What can be expected from Oakland this year?
With the Raiders looking at the schedule, some good things can be guessed at. This division has followed a unique pattern over the last seven seasons, usually with the Raiders in third or fourth in the league.
However, looking at the club and the body of work done in the draft, OTA's and putting the pieces together with trades, Oakland does show signs of moving forward.
First and foremost has been Oakland's ability to move forward by removing problems. If you can not figure it out, losing JaMarcus Russell was a major step forward for the Raiders. Landing Jason Campbell was another key cog in the teams' drive to turn the page on the last seven years.
The handling of the draft, which took everyone by surprise, was a pleasant shock. We didn't go out and grab Bruce Campbell right away, but got a strong defensive pickup in Rolando McClain, then backed it up with LaMarr Houston. They also addressed the Offensive line with two selections, including Bruce, but in a more sensible 4th round selection.
Then Oakland let Al Davis out, who then grabbed Jacoby Ford, a speed demon of a player, but is raw.
What probably will be the key factor for Oakland this year though, comes from outside of our control, but what the opposing teams in the division do.
Kansas City, who has a track record of mistakes, is still trying to become New England 2.0. However, Oakland learned about this, when we picked up Rob Ryan from the Patriots....our Defense went to pieces.
Denver, who has had problems with a coach who alienates its' own teammates, now is trying to groom Tim Tebow to be the QB of the future. One little problem though....who's he going to throw to? One player can only do so much.
San Diego, meanwhile is going to learn what life is like, now that LT is completely gone. For the past two years, Philip Rivers has had to slowly turn his team from a run-heavy offense to a pass offense club. Some Charger fans think that you can plug any RB into the hole and the new player will perform just like the old player.
Do you think going from Marcus Allen to Nick Bell had the same results? Me either.
Looking at the schedule Oakland has, I'm looking at Oakland either going 8-8 with some injuries, or 10-6 with a fully healthy team, going into the playoffs. If we take one from San DIego, we take the division.
If we have a catastrophic injury spree, such as losing Gallery, Campbell, Michael Bush and Rolando McClain...we might go back to 5-11....so keep the key players alive and healthy, coaches.
