Sam's Blog

Darn Raiders!!

Oh, man! One game into the season and I'm already prepared for a long one... Where's my paper bag. Commitment to Excellence? I need some convincing...

My assessment of the embarrassment:
*No adjustments on offense - before or after halftime. They were bringing the heat on defense. The way to combat that is:
- Screens and draws to slow down the rush. I don't remember a screen pass. What about a QB draw...? How 'bout a WR screen?
- Quick short passes. They threw 3 to Moss which were very successful...then they went away from it. TE Courtney Anderson should give back last week's salary after dropping everything that came his way. Next…!
- Run through the holes between the tackles - not into the tackles...

*I mentioned the 3 successful short passes to Moss. The Chargers were ripe for a fake of the short pass then run a streak or a corner.

*The offensive coordinator hasn’t coached an NFL game in 7 years? Really? How could you tell?

*Gallery - first round pick? He needs to be able to minimize a Shaun Merriman.

*7 sacks?

*QB (Phillip Rivers) with no NFL experience - of course San Diego was going to run Ladanian Tomlinson. The defense should have been geared to stop him (they did - but only in the 3rd quarter).

*Moss is the team's superstar - you have to get him the ball. 10-plays per game minimum. Write them up. Maybe, script 6 or 7 in the first 20 plays.

*Lamont Jordan? I'm not sold on him at all. Why not pick up Ron Dayne? Najeh Davenport? Too late.

*So...we trade Doug Gabriel to New England for an undisclosed draft pick...and the Seahawks get Deion Branch for a first rounder...? Who is our GM (and what happened to his brain?)?

*I’m still P***ed about Aaron Brooks being the big off-season move… Julian Peterson? Edgerrin James? John Abraham? LaVar Arrington? …

So…the good news:
*Although I definitely think we should have picked up QBs Leinhart or Cutler in the draft, our first round pick Huff seems to be doing pretty well.
*Sapp didn’t look to bad. Plugged some holes. Although, I think he should have made some stops in the first and second quarters…
*Terdell Sands looks good at DT.
*Thomas Howard looks good at OLB.

Baltimore next week.....

posted by Sam @ 6:17 AM