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Archive for September, 2010
How would you define "leadership"? What are the qualities of a good leader in professional football? Do the Oakland Raiders have excellent leadership at this time? If, in fact, the Oakland Raiders have a very talented team, then is the leadership able to harness and utilize that talent to get more wins in 2010? No one should be able to say that Jason Campbell looks "shaky" during a game. The question that I want to raise is does Campbell have the type of mentality that flourishes or collapses during stress? There is no question that he has the physical capability. It's also obvious that ...
NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora is reporting that the Oakland Raiders have decided to go with quarterback Bruce Gradkowski in Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. Gradkowski replaced Campbell during last Sunday’s win over the St. Louis Rams after the offense had begun to sputter under Campbell’s leadership. Under Gradkowski, the team went on to win the game 16-14, beginning yet another quarterback controversy in this young NFL season. Campbell was just 8-of-15 passing when he was pulled from last week’s game, while also throwing an interception and failing to give the team a balanced passing attack to go with the rushing ...
Oakland Raider Head Coach Tom Cable already has much to ponder heading into Week Three. Bruce Gradkowski showed again that he can rally the troops when things are not going well. Does this mean he should be the starter? After Sunday's game, many in Raider Nation believe so. However, there are as many reasons why he shouldn't as there are that he should. Turn the page to see what they are.Begin Slideshow
There is no doubt in my mind that Jason Campbell is a more talented quarterback than Bruce Gradkowski. He has prototype size, a stronger arm and has put up much better numbers in his career than Gradkowski. One could also argue that Campbell has not been given much of a chance to get acclimated with a team and another new system, an annual occurrence for Campbell. Another problem for Campbell is the fact that as a classic drop-back passer he needs protection to succeed in a vertical passing game. That's not going to happen until the line gets much better! These are both valid points ...
Words that you never want to hear if you are a pitcher: “We are going to send you to Alabama to see Dr. James Andrews.” Those are the words that Oakland A’s pitcher Andrew Bailey heard this morning. The odds have already been set to 3-1 that we will next see Bailey in August of 2011. The A’s did the smart thing this morning and shut down Bailey for the final two weeks of the season because of elbow soreness. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Bailey believes this is just a case of tennis elbow. If that is the case, I ...
With now an apparent quarterback controversy in Oakland (what else is new,) it's hard to tell if the Raiders are in a Catch-22 (damned if you do, damned if you don't) type of situation or if this newly born competition will spark a fire under the butts of Bruce Gradkowski and Jason Campbell. Let's look at the resume of the prospects. After redshirting in 2001 at Toledo, Gradkowski saw action only as the holder on the special teams unit the following season. In 2003, he became the starting quarterback as a sophomore. Gradkowski set a conference season record ...
RB Mike Tolbert, San Diego Two games, two Ryan Mathews fumbles and an ankle injury this week for good measure. Tolbert got the work this week in the Chargers crushing defeat of the Jaguars, picking up 82 yards and two touchdowns on six carries. Don’t get too excited on this one since the Chargers are clearly heavily invested in Mathews. Two points worth noting. We now have evidence that Tolbert can produce when given an opportunity and he was the Chargers go to guy with a lead and Mathews out, not Darren Sproles.   RB Jason Snelling, Atlanta After Michael Turner left with a ...
 There has been no word regarding the Oakland Raiders starting QB for the Raiders next week. The Oakland Raiders face a stronger opponent in Arizona when they take on the Arizona Cardinals.    The Oakland Raider defense has done an outstanding job defensively. In fact the Oakland Raider defense has played well against two worthy RB these past two weeks. Both Chris Johnson and Steven Jackson hard a tough time running through the Silver and Black line.   Offensively there is the new QB issue.    Jason Campbell started QB against the Titans and the game resulted in a loss.In ...
On the one hand, folks say that Al Davis runs the Oakland Raiders. Then, some think he may not have agreed with the benching of the starter quarterback. The two ideas can not co-exist. If a decision was made and executed, it may not be mutiny, but harmony to get the job done. I believe that Al Davis is being convinced that a change is going to come. He is a point of constancy for the Oakland Raiders. With him at the helm all of these years, except for the past seven years, he did something right. I truly believe that some type ...
Everyone who watches ESPN knows about the ridiculous games the analysts do on their infinite number of NFL talking heads shows.Challenge Flag. C'mon Man. Other C-words that can only be described with one C-word:Crap.However, the analysts do look like they are having fun, so we are going to give it a try. It's Jail Time! No, this has nothing to do with real felonies or criminals. The first 2 weeks of the NFL season has seen a lot of disappointment, and we're out to catch the culprits.We aren't talking about teams who are usually awful, but one's who have underperformed.While it may ...