the hell did you cut Jeff Garcia?

BOSTN BEANER wrote:

I aint crying about s***.. U the one crying about my opinions about the pre season and the raiders.. U are just like most people I meet from the west coast, u try to get into a real convorsation and when ur argument is no longer affective u start throwing out personal insults.. It makes me laugh how almost my entire life I got asked how can u like the patriots? They suck and now that they are a premier team in the NFL those same people are the same people who will now say I'm a bandwagon jumper.. When I lose an argument I bow out and admit I was wrong, u on the other hand don't like my opinion and u start throwing personal insults out like u can really hurt me over the internet..

Hey, hey, hey. Easy about the West Coast thing, lol.