Make no mistake, the Oakland Raiders have work to do. And guess what? They are going to do it. There is an old saying:
"They said it couldn't be done."
Some of us in the Raider Nation shift the paradigm to say:
"All things are possible, if we only believe."
Look at what has been done in order to establish a framework of what can be done:
Now focus on the win-loss chart for 2009:
Notice that at the beginning of the 2009 season both the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers oscillated between wins and losses. The Chargers stabilized from Week Six to the end ...
Last night, the Raiders defeated the Cowboys 17-9 in their first preseason game.
You take things with a grain of salt in the preseason, but there was a lot of telling information both for and against the Raiders. A few things I noticed:
Offense Is Still A Work In Progress
Jason Campbell made his debut as the Raiders new quarterback and the results were average to say the least. In this case, average is good for now.
Campbell finished 7-of-13 for 49 yards and zero turnovers before leaving the game midway in the second quarter.
Campbell looked very comfortable throwing to Zach Miller. Getting Chaz ...
It might be only preseason (which doesn't count for much in the real world), but the Oakland Raiders reaped the benefits of a vastly upgraded defensive front seven against the Dallas Cowboys in Texas Stadium last night.
Tom Cable said at the end of the 2009 season that the Raiders had to address "line of scrimmage issues", referring to both the offensive and defensive lines.
He is as good as his word.
Not in living memory have we seen a Raiders defensive line perform so well and dominate a game like that. Rookie Lamarr Houston led the charge with two sacks of Tony ...
The Oakland Raiders played the Dallas Cowboys yesterday in a surprisingly exciting pre-season game.
The Raiders came out victorious 17-9 after scoring 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
While Oakland's offense was somewhat lackluster, the defense was stout and impressive all game.
It held Dallas' offense (which got 399 yards per game in 2009) to 263 yards.
This is a huge difference to last year's Raider defense, which managed to rank 26th overall and allow 361 yards per game.
Major changes have been made to the defense this off-season, with Kirk Morrison getting traded, Gerard Warren getting released, and Richard Seymour moving to ...
In the glamorous world of the NFL, where quarterbacks’ girlfriends are coveted more than the guys in the trenches, who protect the skilled players—I’m reminded of a television show from the 1980’s titled the “Fall Guy,” which starred Lee Majors. The theme song, about the stunt man went: I’m the unknown stunt man who makes Eastwood look so fine.”
At times, the guys in the trenches are over-looked on the offensive as well as defensive side of the ball. When children are asked, “Who is your favorite NFL player,” children respond with a plethora of QB’s, RB’s, over-hyped, over-paid, self-indulged WR’s, ...
The stage was set, the air was crisp, and the feel of football was in the air. It was time for the Raiders to roll out their new and improved squad on the green grass of Jerry Jones' baby, and Raider Nation was breathless with anticipation.
Questions abounded: Will this look like an NFL offense? Can the team win the game in the trenches, and thus, stop the run against a versatile attack? What's Rolando McClain going to do? Lamarr Houston? DHB? Can this team have the look of one that is finally headed in the right direction? Will the pain ...
The much anticipated debut of the 2010 Raiders was not a disappointment if you were looking for an exciting game.
The Raiders, led by Kyle Boller and Michael Bennent, sparked a fourth quarter comeback victory by scoring 17 points in the last five minutes.
But in the pre-season, winning isn't everything. There is more focus on player performances and position competitions.
Jason Campbell completed 7 of 12 passes for 49 yards with no touchdowns or picks. Not great, but rebuilding has to start somewhere.
Campbell admitted that, "Its the first time in five years that I had pre-game jitters."
Oakland's run defense looked much ...
The Raiders played their first game against the Dallas Cowboys. There was plenty to be excited about and plenty to be nervous about.
Last year the Raiders looked sharp after playing Dallas in the preseason and failed to look sharp during the season.
Here are 10 observations from the Raiders first playoff game.Begin Slideshow
You can say what you want about how the preseason games don't matter. The victory against the Dallas Cowboys, however, probably made a lot of naysayers scratch their heads and wonder what happened.
Can you imagine the kind of cuss words that may have been heard in that Texas stadium last night, when Oakland overcame Dallas?
I was particularly overjoyed, since I read and responded to an article that said the Oakland Raiders need not be feared. Well, whoever believes that needs to do more thinking.
Congratulations to the Oakland Raiders for making a lot of people who have faith in them very happy.
The ...
The Raiders were in Jones Mahal for a preseason game against the Cowboys Thursday night. It wasn't a sexy game but much could be learned about the direction of Raiders from the way they played.
The first thing that jumped out at me was that this was indeed Raider football!
The Raiders were pressured Cowboy quarterbacks on defense and featured a power-running game on offense. They also put a scare into the Cowboy secondary with a few shots down the field.
Penalties are the unwanted part of Raider football that also showed up on Thursday night. The Raiders were among the most penalized teams in the league even ...