Questions, Doubts Surround Raiders Heading Into Regular Season
Oakland, CA (Week 1, 2006) – The NFL regular season has finally arrived, and there are nothing but questions and doubts surrounding the Oakland Raiders. Last season, the team had what most considered a successful season by going 9-7 and making the playoffs, winning in the first round, and only losing in the AFC Divisional Championship by a last second field goal by the eventual Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts. This year, the outlook does not seem as rosy.
The Raiders enjoyed success last year largely based on a high-powered, big-play offence led by Randy Moss, Lamont Jordan, and Kerry Collins. They were able to win their share of games despite a very poor defence. During the off-season, however, Raiders GM Barrett Blade traded Randy Moss to the Houston Texans for draft picks, taking away their most explosive offensive weapon, and did nothing to fill the gap left by Moss’ departure. Blade did make a number of minor moves to bring in new personnel, but none of the players brought in have established themselves as top performers at this stage of their careers.
As training camps finished and the preseason approached, Blade and the rest of the Raiders’ organization preached patience, saying that the players would step up and play well, despite the doubts. Now that the preseason is over and the regular season is upon us, it appears that none of those questions have been answered to anyone’s satisfaction. While it is commonly accepted that preseason performances can be misleading, the Raiders’ performance is troubling at best.
The Raiders went 1-3 in the preseason, losing to San Francisco, St. Louis, and Green Bay, while only defeating Chicago. Drawing conclusions from these games, it would appear that the Oakland defence has not improved, as opposing offences appeared to control the ball at will, mainly utilizing the run as the Raiders surrendered an average of 136.5 yards rushing a game. One of the key players brought in to help this defense was DE Ryan Denney, who went down in the first preseason game with a high ankle sprain, and is expected to be lost for another 6-8 weeks. As a stop gap solution, Blade signed former Panther DE Mike Rucker to a one year contract worth $900,000, but he is expected to fill in as a backup to Bobby Hamilton, the starting left DE last season.
While the Oakland offence was able to pick up a large amount of yards during the preseason, scoring was down considerably. Kerry Collins looked very bad as preseason started, throwing three interceptions in the first two games, though he seemed to look better by game four. Jerry Porter, expected to pick up for the departed Moss, looked strong as the top Raider receiver, but was soon lost to torn knee cartilage, and may not start a regular season game until week 3.
The Raiders’ running game is expected to be a strong point for the team, with the trio of Lamont Jordan, Erik Kuehler, and Chris Brown. All three seemed to be mainly inconsistent in the preseason, having a strong game one week, and a poor game the next. This is probably in large part to sharing duties almost evenly during the preseason, and the Raider coaches are hoping that their defined roles in the regular season will help all three. It does appear that the rookie Kuehler has secured the back-up role behind Jordan, with Brown being used sparingly.
“The preseason is just that, the preseason,” said Blade. “The coaches are using vanilla gameplans, the young players and the fringe players are getting a lot of playing time, and everyone is trying to find their groove after a long off-season. The wins and losses do not mean a whole lot. This team has to learn to play with each other, and they make good strides with that by the end of the preseason. There is no need for panic. Wait until the regular season is underway, then evaluate what is going on.”
With an important divisional match-up right off the bat with their game against the San Diego Chargers in week 1, the Raiders are hoping that they can ease the worried minds of the Raider Nation, and that their players can have another surprising, and improved, season.