Sunday, October 25, 2009

Depth Finder

Wow. That was all Tom Flores could say about JaMarcus today. And that's an appropriate reaction to this game recap by Jerry McDonald.

It's worth a read. Among the "high" lights:
  • Most rushing yards by an opponent (316) since 2001. That predates Rob Ryan.
  • First sub-40,000 announced attendance (39,354) since the return to Oakland and lowest paid attendance since 1968. Yeah. The SIXTIES.
  • DHB is now behind Crabtree, 5-4. His reaction to finally having more catches than names? "It’s good to catch the ball. I had two catches today. That was a positive thing during the game."
And of course Jerry reminds us that the Jets' O-line coach is Bill Callahan, who knows better than anyone how dumb this team can be and absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage when the Jets had the ball.

Hopeless.

There Is No Bottom

Welcome to new depths, Raider fans. I'm very pleased to report that I spent an incredibly enjoyable day in Half Moon Bay with my lovely wife and merely endured a portion of the game on the radio as we drove from brunch to Old Princeton Landing for some beer and darts.

Today I can't even venture to guess what could fix this disaster, although I'm sure avoiding two quick turnovers on their own 4 yard line might help a bit.

This is much more familiar

As Jerry Mac points out, this is the worst home loss ever.

I stopped watching the game a little bit through the third quarter, when the score was 31-0.

I took a shower.

Then, I made some bloody marys, one for me, and one for my host.

That was seriously the most pathetic game I've ever seen. For those of you back home in the Bay Area, you're lucky the game was blacked out. The crowd was pathetic; I've seen bigger crowds at a mid-week A's game. At a day game.

Which is, of course exactly what the Raiders deserve at this point. Without defending JaMarcus Russell, we learned, when Gradkowski came into the game, the the problems run so much deeper than our obese quarterback.

Al Davis, you are a sad old man. This is what the Greatness of the Raiders has been reduced to: they lose 38-0, and almost nobody cares.

Gradkowski

Gradkowski starts the 2nd half and has a nice 20 yard scramble for a 1st down. The offense has a bit of a spark here. The Jets are also kind of in prevent mode.

JaMarcus is getting credit for not sulking on the bench. Bully for him.

As if on cue, Gradkowski fumbles. Jets ball.

Stanford Routt is JaMarcus bad

The play that Tom Cable was trying to challenge occurred when Stanford Routt was called for Defensive holding on third down. Cable was trying to argue that the ball was tipped. Which is fine if the call is pass interference, but since it was holding, which occurs before the pass is thrown. Anyway, two long running plays later, the Jets scored.

The defense looks like it's quit.

Now Gradkowski comes onto the field to the cheers of the 200 or so people in the coliseum.

His first pass is almost intercepted.

Gradkowski?

Just as I receive my first "Fuck Russell" text message from Kristi mocking JaMarcus and questioning the effectiveness of his reported Lasik surgery, CBS shows Bruce Gradkowski taking snaps on the sideline from Sampson Satele and warming up.

To the delight of the crowd.

Also, Tom Cable is trying to challenge an un-challengeable play.

I love the Raiders.

Fargas

Just so it isn't all negative, Justin Fargas is amazing. He has two big runs.

JaMarcus Russell throws another interception

Because of course we can't be having a successful drive going, can we?

But hey, at least he looks pissed this time.

DHB Sighting

JaMarcus just delivered a strike downfield for 24 yards to DHB. He's now 2 catches behind Michael Crabtree.

And then, on a Blitz, JaMarcus throws an INT that gets returned to the 4 yard line.

He also has a fumble, which I missed because I was at Ralph's.

Welcome back, JaMarcus Bad Raiders. We missed you.

Black Socks

JaMarcus seems to be taking fashion advice from Nnamdi and takes the field with all black socks. A nice pass to Zach Miller on first down, a run, and then Louis Murphy drops a slant that's a little bit behind him, causing Dan Dierdorf to berate JaMarcus.

The Jets are winning 7-0. It's not looking good.

DHB Leads Crabtree

Just a quick note to say that DHB still holds a slim lead over Crabtree headed into this week's games, 2-0 in total catches for the year.

I just picked up Crabtree in my fantasy league as a hedge against local ridicule.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Whew - I Guess

SFGate's front page reads: "No charges for Raiders coach in alleged beating of assistant."

The false hope that is mercilessly pulling me back towards "practicing fan" status lives on...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

I'm a sucker for these kinds of things

Check out Jerry Mac's latest. I agree with him that Seymour "guaranteeing" a playoff spot is 8,000 times better than "things are fishy around here."

But what got to me was the talk of the pigeon. We've all seen this video:



In fact, my daughter loves it. But this almost made me choke up:

“You see that pigeon?,” Green said to teammate Sam Williams. “That was Marquis.”

Indeed, even the mother of Marquis Cooper, the Raiders linebacker and special teams standout who was lost at sea on March 1 and presumed dead, thought the same thing.

Williams checks in with Donna Cooper regularly.

“She said, `That was Marquis out there with you guys,’ ” Williams said. “That was something else. I just saw it on the field, wondering why it was there. Once I saw it with us, covering the kick, it was special.”

So here's the deal. I've been a hater. And I don't take any of it back. I'll hold Tom Cable to his standard of three wins a row before I start thinking this team has turned a corner. But you'd have to be heartless not to be touched by the pigeon story.

Monday, October 19, 2009

The Greatness of the Raiders and the Not-So of the Warriors

Raiders 13 Eagles 9. In your face, McNabb.

Just like Al Davis has probably said on numerous occasions; you just gotta get after that opposing QB, give him no time to sit back and pick you apart. You gotta use the deep pass to score, and a hard-nosed running game to control the clock. JaMarc, he even threw a decent game - at least relatively - and the Raiders pulled off the upset in a game that only a fan of the Eagles or Raiders could watch all the way through.

Next week we should see more of the same, but with the usual result: the defense will outplay the offense - that is, the Raiders Defense will outplay the Raiders Offense, only I don't see Mark Sanchez and the former Bretts taking the Raiders lightly, or being "outcoached" or "surprised", like the Philly squad. Enjoy this victory Raiders Fan - it might be your last.

The GSW's.

Warrior Fans, whatever shall we do? Stack Jack (Stephen Jackson) wants out of the Golden State, so that -much like Al Harrington- he can still lose, but do it a more fun fashion.
The Warriors named Monta Ellis as Captain in place of Stack Jack, who basically yanked off his own Captains "C" and tossed it in the commode after wiping himself with it. He then made comments to effect that the Captain designation is meaningless.

I don't know about that. Besides getting to go out to mid-court before the first whistle, the "C" does seem to bestow the wearer with the license to speak to the refs, to straighten out other players on the team, to be the heart and the soul of the team, I would think - but Stack Jack says he can't lead a bunch of guys making the same money as him - they have to handle themselves.

I do remember one captain the Warriors had in thier past, and his name was Tim Hardaway. His name probably is still Tim Hardaway, but I digress. He was not just one of the captains, he was the floor general, the best offensive option (in his mind), and the outspoken leader of a team that wasn't great, but damn sure entertained. He was the face of the franchise and we fans liked him and his Utep Two-Step from Day One.

The Warriors haven't been great, ever. They haven't been entertaining since the "We Believe" Season of 2007 that seems to have taken place way back in 1977, it was so long ago.

Now we got ourselves another little shooting guard of a point guard, and he's to be the floor general to hear Don Nelson tell it, and he will lead this team - and not because he's a natural leader, but because the Warriors have no other option. Monta will wear the "C" for as long as he is a Warrior - or until he feels the same way about wearing it as Stack Jack.

Wear it well, Monta. Give us fans a little hope.



Sllaacs

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Cable Takes a Stand

A non-practicing fan though I may be, I found it impossible to stay away from the radio in the second half. It's games like these that always blow my mind. Just when you are absolutely sure they will never win again, they beat a winning team. This leads to what longtime CLOAK reader Dave labels a false sense of hope, and the cycle of disappointment begins anew.

But this was a win, and despite what many will say about the Eagles overlooking the Raiders, the cross-country flight, Reid's game plan, or McNabb's poor play, the Raider defense played a huge part in delivering this win. How did they do it? By defying reason #2 why the Raiders always lose. They mixed up their scheme. They blitzed like crazy. They dropped into Cover-2. And it worked.

Per Winston Justice: “They were doing some stunts. They caught us by surprise. They did a lot of things that we weren’t really expecting.”

Per McNabb: “This week the defensive coordinator came up with a scheme we haven’t seen. They’re known for playing man coverage. They dropped back in a lot of zone, more zone than we’ve seen in the early games. That allowed them to sit back in a zone and just wait for a guy to catch the ball and make the tackle. They came up with more of a blitz package today. They were able to get pressure.”

After the game, Greg Papa asked Tom Cable why they had shown such a different look this week. Cable said he made the decision and sounded defiant in his comments, which went something like this: "We weren't going to sit back in man-single free safety and just take it."

This, I believe, is Cable taking a stand against the vanilla defense dictated by Al Davis. Cable knows that with defensive performances like they've had in Houston and New York, he wouldn't be employed for long. He might not even make it past tomorrow, depending on what the Napa DA has to say.

If there's any doubt that Al dictates defensive scheme, here is what Nnamdi had to say about John Marshall dialing up the blitzes today: "He said that he might get yelled at for it, but he’ll keep it going." Nnamdi added, "Maybe he’ll see that it actually works, and we’ll stick on it."

He might as well have been talking about Al.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Even the Onion is getting mileage out of the Raiders

Raiders Achieve First Down.

It's only going to get worse.

Art Shell JaMarcus Bad

David White's article in today's Sporting Green asks newly-signed Langston Walker how this offense compares to the Tom Walsh-inspired debacle he played on 2006. Take it away:

"Hopefully I can come in and help this team at some point," Walker said.

At some point? How about this instant.

The Raiders barely score against subpar competition. Imagine all the scoring they won't be doing against the Eagles' third-ranked defense Sunday at the Coliseum.

"Aw, man, we've just got to put up points," rookie wide receiver Louis Murphy said. "That's all I can really say about that."

Fine. Let the numbers speak for themselves after a 1-4 start.

Today's Raiders have scored 49 points through five games, one point less than the '06 Raiders. That makes this the worst scoring start in franchise history.

Wow. 1 point less than the '06 Raiders. Unbelievable. And this on the heels of Antonio Pierce saying that playing the Raiders felt more like a scrimmage.

I have a friend who is a big Eagles fan. He invited me to go to the game with him this Sunday. There's no way I'm paying Al Davis one penny for the right to watch his clown college in person.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A Ray of Sunshine?

Chaz Schilens practiced today and will probably play on Sunday.

Nope. Still depressed.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Breakdown

All seems lost for the Raiders. The CLOAK has shifted concept from calling out Haters of the Week to recapping a daily litany of anti-Raiders sentiment. There is little hope for 2009, and really none for the future either, because what we feared is proving to be true. The Raiders organization is built to lose.

Since this blog began, we have asked many times why the Raiders systematically fall apart, why they lead the league in penalties no matter the coaching staff, why they lose 11+ games every year no matter the scheme or the talent level. Over time, we have learned why:
  1. There is no organizational hierarchy
  2. Al Davis dictates a vanilla, archaic defense
  3. The personnel theory is the antithesis of Billy Beane's Moneyball
How does poor organizational structure translate to performance on the field? While Johnny astutely points out the foolish priorities of the boss in the Hanson article - which is an underlying factor that exacerbates the entire situation - I found it interesting that one tiny unnecessary meddling fact led to this whole incident: Randy Hanson was hired by Al Davis before Tom Cable won the head coaching job. Whether or not that was done to secure Hanson as a snitch as has been alleged, it led to all of this distraction and if you read both linked Michael Silver articles you'll see how that lack of organizational continuity leads to confusion and underperformance on the field. Bottom line: the coach really has no authority.

I think Steve Young watched his first Raider game week one of this season. He repeatedly remarked, "I have never seen so much man-free safety in my life," and you could hear the drool running down his chin as he imagined picking it apart from under center. Teams in the past have said that they barely prepare for the Raiders given that they give the same look week in and week out. It shows. While they occasionally play inspired ball or match up perfectly with an opponent, in most weeks they have no prayer stopping the run. Rob Ryan is no longer our defensive coordinator. The defense, apparently stocked with talent, has given us no chance in either of the last two weeks.

And that brings us to the personnel theory. The core assertion of Moneyball is that baseball teams overpay for certain physical attributes in players relative to the impact that those attributes have on winning games. Interestingly, the most overpaid-for attribute in baseball is speed. Sound familiar? In the NFL, speed is important, but so are a lot of things. Al Davis continues to make a lot of good choices with players. But he also makes a lot of mistakes, and he spends a lot of money on those mistakes. While too obvious to point to JaMarcus right now, the failure to address the offensive line in a meaningful way since the Gallery-Grove draft (that was 2004, mind you) is causing tremendous pain this year.

Undoubtedly there are more reasons. Perhaps there are better arguments surrounding these. But football teams spiral out of control without clear authority and responsibilities. Today's NFL offenses pick defenses to shreds when given the opportunity to plan. And egregious personnel mistakes set franchises back.

Given enough time, the combination turns off even the most die hard fans.

Breaking down the contiunous debacle, 2003-Now

Ray Ratto takes a look back at what he calls "the Troubles," the period of losing the Raiders have served up since getting destroyed in the Super Bowl.

I particularly enjoyed this passage:
Thus, it really matters not a jot what head coach Tom Cable says about staying the course, or what the players say about changing the direction, or what anyone says about national punch-line JaMarcus Russell or the Amish offensive line or the not-really-a-running-game or the hologram that is Javon Walker or Randy Hanson or really anything at all. This is nature at its most reliable. It's October, the wind is up, the leaves are turning, the Raiders have just embarrassed themselves, and they and we all know another season is irreparably damaged.


He then goes through and looks at ever game five since 2003, which was either a loss or a bye, and the game six that follows, also all losses.

I was at the game in 2004, with my wife and my mother and father. The Raiders lost 31-3. It's the only game I've ever left early, because it had started raining, much like it is today, in the late 3rd quarter, with the score already 31-3. It was my wife's first ever Raiders game. I'm kind of surprised she didn't divorce me.

Anyway, blah blah blah, the Raiders still suck and we are suckers for rooting for them.

We REALLY deserve this

Lowell Cohn's latest column, pwning Al Davis for the Clown college he's running in Alameda.

Money quote:
No right-thinking person, no sane person, no reasonable observer of the NFL can have faith and belief in this outrage that is the Oakland Raiders. No one. There can be no faith because the man at the top has lost touch with modern football and every glaring flaw, every football abomination results from that. And you know it.

Everyone knows it except for Davis and those close to him who whisper silliness in his ear. You feel they live in an alternate universe, these Raiders people, a universe in which everything bad appears good.

I was thinking about why the Raiders seem to matter still in their decrepitude. People don't mock the Lions or the Rams the way Cris Carter and that other guy who looks like Rahm Emanuel mocked them the other day. And it's because there was real greatness in the past. It's what made people like Dan and me fall in love with them. But that's gone.

When Al finally gives up, I will feel sympathy and nostalgia for his past innovations. Until then, while his team, MY FAVORITE team, is disgrace, I will wish him ill.


Monday, October 12, 2009

We deserve this, Part 2

Some asshole Broncos fan at Bleacher Report has a slide show of reasons why the Raiders suck.

Sure, he doesn't know how to use an apostrophe, and his prose is JaMarcus-bad, but we can't really argue with his descriptions of the unholy trinity, Al-JaMarcus-Tom Cable. My favorite is reason #5: "Your last first rounder has more names than catches."

We deserve this



This video was playing at the front of Len Pasquareli's column rehashing how JaMarcus-bad the Raiders are for a national audience. I guess that's what happens when you play a New York team. Anyway, Rahm Emanuel and Cris Carter yuck it up pretty impressively in this piece.

Also getting in a nice joke is Mike Florio, never one to miss out. He says that if Rush Limbaugh buys the Rams, they'll have to overpay for free agents, since players are still pissed about how he did Donovan McNabb. He says "all ties will go to the other team," meaning playing time, market, whatever, "unless that other team is the Raiders."

We'll be hear all week, sports fans.

Debacle Reactions

Just a smattering of local feedback on yesterday's Jersey Beat Down:

Gutierrez says the Raiders are a "sad joke," and advises Tom Cable to steal Al's Towncar, drive it to Napa, and turn himself in for breaking Randy Hanson's jaw. Why? Because,
a little time in the pokey, solitary confinement if possible, would be so much better for your stress level, your general well-being and overall health than what you have to endure daily watching over this shockingly wretched outfit and its latest embarrassing performance.
Gary Peterson says things have never been so bleak for the Raiders:

So what happens now?

"You stay the course," Cable said.

Shudder.

Gwen Knapp comes a week late to the bash-JaMarcus party, after everyone else has moved onto to including the entire team, with her usual JaMarcus-bad logic, with a headline, "Russell's latest debacle proves he isn't getting it." It opens:
The Raiders backed up their coach Sunday. They lost a game so completely and atrociously that they confirmed Tom Cable's assertions that his team's problems went much deeper than the devastatingly inaccurate arm of quarterback JaMarcus Russell.

Kawakami sees "greatness all around." His final bullet point:
It’s my fault. It’s Rich Gannon’s fault. It’s Lowell Cohn’s fault. It’s Monte Poole’s fault. It’s all of our faults, since… well, I’m sure Al and his miions will tell us why.
Heh.

Cohn says "Raiders are right there." It's short, and written in the 4th quarter before the game had actually ended. It's a pretty brilliant piece of black comedy, actually. Noting that at every press conference he gives, Tom Cable says that the Raiders are "almost there," Lowell blogs,
He never actually says where there is or if there is a there there...By the way, there refers to the absolute bottom whether Cable knows it or not.
Not good times for Raiders fan. In fact, these times are JaMarcus Bad.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Loss of Faith

You know why the Raiders are so horrible? Read this article by Michael Silver, which came out this morning, with an exclusive interview with Randy Hanson.

Who gives a shit if it's true that Tom Cable sucker punched Hanson, breaking his jaw? Nobody. And I don't really give a shit about the he said, she said aspect of it. Although it is fascinating to read in a train-wreck kind of way. But look at this paragraph:
Davis had been out of town at the time of the incident – he was on the East Coast giving a deposition to a lawyer for Kiffin, who is challenging the owner’s decision not to pay him the balance of his contract. He did not meet with Hanson until Aug. 16, 11 days after the incident.
Al Davis was not with his team because he was on the East Coast giving a deposition against the last asshole he hired and fired.

Nothing sums up the state of this football team than the fact that Al Davis cares more about settling scores with his former head coach--A guy who Davis should never have hired in the first place--than he does about making the Oakland Raiders a competitive football team.

It doesn't even make me sick anymore. Dan came up with a great line during the game. He was thinking of becoming a "non-practicing Raiders fan."

From now on, that's what I am. And I think I for speak for Dan as well, although he's certainly capable of speaking for himself, when I say that from this moment forward, this is a dissident blog. The changes in the images were made to reflect the true faces of this franchise: the senile, decrepit old man who cares about nothing but his own deteriorating legacy, ironically destroying said legacy with every idiotic thing that comes out of his mouth and every unqualified coach he hires and then fires and then sues; and the quarterback he drafted, gave $32 Million guaranteed 8 weeks too late, and who sucks so epically that everything that really, really sucks is now knows as "JaMarcus Bad."

Al Davis is JaMarcus Bad. And he deserves everything he gets.

Dimensionless

While realistic, Kawakami's triangle is irrelevant. JaMarcus is awful, but he has nothing to do with the fact that this defense cannot stop the run unless specifically stacked for it. Any draw, any sweep, any screen goes for huge yards. I mean 20 yards-per-carry sort of stuff. That defense, as we all know, is dictated by Al Davis. The singular point that matters in this debacle of debacles.

We hoped that the Art Shell Experiment proved something to Al: that innovation matters. Nope. And now the CLOAK OF IMMORTALITY feels like a wet blanket of futility from which we will never, ever escape. And that single point is the proverbial black hole with an infinite capacity to suck.

Pregame Highlights

Yeah, I'm watching. So far. Having just flipped from Fox to CBS in order to avoid two of the dumbest analysts in football - Shannon Sharpe and Dan Marino - I'm met with this gem:

"Home Depot Tools to Victory: Oakland Raiders - A touchdown would be nice."

At least I was able to stay with Fox long enough to catch good old Howie Long going off on his monologue about the "Brady Stare." He pointed out the terrible inconsistency in official's calls last week when they flagged Baltimore for 15 yards after Brady stared down the official based on Terrell Suggs avoiding hitting Brady in the legs. Then they swallowed their whistles when Flacco was drilled two steps after throwing the ball, leading to a concussion for the offensive lineman who was behind Flacco.

It's bad enough to have to suffer through Raider hopelessness, we also have to deal with games that are, in effect, rigged. At least the Patriots are playing Denver today. Somebody has to lose, right?

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Hopelessness

Sorry, Dan.

I feel it, too. And not even a little bit of hope for a Denver-style miracle.

This team is horrible. Kawakami's post about the Russell-Davis-Cable triangle sounds about right on the money to me. This sounds like a horrible mix, one that's even worse than the Art Shell year, somehow.

All we need is for DHB to come out and say how "fishy" things are. I'm not sure I'd even throw up in my mouth.

Maybe something's wrong with me that this stuff doesn't even piss me off now? Anyway, the over/under for tomorrow's game is 35.

35%, that is, of JaMarcus's passes completed.

Misery

It's become a tough season. At the moment it feels as difficult as the Art Shell year, and perhaps worse because I never thought that could happen again. After traveling to Houston for last week's debacle, I decided that I should start putting my time to better use than watching this utter garbage week after week and year after year. Walk the dog. Go to the beach. Read a book. Sleep. Anything.

Due to the early game and the fact that I'm having a buddy over to hang out during the day, I'll probably watch at least the first half. Is it worth hoping that a miracle similar to last year's at-Broncos game will occur? That I'll likely tune in at 10 am with that hope somewhere deep in my mind is proof of my illness.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Why the blog is quiet

Because you can read shit like this elsewhere. Watching that game the other day was awful. I had a pretty rough weekend, dealing with some personal, family stuff. Before driving home, I thought I'd watch the Raiders play the Texans, and while I didn't have any hope of them winning the game, I thought maybe at least it would take my mind off of the other things that were bothering me.

Instead, I felt like Al Swearengen (language NSFW and this is a different scene, but the characters are the same), who was trying to get a blowjob from Dolly when Seth Bullock and Calamity Jane show up outside his window, screaming at him, asking for his badge and gun back. "Even this now gives me no pleasure," says Al, with a sigh.

I'm not comparing watching football to getting a blow job. But the sentiment is the same, in that something that was once pleasurable, a pleasant diversion to get one through his day, is now overwhelmed by external events. Would Dolly have overcome Al's problems with better technique? Perhaps. Would the Raiders playing better football have brightened my day? Almost certainly.

Instead, I just had to go outside and see who the fuck was yelling at me, and why.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

On the Road, Taking Names

Having bought tickets just before last week's debacle, this week I find myself in Austin, TX putting down some coffee before starting the 3+ hour drive to Houston's Reliant Stadium for today's noon CT kickoff. Unk, Kristy, Mikey, and Kate -or- Dad will make the road trip, and we'll be meeting up with college roommate and good friend Billy Forney in Houston. We'll be driving Fred's white Ford van and Kristy has equipped us with Raider flag and magnetic shield to advertise our allegiance. Sweet.

What has me fired up this morning is Goldmember late this week joining a long list of former players who level a very specific criticism against the Raiders: that too many players are just "there to collect a check and not really interested in putting everything that they had within themselves on to the football field."

Ok, so who are these guys? Last year I noted the names that Nnamdi specified as guys who care after the locker room laughter incident (Burgess, Wilson, Kelly). Interestingly, two of those three are no longer with the team. On this year's defense, which guys are just collecting a check? It isn't the DEs. Per Nnamdi it isn't Tommy Kelly. Chris Johnson? Not how he's turned around his career. Michael Huff? He's our MVP through 3 games. Tyvon Branch? I don't think so.

Gerard Warren is believable, but that's one guy. And that leaves the linebacking corps, which I just can't believe are a bunch of slackers. Maybe they joke around a lot, but I just can't believe they don't care.

So maybe it's that the offense doesn't care?

If the reason the Raiders collapse 3 games into every year is that guys don't care, why doesn't someone call out the individuals stealing my money? I want to know. Name names. Or perhaps in this case it's a bitter Goldmember making a claim that no longer applies. The Chargers remarked after the first game that it was surprising to see so many Raiders trying so hard to win. That the team looked different. I hope so, but it leaves me wondering what happened last week.

So will this week's game be like the Atlanta game last year (reaching previously unexplored depths) or the at Denver game last year (a pleasant shocker)? Either way, we'll find out in person.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Hope in the midst of an already-debacled season.

Houston Texans tight end Anthony Hill is the first NFL player to contract swine flu. Add that to the fact that the Texans are 32nd in total defense this season, and the Raiders could be players this week.

Except that Cable will still have JaMarcus throw the ball 30 times, instead of handing the ball off to our trio of running backs and getting his big ass out of the way.