Believe it or not, the NFL may have not had the purest of intentions when they devised the 2011 NFL schedule. Don't tell anyone, but I think they set it up to give them more power as the lockout progresses. And as a result it may also cost the Raiders what looks to be one of their more favorable matchups.

The schedule was designed to allow the lockout to push the schedule back three weeks yet still get in the full 16 games. The first two weeks are no-brainers. They simply eliminate the week off before the Super Bowl, and then push the Super Bowl back a week—they have everything in Indy booked for a week beyond the scheduled date.

This is where they got creative. They made sure that all matchups in Week 3 featured teams with the same bye week, and that essentially gives the NFL a flex week—the only consequence would be teams lose their bye week.

I have to admit this is a fairly ingenious move by the owners. Should the lockout progress into the season the pressure is going to be squarely on the player's to get a deal done. The players will be missing out on paychecks while they are faced with extra costs, like paying for their own medical insurance, and the owners will be able to go three weeks before they start losing a noticeable amount from their bottom line. And that is a three week head start for the side that has more money to begin with. 

Should the lockout extend beyond the three week window they are going to have to start cutting games. The first to go will be Weeks 2 and 4. There are no division games scheduled for those weeks. For those of you keeping score at home the Raiders play at Buffalo in Week 2 and host New England in Week 4.

And that means the Raiders would miss out on playing a young Buffalo team dealing with a shortened off-season while implementing a new system, and then miss out on what would undoubtedly be such a brutal humiliation of the Patriots that Giselle would leave Tom Brady for Al Davis. Here are the games that would be the first to go for the other AFC West teams.

Week 2:

Denver Vs. Cincinnati 

Kansas City @ Detroit

San Diego @ New England

Week 4:

Denver: @ Green Bay

Kansas City @ Minnesota

San Diego Vs. Miami

I say Kansas City and San Diego are tied for the biggest negative impact should these two weeks be stricken from existence. While the Chiefs would benefit in that they lose two road games, those are also two of the weaker teams on their schedule. San Diego would suffer as they are notorious slow starters, and the shorter the season the higher the percentage of that schedule that would fall under their slow start phase.

Denver would gain the most as they would only be facing 14 losses instead of 16.

It's that time again. The annual preseason game featuring our Oakland Raiders and the Bay Area's other NFL franchise, the San Francisco 49ers, is set to kickoff in an hour from now. This is, of course, your place to discuss the game. Hit the jump for some minor details.

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Last Thanksgiving, I watched the Dallas game before Dinner; having lost my appetite, I was unable to do justice to the conventional alimentary delicacies enjoyed on this uniquely American holiday - for I witnessed such an offensive display from our Offensive-line as to put me off food the rest of the evening. 

Our linemen: Mario Henderson, Robert Gallery, Samson Satele, Cooper Carlisle and Zach Miller (w/ respect to blocking only) all played badly that day against Dallas. Notwithstanding, our backs and receivers play was solid football overall.

So, on Thursday the most key focus for me will be on our Offensive Line. It is this element that concerns me most for it was (not counting our run D which has been fixed) our greatest elemental weakness last season. Our players on the OLine are mostly the same - our rookies not yet ready to take over. 

Meeting Dallas again - even in preseason - should therefore give some indication of whether this line of ours has progressed or whether we are an unbalanced team - developmentally retarded. The obvious improvements in our LB corps, D-line and Offensive backfield can only do so much - Jason Campbell and our RBs will be able to do what they are capable of only if our line is much better than it was last season.

What element of our ball club will you be watching most closely Thursday night?

ESPN gets a lot of flack for this, that and the other thing, but they do have a great thing going on with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Over the course of some years, little boys and girls with life-threatening medical conditions get an experience they will never forget. Recently, 10-year-old boy Jailen Cooper was able to hang out with the Oakland Raiders.

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WR's are having a much easier time catching the ball now that the gravitational pull of the QB is not great enough to alter the ball's flight path.

So, I am posting this hours and hours after this information was available. Better late then never, right? You can't really blame me, because: A) none of you damn slackers posted anything either and B) it is easy forget that Al graciously allows people to view only one day of practice. That day was Wednesday.

The off-season OTA schedule goes something like this: May 18th - 20th, May 25th - 27th, June 8th - 10th, June 15th - 17th. I believe Wednesday will be the day that the lucky members of the media will be allowed to watch the non-contact Organized Team Activities.

I was not one of the aforementioned lucky members of the media viewing these workouts, but I have read their accounts and I shall summarize them for you in easy to read and fun bullet points after the jump.

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Ice Cube, then in N.W.A., welcomed the Raiders to Los Angeles in the '80s. [via hiptics.files.wordpress.com]

In case you haven't heard, ESPN has been running documentary films covering the last 30 years in sports -- the 30 years since ESPN first debuted in 1979.  The 14th documentary of the 30 for 30 series is a movie by O'Shea Jackson, better known as Ice Cube, and it's about our Oakland Raiders. Debuting on May 11 and called Straight Outta L.A., Ice Cube's film will explore the relationship between the Raiders and the citizens of Los Angeles.

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This is it, folks! [via cdn2.sbnation.com]

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With the second round over, we now turn our attention to the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft. It is the second and final round on the second day of draft coverage.

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