FanPost

The Reality of the Oakland Raiders.

In my previous article, I gave a statistical breakdown on the Raiders vs Steelers match up and also that even though I wanted the Raiders to win, I predicted that they would lose 31 - 20. (see link Raiders vs Steelers). I knew that the Steelers would be hungry for a win after getting beaten by the Patriots the previous week, but 35 - 3 was just embarrassing. I hate to say "I told you so" but I called it. I said that the O-Line would have its hands full with the Steelers Line Backers and I said that Jason Campbell's "slow wind up, indecision with the ball, and very inconsistent ability to avoid sacks" would create problems for us on offense. However, it wasn't all Jason's fault. The play calling in this game was just vanilla to me especially after having 2 weeks to prepare. The O-Line didn't block particularly well and receivers did drop some catch-able balls. I didn't expect for us to run the ball for 100 yards but i did expect better than 47 yards from both Darren McFadden and Michael Bush. Ben Roethlisberger had more rushing yards (55) than they did. Absolutely ridiculous. That's the fault of our defense, who got fooled by the gadget plays and fakes. How does Ben run 17 yards for a touchdown? He is not Micheal Vick.

We saw what New England did to Pittsburgh last week and we knew what we needed to do as well. We just didn't do it. Again, I hate to say I told you so, but i called it right,

"Jason Campbell isn't going to have a lot of time to throw so the offense needs to be running a lot of 3 receiver set and some 4 wides also with short digs, slants, ins & outs with a few long bombs. Basically a west coast offense. That's why I won't be at all surprised to see Jason get benched at the start of the second half in favor of Bruce Gradkowski if the offense is sluggish"

We can always say what should have happened after a loss but, I believe that Bruce should have gotten on the field at the start of the second half not half way through the third quarter. Him coming into the game when he did, didn't make much a difference on offensive points but he did move the ball better (other than his 1 INT) and he did avoid a couple of potential sacks that Jason Campbell would have fell prey to. In retrospect, if Bruce had gotten to start the game, maybe the outcome would have been better. That's fantasy at this point so it doesn't matter. However, the reality is not only did we lose this game in dramatic fashion but it also proves that no matter how much better the Raiders have improved, they are still not an elite team or even close to it this year. Their QB situation is unsettled and has been for some years now. Jason Campbell has the big arm but can't scramble worth a damn or consistently make easy check down throws. Bruce Gradkowski can keep a play alive with his feet and make the dink and dunk throws, but lacks the big arm to make many down field plays. If the Raiders could somehow morph Bruce and Jason together, they would have a hell of a QB. But since such fantastical non-sense can't happen, they need to use the QB who's best suited to play against the opposing defense. Forget all the talk about who's earned the right to start. The starting job will be a floating designation based on the opponent. We have six more games left out of those, Bruce needs to start against San Diego, Kansas City and maybe even Miami because they have a sack hungry defensive end named Cameron Wake.

I don't know if you guys put much stock in statistics or not but the Raiders are now 5 - 5 overall but only 1 - 4 on the road. I don't care WHAT sport you play, a team CAN NOT be successful if they cant win on the road. Therefore the odds favor the Raiders beating Miami at home where they are 4 - 1. Hopefully, this will be A REALITY!