observations from tonights game

Bigdog

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I was watching tongiht's game on the local televsion station through the Raiders broadcast. The Raiders broadcasters were extremely one sided as one would expect but here are some of my opinion on tonight performances:

Good:
1) First team offense moved the ball very well. They were only in for two possessions and the first one they were backed up on there own 5yd line. On their 2nd possession, they moved the ball down the field with Romo spreading it out to every one. Had a lot of time with the TD to Witten. Commentators said he hadover 5 seconds to decide where he wanted to go with the ball, which is way too much time.

2) Barber looks a lot more quicker than he usually has. Juked some defenders out there.

3) Felix Jones: God this guy is cat like quick and he takes people with him when he is in the game even if he is a decoy. On Roy Williams first catch, Jones went out for pass, and 3 defenders went with him. Romo made a nice play by look his way then going back to Williams.

4) Carpenter was effective blitzing up the middle. Constantly pressured the qb but was tad late on some blitzes that could have been for big losses.

4) Sam Hurd played excellent tonight. His hands were like glue and at one point he made several consecutive catches.

5) If Romo goes down, I am confident that Kitna can come in and win a couple of games. He still can zip that ball in there. Alot better than Johnson. He actually threw it down field. I did not know that our backup qb's could do that.

Bad:

1) Stating the obvious; if our offensive line have any significant injuries, then we are in trouble. On the drive that scored the TD,the line was making huge holes in the running game. 2nd team offensive line was not that good and Cory Proctor should not be a center as hiked the ball over Kitna's head when they were on the Raider's 2 yard line.

2) Secondary needs to look for the ball while it is in the air especially on deep balls. I thought this would be common sense that if WR has his hands up to catch the ball, it might be a clue that it is coming. On the PI, Sensaburgh never looked back and either did Brown on the other deep pass in the 3rd qt.

3) I know he is a rookie, but Mickens draft status is about exactly right. He played like a 7th rounder tonight. Got beat on a fade (never looked back at the ball and he probably could have gotten a int if he did).

4) If Jimmie Johnson or Parcells was coaching, Willie Reid probably would have to find his own way home to Dallas and then clean out his locker. On the fumble, he was so non-chalant in catching the ball, no wonder he muffed the punt.

5) Pat Watkins days should be numbered. It seemd like on the Raiders 3rd td that he shied way from contact as he tried to one arm tackle the RB. Even the broadcasters were cracking up about it.

I know that it was the 1st game and the cowboys played them on Turkey day but it was not pretty to watch tonight game. Hoepfully things will improve.
 
Thank you Bigdog. Always enjoy your breakdowns and recaps of the games. I needed this due to the fact I work 3rd shift (nights) and live in western PA. No way I was going to get to see this game.
 
IMO, the raiders are a team of 2nd stringers.......they are supposed to wreak you guys due to their depth......too bad the reg season is played in this format hahaa

they are going to be 4-0 :laugh2: , then start 0-4 ;)
 
Bigdog;2883816 said:
2) Barber looks a lot more quicker than he usually has. Juked some defenders out there.

He didn't show much power when he got stopped at the goal line, though.

4) Carpenter was effective blitzing up the middle. Constantly pressured the qb but was tad late on some blitzes that could have been for big losses.

He did some good things, but he still plays too soft against the run. At this rate, he'll be OK in the nickel role but a big dropoff if he has to start. I liked what I saw from Brooking tonight, and not just because he got a sack.


1) Stating the obvious; if our offensive line have any significant injuries, then we are in trouble. On the drive that scored the TD,the line was making huge holes in the running game. 2nd team offensive line was not that good and Cory Proctor should not be a center as hiked the ball over Kitna's head when they were on the Raider's 2 yard line.

Good thing Gurode never does that, huh?

But seriously, I thought Free looked good, Holland was inconsistent and not good on the second level, Procter was OK at best, Gibbons wasn't good at all and McQuistan was mostly OK. Overall, the second team's pass protection was better than the run blocking.


2) Secondary needs to look for the ball while it is in the air especially on deep balls. I thought this would be common sense that if WR has his hands up to catch the ball, it might be a clue that it is coming. On the PI, Sensaburgh never looked back and either did Brown on the other deep pass in the 3rd qt.

Huh? Sensabaugh turned around, but only after the contact. And Brown nearly intercepted the ball (if you're talking about the juggling, diving catch the receiver made).

Mickens, on the other hand, didn't do anything on the fade TD. Maybe the receiver pushed off, but he's got to battle better than that.

3) I know he is a rookie, but Mickens draft status is about exactly right. He played like a 7th rounder tonight. Got beat on a fade (never looked back at the ball and he probably could have gotten a int if he did).

He was terrible on that play but not that bad overall. Brown was worse, and Ball really struggled for a guy in his third season. I was more disappointed by Mike Hamlin than Mike Mickens.
 
I don't think Felix and Martellus' development can be overstated. These are two potentially Pro Bowl caliber players in my opinion. Guys who, while their overall lack of numbers (due to Barber and Witten stealing time) might keep them from garnering national attention, are players that are going to kill teams matchup-wise. I couldn't be happier with these two.

The bad for me is that I think this team is about 37-42 players deep. I fear the final 10-13 players on our roster might not be much more than practice-squad type guys. I am worried about our depth along the OL, and pretty much everywhere defensively. I like the starters all across the board, but the depth in those spots is shady.

Courtney Brown, Mike Mickens, Pat Watkins -- I mean, these are/were guys we were potentially counting on as No. 4 corners, backup safeties and such. They look atrocious.
 
To add, the depth aspect is where some of our offseason losses really could kill us.

Roy Williams, Zach Thomas, Chris Canty were all replaced (Gerald Sensabaugh, Keith Brooking and Igor Olshanksy, respectively).

But other than replacing from within or late-round picks, we did nothing to replace Anthony Henry, Pacman Jones, Kevin Burnett and Greg Ellis. I understand why they're all gone, but those are four players that are better than the backups we have at those positions. (Henry and Jones over Brown, Ball and Mickens; Ellis over any of the rookie OLBs; Burnett over any of the backup ILBs, save possibly Carpenter).
 
RainMan;2883948 said:
But other than replacing from within or late-round picks, we did nothing to replace Anthony Henry, Pacman Jones, Kevin Burnett and Greg Ellis.

If only there wasn't a salary cap, huh? If you keep overpaid veterans to be your fourth and fifth cornerback, nickel linebacker and backup outside linebacker, you're not only hurting your cap situation, you're also preventing yourself from actually developing young players.

We could re-signed La'Roi Glover to be Jason Ferguson's backup in 2006 instead of relying on some second-year player who wasn't drafted until the seventh round. But we didn't, and Jay Ratliff developed into a Pro Bowl player.

You can't pay everyone big money, so sometimes you have to count on young guys to be your backups and hopefully step up if they're ever needed.
 
Re-watching the game from NFLN with the Raiders TV Network broadcasting and their announcers just said that the Raiders "1's" outplayed our "1's":lmao2:

That's just laughable.

Their "1's" were still in the game minus Osumugah when Kitna came in and drove the ball on them before the bad pass to Hurd. And the announcer even admitted he was surprised that the starting OL was still playing well into the 2nd qtr. :rolleyes:
 
KINGBRICE_28;2883921 said:
IMO, the raiders are a team of 2nd stringers.......they are supposed to wreak you guys due to their depth......too bad the reg season is played in this format hahaa

they are going to be 4-0 :laugh2: , then start 0-4 ;)

The raiders are not that bad, to be honest with you.

They're not going to beat san Diego in that division, but I see them as about an 8-8 team this season.
 
AdamJT13;2883933 said:
He didn't show much power when he got stopped at the goal line, though.



He did some good things, but he still plays too soft against the run. At this rate, he'll be OK in the nickel role but a big dropoff if he has to start. I liked what I saw from Brooking tonight, and not just because he got a sack.




Good thing Gurode never does that, huh?

But seriously, I thought Free looked good, Holland was inconsistent and not good on the second level, Procter was OK at best, Gibbons wasn't good at all and McQuistan was mostly OK. Overall, the second team's pass protection was better than the run blocking.




Huh? Sensabaugh turned around, but only after the contact. And Brown nearly intercepted the ball (if you're talking about the juggling, diving catch the receiver made).

Mickens, on the other hand, didn't do anything on the fade TD. Maybe the receiver pushed off, but he's got to battle better than that.



He was terrible on that play but not that bad overall. Brown was worse, and Ball really struggled for a guy in his third season. I was more disappointed by Mike Hamlin than Mike Mickens.
I think Barber turned his body and did not drive like he usually does. Raiders announcers siad it looked like he turn his back. i agree with you about Brooking. I liked what I saw from him especially when he sacked Russell for a 21 yard loss. Looking back on the TD over Mickens, it does look like the receiver pushed off.
 
ArmyCowboy;2884227 said:
The raiders are not that bad, to be honest with you.

They're not going to beat san Diego in that division, but I see them as about an 8-8 team this season.

I agree. They look a lot better.

It all depends on Russell. I might be one of the few who liked him when he was coming out. It's all about his work ethic... If he puts in the time to study, he can be a pretty good NFL QB. If not, he'll be just another busted pick and the Raiduhs will continue to reek.
 
Bigdog;2883816 said:
. On the PI, Sensaburgh never looked back........

This is excatly why you don't come here after a game. You got a 50/50 chance of receiving information correct. The athlete's name would be a good start.


Personally, I don't know how one couldn't see that Sensabaugh did indeed look back.................at the moment he made contact.
 
AdamJT13;2883971 said:
You can't pay everyone big money, so sometimes you have to count on young guys to be your backups and hopefully step up if they're ever needed.

Amen....

And hope the drafting department did their work....
 
Seven;2884572 said:
This is excatly why you don't come here after a game. You got a 50/50 chance of receiving information correct. The athlete's name would be a good start.


Personally, I don't know how one couldn't see that Sensabaugh did indeed look back.................at the moment he made contact.

did that guy seriously say "Sensaburgh"....... wow. just.... wow.
 

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