Official Thread For The 2007 Oakland Raiders

[DTX3]

I know theres a couple of Raider fans hiding around here.

Draftee Bush might miss significant time
Rookie running back Michael Bush watched Raiders practice from alongside a chain-link fence, working out his right leg and wondering when he would be deemed healthy enough to join the proceedings.

He broke his leg in two places as a Louisville senior a year ago and underwent two surgeries. When the Raiders selected Bush in the fourth round of April's draft, all parties involved expected him ready for training camp.

The Sept. 9 season opener is nearing, and it sounds more and more like Bush will remain out indefinitely, whether he stays on the physically unable to perform list or gets moved to the injured reserve list.

"Yes, there's a very good chance of that," coach Lane Kiffin said after practice Sunday. "We'll make that final decision next week after this game."

That means Bush, who says he's fine, will remain on the PUP list and miss his fourth exhibition game when the Raiders visit the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night.

"I'm just going out there, busting my tail, showing them what I can do," Bush said. "Just a waiting game, that's all. I have no idea what's going on."

Bush wasn't exactly complaining. He sounded receptive to the idea of sitting out for precaution's sake. He understands that the rigors of live NFL tackling could be a shock to his body after a year of recovery and downtime.

It's more the not knowing what's going to happen when that frustrates him.

Bush is at practice every day, usually dressed in a plain gray T-shirt, black shorts and tall white socks. He often works out on his own off to the side, extending his right leg at 45-degree angles or doing high-knee pumps until his shirt is dark with sweat.

Every once in awhile, an assistant asks if he's loose enough to catch some passes during individual drills, and he's always game. Mostly, though, Bush has to watch and wonder.

"I feel good, I feel great," Bush said. "Sorry, I can't give you much right now."

Obviously, there's something there to keep the Raiders from playing Bush. When he was drafted with the first pick of the fourth round, Kiffin boasted they got a top-10-caliber player.

It's not like the running-back deck is too stacked to include Bush. Dominic Rhodes is suspended by the NFL for the first four games, ReShard Lee was lost to a knee injury and Justin Fargas has all but disappeared in camp.

That leaves LaMont Jordan and Adimchinobe Echemandu as the top two backs heading into the season opener. Jordan has recovered from a training-camp back injury. Echemandu leads the NFL with 158 rushing yards in three exhibition games.

If Bush starts the season on the PUP list, the Raiders cannot activate him until between Weeks 7 and 11, after which they must put him on the 53-man roster, place him on injured reserve or release him.

Bush, for one, can't wait to hear.

"Playing it by ear," he said.

Good-byes: Offensive tackle Torrin Tucker sat near the team parking lot during practice, a cell phone in one hand, a black plastic bag with his belongings in the other.

Tucker, who joined the team in training camp, was cut - along with six others Sunday - two days before teams must reduce their roster to 75 players.

The others were safety Colin Branch, offensive tackle Albert Toeaina, receivers Rich Parson and Lauren Williams, cornerback Levonne Rowan and defensive tackle Jared Clauss.

Oakland must cut three more players by Tuesday. The final 53-man roster is due Saturday.

Briefly: Wide receiver Johnnie Lee Higgins was taken to a local hospital after feeling side pain during a meeting. Kiffin gave no other details. ... Backup safety Hiram Eugene (hand) and cornerback Duane Starks (hamstring) returned to practice. Strong safety Donovin Darius (calf) and tight end O.J. Santiago (hamstring) sat out. ... Kiffin said there is has been "nothing more or less" developing in negotiations with No. 1 pick JaMarcus Russell, who has gone one month without a contract since training camp started.

SFGate.com

[DTX3]

Line enters 'no-sack' zone.

Maybe it wasn't the players who made the Oakland Raiders ' 2006 offensive line so bad. Maybe it was the system.

Or so it might seem after a couple of 2007 preseason games. Playing a half against both Arizona and San Francisco, the first-string Raider line allowed no sacks. None.

This must have been a revelation to QB Andrew Walter, who was decked 46 times last season. Against San Francisco, Walter went 17 straight plays in a vertical position. At this rate, his laundry bill should be cut in half.

Overall, the Raiders allowed 72 sacks last season, worst in the NFL. And one of the reasons that the offense has been clicking in August, despite the absence of holdout QB JaMarcus Russell, is because new line coach Tom Cable's zone blocking system has apparently taken root.

Last year, the Raider linemen mostly tried to take on the opposition one-on-one at a time. The problem with this approach is that all five blockers have to succeed on every snap, or leaks occur.

Zone blocking, on the other hand, is more of a communal effort. Blockers work in tandem and follow the direction of the play. After all, if a sweep is going to the left, there's really not much need for the right tackle to engage his man.

This system also involves intricate blocking angles, quickness and, yes, cut blocking.

It also helps that guard Cooper Carlisle, picked up as a free agent, played the zone blocking system with Denver last season. Thus, he is able to demonstrate in the trenches what Cable draws out on the chalkboard.

So far, the first-string line has been composed of tackles Barry Sims and Cornell Green and guards Carlisle and Robert Gallery working in tandem with a two-headed center, Jake Grove and Jeremy Newberry. All of them, so far, have been doing their jobs.

"I believe in the scheme," Carlisle told the San Jose Mercury-News. "It gives you an opportunity to succeed on every play. It definitely was a factor in my signing with the Raiders."

Zone blocking works equally well in protecting the passer and creating holes for running backs -- or so say its adherents.

And if they want to point to a success story, the numbers in Oakland don't lie. At least so far.

[DTX3]

Warren could become the Burgess of 2007
If there's a place and time for defensive tackle Gerard Warren to resurrect a somewhat inadequate career, it's in Oakland, and it's right now.

The 29-year-old ex-Denver Broncos lineman was traded to the Raiders this week for a conditional draft pick, reportedly a fifth-round selection if he makes the final roster. The division rival Broncos announced that they had planned to shop the 325-pounder around, and it was suspected that they would release Warren if no team bit.

Luckily, Denver found a customer, and it just happened to be in the same division.

However, according to Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin, it wasn't out of desperation.

"It was not out of a need that we were disappointed with anybody that was playing for us or anything," Kiffin said earlier this week. "This was the ability to add somebody that could bring competition to us if he's in the right mind-set."

With Warren in the mix, Oakland's current list of playable defensive tackles includes veteran Warren Sapp, sixth-year defender Terdell Sands and Tommy Kelly, 26.

"Oakland was never brought up. I thought they were talking about Washington and Indianapolis," Warren told the Mercury News on Tuesday. "It was a surprise, especially being a (division) rival."

If the former third overall pick of the Browns can play to his potential, Oakland will be able to boast about this signing with the same confidence as the Derrick Burgess signing it initiated two years ago.

Burgess, who had previously played for the Philadelphia Eagles , was inked by the Raiders in March 2005 originally to be a rotational player. The 260-pound defensive end had missed 20 games throughout the '03 and '04 seasons thanks to injury with the Eagles; however, Oakland tested its luck with the oft-injured lineman anyway.

The result has been two healthy seasons, 27 sacks, 107 tackles and consecutive Pro Bowl bids.

At his best, Warren can also be a Pro Bowl-caliber lineman.

A former first-team All-SEC player in 1999, the DT recorded a career-best 61 tackles as a rookie with Cleveland, along with five sacks and three batted-down balls. In his six-year career (four years with the Browns, two with the Broncos), the 6-foot-4 end has racked up 199 tackles, 22 sacks and 10 passes defensed.

After two seasons with Denver in which he collected 5½ sacks and $6.5 million, though, the Broncos opted to deal Warren because they were changing from a one- to a two-gap defensive scheme.

Luckily, Oakland plays a one-gap scheme and the Broncos two times yearly.

For Warren, that should be enough motivation to show why he was once considered the third-best rookie in the NFL.

[DTX3]

Culpepper looks solid, but Kiffin won't commit
According to Daunte Culpepper's stats from Friday night, he was 4 of 8 for just 47 yards and one touchdown. But as is often the case, a stat line doesn't tell the entire story. They don't indicate, for example, that three of the incomplete passes were solid throws that his receivers dropped. And they don't tell of Culpepper continuing to display the mobility he used to be noted for by scrambling to pick up yards.

Many fans and observers thought Culpepper had sewn up the Raiders' starting job with his performance against the St. Louis Rams , but head coach Lane Kiffin wasn't ready to concede the point.

"He's still not playing as fast as we'd like him to play because he's still catching up with the offense," Kiffin told the media. "I want to take a couple more days here on (the starting QB issue) and, obviously, go one way or the other. Either name a guy or go one more week."

In fact, most of Kiffin's praise seemed to go to Josh McCown, who also had a solid game on Friday. McCown completed 6 for 9 throws for 138 yards and led the Raiders on a pair of scoring drives that totaled 10 points.

"Josh had three incompletions - one was a throw-away and the other two Mike Williams dropped on him," the coach said of McCown. "Otherwise, he almost played perfect."

Kiffin said he plans to study the videotape of both players' performance in the preseason and watch them work in practice this week before naming his starter. Ultimately, though, the decision may come down to his observation that Culpepper hasn't had enough time to learn the team's offense.

Culpepper has been with the Raiders for less than a month, and in addition to having far less time to study the playbook than McCown or Andrew Walter, he's behind in developing chemistry with his teammates - namely the center, as the handful of botched exchanges during the preseason have shown. If Kiffin honestly feels that Culpepper's grasp of the offense is limited, he may be inclined to give the nod to McCown, at least early on.

McCown appears to be a better passer than Walter and more mobile than Culpepper, but there are some definite drawbacks. For one, he's been known for turning the ball over rather frequently during his career, which no coach ever wants to see. And he's also coming off a season in which he sat the entire year, never taking a snap at QB.

Walter's name is still in the mix for the starting job, although he hasn't done much to stand out since the first preseason game. Kiffin noted that it wasn't Walter's fault, though, considering he came into Friday's game with a solid lead and mostly handed the ball off to the running backs. Still, few consider him a serious candidate to be named the starter.

Whichever way Kiffin goes, it shouldn't be long before he makes his decision. The Raiders' season opener against the Detroit Lions is just two weeks away.

[Cyros]

http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/...46/1044/sports

[poster]

Looks like Russell is finally signed.


http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm


RUSSELL, RAIDERS AGREE IN PRINCIPLE

Steve Corkran of InsideBayArea.com reports that, after four days of negotiations, the Raiders and quarterback JaMarcus Russell have agreed in principle on a contract that will pay Russell $31 million in guaranteed money.

The deal is expected to have a duration of six years and a maximum value of $60 million.

Russell is the first No. 1 overall draft pick to be unsigned by the start of the regular season since Bo Jackson in 1986.

[joeysosa]

It's about damn time.

[DTX3]

Yeah it is, i wouldnt expect him to play till late in the season.