Week 1 Thoughts

by Raybin on Sep 9, 2008 9:23 AM PDT Comment 16 comments

--J-Russ is going to be a fantastic quarterback in the NFL if he can ever be able to consistently drop back to pass without being forced to start running for his life after 4 nanoseconds have passed. He might be able to swat away a CB coming on a blitz, but a charging defensive end is quite another thing. The O-line might be able to runblock beautifully, but the Raiders won't win 5 games this year unless the pass protection shapes up soon. Like NOW.

--Way to earn that money, DeAngelo Hall. I certainly hope you're embarrassed this morning because I know I certainly am. Eddie Royal is clearly talented as hell, but you're supposed to be an elite shutdown corner. He turned you inside out all night long and you had no response except to get frustrated and take dumb penalties.

--Mike Ditka said it best: You've got to help out your young quarterback. That MUST start next week. Russell is not at the stage yet where he can steal a win or two all by himself. That involves making that extra effort to catch a ball that might be a little under or overthrown. I'm looking at YOU Ronald Curry.

--Darren McFadden is going to be fucking DYNAMITE. Let's all sit back and enjoy the show.

--Zach Miller is essential to any success the offense will have. Long may he be healthy.

--Chaz Schiliens may be one of the steals of the 2008 draft. Only two catches, yes, but good ones. Wouldn't surprise me to see him move up the depth chart as the season goes by.

--Gibril Wilson was a damn good pickup.

--Where was the D-Line all night? Jay Cutler could've cooked himself dinner, went home and mowed his lawn, showered, then came back and thrown a pass last night before any pressure would have gotten into the backfield.

--I'm still with Kiffin. We'll know whether to blame him or Ryan as the weeks go by...if the defense improves and they still lose, it's Kiff. If the defense keeps bombing out, it's Ryan. I think Ryan is a good enough co-ordinator, but his defenses are so vanilla. Contrast that with a guy like Dick LeBeau in Pittsburgh who has so many crafty blitzes and multiple looks to keep the other QB guessing.

--The most frustrating thing about the Raiders is their tendency to shoot themselves in the foot at the worst possible times. Every team will make dumb mistakes. But the timing is the killer. Whether it was Curry dropping the pass on 3rd down to kill a promising drive or Fargas throwing the ball at Higgins on that reverse that had got the defense to bite in the opposite direction or any number of other things....they need to suck it up and not make mistakes when the chips are down.

Of course, the ref not calling blatant defensive holding to kill another promising drive doesn't help things either.

--I repeat: JaMarcus Russell will be great. Give him pass protection and some defensive support and the wins will come.

Let's hope we can all put this behind us and move on quick. There's a big test next week in Arrowhead. Can we stop Larry Johnson and Dwayne Bowe and keep Glenn Dorsey in check? If we can, this season is still very promising. If not...we're in a whole heap of trouble.

Keep the faith, Raider Nation! (The only true sports nation.)

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I did like

what I saw out of Schiliens yesterday. I think he will be a good reciever in time. The defense was a big disappointment for me. No pressure all game! Rob Ryan can we get a blitz every once in a while to keep the offense guessing. I haven’t lost faith but I am dissapointed.

by Raider76 on Sep 9, 2008 10:27 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

All I have to say is...

Amen to this post… Cutler could have taken a nap in the backfield…..disappointing O-line and D-line…hopefully they get it together by Sunday @ Arrowhead….

I like to believe my best HITS border on Felonious ASSAULT
-Jack Tatum

by DarksideJU08 on Sep 9, 2008 10:32 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

My favorite play of the night

Cutler getting knocked on his neck by Asomugha. That could’ve been a season maybe even a career ender. Cutler’s gonna have some bad dreams about that one. I thought the run D looked very good at times and i can see some improvement. The refs really screwed with us out there and I would’ve rather had Fabian Washington back over hall. On one play royal was moving from the left side to the right, Hall followed over but wasn’t playing corner. Instead he was clear up where Wilson was. This left royal to go up for a curl and pick up the first. Not only that, instead of coming up, he fell. I’m really hating Hall right now. I also thought there was some bum playcalling. Sure give it to Higgins, he doesn’t fumble a lot. He’s clearly aware of what’s going on. Why were we passing on first down so much. Hand it to Fargas or McFadden. If you’re worried about their health, give it to Bush. Kiffin failed to realize we have three very capable backs playing behind one of the bets run blocking units in the NFL. True we had over 140 yards rushing (I think 160), but if we had ran more on first and ten, we would have done better and maybe had the defense on it’s heels. Instead we exposed Russell to serious pressure and were lucky that didn’t lead to INT’s. If there’s one thing that’s noticeable about what we did in the offseason, it’s make Russell a very careful and accurate QB.

"Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward. Whoever cannot take care of themselves without that law is both. For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, 'If I live, I will kill you. If I die, You are forgiven.' Such is the rule of honor." Omerta by Lamb of God

by KA1Z3R on Sep 9, 2008 1:35 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree with that sweet hit on Cutler.

Asomugha was really solid. He made some great tackles and shut down his side of the field. It is easy to point out Hall as the problem, but if you are going to cover effectively, you have to at least hurry the QB. I agree that Hall wasn’t good, but the bigger problem was pressuring the QB. Did we blitz once during the game? If we did, I didn’t notice. With Huff back there, I would think that CB blitzes and Safety blitzes would be a good idea. And I agree about the play calling. It felt strange but I liked watching the raiders run the ball 80% of their plays for the first quarter. If something is working, stick with it. Especially against a horrible run defense like the Broncos. And then when they start crowding the box, throw, like the Raiders did. I just think they got too fancy with the play calling. Simple was working for awhile and then we started getting a little cute. As crazy as it sounds, we should have hung with the Broncos. We should have scored on the first 3 possessions or so. We just shot ourselves in the foot.

The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.

by clarkpojo on Sep 10, 2008 10:26 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Absolute garbage last night

I saw some sparks from the offense, but the defense really let the nation down.

I’m looking at Ryan. This defense of his should have matured and with the personnel he gained, we should be shut down.

We should’ve picked up Monte. I’m just saying.

Green Hulk Fists

by oaklandSMASH on Sep 9, 2008 1:43 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

D-Hall

As an Eagles fan I remember the eagles playing D-Hall and the falcs. I used to watch him a lot actually when other NFC teams were televised. I have to say he is pretty good at shutting down avg WRs.. he does get TORCHED by ELITE WRs. I thought since he is the 2nd CB that shouldnt be a problem…

The fact that he got beat up by a rookie is …well….kinda shocking.. he has a big damn mouth too he better get his shit together!

by Joe_D on Sep 9, 2008 2:53 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Pregame interview Hall said he has a big rivalry with his friend Champ Bailey

but they both knew that he was the better CB.

Last night, Hall put himself to shame. Hall, it was a fucking rookie that burned you left and right, time and time again!

That shit wouldn’t fly in ATL and definitely won’t pass in Oakland.

The Raider Nation is the only Nation.

by oaklandSMASH on Sep 9, 2008 5:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think the DeAngelo v Royal thing is getting blown out of proportion

Shanahan used him really well. He was matched up against a linebacker or a safety a few times (I think that first TD was on Wilson, but whoever it was bit on something underneath and left him open.) He caught some balls when he was wide open, and caught some balls on comeback routes when the corner was playing off of him. Royal was great last night, but I don’t think that indicative of how good he will be this year. This year……

Cutler on the other hand looked pretty awesome, and man do I think I was wrong on him.

by RaiderPete on Sep 9, 2008 5:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Schilens should have played more

2 rookie wideouts for Denver didn’t have any problems catching footballs and scoring TD’s. Kiffin has blinders on, thinks that washed out old receivers are better than real fast, quick tall receivers. Curry looks slow by comparison to other players.

by Laoren on Sep 9, 2008 5:28 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Who is the second Bronco rookie WR?

I think Royal was the only one.

by UnarmingMermaid on Sep 9, 2008 5:46 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Royal was the star

Nnamdi kept his corner in check, but Cutler had all the time in the world to throw to a wide open Royal.

The Raider Nation is the only Nation.

by oaklandSMASH on Sep 9, 2008 5:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why

do have any inclination of thought that Kiffin chose those players? He’s not picking personnel.

Win, Lose, or Tie, Raiders til I die!

by mikesd1981 on Sep 9, 2008 8:40 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

What the hell happened

to these so called BLITZ PACKAGES!?!? Cutler could’ve washed his jersey in the backfield he had so much time, but he didn’t need to because it never got dirty! I don’t blame DeAngelo Hall for what happened. With no pass rush, an 11 year old could’ve caught the passes that Royal was getting. Hall got frustrated with Ryan’s play calling which is why he was arguing with Kiffin on the sideline. We have the best cornerbacks in the league still no matter what critics may blab. We just need to play them the way they should be played. Press coverage, man to man all day. Play Nnamdi back about 7 yards due to average speed, and Hall up in the guys face because he can out run any wide receiver in the game. Also, I would prefer we played the nickel package EVERY DOWN because Ricky Brown sucks and Stanford Routt can cover any tight end or third wide receiver in the league. Our run D looked good against a successful Bronco rush system which means we’ll be able to do nickel packages more often with Warren, Kelly, and my new favortie run stopper, Jay Richardson, clogging up the run. This game was a good learning experience to show that even though we now have impeccable talent, we’re still beatable if we don’t play as a team.

Win, Lose, or Tie, Raiders til' I die.

by thepunisher00187 on Sep 9, 2008 6:29 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Rob Ryan should be fired

Exhibit A : Al Davis sided with ryan over kiffin
Exhibit B: Monday night’s defensive performance

I refuse to believe that this talented defense just got flat out beat. recievers were wide open and i refuse to believe the players just got beat on every single play. the scheme must have been so bad that it left everyone in a horrible position and put no pressure on the quarterback.

I agree so much about Russel i think he will be a star. He will be so much better than Alex Smith, Vince Young, Matt Leinert, before last night i would have said Cutler but i can’t say that any more Cutler looked great.
Hall looked bad, but again im going to reserve judgement because i think it was Ryan’s fault
McFadden is a stud
Next game lets not run the ball for the first 8 or 10 plays in a row. We saw what this offense could do when they mixed it up with runs, passes, and play actions. They had 2 nice drives and both times they did a nice job mixing it up. We don’t need to baby Russel that won’t get us anywhere.

by Agent Zero on Sep 9, 2008 11:34 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs