Very well doneJohnny Detroit said:Could the Raiders be on the move? Pessimists will take that statement as meaning they will attempt to relocate again to Los Angeles and/or block any move from the Rams or Chargers. Optimists hope that the baby steps this team may have taken in 14 will lead to some stability in the overall roster with on-field team growth. For the first time in forever Oakland does not figure to waste draft picks and free agent signings on a QB. Likewise, after fielding about 18-19 new defensive starters the past two seasons I look for some defensive stability. Veteran coach Jack Del Rio hopes his second coaching gig goes smoothly.
What went right: Derek Carr was not supposed to start but Matt Schaub got hurt. Now Carr has 16 valuable games of experience to build on. To be honest I was shocked that the offensive line allowed the rookie QB to be sacked just 12 times in Oaklands first 11 games (28 for the entire season). Rookie Khalil Mack started slowly but proved by seasons end that he was worthy of a high draft selection. Young RB Latavious Murray did what Darren McFadden could not do; rush for a strong yards-per-carry average. PK Sebastian Janikowski continued to be very reliable.
What went wrong: Carr finished with a stout 21-12 ratio but the yards-per-completion figure was terrible! Teams need to average around 11 yards-per-completion. Carr totaled just 3,270 yards on 348 completions, suggesting the offensive pass attack was in complete learning mode. I noted that the pass protection was good but they did allow 17 sacks the final five games. The rush attack was last in the NFL. In fact, the Raiders had just four rush TDs the entire season! WR play was substandard even with a solid performance from free agent signee James Jones. In this offensive-minded NFL Oakland scored 14 or fewer points in 10-16 games. Oakland led the NFL in three-and-outs. The pass defense % was a too high 63.8%, but that comes with the territory when there are so many changes on defense each and every year, coupled with a few injuries to the defensive backfield. Oakland tallied just 10 defensive interceptions, contributing to an overall turnover ratio of -15. A year after recording 38 sacks (high for them, but below the NFLs quite high 13 average) the Raiders regressed back to just 22 sacks. Amazingly, only once did they record more than two sacks! Oakland did not allow a kick return TD but did allow a whopping 32.5 yards per return. Neither Head Coach Dennis Allen nor interim coach Tony Sparano sparked confidence.
2014 draft recap: Oakland got 54 starts out of its first four selections. Mack started slow but finished strong and finished with 76 tackles and four sacks. Carr had a solid rookie season. OG Gabe Jackson was rated third (by me) at his position. He had a solid debut. DT Justin Ellis was not rated by me but started 14 games with 21 tackles. Lets see what his ceiling really is. CB Keith McGill played late in the year and contributed. CB Travis Carrie had 44 rookie tackles and was effective on punt returns. DE Shelby Harris was active just once. Safety Jonathan Dowling had four tackles. These last two players are nothing special.
ROSTER ANALYSIS AS OF SEPTEMBER 3RD:
QB: David Carr did NOT stretch the field as a rookie but certainly had a decent debut. The back-ups are fine.
RB: Health will be the key, as ranked 6th round pick from 13 Latayius Murray has a solid skill set. Lets hope Oakland picks someone up before the start of the season as a back-up as otherwise this unit would be awful if Murray went down.
WR: Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree immediately assume the top spots. Most everyone else has #3 WR skill at best.
TE: The unit is decent, and three deep. Rookie Clive Walford has the most upside.
OL: Surprisingly, sacks allowed were down most of last year but they did allow 16 in their final five games. The overall unit is a bit below average and their RT is gone for the year.
DL: I like the addition of DT Dan Williams. Rookie Mario Edwards hopes to help the pass rush. Khalil Mack is listed as a DE. Wherever he plays that unit gets a boost.
LB: Curtis Lofton is a solid addition. The rest of the unit is likely to be up and down, with newcomers and youngsters still going through growing pains as well as positional changes.
CB: The top three guys are very young, with not much in the way of starting experience. The new staff is better than the old one, but I would not project an under 60% pass D for 15.
Safety: Charles Woodson keeps plugging along. Nate Allen is the veteran newcomer. Oakland has no developing young talent at this position. In fact, there will be at least four newcomers starting defensively in 15. This has become a nasty habit.
Special Teams: Will the new staff fix the return D? The kicking game is as solid as ever. For now the return game looks poor.
Coaching: Jack Del Rio is an upgrade at Head Coach. Bill Musgrave is decent as the new OC. Ken Norton Jr. is a solid hire as the new DC. Brad Seeley comes over from SF to be the new Special Teams Coordinator.
TEAM KEYS AS OF SEPTEMBER 3RD: Oakland has not finished above .500 since their last Super Bowl appearance after the 02 season. They are 56-136 since then and 11-37 the past three seasons. Once again, getting win #1 for their new staff is critical. Breaking that down, the home record has to improve, while that road record was 0-9 in 14 (counting a London loss) and that needs to change early on. Can they reduce that -15 turnover ratio? What will having a real WR (Cooper) do for their offense? Oakland had just 22 defensive sacks in 14. Im projecting 32 sacks now which remains below the NFL average.
DID THE PRESEASON MEAN ANYTHING? RB Murray is being counted on to carry the load but he has to do better than 17-56-1 (no receptions). No one else even reached these numbers! Watch the run O closely in September. Carr was only about 55% but enjoyed having rookie Cooper to throw to (8-124). Crabtree wont stretch the field (3-21). I do expect the tight ends to contribute, since the rest of the WRs are not at all scary to opposing defenses. The defense was not horrible, but also nothing special. Dan Williams, Khalil Mack, Curtis Lofton and Malcolm Smith all looked decent in the front seven. Even the secondary seems to be stabilizing but the starters are not quite ready to make a noticeable impact and the unit lacks ready to go backups. Unfortunately, the return D is still poor, even in August! There is also a danger that the current return specialists lack talent.
STRATEGY AND BOTTOM LINE ANALYSIS: As usual Oakland has a 4th place schedule. This year there is no Monday game, so Oakland will have stability in scheduling with 15 Sunday games plus the mandatory Thursday game, this time very late in the season. The bye week comes after week five, ideal for a new staff to make changes before it is too late. They open hosting Cincy. This could be interesting. Oakland has one just one opener in the last decade! They stay home to host Baltimore. Both of these teams made the playoffs in 14 but cant the Raiders get an early split? Weeks three and four see them at Cleveland and at Chicago. They are 0-3 at Cleveland but about 50% at Chicago, although the last two meetings were close losses. These two teams were NOT playoff bound, so why cant Oakland be 2-2 at this point. Games 6-7 are at SD (close loss in 14) and home to the Jets (bit better than 50%). Game #9 is hosting Minny, a team that they have fared well against but the Vikings are improved. The goal would be 4-3 from these games but is 3-4 more likely? They are going to need to steal another road win before December to be somewhat viable. Beating Detroit at their place wont be easy, although the Lions have a poor record in games after playing rival GB. Beating Tennessee on the road is more viable, but Oakland lost to the Titans at home in 14 and is 1-7 at their place in more recent action. Four of their final five games are vs. Divisional rivals, with the game in the middle a host of GB and Aaron Rodgers. BOTTOM LINE: WR Cooper is a real asset, and Jack Del Rio is an improvement. Its still important for Oakland to win early, get that 1st road win, and reduce that -15 turnover ratio. I still think well see a negative sack ratio. I like how this team is being built (finally) yet I had trouble finding even five wins in my initial game looks. Somehow I think they find five wins, but I was hoping for more based on roster and staff improvements. I dont know if RB Murray holds up all season long, and I need to see if sacks can go up from 22 to my proposed # of 32. KEY GAMES: The 1st two games. 2-0 would be special. 0-2 would be awful. The Black Hole needs to deliver. Handicapping Tip: Theres not much to crow about when looking at long term statistical trends. Oakland is 3-13 ATS after playing San Diego, and Id be careful to back them in their next game 11/1 hosting the Jets if they were installed as a home favorite.
TENTATIVE POWER SET: 22
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2015 Oakland Raiders Thread (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Raiderfan32904
- Start date
BustedKnuckles
Footballguy
BustedKnuckles
Footballguy
Raiderfan32904
Footballguy
http://www.sfgate.com/raiders/article/Raiders-Michael-Crabtree-blessed-to-have-6501031.php
Crabtree takes shot at Colin Kaepernick and 49ers.
Crabtree takes shot at Colin Kaepernick and 49ers.
Bob Magaw
Footballguy
In redraft, rookie TEs rarely produce. Earlier he seemed like a favorite to start, but than missed virtually all of training camp, is way behind and Rivera has already been declared the starter (at least to start the season). Great dynasty prospect, though, set records for his position at Miami, which is TE U (Franks, Shockey, Winslow, Olsen and Graham).Gr00vus said:
ICON211
Footballguy
Different year, same ####. Nothing like taking the wind out of the sails of an entire fan base on the first two drives.
You'd think a team run by former NFL linebackers could find players who know how to tackle.
ICON211
Footballguy
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
"With the first pick in the 2016 NFL draft, the Oakland Raiders select..."
This #### gets so old year after year.
This #### gets so old year after year.
BustedKnuckles
Footballguy
Dalton looks like Brady out there
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
i give up. horrible
Because you're a true fan. Holding out for a glimmer of hope. You and all true, long time Raider fans deserve better than the garbage their putting out there and the dump they're "playing" in.
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
i changed the channel and starting drinking heavily
And Lance Burkhead looks like Mike Alstott lol. Hello Raiders 2015!
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Raiderfan32904
Footballguy
Does Jack bury a football?
Rich Conway
Footballguy
I bought into the preseason hype, and left Dalton and Eifert on the bench. Ugh, worst of all worlds.
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
Complete embarrassment. They stopped trying about an hour ago.
Chaka
Footballguy
This is sad but let's not go overboard with the doom and gloom. Cincinnati is a 4x running playoff team with among the best offensive and defensive lines in the league. The Raiders, for all the positivity, were always going to be a work in progress this season. They were never serious playoff contenders. 8-8 would be progress and kind of a win for the team and the fan base and that is still well within reach. Let's give it some time and not head for the life boats just yet.
They stopped trying when Ray Ray whiffed on 4th down. They displayed zero effort, zero heart. Aldon Smith, should fit right in.
I'm just not part of the "participation trophy" generation. I have high expectations for everything. This organization has dumbed down its fan base. We used to have high standards. Now we just hope for improvement, honestly it's pathetic.
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ICON211
Footballguy
I don't know if there can be enough doom and gloom. This is year four of the McKenzie regime and the first game for a new coach. You keep hearing about how much progress has been made, but it certainly does not show on the field.
krsone21
Footballguy
krsone21
Footballguy
Hankmoody
Footballguy
Is this a joke? Carr was awful, Hayden was awful, the O line got demolished, the receivers looked like Pop Warner players, the secondary got demolished, the LB got demolished. There wasn't anything resembling progress today. That run by Carr was the perfect microcosm. He had the first down, all he needed was the awareness to duck and dive to the corner. Instead he rumbles head-on into the tackler, a fight he's never going to win, get the ball knocked backward for not a first down, and hurts himself. I've never seen such a debacle driven purely by lack of spatial awareness. That's what laymen call "clumsy" and that, ladies and gentlemen, is our QB of the future.
He looked only slightly better than Carr, careful what you wish for.
lod01
Footballguy
BustedKnuckles
Footballguy
X-rays came back negative on Derek Carr's injured right (throwing) hand on Sunday evening.
Chadstroma
Footballguy
Well.... that sucked.
EBF
Footballguy
Team is so bad tbh. I don't say it with any joy, but they just lack talent almost everywhere.
Mack and Cooper give them a couple good pieces to build around. Problem is that they still appear to be 2-3 good drafts away from being competitive. And I don't mean 2-3 good picks. I mean 2-3 good drafts where they land multiple quality players.
I saw an interview with Amari after the game and he just had a "kill me now" look in his eyes. I got a similar vibe from Tuck around the time Oakland went down 17 or 24 to nothing. It was the grim feeling of an unpleasant reality setting in. This team appears to be going nowhere this year.
Mack and Cooper give them a couple good pieces to build around. Problem is that they still appear to be 2-3 good drafts away from being competitive. And I don't mean 2-3 good picks. I mean 2-3 good drafts where they land multiple quality players.
I saw an interview with Amari after the game and he just had a "kill me now" look in his eyes. I got a similar vibe from Tuck around the time Oakland went down 17 or 24 to nothing. It was the grim feeling of an unpleasant reality setting in. This team appears to be going nowhere this year.
BustedKnuckles
Footballguy
Oakland.....the Siberia of the NFL
Chaka
Footballguy
Settle down Bobby Knight. No one is handing out awards. The point is that anyone who thought this wasn't a legitimate potential outcome for this game simply was deluding themselves. The dearth of talent is still there and you have yet another coach with new offensive and defensive systems. The problem is with your expectations; it's fine to hold them to a higher standard but you're doing it in a vacuum you also have to temper your expectations with a dose of reality. Abandoning ship now is a failure to recognize that the ship sank in 2003 and they while they may have gotten it off the ocean floor it's still miles under water.
Take a deep breath bump your high standards against a little reality (that should be easy today) and let's see how this season unfolds.
Chaka
Footballguy
I was still thoroughly unimpressed with Carr's decision making. He just never seemed like he was even making a read that was more than 6 yards downfield. He may have a cannon and he may be able to make all the throws and all that jibber-jabber but if he doesn't challenge defenses on the field then the Raiders can expect more outcomes like what happened yesterday.
ICON211
Footballguy
Almost everyone must have been delusional then. No one expected to get utterly dominated in that fashion. The Bengals are a good team, but they are not a great team. The offensive and defensive schemes left a lot to be desired. The Bengals were never challenged down the field. The defense put no real pressure on Dalton. The game was over in the first quarter. The players even seemed shell shocked after the game. That was as poor a performance as a team could possible have to start a season and about as demoralizing as a loss can be. It's one thing to go out and lose, it's another to look completely incompetent and get dominated from start to finish in your home opener with a new coaching staff.
Chadstroma
Footballguy
I was looking at the box score and two things struck me. First, no WR/TE had double digit total average yards. Second, that was mostly McGloin throwing.
lod01
Footballguy
I thought he may be able to break the mold (and be the first ever younger brother to be better than the older brother at QB) but he's in trouble right now. Would like to see him benched and let McGloin see what he can do. He has yet to get a fair shot.
