This was a great season for Hue Jackson to take over as the Oakland Raiders coach. He is helping pass the lockout time with his soundbytes. If we can't watch the Raiders play football or read about their signings or practices then listening to Hue talk Raiders football is the next best thing.
Hue Jackson was on with Murph and Mac on KNBR, and it is posted on Raiders.com. Some of the stuff is obviously redundant given nothing has changed with Nnamdi and free agency etc..
He was asked about Darren McFadden's breakout year, and let everyone know that McFadden has more to offer. "We expect him to exceed that and even do a better job than he did last year." Jackson then went onto say that he gave everyone a clean slate when he came here. He then came up with the novel idea of asking McFadden what he liked to do, and then he put him in a position to do it.
This is certainly one of Hue's mantra's, which pulls into focus the next high draft pick he needs to get results out of. Hue didn't get into specifics when asked about Darrius Heyward-Bey, and he was actually careful not to single him out too much. When pressed on the topic he said, "Oh there's no question. Is he one of the player's that needs to step up and bring more to the table? Yes, he is," but then he went onto say that he expects that out of everyone. Jump over for more words of inspiration from Action Jackson....
Jackson singled out Matt Shaughnessy and Jacoby Ford as players he was expecting big things from, but neither drew the praise that Tyvon Branch did. It is safe to say that Jackson is a huge fan of Branch. Jackson:
"Tyvon Branch, who people don’t give a lot of credit to, this guy plays football the way it’s supposed to be played," Jackson said, before kicking it into high gear. He plays as well and as hard as anybody I’ve ever seen play the game."
Tyvon plays hard. I have zero doubts about this, but I am pretty sure I have seen quite a few people play—uh...how should I say—weller?
I've said it before, but Tyvon does not have a natural feel for the flow of the game. He is continually a step late in coverage, and his play recognition doesn't seem to be improving. If the Raiders had a free safety that excelled in play recognition then Tyvon's weakness here wouldn't be as apparent, and I am fine with the rest of his game.
He is solid in run support, and he is decent in man coverage against tight ends. The most interesting thing about this comment is that it tells me that Hue Jackson has no plans of giving the strong safety spot to Mike Mitchell.
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