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Raiders going well on ground game
By Jeremy Harness October 3, 2007 |
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The Oakland Raiders of late have been doing a lot more running than passing especially last week in Miami, when the Raiders racked up 299 yards on the ground, and its a lot of running yards since the Dolphins just can't stop the run and the game plan for Miami is "just take what they give you". Culpepper vs. JaMarcus Russell down the line: You never know what is going on with that situation you never know if Culpepper will be quarterback for two or three more games depending what his labeled you would not expect to see him for the rest of this season. Russell has too much catching up to do, it’s going to be Daunte or Andrew Walter, and coach Lane Kiffin has ruled out Walter so it should be Daunte the rest of the way if McCown doesn't get healthy. One player on the Raiders that I was surprised to see do so well was Justin Fargus. He's never been an every down back but he was forced into that role against Miami in the second half and LaMont Jordan went down with a back injury and it's not been reported how serious that back injury is but Fargus came in and he ran for 179 yards on 29 carries. It’s going to be tough going into San Diego because even if LaMont is not able to go then they still have Fargus. Keep in mind that Dominick Rhodes is scheduled to come back from his four game suspensions. The Raiders threw a lot more when McCown was in there because McCown was in there at the start of mini camp and Culpepper has been there for a month and a half. McCown has the offense down cold that's why they're able to give Culpepper most of the reps as far as being the starting quarterback is concerned. So Kiffin can feel more comfortable with throwing the whole playbook at him but with Culpepper in there the Raiders are really kind of taking their time because he hasn't got the reps yet and there's certain plays that they may have put in that Culpepper hasn't had practice on. The Raiders would feel more comfortable with running the football because right now that is their offensive ideas is to run the ball and that's what they do best. You look at the Raiders 299 yards rushing against Miami that tells you everything you need to know about where there idea is going to be. J-Dogg's prediction for the game in San Diego on Oct 14th: I still like the Chargers because even though they're struggling right now they still have the top players in the AFC. They still have Phil Rivers who still maturing as a quarterback, the Chargers still have the best running back in the AFC, the best all around player position for position is Ladainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates at tight end, and they are loaded with studs on defense. Therefore, I really like San Diego even though the Raiders have improved so I will just leave it at that for right now. Then you never know whose going to go down after next week. Jeremy Harness covers Raiders football each week and can be heard on the Mighty 1690 KFSG Sacramento for Sportstalk. |
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