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2011 Oakland Raiders
A Wild, Wacky Start to the Oakland Raiders' Season
The Oakland Raiders’ entire offseason was turned on its head during the team's first pre-season week, as each day seemed to deliver a new crisis to their doorstep. The team was left with several unanswered questions, and a host of issues that could affect their entire 2011 season.
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Recapping the Raiders' whirlwind week:
• Tom Cable’s berserker rage
Among the regrettable new stories in Raiders history, the head coach allegedly breaking an assistant’s jaw and threatening to kill him ranks right near the top. Cable’s attack may have been greeted with cheers from his players, but it’s generated exactly the kind of attention Oakland doesn’t need.
From Jerry Porter showing up with the Million Dollar Man’s belt to Jarrod Cooper’s steroid suspension to employees clashing with an omnipresent owner, headlines surrounding the Raiders have seemed to be ripped straight from a WWE storyline. Tom Cable joined their ranks last week, as he now appears to be the most dangerous coach/manager since Mr. Fuji.
Cable’s attack is just the latest mark on this franchise’s record, making it only too easy for anyone following the league to say "same old Raiders.” And they're right. Until this team proves they can stay out of their own way and stop shooting themselves in the foot, they will be the same old Raiders.
This couldn’t be what Cable had in mind when he said he wanted to instill a sense of competition in his team this summer. After all, Randy Hanson is a low-level opponent at best. Cable still needs to beat Don Flamenco and King Hippo before he encounters a worthy adversary.
• Chaz Schilens’ broken foot
When your top receiver breaks his foot and it doesn't qualify as the most significant broken bone on the team, you know it's just not your week. Schilens’ injury further depletes an already inexperienced group of receivers, leaving them to start two rookies against San Francisco Saturday night.
With Schilens out four to six weeks, Oakland may have no choice but to move Javon Walker directly to the starting lineup upon his return. Walker has been the definition of unreliable since joining the Raiders, and he was once criticized by Brett Favre for exhibiting a level of selfishness detrimental to the team.
Yet despite catching only 15 passes last season and undergoing super-secret pinky-swear knee surgery in the offseason, Walker may now be the Raiders’ top receiver.
• The worst practice in history
By all accounts, the Raiders’ scrimmage with the 49ers last Wednesday was a performance to forget. Oakland threw five interceptions in the morning session alone, was manhandled by a shorthanded 49er defense, and inspired San Francisco’s defensive backs to new levels of trash talk.
Granted, practices don’t mean much, and preseason practices mean even less.
But you never want your starting quarterback believing that the only way to recover from an interception is to get right back on the horse and throw another one.
• The run defense
After several years of poor run defense, the Raiders finally hit rock bottom last season. Oakland allowed 160 yards per game on the ground in 2008, and stopping the run became a central focus for the team.
So who did the Raiders bring in to address this weakness? No one, really. Oakland witnessed more of the same Saturday night, giving up a combined 226 yards to San Francisco’s rookie running back and part-time fullback. Any excuses about this being “only preseason” are beginning to get old.
The Raiders aren’t taking advantage of their chances to improve, and it’s not exactly reassuring when George Atkinson reports from the sideline that defensive coordinator John Marshall has “no game plan”, wanting only to see maximum effort.
John, even if you don’t want to divulge any secrets, at least pretend that you have a plan.
The most notable moment from Oakland’s front four on Saturday came when Greg Ellis was pancaked by a quarterback, and starting middle linebacker Kirk Morrison (the team’s leading tackler in each of the past three seasons) is now out with a dislocated elbow.
After running for 129 yards against the Raiders, 49ers running back Glen Coffee estimated that he hadn’t run that successfully since high school. The truth is, Coffee hasn’t run that freely since day care, and the Raiders are running out of time to fix this problem. Oakland's week from hell upended the team's much-needed offseason of calm, and it could hardly have come at a worse time. The Raiders have but two weeks before the defending AFC West champion Chargers come to town, bringing LaDainian Tomlinson, Darren Sproles, and a dangerous running attack with them.
The Raiders' offense continues to get younger by the week, and they’ll need to rely on the defense to win a few games for them this season. At this point, there’s little reason to think that’s a possibility.
The good news is that Oakland got such a week out of their system prior to the season opener. If the players can put these events behind them, there’s a chance they’ll be better for it. But if last week was a harbinger of things to come, the Raiders logo may need patches for both eyes to avoid watching what transpires.
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