32-17

Last night's preseason win over the Bears has me feeling pretty good about the Raiders. Main observations:

• The pass rush and defensive front looks incredible
• O-line - not bad
• Wide receivers - we still need help here

If Kamerion Wimbley plays anything like he did last night during the regular season, the Raiders are in excellent shape. Four sacks in the first half. The whole D-line looked great, with Tommy Kelly in on the action as well. The complete revamp of the LB corps looks outstanding right now, and moving up Trevor Scott and Wimbley to rush the passer in nickel situations is paying off. McClain can tackle. Sure, he overran the play that looked disturbingly similar to last year's run defense (Forte for 89 yards), but when he hits guys, they go down.

The O line is a big question mark, but looked pretty solid against some good players on the Bears. One of my favorite plays of the game came in the second quarter when Henderson stood up Julius Peppers in a 1-on-1 situation, then Gallery came over to help and put him on the ground, hard. Despite a couple of dumb penalties on the opening drive - which the Raiders overcame, a great sign in itself - Gallery looks terrific.

As for the wide receivers, it's a good thing we have Louis Murphy. No one else looked good. Even JLH, who had a nice catch, still looks a bit lost out there. Hopefully Schilens and DHB are not really hurt and we're just saving them for the regular season. Otherwise Zach Miller will be way overworked. It looked to me last night like Campbell was skipping an open Zach on several plays to try and get the ball to WRs. At least I hope that's the case...

So far this year my least favorite guy is #23, Jeremy Ware. He seems to have that rare blend of overconfidence and incompetence that leads to fourth down TD passes like the Bears' second score.

Of note, Bo Jackson was at the game last night and he told Greg Papa that his best ever 40 time was a 4.14. He looked even faster than that with pads on.

Overall, relatively dominant game by the Raiders. Jerry points out the success they had with the screen play on offense. That was another good thing to see.

Dan Roundup

My lazy summertime blogging frequency continues. I would blame it on the severe foot injury I suffered at Johnny's birthday barbecue, but if anything, that has kept me off my feet and even more apt to sit in front of a computer. At least I'm using my crutches less, but I still have a blister the size of a golf ball on the bottom of my foot. Kristy says no to pictures on the CLOAK. Too disgusting.

Just watched the few minutes of Greg Papa's interview with Al Davis that were shown on tonight's Chronicle Live. Al is looking more and more like the emperor from Star Wars, but his memory remains solid, telling stories about Brooklyn and how Mike Tyson called him one tough SOB for having grown up playing in Lincoln Terrace Park. No real football content, though.

The other day it was AFC West day on NFL Live on ESPN, and when they went to Bronco Bill for some insight via his lousy telephone, he actually declared Zach Miller his breakout player for the upcoming season. I can get behind that one, although it also says a little something about expectations for the vertical game.

One thing I never got around to doing was following up on my three points from minicamp.

1. So far Huff's only chance appears to be getting the Derrick Gibson treatment from on high. Given that Al called him Art Shell's pick, I don't see it happening. I sure do miss Eddie Anderson.
2. DHB was so-so. I didn't notice any gasps from the media as he ran down the field, but most focus was on his hands or his hamstring. He's a rookie WR, so doubtful he'll do a lot anyway. But Schilens seems to be on track to continue emerging, much to Unk's delight. And speaking of McFadden...that's my breakout pick for 2009.
3. The accuracy of JaMarcus. Not so good. At least he showed improvement. But what's with this story that he skipped the last OTA after showing such "leadership" calling for extra practice with his receivers? Did he disappear into the Twilight Zone with all the regular Raider bloggers? (See #2 under Things I Heard...)

No wonder I never followed up.

Finally, I could not help but notice that Ron Artest is heading to the Lakers. I haven't watched a full NBA game since November 19, 2004, when Ron and his buddies climbed into the stands and started beating up fans. Truth be told, it hasn't been that difficult given that I find the NBA game to be reasonably boring and I've drifted from the Lakers to the Rockets to nobody with the Hornets (Charlotte) thrown in there at some point as favorite teams. Sure, I bet a lot of those fans were assholes, but the sight of these guys climbing up there and pounding on people who paid to come to the game was just too much.

Even Rich Gannon is Saying Nice Things about JaMarcus Now

He looked great on that drive, with passes to Schillens and Miller, mixing in nice runs from Michael Bush.

Cap it off with a toss to Schillens on 3rd and Goal and the Raiders will go into the half up 14-7, as Chucky's boys get booed off the field.

I mean, Wow.

So JaMarcus throws an interception, and Zach Miller damn near gets Clifton'd, and JaMarcus leaves the field on a cart.

Good times. 

Just when I'm thinking of turning off the TV and doing something productive with my evening, Justin Miller takes it to the house. 

Answer to Dan's Question #3.

Troupe is inactive. The only thing he's blocking is someone's view.

Right. Quarterback Play is the Problem with the Passing Game.

Bill Williamson has been eating retard sandwiches. In his blog post about what AFC West teams need to do to improve, he sites the Raiders' quarterback play.

Let's get this straight. JaMarcus Russell is not the reason the passing game sucks.

You want to point fingers? How about the receiving corps? I'm surprised Williamson missed this post by Jerry McDonald, since the Raiders coverage on his blog mainly consists of linking to Jerry's blog. Javon Walker may be the worst free agent signing since Barry Zito. Or how did he miss Jerry's subsequent post on JaMarcus' conference call, where he said that all he cares about is winning, and that if he had to hand it off 100 times, he'd hand it off 101.

I know he's not the only columnist I've read this week who made fun of the Raiders passing game, and pointed to QB play. But JaMarcus has not thrown and interception through two games. That's all Lance is asking, and since teams can load up on Zach Miller since Javon Walker can't get open, and Ron Curry couldn't catch a fucking cold. Get someone who can get open, and then catch the ball, and JaMarcus will get it there.

Holiday Hangover: Sllaacs' Week 17 Picks.

Santa was very good to me this year. I got an awesome Raiders hoodie, and a Kirk Morrison #52 home black jersey. I'm excited to wear it this weekend during the game, whether I'm watching on TV or at the coliseum.

I'm not sure how I feel about what happened on Sunday. The only word that comes to mind is the one I used then, which is "debacle." It's good that JaMarcus got his nose bloodied. He'll learn from how horribly he played. I like Zach Miller caught Jammy's first TD pass, though. That's going to be a combo for a long time.

Immediately after the game, I went out to buy some groceries for our holiday festivities. I was listening to the Raiders post-game show. When I came out of the store, there was a program on called "The Rabbi Daniel Lapin Show." I guess he's an English Rabbi, judging by his name and his accent. Anyway, his theory was that "God is a Conversative, and Santa Claus is a Liberal." He wanted his callers to discuss. So a guy called in and said, "You're right, because God created the world in 7 Days (sic), and Santa tries to do everything in one night." I got through the good Rabbi actually saying the words, "I guess that's a valid argument..." before changing the channel over to some classic rock.

This is so stupid in so many ways, I don't even know where to begin. Just don't let me hear one more word about secular liberals having a "war on Christmas."

Anyway, after this nice little holiday wrap up, here's Sllaacs' picks for this final week, via email:

Got to say, Dan was right about the Green Bay - Chicago rivalry. The Black and Blue is still the division with the toughest (i.e., Competitiveness + Inclement weather) divisional games in the league. Got ta needle ya though Danny; Your "test" game was right on the money - 49-11 and basically is a microcosm of the entire season. Good call. Seriously. You called it before the game; 'This is a test for the Raiders' - I am paraphrasing. I interpret the final result of the Oak vs Jack game as a failed exam and a harbinger of what is to come in 2008. What do you infer from the outcome of the "test" game?

Poor Raider fan - all your hopes for next season rest on J. Russell making a good or acceptable appearance in the last game of this season. Welcome to the world of the Niner fan for the past two off-seasons - now let's make it three. What do you say Johnnie Boy? Those Russell stats look suspiciously like Alex Smith stats. San Diego has nothing to play for, but L.T. has a habit of putting two game's worth of rushing yards into a half against the Raiders, so even if the starters only play the first half, San Diego might blow this thing open with their first three drives of the game. I'm going to pick Oakland however, since they are at home, and they actually have a reason to play for a win. 20 - 16 - The Raiders.

The Niners should lose to Cleveland. They should - there is no good reason to think that the Browns would lose this game at the Dawg Pound, even if it will take a Titans win over the Colts to keep them out of the Playoffs. Except for the following: Mike Nolan is 6 - 2 in his coaching career over the last three games of the regular season. Also - Shay - Heezy iz tha Hiz-nouse. Cleveland wins - 28 - 17.

So for my third game, I will pick the Cardinals over the Rams... Yeah, right. We'll go with the Patsy's at the Giants. As an NFC fan, I would love to see the hated New York football Giants roll the Patriots and ruin the run for perfection, thereby allowing the stupid Dolphins old-timers to continue to have a reason to live and make the AFC look like collective assholes for continuing to have to hear from these dinosaurs. The Giants are in the playoffs, and offer an awesome pass Rush.

Nice year for us Bay Area Football fans. Nice last couple ofyears. I'd like to thank Al Davis and the Yorks for making all of us fans reminisce about the good old days of Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Rich Gannon, Jeff Hostettler, and Tim Brown, among a legion of others. Those were the days when we could score. A friggin'. Touchdown.

Sllaacs

Merry Belated Xmas, people. Hope it was a good one.