My Two Cents: Oakland Raiders’ Season is Over
What’s up RaiderNation? Welcome to this week’s edition of My Two Cents, with your favorite one-handed Raider fan, Old Timer. I say one-handed because that is how I am having to type this week’s column, as I had surgery on my left wrist on Thursday and can’t use that hand yet (and my boss is a slave driver and won’t give me the week off unless I give up my red stapler and move my office back into the basement, just kidding). For those of you who don’t know me very well, before you get upset with the name of this week’s column, let me just say that I am just being sarcastic. The season is far from over, but you wouldn’t know it listening to some people out there!
We are a quarter of the way through the season, and the Raiders are 1-3, and tied with the Chiefs for last place. That means our season is over, Greg Knapp. Jason Tarver and Dennis Allen all need to be fired, and the Raiders will never make the play-offs ever again. At least that is how some out there are thinking (OK, maybe I am exaggerating a little). But seriously my Raider brothers and sisters, please don’t lose faith so early in the season. Last year we missed the play-offs by one game. Let’s just take a look at last year’s numbers, compared to this year’s shall we?
Last year after 4 games, on offense we had 1,126 yards, 11 touchdowns, 5 field goals, 1 interception, 2 fumbles, and were 2-2. This year we have 1,275 yards, 6 touchdowns, 8 field goals, 2 interceptions, 2 fumbles, and are 1-3. The biggest difference here being we scored 92 points last year and 66 points this year. But keep in mind that last year at this point, everyone was healthy, and we weren’t running a completely new scheme. This year we are running an entirely new offensive scheme, we have Jacoby Ford out for the year, we had DHB out last week and part of week 3, we had Denarius Moore out for the first game, Brandon Myers hurt, Wisniewski out at the beginning of the season, Khalif Barnes out with a groin injury, and very little depth to work with thanks in part to salary cap issues, lack of draft picks, and a bloated team salary that needed to be dealt with.
Our defense, while it has given up entirely too many points this year giving up 14 touchdowns, an 9 field goals, is not that far behind where we were last year at this time. Last year we had given up 14 touchdowns and 5 field goals at this point in the season. But keep in mind we lost both of our starting corners in the first 2 games this year, and have had to resort to putting our free safety into that position. And Aaron Curry has yet to play a snap this year. Again, lack of depth is hurting us tremendously, but as I mentioned previously, it is just something that we are going to have to live with this year. Next year, we will be in a much better situation I am sure. And the addition of Andre Carter should help the almost non-existent pass rush we have had so far, taking some of the pressure off our DB’s.
The bye has come at a very opportune time for us. DHB should be back, and possibly Khalif Barnes as well. It does not look like Spencer will be back as he is still in a walking boot, but there is an outside chance that Bartell could be back, and Aaron Curry is reportedly close as well. Bottom line here my Raider brothers and sisters, if Jon Condo doesn’t get injured in the first game, we are sitting at 2-2, and in a 3-way tie for first place in the AFC West. Of course, the glass would still be half empty for many of you.
I don’t know why, but I do know I can’t live that way. I don’t believe the season is over. I do believe the defense is going to turn around and consistently do what it has shown flashes of so far under Dennis Allen’s and Jason Tarver’s tutelage. I do believe that our Offensive Line will get better and better in the ZBS and our running game will become dominant once again. Although I personally believe we would be best served with a power blocking scheme such as the one we used last year, I do believe we can have a dominant offense with the ZBS, I just believe it will take some time to get there. There is no doubt it is one of the most effective schemes out there. Just look at what Denver used to be able to do every year; plug in any running back that nobody ever heard of, and get a 1,000 yard rusher. Dennis Allen feels it is the scheme that was most difficult for him to defend, and that is why he wants to use it with our offense. But where power blocking can be extremely effective as individual blockers, the ZBS requires an orchestrated team effort. That is why our line needs more time for the run game to become dominant. They are already getting better. The yards per carry are increasingly becoming 3-5 yards, as compared to 1-3 yards at the beginning of the year. And though our rushing yards in the Denver game was nowhere near what it was in the Pittsburgh game, we were too busy playing catch-up to spend much time trying to run the ball.
Look. I am just saying to have faith. Don’t give up on the season already. Don’t give up on the coaching staff so quickly. The season is far from over. The sky is not falling yet. Give Dennis Allen and his staff some time to get the kinks worked out. The players definitely have faith in the system. They are not giving up on the season. If they can have faith, why can’t we? The answer is we can, and in order to support our beloved Raiders, we must have faith. Faith is an incredible thing. It is a powerful thing. It is an infectious thing. The good book says that faith has the power to move mountains. Have faith my Raider brothers and sisters. That is all your team is asking of you, let’s give it to them. Go Raiders!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, that’s it for this week my Raider brothers and sisters. Hit me up with any comments or questions. You can leave comments directly at the end of the column, or can email me from the link below. I promise to respond to all comments and emails as quickly as I am able to do so. I am also always open to suggestions as to what I am writing about. Make sure to check back next week for another edition of My Two Cents. Peace out RaiderNation!!
Old Timer
Questions? Comments? Email me at OldTimer@silverandblackdaily.com
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This is a decent article…but, next time you’d like to use an ORIGINAL AND COPYRIGHTED photo from my website, RaiderNationTimes, you should ASK FIRST!
It’s not that hard to create your own, why not just do that rather than stealing the work of others.
My sincerest apologies. I found the picture doing a google search, I did not know it was from your site. Again, my sincerest apologies.
I looked at the google search again and it definitely says it was from your site. I honestly didn’t notice it when I used it. Please accept my apology!!
As I have said on the ESPN boards a few weeks ago, I give up on the oakland raiders…as you may notice I spelled their name all in small letters, NO CAPS. I refuse to respect and root for a team that is only in it for the money instead of the win.
I am 45 years old and have loved the raiders all my life. I have autographed items such as shorts, shirts, and jerseys. I have raider coasters, helmets, shot glasses, etc…you get the idea.
The raider management, ha ha,(that is an oxymoron in itself), needs to take a 50% pay cut every year that they don’t have a winning season. By winning season, I mean 9-7 or better. Enough is enough. Give me a chance on the field for one tenth of the pay of the lowest paid player and I will at least try to win. It would be my honor.
Otherwise, get rid of these overpaid losers. It sure is sad that SJ scores more points on field goals than the offense, and the raider defense isn’t far behind.
Give me a reason to be a raider fan again and type the word Raiders with a capital R.
I am sorry to hear this. I know it has been difficult, but I can never give up on my Raiders. I respect your opinion, but I cannot agree with you that they are only in it for the money.
Hello Mr. Dublin, how do you do? First, I would like to sincerely apologize for not doing my due diligence on the photograph in question. It is not the policy of Silver and Black Daily to infringe on any copyrighted material.
With this in mind, I decided to do my due diligence after the fact (again, my apologies).
Please keep in mind that the mere fact that it may be “original” does not mean it’s copyrighted. There are many caveats to that.
First thing I did was scour the online catalog of copyrighted material provided by the U.S. Government (http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First) to make sure it wasn’t in there. I may have missed it, if I did, once again I apologize.
Secondly, I looked up the copyright laws to make sure we didn’t do anything libelous. I do have to ask, though, was this an original photograph taken by you? Or did you find the photograph online (such as this one: http://holyokemass.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/dscn0025-sm-ainley.jpg) and merely doctor it with photoshop and add a few words on the front of it? Just wondering, because it might make a difference, and it might not.
If what you’re copyrighting is the lettering that is contained on the headstone in question, please note that the following is excluded from copyright laws:
“titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents”
But, if what you’re copyrighting is the innovative idea of putting such lettering onto a headstone, please note that the following is also excluded from copyright laws:
“ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts,
principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration”
If what you wanted to do was simply “show up” my writer, well, you seem to have succeeded. And, I guess you should be commended for doing so.
Although, if all you wanted was credit for the picture, or if you wanted us to take it down, it could have been done so discretely by emailing either the writer or myself. All email addresses are listed on this page, for future reference: http://silverandblackdaily.com/contact-us/
Have a great Columbus Day weekend, and please contact me with any further grievances so that I may address them promptly. Thank you.
As a post script, I went ahead and removed the photograph in question. I would like to say that you were absolutely correct by stating that it really is not hard to create one of these things.
I did put forth about 15 minutes worth of effort much less, I’m sure, than it will take me to hunt down those who may use it in the future on one of their blogs.
Let me ask you a few questions.
1st: do you think we have sufficient talent at wide receiver to be able to compete in every game? do you think we could benefit from a veteran wide out such as Plaxico Burress? we have seemed to be able to get to the red zone but not score touch downs.
2nd: what expectations do you have for our DB’s? do you think we have the weakest secondary in the league? (i do) do you think when spencer comes back that our defense will turn it around? should we have kept DVD and Chekwa?
3rd: is Carson palmer the future of the raiders? he’s 32 years old and probably could play another 3-4 years but is he our best option at quarter back?
4th: do you think if this running game doesn’t get going over the next 2 weeks that Allen will have the balls to tell Knapp that ZBS is not working at that we have to go back to power?
5th: Do you think Richard Seymour still has what it takes? or is he just to old and we have to much invested in him to bench him?
6th: I may have jumped the gun last year when i bought a Rolondo McClain jersey, It still has the tags on it cause i have yet to find anything good in him that would warrant me to wear it, except for that hit on witten in preseason. Do you think he will improve or is he a waste of time.
thank you.
Thank-you for your comment Steve, and let me just say here that those are very good and very valid questions. In fact, I have decided to base Saturday’s column off of it. Please hit me up at oldtimer@silverandblacdaily.com so I can get a little more info from you if you don’t mind. Thanks again!!