2019 Oakland Raiders Discussion

Cooper would have had more yardage, TDs and the offense would not have sputtered as much.

 

Aldon Smith alledgely on a pot video ala Laremy Tunsil. 99 has denied it...we'll see. Sigh... SMDH.

 

Per USA TODAY SPORTS

by Nate Davis



AFC WEST

Oakland Raiders (10-6): Despite their unsettled civic situation, the arrow seems to be pointing decidedly up in a division where the Broncos look primed for a fall. The Raiders face only one 2015 playoff team in the first half of this season and have a golden opportunity for a hot start.

Kansas City Chiefs (9-7): Reintegrating RB Jamaal Charles into a lineup that won 11 consecutive games without him in 2015 should signal an optimistic outlook. But OLB Justin Houston (knee surgery) is a big question, and this team needs all its stars in a year where it has to travel to Houston (perhaps not so friendly a venue in 2016), Pittsburgh and Carolina.

Denver Broncos (8-8): The uncertainty at quarterback is enough to expect a regression even if it's worth noting how little production Peyton Manning gave them in 2015. But don't forget the champs are also overhauling their offensive line, breaking in two new defensive starters after losing DE Malik Jackson and ILB Danny Trevathan in free agency and playing in what looks to be an even stronger division.

San Diego Chargers (6-10): They couldn't establish the run or stop it in 2015, factors that coupled to create quite a burden on 34-year-old QB Philip Rivers. It's far from certain the Bolts will be much better in those departments in 2016 — not good considering every other roster in the division looks superior to San Diego's.

 

PUMP THEM BRAKES COACH!

Per SI's Peter King:



The Potential for Playoffs? Raiders’ Del Rio Says Prove It

Jack Del Rio has heard it all about Oakland’s talented, youth-heavy core, and says all that promise means squat without performance.

This time of year is all about potential and promise, and what could be. Jack Del Rio is more worried about what is.

The Raiders coach has heard you. He’s heard me. He knows that, with July not quite out yet, his team is one of those types you see every year—young and bursting with upside, a trendy pick to play into January. But Del Rio isn’t biting.

“I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about potential,” Del Rio said Wednesday morning, after working out his rookies and quarterbacks. “I’ve seen potential come and go. We’re focused on the work and the commitment level and the drive that we’ll need to have in camp. Words like potential, like I said, I’ve seen potential come and go.”



It’s pretty amazing, considering where Oakland has been over the past decade-plus, which is basically nowhere. Absent a brief uptick under Hue Jackson, the rebuild has been perpetual, with the team stuck in a second-class facility and relegated as the Bay Area’s second-class team.

No more. Now, they've got as talented a young core as there is in the NFL. No one has a 25-and-under trio like Derek Carr, Amari Cooper and Khalil Mack, and this offseason that was affirmed with free agents choosing to come to the East Bay. Off the field, they could be the league’s second team to return to Los Angeles, or its first in Las Vegas.

So with all that, the Raiders report to Napa. Again, Del Rio knows, and when you talk to him, he guards against all the potential talk.

“That goes into all the noise, that has nothing to do with executing on third-and-8,” Del Rio says. “All those words mean nothing, so I don’t spend any time on it. What matters is doing the work.”

The Raiders’ beleaguered fan base finally feels like it’s Christmas in July, and here comes Del Rio as the Grinch. But get him talking about the guys, rather than the expectations, and it’s safe to hang the stockings.

Just take his assessment of the spring. Del Rio loves the way Seahawks transplant Bruce Irvin came in with an attitude and edge, and sees a rapport developing in the way Irvin and Mack challenge each other. Del Rio is impressed with the maturity Sean Smith and Reggie Nelson have brought to the back end of the defense. He sees Kelechi Osemele as a road-grading beacon for Oakland’s emphasis on improvement in the run game.

And best of all, he’s seeing more steps from Carr, who’s getting his second year in a system for his first time as a pro.



“The young guys that are here—the Dereks, the Khalils, the Amaris—they’re workers and they’re great teammates,” Del Rio says. “And they were here the whole spring, so everyone was here the whole spring. And then the new guys, the way they integrated in, there was instant chemistry, they were accepted. You could see the closeness of the group.

“One of the things you hope for is that guys get along and respect each other. We felt like with the pieces we added, it did all fit together.”

That’s nice, of course, but will only get the Raiders so far.

Del Rio likes a lot of the signs he’s seen, yes. He’ll point to last year’s Week 2 win over Baltimore, right after the season-opening blowout loss to Cincinnati, as one turning point for his young core. He’ll give you the Week 15 win over the champion Broncos, during which the defense kept the team in it through an ugly first half, as another.

But there’s a difference between that—flashes that show (that word again) potential—and being a playoff team, too. And that’s the jump Del Rio is looking to make now.

“I think it’s just believing you can win, and you only gain that confidence through work,” he says. “Then it’s a matter of flourishing in those situations. All of these games are one-score games. It comes down to who makes plays, executes and performs in those situations. Those are the things that separate the 12-4 teams and the teams that are 7-9 or 4-12. You’ve got to be good enough to be in games. Then, there’s a point where you understand how to win them.”

Without saying it in so many words, Del Rio is explaining the difference between having potential, and delivering on it. And that pretty much explains where the Raiders are now, and where they’re trying to get in 2016.

 

Viva Oakland Raiders...!

 

The second I saw Devin Hester released by Hotlanta...there would be musings if the Silver and Black should make a run at him.

Pros: Hester could be better than anyone we have now...Carrie, Jones.
Cons: see Josh Cribbs

 

...we also have Hansley and Mickens. And that McCaffrey kid. Only one of these three will stick though. Two if we get rid of Holmes somehow.

 

Per SI Pre-Season Power Rankings:

11. Oakland Raiders

The buzz surrounding this Oakland team has been unceasing, which is noteworthy in itself given it’s been 14 years since the Raiders finished above .500. Are we all jumping the gun? Yes, this roster is stockpiled with talent, but much of it is young—even younger with future Hall of Famer Charles Woodson walking away. Jack Del Rio’s team plays three of its first four away from home, so the legitimacy of Oakland as a playoff contender will be revealed early.

Denver at 5 and KC at 8... The last comment does leave me with pause. Wild card could be achievable...

 

Yep, Del Rio was not happy about that scheduling quirk or whatever you call it. Seems that we get it on both ends.

 

My, my, my, my... Aug 12 is so close. Opening at 'Zona.

I find this observation from Greg Papa to be very incisive...

Q5: On the subject of Carr, it’s easy to be enthusiastic about him, but he has made some bad throws in the red zone, some odd decisions here and there. How far does he still have to go?

GP: Derek can make any throw, run any offense. If you wanted to put him under center and hand it off, if you wanted to run Gary Kubiak’s outside zone stretch run game, if you want him go no-huddle, if you want him to throw bubbles, shorts, screen passes, posts, deep stuff, Derek Carr can make any throw in any offense. His skill set is universal. There’s not a weakness to him as a player. He needs to, at times, read the field better as a player. People hate this term, but Denver won the Super Bowl last year with a quarterback who had no legs, and another young guy who never played. Because they knew how to manage the game.

Look at the two home games against Denver and Kansas City, the teams the Raiders have to beat out. They could’ve won both those games, and [Carr] threw a critical pick-six in the Denver game that flipped that game. Now it wasn’t all his fault—double-crossing routes on inside receivers with Amari and Seth Roberts—but the ball got intercepted and run back the other way and you lost the game.

Kansas City, you’re up six, driving for a field goal to go up two scores, he tries to keep a play alive way too long, they turn it over, Chiefs run it back to the one. He throws another pick that gets run back, and another after that. He threw three. You’ve got to know when to be O.K. with a par and not go for birdie. If the defense is what we think it could be, we don’t need that. Punt the ball.

I think overall with Derek, it’s when to eat it, when to take a sack, when to scramble out of bounds. He has every skill, he’s great guy, hard worker, good teammate, but you gotta figure out how to manage the golf course. It doesn’t matter if throws for 300 yards and wins fantasy drafts for people all over the country. At the end of the game the Raiders need to have more points.

Comment: I like Carr very much but he has to stop that Farve-ish tendency. He did one against Arizona in the pre-season too. To be fair, he went from a conservative short passing game to a one that emphasized more longer throws. I see him being even better this season...

 

From a past #42...



To a current #42



Looking forward to Joseph rattling fillings and unbuckling opponents' chin straps...

 

Coming soon to my bookshelf...

 

My fantasy football league is an IDP league. What do you guys think Joseph will do year one statistically? Is he a starter? Is he a big time play maker?

 

Joseph will likely split time with Nate Allen. Reggie Nelson would be a safer choice at this point. With our pass rush and solid corners, our safeties could have a good year.