Archive for the ‘Oakland’ Category

Oakland signs Darius, still no veteran QB

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007

The Raiders’ signing of veteran strong safety Donovin Darius sparked my interest on Tuesday.

Oakland drafted Michael Huff a season ago and played him at the same position his rookie season; with Stuart Schweigert at free safety.

So now with this signing the question is will the starting pair from last season stay together - with Darius playing the mentoring backup - or will the Raiders move their developing future star Huff to the free safety spot and stick Darius in at SS.

To me, the signing means the latter, and Huff - who ran a 4.34 forty at the ‘06 combine - will move over to the free safety position. If Oakland knows what they are doing, then this should be a permanent move for Huff. You just don’t mess with the development of a player this naturally talented.

So fine. Darius comes in to add veteran leadership to the Raiders very young backfield.

But why are they willing to spend money to do that, and not bring in a real veteran quarterback to help guide JaMarcus Russell through at least his first training camp, at most his first pro season. I like Josh McCown. I think he’s a good quarterback. But so does Josh McCown. And he wants to start. And he has a good chance of starting week one. That’s not the kind of veteran QB you want teaching a first overall pick. You want a guy who’s accepted his best playing days have past. A guy willing to lead. Why hasn’t Oakland brought someone like that in yet?

NFL | 2006 | Week 12 - Oakland Raiders

Wednesday, November 29th, 2006

10-19 at KC

The league is catching on… these Raiders aren’t as bad anymore. Their defense is absolutely keeping them in games they shouldn’t be in; like this past week’s match at San Diego.

They’re doing it by mainly being able to get pressure with their front 4 and dropping 7 into coverage. The Raiders have an athletic group of linebackers and a physical secondary and they’re playing good football on that side of the ball right now.

Their run defense still isn’t particularly strong, but statistically it’s improved - averaging 149 ypg in their first five games and and 120 ypg in their last six games. That improvement is including two games where they gave up 200+ yards on the ground as well. It has helped them even out and in some cases win the time of possession battle, thus limiting the amount of chances opponents have to break plays as evidenced by how they limited LT to just 19 carries in week 12.

Also of note is how they limited San Diego to just 50 yards and possession of the football for just 8:39 of the first half.

On offense, the Raiders are still pretty much the same mess they’ve been all year. The offensive line blocks well enough in the run game, but are too slow and unable to pass off assignments to pass block effectively. Aaron Brooks’ return to the lineup hides much of the line’s ineffectiveness, as Brooks has spent most of his time making plays and buying time in the backfield. He’s not a very good progression quarterback, but he can definitely make things happen and is a good fit for this kind of train wreck offense. I don’t think that’s really a compliment, but credit should go to Brooks for making whatever he can happen back there.

On the flipside to that, Brooks’ 4th quarter INT in this game is evidence of exactly why he lost his job in New Orleans. The Raiders were driving to go up by two touchdowns when Brooks badly underthrew a pass to John Madsen that Quentin Jammer picked off. San Diego drove down the field and score on LT’s pass to Gates to tie the game.

Perhaps Oakland’s promotion of TE coach John Shoop as offensive coordinator will help improve matters in Oakland. They’ve got Houston at home this week, and two more winable games at home if they’re able to continue to pull things together.

2006 | Week 2 - Oakland Raiders

Thursday, September 21st, 2006

28-6 at BAL

Targets stats only this week.

CATCHES / TARGETS:
Whitted - 3/9
Moss - 2/8
Curry - 2/3
Williams - 1/3
Anderson - 2/3
Jordan - 0/1

Week 10 - Oakland Raiders

Wednesday, November 16th, 2005

17-31 vs Denver

Oakland threw eight straight passes before calling their first run of the game, and it was only after Denver had taken a 10-0 lead that the Raiders finally showed the balanced attack that led them to victories against Buffalo and Tennessee.

The offense is very predictable, and on the key INT TD that Darrent Williams had in the fourth quarter, Oakland was running a play they had run so many times last week that the KC DBs were jumping the very same route that Williams did (thanks to Playbook for refreshing my memory on that).

Despite jumping offsides three times in the first half, Oakland’s defense put up a good fight despite the many injuried they have had to deal with in their secondary. On offense, the Raiders still aren’t using Lamont Jordan like they should be. 50 more pass attempts for Collins.

Moss still isn’t healthy, and even though he’s producing on a fantasy level, it looks like he still battling through some problems out there on the field.

TARGETS(catches):
Moss- 11(6)
Gabriel- 11(5)
Porter- 10(3)
Jordan- 8(7)
Anderson- 4(1)
Whitted- 3(3)
Williams- 1(0)
Crockett- 1(1)

Wednesday Football (II)

Wednesday, November 9th, 2005

As promised, two more games:
Oakland - Kansas City | Chicago - New Orleans

Oakland Raiders:
This game featured nothing of importance for the first three quarters. The Raiders had 101 yards of offense and they had just given up the first touchdown of the game, making the score 9-13. Then all of the sudden, they put together two drives in the fourth quarter for a combined 155 yards and more importantly, 14 points. Another 40 pass attempt game for Kerry Collins, but just 162 yards threw the air.

Looking at the midseason stats, I don’t see anything that the Raiders are doing well. They are 13th in total yards, 15th in first downs, 13th in third down efficiency, 23rd in opponents yards per game, 24th in opponents points per game, and 17th in point differential. With a 3-5 record, and with the AFC West playing the NFC East this season, there really isn’t much hope for this team. A 7-9 finish should be expected.
TARGETS(catches):
Porter- 9(7)
Moss- 8((1)
Jordan- 8(5)
Gabriel- 5(3)
Anderson- 5(2)
Williams- 2(2)
Foschi- 2(1)

Kansas City Chiefs:
As mentioned on the OAK side, the score of this game was just 9-6 until late in the third quarter. Both teams were basically sleeping their way through, and that’s surprising considering how important this one was to each team.

I thought going into this game that it would be a good opportunity to get a sneak preview of what Larry Johnson will be like as a team’s featured back. I did not expect that day to come so soon. Johnson came into the league as a strong between the tackles runner, but he has improved under Holmes’ guidance around the perimeter and behind pulling linemen. Still, he’s no Priest Holmes and this team will probably look to run more straight ahead plays.

Despite being one of the top 10 offenses in the league, Kansas City ranks just 23rd in the league on third downs. And inside the red zone, once the foundation of this team, the Chiefs are just at 50% in touchdown effeciency (15 for 30). That’s good for 21st in the NFL.

And even if they didn’t score on that last play of the game. For a team like this, I love the attitude that says, ‘if we can’t gain one yard doing what we do best, then we don’t deserve to win this game anyway.’
TARGETS(catches):
Kennison- 8(5) Gonzalez- 7(5) Horn- 6(4) Johnson- 6(3) Hall- 5(3) Richardson- 2(2)



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Chicago Bears:
Kyle Orton started the game poorly. Mushim Muhammad wasn’t able to do much to help him out either. But since this wasn’t really a road game, the young quarterback got a chance to settle in and still be in a position to win the game late. And that’s what he and Mushin did on a key third down late in the fourth quarter. Against almost any other team, in any other city, the Bears lose this game. Their offense was terrible, but as it turned out it wasn’t as bad as the Saints’. And that throw Kyle Orton made at the end of the game was the only pass he was asked to make on their 4 minute, 10 play, game winning drive.

Two straight road victories is just huge for this team. They’ve got two games with Green Bay still, and next week’s game versus San Francisco.

The Bears’ midseason stats are as expected. They are in the top 10 for every major defensive category and they are in the bottom 10 for every major offensive category except rushing yards per game (6th) and average gain per rush (7th). As well as things are going right now, this 5-3 team will have to be very fortunate to finish better than 9-7. But that’ll be good enough to secure a first round playoff loss.
TARGETS(catches):
Muhammad- 9(3)
Gage- 8(4)
Wade- 2(1)
Clark- 2(1)
Jones- 1(1)
Peterson- 1(1)
Edwards- 1(1)


New Orleans Saints:
Antowain Smith had a very strong game running up the middle on the Bears defense- which is where you have to attack them because they are probably the fastest defense in the NFL. But Aaron Brooks was horrible. He had put together a couple of good games earlier in the season, but that hasn’t been the case lately. How does this team think it can go anywhere with him at quarterback?

And where was Joe Horn? Only 4 targets, he played for most of the game, but just didn’t get many looks. That’s very unusual for Aaron Brooks.

The Saints are last in the league in turnover edge, and they have one of the worst defenses against the run. Opponents are getting much through the air against New Orleans, but their statistical success in that category is more due to teams not needing to pass versus not able to pass. On offense, the Saints are 9th in the league on 3rd downs, and they’re 8th in average rush, so there is something there. But no one’s doing anything about it.

And that poor crowd in Baton Rouge. It looked like there was maybe 25,000 in attendance. It sounded like less. San Antonio Saints?
TARGETS(catches):
Stallworth- 4(3)
Horn- 4(2)
Hitlon- 3(2)
Stecker- 3(2)
Hakim- 2(1)
Poole- 2(1)
Hall- 2(1)
Smith- 2(2)
Karney- 2(2)

Wednesday Football

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

Watching a lot of hockey and game four of the series tonight, so only two games to add this evening:

Buffalo Bills
Here’s what the Bills have done on their opening drives this season:
10 plays, 65 yards, FG
3 plays, 5 yards, punt
13 plays, 50 yards, FG
10 plays, 75 yards, TD
8 plays, 67 yards, TD
10 plays, 60 yards, TD
14 plays, 77 yards, TD

Okay, so Buffalo has scored 112 total points this year, 34 of them (30%) have come on their opening drives. An interesting stat, and one that probably means that the Bills offense is a well prepared group that doesn’t execute as well as they are coached to.

Buffalo’s coaches did made a key mistake in this game, and one that too many teams still do too often. Down by 14 with plenty of time left in the third quarter, the Bills came out trying to throw the ball on every down and they ended up falling further into a hole. Why do teams panic so much with their play calling when there is so much time left?

I remember the playoff game that Kelly Holcomb played against Pittsburgh a couple of years ago. He was more of a gunslinger back then, but with the Bills now, it’s like they’ve asked him to be just a game manager and it’s not suiting him.
TARGETS(catches):
Moulds- 6(4)
Evans- 5(3)
Reed- 4(4)
campbell- 3(2)
McGahee- 3(3)
Smith- 2(1)
Williams- 1(1)
Shelton- 1(1)

Oakland Raiders
Having an injured Randy Moss may be the best thing to happen to this offense all year. Turner used to be the kind of coach that would run his RB into the ground, but Jordan hasn’t been getting consistent carries this season. Hopefully, they’ve realized that Lamont is a 25-30 carry guy who can also carry a team.

It looked like Moss was used mostly near the 30 yard line and in- much like how he was played last year when he had that ankle problem.

To start this game, the Raiders defensive line went back to standing straight up on the snap of the ball. They certainly do take a lot of plays off. And they definitely took the whole first series off. Oakland did have a nice goalline stand halfway through the second quarter, but I attribute that more on the Bills calling two awful goalline plays on thrid and fourth down. They seem to be able to play good D when they want to, but now that they’ve lost SS Gibson and FS/CB Woodson, their young secondary will surely be tested. Oakland does not have a good pass rush to help either.
TARGETS(catches):
Gabriel- 7(5)
Moss- 6(3)
Porter- 6(4)
Jordan- 4(4)
Foschi- 2(2)
Whitted- 1(0)
Crockett- 1(1)



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Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings’ offense was so bad in the first half, the best play they ran was the hail mary on the last play. The only thing they are doing well right now is completing the short stuff, but they’re not doing nearly enough of that. The running game is going well enough to keep them balanced, if they had a passing attack. The Vikings just have to learn to be more patient and finish their drives for touchdowns. It looks like Troy Williamson is getting to do more on offense and he’s doing a great job at returning kicks.

It’s almost like Michael Bennett has a polar force attracting him consistently into the nearest defensive lineman.

Minnesota’s defense is finally improving. They came out fired up after halftime and held GB to just 3 points. Pat Williams was a force for all 60 minutes.
TARGETS(catches):
Wiggins- 7(6)
Moore- 6(4)
MRobinson- 5(3)
Taylor- 3(3)
Burleson- 3(3)
Williamson- 2(1)
KRobinson- 2(2)
Kleinsasser- 2(1)

Green Bay Packers
This team had just no rhythm in the second half. Losing Green and Ferguson definitely hurt them. But they did put something together to tie the game 20-20 inside two minutes. Still, down to their third RB and fourth WR, things are not getting any better in Green Bay.

Robert Ferguson’s injury was a turf casualty. This new rubber stuff still doesn’t give enough and Ferguson hyperextended his knee by just landing on his left leg while it was extended.

I wouldn’t expect much from Tony Fisher. Antonio Chatman, however, will benefit from the increase in playing time.
TARGETS(catches):
Driver- 11(8)
Chatman- 7(5)
Martin- 3(2)
Franks- 3(3)
Lee- 3(3)
Green- 3(2)
Ferguson- 2(2)
Henderson- 2(2)
Fisher- 2(2)

Wednesday Football

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005

Cincinnati Bengals
Marvin Lewis may have outsmarted himself to start this game. The Bengals came out and tried to play a conservative, ball control road game in the first half. But with two minutes left, they were losing 0-10 and Plamer had thrown just six passes so far. So in their hurry up offense, the Bengals came out and ran 9 plays (all passes, all completions) for 79 yards and a touchdown. This Titans team is better than most think, but their one obvious weakness is against the pass and you’ve got to come out flying in order to beat them. And to second that point, Palmer completed 81.8% of his 33 pass attempts in the game.

Chris Perry got 4 chances (run and pass) inside the red zone, giving him 10 on the season. That’s second on the team behind Rudi’s 17.

The Bengals still have not found a way to keep teams from running up the middle against them. And they have to face the Steelers this week.
TARGETS(cathces):
Johnson- 9(8)
CPerry- 9(9)
Walter- 5(4)
Washington- 3(2)
JJohnson- 3(1)
Henry- 2(1)
RJohnson- 1(1)
Schobel- 1(1)

Tennessee Titans
The Titans really picked up a couple of good receivers in last year’s draft (Jones, Roby). And it’s a good thing too. Tyrone Calico hasn’t looked like much more than a 4th receiver this season. He was solely to blame on McNair’s first INT that Odell Thurman returned for a touchdown.

In only one game this season (week two) have the Titans tight ends, as a group, been thrown less than 11 passes.

I’m not exactly sure who it was, but the play-by-play man covering this game for CBS must have used the word ‘beautiful’ to describe a pass at least 15 times, and I’m not exaggerating. At one point, it did so on four straight plays and only a McNair incompletion could stop him.

This game ended with a real smart job of coaching on the part of Jeff Fischer. Down by 11 with less than a minute to go, the Titans were able to get a first down on Cincy’s 30 yard line. And rather than spend more time trying to get a touchdown, the Titans spiked the ball to stop the clock and then kicked a field goal to bring them within 8 points of tying the game. Tennessee did not retrieve the resulting onside kick, but you still have to appriciate what that kind of winning attitude will do for a young team like this.
TARGETS(cathces):
Jones- 12(5)
Bennett- 11(7)
Kinney- 5(4)
Troupe- 5(4)
Brown- 2(3)
Calico- 2(1)
Roby- 1(1)
Scaife- 1(1)

—
Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens finally played fast and physical on defense and special teams. For the first time this season, they looked to me like a hungry team.

Anthony Wright played a smart game, but by no means was he a playmaker out there against the Browns. He did do a good job at getting the ball to the guys that need to get it most: Mason and Heap. The Browns could not cover Todd Heap. He finally looks healthy and ready to make a difference.

Mark Clayton had an end-around touchdown called back by a holding penalty. The Ravens had 11 total penalties for 97 yards. That’s 32 for 244 in two weeks.

Dear Jamal: HIT THE HOLE RUNNING! You’re dancing behind the line like you think you’re Michael Jackson. Lewis was easily the third best running back on the field this past Sunday in Baltimore.
TARGET(catches):
Mason- 8(8)
Heap- 7(6)
Taylor- 6(4)
Lewis- 3(2)
Hymes- 2(1)
Clayton- 1(1)
Wilcox- 1(1)

Cleveland Browns
This game was a lot like the first three quarters of the Browns game last week against Chicago. The Ravens’ offense was unable to score in the second half, but unlike the Bears, Baltimore’s defense held up. And despite the final score, the Browns were competitive throughout this game.
TARGETS(catches):
Norhtcut- 9(4)
Bryant- 6(4)
Heiden- 5(4)
Shea- 4(3)
Jackson- 3(0)
Droughns- 1(1)
Green- 1(0)

—
San Diego Chargers
With an early lead, the Chargers played a real conservative football game in Oakland. They also used Antonio Gates as a decoy for most of the game; often throwing underneath his routes to Peelle, Neal, or LT.

Keenan McCardell dropped an easy pass in the end zone. It would have been his 6th touchdown of the season.
TARGETS(catches):
Tomlinson- 5(2)
Gates- 4(2)
Neal- 4(4)
McCardell- 3(2)
Peelle- 3(3)
Parker- 1(1)
Caldwell- 1(1)

Oakland Raiders
The Raiders’ defense started this game fired up and ready to stop the run. But their offense wasn’t up to the task. Collins was forced to rush his throws thoughout the game.

This team can still move the ball with Jerry Porter and Doug Gabriel as their top wideouts, but it’s really the play of their underachieving offensive line that is going to determine whether or not Oakland can get back into the playoff race.
TARGETS(catches):
Porter- 12(5)
Gabriel- 11(5)
Jordan- 7(6)
Anderson- 6(2)
Whitted- 5(4)
Moss- 3(0)
Zlemister- 1(0)

—
Washington Redskins
Another game is in the books where Clinton Portis looks great running in a single back set, and not so great having to find room behind lead blockers.

The Redskins have done a great job at getting Santana Moss the ball where he can do the most damage; near the line of scrimmage or way down the field. Over last three weeks, Moss has been thrown 12, 13, and 14 passes respectively.

Fox Sports brought in an interesting stat. After Tony Gonzalez drew a defensive pass interference call on the Redskins with 5:40 left in the first quarter, Fox noted that it was the first of such penalty Washington’s defense has been guilty of all season.

Chris Cooley really does a good job playing that tweener H-back spot for this team. And he runs faster than I thought he could.
TARGETS(catches):
Moss- 14(10)
Cooley- 8(6)
Patten- 6(2)
Thrash- 4(2)
Portis- 4(4)
Royal- 2(0)
Sellers- 1(1)

Kansas City Chiefs
With Willie Roaf back in the lineup, it was believed that Tony Gonzalez would see more opportunities to catch the ball. Over the last few weeks, KC has had to use their tight ends in pass blocking a little more than they are used to and it obviously hurt Gonzo’s already slipping pass production. In this game, the Redskins often used three defenders to contain Gonzo, but on those downs #88 was left to run against single coverage, Green looked for him immediately.

KC seems to be using more 3 WR sets than I remember them running in the past. And I wonder what happened to their high hopes for TE Kris Wilson. I didn’t see him at all in this game.

The Chiefs came out in the second half running a couple of different of screen passes and they ended up scoring on their first possession of the third quarter. Then on defense, KC came after Mark Brunnell hard until Moss hit that 80 yard flanker screen. Later in the game, the Chiefs scored the game winner on another screen pass, this time a 60 yarder to Holmes.

This was a strong game from both teams and one that could have gone either way.
TARGETS(catches):
Gonzalez- 6(2)
Holmes- 6(5)
Parker- 3(2)
Boerigter- 3(2)
Hall- 2(2)
Kennison- 2(0)
Dunn- 1(1)
Johnson- 1(1)
Richardson- 1(0)

Saturday Football II

Saturday, October 1st, 2005

ATL- This was a sloppy game for the Falcons but they had a good game plan and did what good teams do. Brian Finneran stepped up with a huge game (relative to Atlanta receivers). He finished with 4 catches on 7 targets and made some key grabs along the way to keep drives alive. Alge Crumpler also had 7 targets, but he pulled in only 3 for 35 yards. Michael Jenkins is the #1 wideout though. He went 4 for 5 with a score. For most of the game, however, the Falcons’d ground game gashed a suddenly soft Bills defensive front. This week the Falcons host Minnesota.

BUF- The Bills opened this game with back to back deep throws down the left side; one to Eric Moulds and the other to Lee Evans. J.P. Losman wasn’t even close on either of his throws. After seeing the Bills play three games now, I don’t know what the Buffalo brass thought they had with Losman, but the second year QB is running plays that don’t really seem to be suitable to his talents. He plays a lot like Michael Vick, but with less touch than Vick on the deeper throws, and should probably be learning how to get the ball out of his hands sooner.

The Falcons spent a lot of this game with only 7 men in the box, in order to protect their banged up secondary. So Buffalo was able to run the ball a little better than one would normally expect. At the end of the third quarter, the Bills had 129 yards rushing and just 44 passing. Yet they trailed just 16-17.

The pass patterns for the Bills this year has been consistent. Moulds has gone 7-7-8 in targets. Evans, 5-5-5. And Josh Reed, 4-7-3. With the offense unable to move the ball through the air, and now with Takeo Spikes out for the year, things are certainly not looking up in upstate New York.

—
OAK- The Raiders aren’t really playing bad football, they just can’t come up with any plays when they need then. They played NE tight for three quarters, were 10 yards away from beating KC, and then last week Oakland stayed with Philly all the way up to the final play. Oakland has not, however, run the ball well yet this year. And against the Eagles, they picked up just 21 yards rushing (and just 2 of their 18 first downs via the ground). Courtney Anderson score 2 TDs in week one, got zero targets last week, and then picked up 5 catches on 9 passes for 100 yards. With all these perimeter types, Anderson’s chances should continue to come. And without Ronald Curry, Jerry Porter saw a lot of throws. But he picked up just 5 catches on 11 targets. Randy Moss had 7 more targets. Tied for second on team in targets for the season is Lamont Jordan, who had 9 against the Eagles giving him 27 on the year.

PHI- The Eagles’pass blocking has been tremendous this year and they’re going to need that to continue with Donovan McNabb dealing with an abdominal tear. Greg Lewis is doing well as the team’s #2. He caught 6 passes on 9 targets for 70 yards against the Raiders. T.O. went 9 for 14, and Westbrook went 6 for 11. L.J. Smith continues to produce, catching 5 of 8. In the red zone, TO got 5 looks, Westbrook had 3, Lewis and Smith each had one. The Eagles front seven dominated the Raiders’ offensive line, and that bodes well for them with KC on the schedule next.

—
TEN- The Titans are going to be trouble this year. Norm Chow is really doing some good things with this offense and Steve McNair has been sharp. Rookie Brandon Jones has played well, and against the Rams he caught 5 passes on 9 targets and a touchdown. Drew Bennett is still putting up good numbers too, he went 6 for 10. Erron Kinney is surprisingly getting more throws than Ben Troupe. In St Louis, Kinney picked up 7 catches on 7 targets while Troupe had just 3 balls go his way (but he does have two scores on the year).

STL- Issac Bruce missed the second half of this game, and ended up with just 1 target. Torry Holt led the team with 11, and Kevin Curtis stepped into Bruce’s role and picked up 5 catches on 5 passes for 56 yards and a score. Shaun McDonald, after getting 10 targets in week one, had just 2 last week and 1 against the Titans.

—
DAL- One of the few games I didn’t see from week three, the stats show that Drew Bledsoe is spreading the ball around well to Terry Glenn, KJ, Jason Witten, and Patrick Crayton. But in the red zone, Keyshaun was targeted 3 times against the Niners, and he has 6 RZ targets on the year. It’s also nice to see Julius Jones involved in the passing game. He had 5 targets in week three and has picked up 16 passes his way for the season.

SF- Arnaz Battle is still producing. 6 more catches for him on 9 targets and a score. With Eric Johnson out for the year, the tight end position is all but gone from the team’s passing offense. Only three balls have gone to a 49ers TE all year. Seeing the highlights of Bradon Lloyd scoring twice against Dallas proves that the Cowboys are still vulnerable to the small, quick receiver (Moss).

Friday Football

Friday, September 23rd, 2005

AFC Targets, and related team news from Week Two:

BAL- In their first game with Anthony Wright at quarterback, Derrick Mason was the most active Ravens receiver. He caught 8 passes on 10 targets for 60 yards and a score. The tightends, all three of them, were again heavily featured. Heap, Wilcox, and Dinkins had 11 total passes thrown their way. With a bye this week, Baltimore’s top priority is to find their running game.

BUF- J.P. Losman was lucky he didn’t leave Tampa with two or three interceptions to his credit. Josh Reed picked up 7 targets, as did Eric Moulds. But the real story with the Bills right now is with their running back, Willis McGahee. He and Coach Mularkey have had a minor media fued this week in reference to McGahee’s running style lately. I, too, noticed in the preseason that he looked hesitant. The 1-1 Bills face another tough defense this week as they host Atlanta, and McGahee needs to show that he can dominate games because J.P. Losman can’t.

CIN- After picking up 4 more targets against the Vikings, Chris Perry now has 10 total on the season. He also had an impressive 87 yard flare pass called back on Sunday by a holding penalty. Chad Johnson was again the team leader, with 13. He’s on pace for a 184 target season (last year he had 158). Chris Henry looked good, catching 4 of the 4 passes thrown his way. And T.J. Houshmandzadeh picked up 4 red zone targets.

CLE- Trent Dilfer is doing a good job so far this season at getting the ball out of his hands quickly. He’s also spreading his targets around well. Steve Heiden led the team with 8, as the Packers have been hurt by tight ends a lot this year (Marcus Pollard in week 1). Billy Miller also got a chance in the end zone that was knocked away by a defender. As expected, Frisman Jackson only had two passes thrown his way and everyone saw what Braylon Edwards did with three of his four targets. The Browns will face a very fast Colts defense this week, and I expect their rather immobile offensive line to have all kinds of troubles.

DEN- The Broncos did all they could to lose to the Chargers, but it didn’t take. Denver turned the ball over twice inside the Chargers’ 30 and Elam missed two field goals in their first 8 possessions. But 10 fourth quarter points led them to a key divisional victory. Rod Smith (11) and Ashley Lelie (10) led the team in targets and Jeb Putzier had a surprisingly low 3. Charlie Adams seems to still be the #3 WR, as he got 4 passes thrown to him. Darius Watts had just one. The Broncos host KC on Monday night, and they should doing so with an 0-2 record. Still, they also could have beaten San Diego by three touchdowns. Denver’s defense played well.

HOU- Awful.

IND- The Colts are going to expload this week, I can just feel it. They’ve faced two of the best defenses in the league, and yes they are going against Romeo Crennel this week but his Browns just don’t have the talent to do what the Pats have done in the past. Dallas Clark played his first game of the season and he picked up 3 targets. The WR trio maitained their form; Harrison 8, Wayne 7, Stokely 5.

JAX- Reggie Williams continued his rise, with 4 catches on 5 targets. The Jags also kept Matt Jones involved with 3 targets. But Jimmy Smith is still the clear #1. He picked up 7 passes.

KC- Almost by default, Eddie Kennison is still the top WR on the Chiefs. He had a career high 1086 yards in just 14 games last year. He picked up 102 targets last year and is on pace for 104 this season. But I still like #2 guy Sammy Parker. He had 6 passes thrown to him against Oakland, catching 3 for a 28.7 ypc average. In the red zone, the Chiefs went to their running backs 10 times in week one, and 11 times last week. Tony Gonzalez has just two RZ chances on the season. He’s a little behind his three year average of 21.6 and he’s got those talented Denver linebackers to deal with this week.

MIA- Randy McMichael was busy against the Jets, pulling in 8 passes on 11 targets. On the year, he has 14 catches on 18 targets, and four looks inside the red zone. Chris Chambers is also getting a lot of passes, as he has 20 targets on the year and five inside the twenty. But Chambers only has 6 receptions so far.

NE- Daniel Graham only got one pass thrown his way in week two, but it was a 1 yard touchdown strike. Ben Watson is still the top TE target, he got 5 more passes thrown to him against Carolina. Deion Branch (14, 25 in two weeks) is the clear #1 and David Givens (9) a solid #2 guy. New England’s offense really struggled last week. They only ran one play in the red zone (Graham) and that was only after Troy Brown’s 71 yard pass play that ended on the 1. Their best starting field position was from their own 33 and they made it into Carolina territory just four times (TD, INT, FG, Fumble).

NYJ- Laveranues Coles and Justin McCareins had identical target numbers in week two (10 and 8, respectively). Not too much else going on here. The Jets are still finding their way around their new offense.

OAK- Lamont Jordan had a tough time hanging on to the ball against the Chiefs. He caught just 6 of the 11 passes thrown to him. Many of those incompletes were due to Jordan trying to run with the catch too soon. I still think he’s a above average receiver, especially considering his size. The errors he made Sunday night were not really physical; he definitely has the hands to catch 70-80 passes this year and he’s obviously going to get the chance to in this offense (see the OAK preview). After two weeks, it looks like I might be wrong about Randy Moss. He’s got 10 catches and two scores so far and that’s in line with the projections I had him at. But the 257 yards he’s racked up is way ahead of the pace I’d thought he’d go on. In fact, he’s on pace for 2056 and even though it’s only two games, I didn’t see him getting to 1600. But that looks to be where Moss is headed. He’s getting the ball thrown to him plenty (22 total targets). Jerry Porter had 11 targets in week two and with Ronald Curry out of the year, Porter should see an increase in his production. Also look for Doug Gabriel to make an impact as he returns this week from a finger injury.

PIT- All of these crazy Pittsburgh stats are either very misleading or they underscore how fantastic this team is playing. We’ll find out this week, but from my point of view, it looks like they are rolling.

SD- The Chargers got Antonio Gates involved right away, as he went 8 for 8 in passes. Keenan McCardell continued his high pace with 8 more targets, giving him 22 on the year. And not only has LT not caught a pass all season, but he’s only been thrown one ball.

TEN- Steve McNair used his back heavily against the Ravens, throwing 15 passes to the trio of Chris Brown, Travis Henry, and Troy Fleming. In turn, the tight ends saw considerably fewer balls (4, down from 13). The wide receivers were led by Drew Bennett (8) and Brandon Jones (6). The Titans are back on the road to St. Louis this week.

And from the NFC…
CAR- The Pats were focused on slowing Steve Smith. He only had 4 catches on 6 targets for 34 yards. Keary Colbert had 7 balls thrown his way but didn’t come down with one. Ricky Proehl stepped up for the Panthers, catching 3 of 3. And Rod Gardner, who reportedly has been slow to learn the offense, picked up one red zone chance. It’s Stephen Davis’ team inside the twenty, he scored 3 RZ touchdowns on 6 chances.

2005 Fantasy Football / Offensive Coordinator Preview - Oakland Raiders

Wednesday, August 17th, 2005

INDEX

Norv Turner
-entering second season with the Raiders (head coach)
Jimmy Raye
-entering second season with the Raiders (offensive coordinator)

I’m skipping ahead in the order a bit now because I haven’t had a chance to look at the preseaon work of any of the other two AFC South teams yet. I did, however, watch the OAK/SF game from this past weekend.

First off, let’s look at the Raiders’ head coach Norv Turner. He will be the one calling plays again this season (Raye’s bio can be found here). As head coach of the Redskins from 1994-2000, Washington went 49-59-1 under Turner (who left after Week 14 in 2000). Norv’s offenses during those seasons held an average total yards ranking of 13.7, but in only one season did they finish in the top 10 (1999, 2nd). Evidence of the mediocrity of Turner’s Redskins is also found in their win/loss column. After his first season with the ‘Skins- a 3-13 adventure- Washington never finished better than 10-6 or worse than 6-10.

Before becoming Oakland’s head coach prior to last season, Turner was coordinating the offense in Miami during the 2002 and 2003 seasons. It was during those two years the Dolphins were able to wield the potential of Ricky Williams into stardom. Miami finished just 15th and 24th in total yards during that time, but in 2002 they were 1st in rushing attempts, 2nd in rushing yards, 4th in yards per carry, and 3rd in rushing touchdowns. 2003 brought a decline in those numbers, but they still ranked 8th in total rushing attempts, led by Williams’ 392 carries that season.

In 2001, Turner was put in charge of a San Diego offense that finished 28th in total yards (out of 31 teams) the year before. Getting the chance to work with then rookie running back LaDainian Tomlinson, Turner helped the Chargers improve to 15th best in total yards and 14th best in scoring (up from 26) in ‘01. And that was with Doug Flutie at quarterback.

Balance has been Turner’s reputation, but in his successful years he tends to favor the run. That’s true for most good teams because they are playing with the lead more. But since Turner likes to lean on one back heavily, that means good things for fantasy owners. From 1999 to 2003, Turner’s offenses finished 10th, 15th, 18th, 1st, and 8th in total rushing attempts. But more importantly, look at the work-load he’s given his lead back over that stretch:

YEAR	RB	Att	YARDS	TD
1999	Stephen Davis	290	1405	17
2000	Stephen Davis	332	1318	11
2001	LaDainian Tomlinson	339	1236	10
2002	Ricky Williams	383	1853	16
2003	Ricky Williams	392	1372	9

Because he has favored single RB backfields for so long, it was of great disappointment last season when Norv Turner was unable to find a running back talented enough to carry his usual demand. The 2004 Raiders finished dead last in rushing attempts, dead last in rushing yards, and just 22nd in ypc (3.95). The teams’ leading rusher was Amos Zereoue, with 112 carries for 425 yards.

This season, the Raiders will get to unleash Lamont Jordan- a beast of a running back at 5-10, 230 lbs who’s just as quick as Jamal Lewis. Jordan toiled with the Jets behind Curtis Martin for four years where he never got more than 100 carries during any one season. Still, Jordan managed to average 4.9 ypc over those years. If you watch Jordan play, you expect a guy of his size to run with the kind of power he displays in and out of the tackle box. What you don’t expect is for him to catch the ball so well out of the backfield, but that’s exactly what he is able to do. In the kind of offense they have in Oakland, Jordan will easily bring in 50 passes for at least 400 yards (Williams had 50-351 in ‘03 and 47-363 in ‘02). I would not be surprised to see Lamont catch 75 for over 500 yards, his hands are that good and he’s got the such a nice combination of size and quickness, he’s hard to bring down in the open field.

Norv Turner’s offensive philosophy is a very simple one. It begins with establishing the run in order to get linebackers and safeties stepping towards the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped. When that happens, he likes to have fast receivers and strong-armed quarterbacks beat opposing defenses deep. And that’s why this story is not about Randy Moss, because the 2005 Raiders don’t need Randy Moss to catch 100 passes for 1600 yards to have a successful season. They just need other teams to be scared that he might. The Raiders will not likely face a lot of eight man fronts to start the season and Jordan will feast upon them early. Jordan will also get an opportunity to catch a lot of passes because with teams keeping their safeties deep in order to contain Moss, Porter, Curry, and Gabriel, there will be a lot of dump off passes open.

Behind center, the Raiders are well-equiped with Kerry Collins. In his best statistical season to date, Collins threw for 4073 yards in 2002 when he was with the Giants. He averaged 7.5 yards per completion and had a 61.5 completion percentage that year, both career highs. Last year, in his first season with the Raiders, Collins threw for 3495 in 14 games, which averaged out over 16 games would have been 3994, close to his career high. One cause for concern is that he throws interceptions at almost a 1:1 ratio to touchdowns. And in this offense, Turner likes to run the ball into the end zone. But if you’re in a league that rewards yardage heavily, Collins is a solid bet for 4000.

Finally, we arrive at Moss and company. It’s hard to use stats to back up what we should expect from this group in 2005 because this is easily the most talented set of WRs Turner has had to work with. In seven seasons with the Vikings, Moss averaged 82 catches, 1306 yards, and 12.8 touchdowns a season. His career high in receptions was in 2003, with 111. This year, I see him more as a 70-75 catch guy with a high average per reception. Moss is still very much a perimeter receiver even though he’s the world’s best perimeter receiver. And as good as a red-zone target as Moss is, I’d have doubts in drafting him in the first round because of Turner’s reputation for running the ball inside the twenty.

Regardless, I do not see 1600 yards in Moss’ immediate future. Part of that reasoning lies in Turner’s history of production at the WR spot and the other part is due to the fact that Moss is part of a group of fantastic wide-outs who will undoubtedly be targeted by Collins’ passes. Jerry Porter was just two yards shy of 1000 last year and he scored nine touchdowns as the team’s top WR. Consider, however, that as good of a season Nate Burleson had last year, he still only had 1006 yards- despite the Vikings finishing 2nd in the NFL in completions and with Moss missing four games.

So how many more yards can Porter put up playing 2nd to Moss? And then you have to factor in Ronald Curry, who was as impressive with his game-breaking ability as any WR last year. Consider also that last year was Curry’s first full season as a receiver and that the former UNC quarterback is in many ways on a similar career path as another former ACC QB, Anquan Boldin. And I also like what Doug Gabriel offers as a deep threat, but really, how can we expect him to haul in any more than the 33 passes he caught last year without Moss?

Probably one the hardest things Raiders fans who play fantasy football will have to decide on prior to the 2005 NFL season is picking which one of these Raiders they want to draft. It’s not smart to have two of them on your team and it’s just dumb to think that you can win your league with three. So with five starters returning along a very large and very talented offensive line, I’d wager that Lamont Jordan finishes the season as the most productive Raider.