Pre-Game Thoughts: Do I Even Care?

I'm not sure that I do, but we have a blog that needs to be updated, so let's give it a shot.

JaMarcus is not playing today. Andrew Walter is. Jerry Mac goes through a scenario in which Walter plays well, the Raiders win, and are then left to decide what happens next week in Miami with a (presumably) healthy JaMarcus. It's not pretty.

Nothing against Andrew Walter, but seeing him get killed, week after week, during the Art Shell regime, made me excited for the Raiders to draft JaMarcus in the first place.

I exchanged text messages with Dan, who is in Denver, and he asked, "If Walter plays, is that a good thing?" Honestly, I don't know. I guess we still have a shot at the playoffs, since every other team in our division sucks almost as much as we do. But for sure, the "JaMarcus is a bust" talk will accelerate. Even worse, the thoughtful birthday present my brother got me will land me on the front page of straightcashhomey.net.

One other thing. I was running to the store to get some beers for the game, which I will be watching incrementally on The Red Zone Channel. I was listening to Greg Papa and Tom Flores discussing the release of DeAngelo Hall, when Papa said, "One thing that people may not know about the Raiders, that we see every day on the inside, is that if you don't play well, you will not be here very long." That's a paraphrase.

Anyway, all I could think when I heard that was, really, Greg?

Really?

Sorry Dan, for bringing those guys up. Enjoy your trip.

John's Picks

We should have done this a couple of days ago, and I was hoping dobolina would join Sllaacs, Dan and me by adding the Packers to our list of games, making it 4: 9ers, Raiders, Packers, and a random.

Let's do it anyway:

The 49ers suck. They're just awful. And the Cardinals are going to destroy them, 18-3. They get 3 because I like Nedney, and he's their whole offense.

Aaron Rodgers debuts as Favre's replacement against the Vikings in Monday Night's JV game. All I know is that Adrian Peterson had some dominant performances for me last year as my fantasy RB. With the Packers defense hurting, he will rush for 270 yards and 4 touchdowns, and beat the Packers 28-17.

Dan and I will be in the house Monday night for the Varsity matchup verse the Donkeys. I was there last year, and while the game is starting too late for us to take Lily this year, I'm expecting a similar result. Especially if the Denver training staff forgets to pack Cutler's insulin.

For the Random Game, let's go with the Jets vs. Miami. No matter what Lombardi says, Quentin Moses is not going to sack Brett Favre this weekend. Miami still sucks, even if they're no longer Tuna safe. Jets win 21-6.

Just a question, does the cover of Madden '09 qualify for Straight Cash Homey!?

Just

Bill Williamson Hearts Lane Kiffin

Bill Williamson has a couple of nice pieces on espn.com: a Raiders camp overview that says nothing but good things about Kiffin and his young players, and blog item that shows both McFadden (#9) and JaMarcus (#24) in the top 25 of NFL Jersey sales.

Mikey is sure to add to his Straight Cash Homey Jets collection, with a Favre jersey to go with that Santana Moss jersey he rocks.