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Raiders not clicking on offense or defense
By Jeremy Harness October 24, 2007 |
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ALAMEDA--In last Sunday's contest against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oakland Raiders just weren't aggressive enough and weren't clicking offensively and defensively the Raiders really held it down and the Raiders had to do what they had to do on defense with the exception of a couple plays. The offense really has not got it done and it's kind of a polar opposite over the course of the season the defense hasn't really been up to par. On Sunday the defense played really well the offense just couldn't run the ball and looking at the Raider numbers from Sunday 55 yards rushing with 2.3 yards a carry and LaMont Jordan 11 carries for 29 yards, Dominick Rhodes nine carries for 21 yards thats just not going to get it done. Teams are going to stack eight men in a box until the Raiders can show they can throw over the top over the defense and throw the ball a little bit and that has not been the case. Teams like the Chiefs are confident that they can put an extra person in there, stop the run, and not have to worry about anything resembling the passing attack. Oakland needs to snap 17 game divisional skid: Until the Raiders show that they can, they are not going to come close to winning the division and it's very disturbing especially when you have lost 17 straight over the course of three years. The Raiders came very close in 2004 if it weren't for a few spectacular plays in the snow in Denver in November 2004 the streak would have been much worse and it's already the longest in history of the league against their own division but it is pretty disturbing. Another part of the frustration is the Raiders have come close when they should have won a couple of these games in the division. Oakland should have won the game in Denver, and they had Denver head coach Mike Shanahan call a time out, and nullify the field goal in overtime that would have won the game and San Diego had played terribly and that could have been a victory. Is JaMarcus Russell ready yet?: Russell is not ready yet to start a ball game. Russell has been busy trying to digest the whole offense and Josh McCown is not healthy because he has an elbow, hand and foot problem. The only person right now who can play is Culpepper and fans at the Coliseum will be calling for Russell pretty soon if they have not started to call for him already. The thing about it is that Culpepper already knows the offense and he has the ability to carry the team right now and he's going to have to do a lot and he's going to have to do a much better job as far as throwing the ball. Culpepper is going to have to make decisions with a stack line of scrimmage and actually, that interception; Jarrod Paige, who also happens to be from Oakland who went to San Leandro High, almost returned it for a touchdown. Culpepper has to make better decisions with the football there were quite a few times over the course of Sunday's game he held onto the ball for too long and he basically ran himself into two sacks by Jarrod Allen and he missed a couple of receivers. J-Dogg's predictions: It is going to be pretty hard to tell right now but if Vince Young plays that could make a difference in this ball game. It’s going to make a huge difference between whether the Raiders win or lose because now the Titans have Kerry Collins at quarterback as Young's back up. Young brings completely different element to the game of football than Collins does because Young can get out of the pocket and move around and the Raiders have problems stopping Damon Huard who has a cap problem and one of the smallest quarterbacks that there are, were talking Collins territory here. Therefore, if Young plays the Titans roll to victory because the Raiders just can't get much done on offense to put points on the board if Collins plays the Raiders have a better shot. I'll tell you what though if the Raiders lose to a Kerry Collins lead team were talking disaster for the Raiders. Because Collins is one of the most vilified quarterbacks this side of Marc Wilson. So it's two fold right now. If Vince Young plays, the Titans will win it 28-10. If Collins starts for the Titans it's going to be a little bit closer the Raiders would have a chance to win 14-10 Raiders. Jeremy Harness covers Raiders football with Stefani Rebekah Black and Jeremy Kahn each week listen to them co-host Sportstalk on 1690 KFSG Sacramento. |
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