Silver and Black Pride's Sunday Community Poll: Training Camp Questions

Wow, there are so many. It was tough to pick, but I ultimately had to go with JaMarcus Russell. It’s on his shoulders. He has to be showing improvement. He doesn’t have to be Tom Brady or anything like that, but he has to show that he’s better than what he was from the previous season. It’s a quarterback-driven league and without a quarterback, you can’t be successful.

I voted for stopping the run. I think the second half of Russell’s season showed enough progress for people to calm down about his ability to be an effective NFL quarterback. With a full season behind him and another training camp under his belt, Russell should be fine.

The Raiders, however, will not be fine if they are going to continue being in the bottom 5 for run defense in the NFL. The defense has proven its effectiveness against the pass, but as long as teams run unabated against us we aren’t going to win a ton of games. For this reason, I think the run defense is the bigger question mark going into training camp. It will be very interesting to see what Marshall and Board have to say about the defensive line during training camp, their first opportunity to speak with the media.

The biggest question this training camp or should I say year is if we can play as a team, a family. If this happens and we have chemistry, the possibilities are endless. We can’t blame individuals for our mistakes. I like to see a team effort.

If the Raiders can’t stop the run, nothing else will matter. If Russell can’t be effective, at least they have Garcia. But at the same time, if the offense can move the chains, the defense should be more rested and play better. If Garcia is more effective moving the chains, the defense should be better a at stopping the run. Geez dose that make any sense?

this season rests on his and barnes’s shoulders. It’s a butterfly effect. Good pass protection means Russell can pass more effectively, the running game can open up, third downs are much more frequently converted, the defense won’t be on the field nearly as much, the defense will be fresher and play better and faster against the run and pass, opposing offenses struggle, wins are made. But if Henderson and Barnes don’t hold up their respective tackle spots (whether that be Mario left and Khalif right or vice versa) then the chain is reversed on us and we stay mediocre.

This season will, without a doubt, revolve around the play of this O-Line. Russell’s fate is directly tied into what kind of OT Mario/Barnes is. Will they be like Harris/Green of last year, or like Clady/Harris in Denver, or even Anderson/Gaither in Balitmore? If we get a Denver/Balitmore-esque OT tandem, I will be extremely satisfied. Though I don’t expect anymore than that for this year.

Towards the end of last year JR was improving. Give the guy a break his 1st year he was on the bench for the most part. His 2nd started slow but ended good.
Now the common denominator was Kiffin (the head coach as we all know) that didn’t want him as the QB to begin with so do you think it stands to reason his learning was also slowed. With Kiffin gone he improved. I will wait to pass judgment on him until the end of this season.

The defense needs to stop the run. The main reason it should be the most intriguing is because we did nothing as far as players go to fix it only a coaching change. I hope coach Cable is right. We will see. Our DT’s are questionable and labeled underachievers ( Joseph and Warren) and Sands as well but he was undrafted and the other 2 were 1st round I believe.

We have added weapons on offense i.e Dmac, Bush, DHB and Miller to help JR the O-line is a close 2nd for me Henderson came on strong at the end of last year also. JR needs protection to succeed.

I see that some people have said that JaMarcus Russell has basically proven to be an effective starting quarterback based on about five out of the last six games or so of the season.

In 2007, the A’s called up top-notch prospect Daric Barton from Triple-A Sacramento. He proceeded to hit .347 in September call-ups, which is a very good number. In 2008 and a small sample size in 2009 — roughly 480 at-bats later — Barton has hit .222 since that 2007 call-up session.

I know you can’t really compare baseball to football and I am not really trying to. I’m just pointing out that nothing is a given based on a small sample size. Do I think Russell will become an effective quarterback? Yes, I think he will become more than just an effective quarterback. I think that’s the biggest question heading into this season, though, because he needs to prove it more consistently over a 16-game period.

Mario will even start. I think the line will be ( starting from left tackle) Khalif Barnes, Cooper Carlisle, John Wade, Robert Gallery, and Cornell Green

I’m a current student at Maryland and a huge DHB fan. Anything you guys can tell me about his progress would be great. Gotta keep up with my fellow Terps. Good luck in Training Camp guys and take care of my boy! You have an elite WR wearing the silver and black.

It just goes to show how smart our Raider fans really are. I’ll always LOVE the silver and black attack, but Russell has a lot to prove. I don’t just blame him, he had some good games last year. Everyone says how he can toss the ball 80 yards from his knees, but I didn’t see him go over 15 last year. If Cable and the coaching staff will open it up more and let this guy fling it, we just might see great things from our big QB this year!! After all, that’s what Raider football is all about!! Long live Raider Nation!!!

So we got Samson Satele for nothing he started all 16 games and Ronnie Brown was pretty effective and Samson had something to do with that….This is his 3rd year starting all 32 games all rookie team his first year and now ready to break out with the motivation of the “Black Hole” this Pacific Islander should be bangin holes for Run Dmc and Co….

Camp will bring about some real improvement this year. I believe JaMarcus will play with more confidence, he now has been in the fire and knows what to expect. As The Raider Way mentioned, he showed vast improvement over the last two games of the season and for JaMarcus it had to boost his confidence to end the season on a positive note.

The Raiders are the only team in the Division next to San Diego that have some stability in the Coach, the key will be schemes and play calling that are not predictable. The talent is there, we just need the team to play together as a single unit, the Defense needs to play smash mouth football, on defense they really need to stick someone. I was hoping the Raiders would consider bringing Derrick Brooks in to add leadership to the Linebacking corps.

You guys may not light this, but I am going to say it anyway, I believe Garcia at 39 and at the very end of his career should at least allow the Raiders to consider Michael Vick as a potential backup, Vick knows he won’t start coming in and should JaMarcus go down we have someone that is only 29 years old with speed and not 39 years old and ready to retire. And being that I am born and raised in East Oakland, let me say this. If you don’t like dog fighting, and I don;’t personally condone it, he paid his debt and did his time, if Vick wears the Silver and Black, you come to Oakland at your own risk trying to protest on our turf, that would be a far bigger mistake than Vicks involvement in any dog fighting. Oakland is a City of blue collar hard working rough necks that can care less about your personal feelings when it comes to the Raiders. If you root for Denver in Oakland your entire family had better be wearing Silver and Black and have you surrounded. Oakland is a different kind of place with a reputation for touchness, the City that is, so long time Raider fans are really used to having players that are lets say less than civil.

I know many of you have your feelings about this, I just wanted to address it. I would Love for Mike Vick to be a Raider. We will be tougher and quite frankly I expect us to surprise many teams this year. Look San Diego is a very good team the best in the west for now, however, getting rid of Michael Turner really hurt their depth. If we can split with them we can win this Division seriously. We should sweep Denver and KC. This year we have a real opporunity to win and win big.

I think the Raiders need more competition at the SAM backer position; i dont think Alston, Williams, and draft pick Norris have enough to compete. why not try a pro bowl caliber linebacker in Derrick Brooks he’s still out there just waiting to play and that also gives them experience on the defense that morrison and howard and the rest of the squad needs

I am in agreement that Derrick Brooks would be a great addition to the Raiders, as well as Vick as the number 3 behind Garcia as Jeff is at the end of his career. I know the Vick controversy is very political but in the hell cares about that, we are the Raiders. And i don’t think Vick could hurt our team in any way.

Any other opinions on this?

I don’t know that people are still writing on here, however, I have got mad respect for Coach Cable, he deserves the props…He is focusing strictly on the mental part of the game the first 5 days, that is incredible. Well, let me break this down, most players, especially new players to the team, rookies and quite frankly many veterans don’t study to a point of knowing exactly where they are supposed to be. Coach Cable has the foresight to have the entire team working on only that aspect, no pads, no hitting, no throwing, no touching, just application of the plays. Observing foot work, placement, its brilliant.

The Raiders, are going to be a better team this year, and with Paul Hackett coaching the Quarterbacks we may just surprise some teams. I have been talking about the play calling not being predictable and the need for better execution, well, Coach Cable is well on his way to being able to call a play that is properly run, and when a play is executed properly you achieve the desired result.

The fact that there is a focus on the mental game team wise will help tremendously in the Raiders execution. I am very pleased with Coach Cables concept. Qute frankly, this is a major relief, the Raiders will have a fighting chance if players know what they are supposed to do.