Several times in 2010, I've used this space to lament the unfortunate trajectory on which the Oakland Athletics' season seems to routinely find itself. If it's not injuries derailing an otherwise smoothly steaming train, then it's...well....
No, it's pretty much been injuries every time, all the time.
The latest A to bite the dust has been Ryan Sweeney, who's gone for the year. The right fielder had been a valuable splinter, posting a .294/.383/.725 line while making strong contributions with his glove and arm. With only a pair of big flies, the power Sweeney typically flashes in batting practice hadn't translated, but ...
In a move that has been anticipated for a while, the Oakland A’s have locked up catcher Kurt Suzuki for the foreseeable future.
The A’s and Suzuki agreed to a four-year, $16.25 million contract on Friday. There is a vesting option for a fifth year based on games played. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has the breakdown of the contract:
Suzuki gets $600,000 this year with a $150,000 signing bonus; $3.4 million in 2011; $5 million in 2012; and $6.45 million in 2013.
The club holds an option for $8.5 million in 2014, with a $650,000 buyout, but there is also ...
Al Davis's Oakland Raiders are notorious for being a run-oriented NFL team.
Whether it was Bo Jackson or Marcus Allen, they always seemed to have a great player in the backfield.
This run-first trend momentarily came to a halt in 1998, when Jon Gruden arrived on the Oakland scene and brought his West Coast Offense to the Raiders.
In 1999, the Raiders went ahead and signed a thought to be washed-up Rich Gannon. He quickly excelled with Tim Brown, Jerry Rice, and Charlie Garner for the next few years before the short-lasted "dynasty" began to fade away. By 2004, Gannon, Rice, Tim ...
Steve Brown took a lot of heat during his Michigan career at the safety position. Last year, Steve played very well at Greg Robinson's Strong Side Linebacker. Steve was basically able to play a LB role that allowed him to rush the QB and cover tight ends and running backs out of the backfield. If you get to re-watch some Michigan games on the Big Ten Network, you will see Stevie all over the field. Steve worked that good year into getting drafted in the 7th round to the Oakland Raiders and now has signed an NFL contract. ...
Dancing in the streets was the scene in Oakland California as the Raiders finally unloaded JaMarcus [cough] Russell none too soon for Jason Campbell.
We know that has to be a three to four game improvement right there.
Without the point spreads involved I run about 80 percent correct most of the time, so this should be a simple breakdown of the Raiders season that will be fairly accurate.
In handicapping football games correctly, I have no favorites.
I spent four weeks on Week One of the NFL 2010 season and remember Oakland plays Tennessee on the road the first game.
After Tennessee's horrendous start last ...
It seems like every day there are more and more articles, both here and on other sites, telling Raider fans not to get our hopes up, and the Raiders still suck. My question is, why do fans of other teams care so much? Okay, Chiefs, Broncos, and Charger fans, I understand. Division rivals, yeah, they should care, in fact they should worry.
Are all of the other 31 teams scared? I don’t blame you, you should be.
I know only Raider fans like it when we are winning. I know that we have had a bad stretch over the last seven years, ...
On a lot in Beaumont, Texas there is an empty chair. It symbolizes the fact that the chair needs to be filled, and someone needs to be seated there. It inspires the recollection of a vision of building a home on the lot. That home will have a large entertainment room with a big screen television to watch the Oakland Raiders.
Sometimes when I read the Oakland Raiders B/R page, I peruse the profiles to determine how many ladies, young and old are active writers on it.
Obviously, when I read the names and see the profiles of the writers, it seems ...
This year, there is a newfound optimism in Oakland. This is an effect of the JaMarcus Russell release, and Jason Campbell's arrival.
With every team, there are questions.
Last year, the big question was about JaMarcus Russell, and whether he was ready to lead the team to the playoffs. Well, we know the answer to that question.
And now, click the arrow and enjoy!
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Raider fans,
I read your articles and I wonder what it is that makes you think the Oakland Raiders will be so good this season. If anything, they will be lucky to do better than they did last season.
The Raiders ranked 31st in the NFL last season in total offense with 4,258 yards.
They were 29th in the league in passing last year.
Their leading receiver was tight end Zach Miller, whose 805 receiving yards made him the eighth most productive tight end in the league. When you factor in wide receivers, he ranked 37th in the league in yards.
The No. 1 receiver ...
Former first-round quarterback Jason Campbell has been welcomed with open arms in Raider Nation. This came after he was made the scape goat for Washington woes on offense. They did have a top 10 defense in 2009.
Who else could they blame?
Washington has since started to build the offense around McNabb instead of Campbell.
Raider fans have to be thankful for that! There is a plenthora of reasons why!
Stats
Raider fans would have taken his 3,618 yards passing last year. That was more than what we passed for as a team last year.
There was also a place for his 20 touchdowns. That's double the touchdowns that Raiders threw for in 2009. The Raider offense only had 17 total touchdowns on in ...