Oakland Raiders’ First Training Camp Under Dennis Allen

in Opinion / by Old Timer / on August 8, 2012 at 12:12 pm /

What’s up RaiderNation? I want to take a moment to apologize for last week’s article being so short. I was on vacation in Vegas and did not have much time to put it together. Speaking of Vegas, I just have to tell you all about a place I took my boys to before we left. Machine Guns Vegas was the height of their vacation. Are you a gamer? Play Black Ops, or MW3 or the like? Then you gotta check this place out. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful, from the lovely girls who come to your table and show you all of the available packages, the range-masters who will get all of the guns loaded for you and set up all of your targets, right down to the lovely girl who takes your photo in front of a “green screen” backdrop. The options available are off the hook. Believe me, this place is legit! You can check out their website at http://machinegunsvegas.com/

Well, enough about my vacation, lets get back to what is important, and that is the RAIDERS! Before I go any farther, I would like to mention a scare that the Raiders had yesterday in Napa. Mike Goodson collided with Philip Wheeler in a helmet to helmet collision which left Goodson lying on the field, and he was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The good news is that all tests were negative, and he returned back to the Napa Marriotts facility last night. I have not heard anything more about the injury, but it looks as though he will be fine.

The Raiders are currently in Napa at their annual training camp, the first one with new Head Coach, Dennis Allen. Although Allen has never been a Head Coach in the NFL, you wouldn’t know it to hear the players and media talk about it. Everything I have heard about how Allen is running this camp is that they are impressed with his knowledge, his attitude, his intensity, and the respect that he commands from the players and coaches. He is definitely not just another rookie Head Coach. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have been wanting another defensive minded head coach since Madden retired, and I am psyched about what this can do for the Raider defense.

If you have been a fan as long as I have, you can remember the days when every game was a heart attack waiting to happen. The offense scored a lot of points, but the defense gave up a lot as well and it always seemed that in order to win the game, we needed to score on the last drive, or make a stop on the opponent’s last drive to win the game. With Dennis Allen as our Head Coach, I hope to see those days gone away. Of course, this change is not going to happen over night, but I do believe there will be a big improvement in the Raider defense this year.

As for the offense, I have not been this excited in a long time my Raider brothers and sisters! Carson Palmer said this is the most excited he has ever been going into a new season. He has had a full off-season with his receivers, going into a new offense that is tuned to the players’ abilities, and he is very much looking forward to having one of the most explosive backs in the NFL as one of his weapons. Every scout I hear from are expecting the Raiders to be scoring upwards of 30 points a game. We have a young, hardworking offensive line that is peppered with some older experienced vets. We are going to have an explosive running game, and that is going to open up the passing game for our strong-armed QB and speedy WR’s, not to mention our secret weapon in Marcel Reece.

The Raiders have gone 8-8 for 2 years in a row, but I truly believe that this year they will once again have a winning record and be in the mix for the AFC West title. Monday night we will get a brief glimpse of what this new Raider offense and defense will look like. I don’t know about any of you, but I just can’t wait to hear those glorious words, TOUCHDOWNNNNNNNN RAAIIIIDERRRRS!!!!!!!!!!!!!