Watching Monday night's game against Denver McFadden made Raider fans proud with his speed and power. He slashes through openings and uses his vision to exploit lanes at full speed. If there is someone in position to tackle him? Well that's the best part, he just lowers his shoulder and drops a ton of bricks on them. Let that be a lesson to you and your teammates the next time you want to try to go heads up.McFadden struggled with injuries his first couple of years in Oakland before exploding last year for 1,157 yards, a 5.2 YPC average, and 7 ...
After an injury-riddled game this past Monday night, where both teams had multiple players exit the game early, the Oakland Raiders, already without wide receiver Louis Murphy, could lose another one.This time it is the electric playmaker Jacoby Ford, who tweaked his hamstring during the third quarter against the Denver Broncos and could not finish the game.Ford's status for this Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills is unknown, but the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Ford missed this Wednesday's morning practice.If Ford cannot suit up this Sunday with Murphy already presumed a no-go, the Raiders would have five wide receivers ...
The Monday night showdown was a great game for the Oakland Raiders. They ran the ball well, played hard-nosed defense and played with the high emotion a team needs to beat a divisional opponent.The biggest flaw, however, was the passing game. There was only one bright spot: Darrius Heyward Bey. We all know the story that is Darrius Heyward Bey. The fast Maryland Terrapin blew up his NFL combine and was the first wide receiver taken in the 2009 NFL Draft because of it. Al Davis saw unteachable speed and reached out to get it.Because of that decision by the Oakland ...
Part of the thrill of going to see your home team play ball is the atmosphere in which you see them do it in.For example, while I hail from the Toronto region, I was lucky enough to see the Jays play the Phillies earlier this summer, when Roy Halladay was back in town for the first time.This game drew a fantastically vibrant, excited crowd of 46,000. I have to admit that—even while getting to see Doc pitch in the Rogers Center again—it wouldn't have been the same experience had the fans not shown up.That is more or less what this ...
I still hear most of the media give the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers credit for having the nastiest rivalry. But in a previously written article, I explained why that distinction belongs to the Broncos and Raiders. It takes more that just a decade to build the nastiest rivalry and it can't be so one sided. Despite Sunday's blowout win by the Ravens, Pittsburgh has dominated Baltimore and won all the games that mattered. If you were able to catch the game Monday night with the Broncos and Raiders, you saw what a real rivalry is. While both teams have knocked each other out of ...
"With the 17th Pick in the 2000 NFL Draft, the Oakland Raiders select...kicker from Florida State, Sebastian Janikowski."No, the announcement was correct.For years upon years Janikowki's selection in the draft has been ridiculed, often times those who like to insult the Oakland franchise and Al Davis have used this to knock us, but after the Monday night game who's got the last laugh?Tying the NFL record for the longest field goal in NFL History is one of Sebastian Janikowski's goals. The other two are eventually breaking the record and winning a Super Bowl.A reliable kicker is the key to not ...
What must the analysts and experts be thinking about the Raiders today? Many of the "experts" pointed to the loss of Asomugha, the porous preseason defense and the loss of Robert Gallery as reasons why the Raiders would fail this season.I wonder what they would have thought if they actually looked at what was taking place in Oakland.Throughout the preseason the Raiders never played at full strength on defense. Key players missed time for one reason or another and the Raiders used this time to test their second and third string players. They wanted to see who could compete at ...
We all knew that Darren McFadden would get his. Hue Jackson's "Build-A-Bully" campaign would be championed on offense by the strength of the running game. This showed on Monday night with McFadden running for 150 yards, once again torching the Broncos, and with Michael Bush getting crucial power runs to close the game out.When the offensive line was in sync, McFadden and Bush had running lanes to work with, which helped the Raiders control the tempo of the game. Step one in building a bully.Step two involves the defense. When the casual fan looks at the box score, they see ...
Well folks, hope you enjoyed the first PHK of the year, as well as the Raiders first opening day victory under the Monday Night Lights since before I had facial hair.I know I did.Something new this year; I'm going to try and follow up on the weekly PHK with a response, as in, how did they respond to the pressure, etc. Did any of the hurries make sense/come to pass? Were the knockdowns accurate?Here it is.Begin Slideshow
Following a nice 23-20 Monday Night Football victory against AFC West division rival Denver on the road, the Oakland Raiders are off to a solid start in order to take the AFC West title. Oakland's victory was not pretty, but a win is a win and it was on the road. The passing game was nearly nonexistent as Jason Campbell was only able to pass for 105 yards and a touchdown.Here are the five reasons the Oakland Raiders can win the AFC West title in 2011 based off the Week 1 victory. Begin Slideshow