Raiders get Four Starters back for Week 10 against Chiefs

Rarely do you ever hear good news about the Oakland Raiders, but this week Oakland will get four starters back from injury to play this week against the arch division rival Kansas City Chiefs.

Once again, rarely do you ever hear that the Raiders are favored to win a game, but this week against the Chiefs the Raiders chances are looking pretty good with the return of players like left guard Robert Gallery, right tackle Cornell Green, wide receiver Chaz Schilens and most importantly running back Darren McFadden.

With these players healthy and back in the mix for the Raiders their fortunes might begin to change. I don't think the Raiders will be playoffs contenders this season as there is virtually no way they will be able to catch up to the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos, but at least they can get some positive things happening for them to finish out yet another disappointing season in Oakland.

The Raiders are not exactly the first team you think of when considering picking a team in a NFL parlay or seeing them involved Vegas NFL picks, but if they can get it together and get some consistently good play out of players like quarterback JaMarcus Russell, Darren McFadden and Darius Heyward-Bey then Oakland could be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come.

Obviously right now all the Raiders want is something positive to happen for their franchise after having a disappointing year like this filled with controversy surrounding head coach Tom Cable and protests asking for the benching of JaMarcus Russell, it might not come this season, but like the Atlanta Falcons last season, a winning season could be right around the corner!

Week 10 Preview: Kansas City Chiefs @ Oakland Raiders

It has been a long and disappointing season for the Raiders thus far as they haven't really made any kind of improvement from last year's team and sit at the bottom of the AFC West yet again with a 2-6 coming into week 10 against Matt Cassel and the Kansas City Chiefs.

The biggest question that all Raiders fans are asking this season is:

When will JaMarcus Russell be benched?

A few years back Raiders fans thought they had something to look forward to and hope for the future after Oakland selected LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell number one overall. Russell seemed like the total package with a cannon for an arm and a Ben Roethlisberger like frame that would make him hard to bring down, but it hasn't been his body or his strong arm that has let the Raiders down, it has been his terrible accuracy and inability to lead this team.

Along with Russell the Raiders were able to get their hands on a promising young running back Darren McFadden last season, but have yet to really see what the kid can do because of injury problems.

Needless to say, the Oakland Raiders mess and they are not a team you consider if you are an avid sports bettor and are trying to make some extra dough with NFL betting.

There is a definitely an upside to the Raiders despite all their faults as their defense is quite good when it has time to rest on the sidelines, but that hasn't happen as of late due to the inconsistent play by Russell and the offense.

This week the Raiders might be able to get a much needed victory against the lowly Kansas City Chiefs in week 10. The Chiefs looked to have a promising season coming into this year with the addition of quarterback Matt Cassel from New England and new offensive minded head coach Todd Haley, but the combination of the two in Kansas City has not resulted in more than one win this season.

Even though both of these teams aren't all that entertaining to watch this season, this matchup between these AFC West rivals might just be a game to watch as the Chiefs and the Raiders will not want to lose this game just to be able to say they are not the worst team in the AFC West.

Raiders Get Dominated by the Giants in Week 5

Is all hope lost to salvage this season?

Honestly, it is really starting to look like the season is lost unless they decide to switch quarterbacks in my opinion. JEFF GARCIA COMEBAAAAAACKK!

The Raiders running game isn't all that bad. Yes, they don't have a great runner like Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore or even Ahmad Bradshaw, but the combination of Michael Bush and Darren McFadden will get it done when the second year back comes back healthy in a few weeks.

In the meantime though they need to get it done through the air and on the defensive side of the football. Much like the running game I believe the defense can be a dominant defense if they actually had sometime to catch their breath on the sidelines. The Oakland offense is so bad these days that the Raiders defense is on the field basically the entire game and no defense, no matter how good they are, can get it done with no time to rest.

The one thing that has to change before anything is the quarterback position. JaMarcus Russell may have a cannon for an arm and can throw the length of the field, but he has terrible accuracy and has not lived up to expectations in his time in Oakland. It is time to admit it Al Davis, you got a Ryan Leaf type pick out of Russell, time to make a change and go get Jeff Garcia back to Oakland.

The New York Giants on the other hand came into this game with a lot of question marks involving their superstar quarterback Eli Manning. Last week Manning sustained an injury that looked like it would force him to sit out some time, but just like his brother Peyton, Eli got back on the horse and had an impressive performance playing through pain in the win against Oakland.

Eli Manning may have been in some serious pain, but it didn't stop him from throwing for 173 yards and two touchdowns in just one half of play before being switched out for David Carr due to the blowout.

44-7 was the final score and this game wasn't even close, in fact it was a joke as the Raiders seemed absolutely hopeless with Russell throwing for a pitiful 100 yards and the Oakland offense only amounting to a total of 124 yards. Just pitiful to say the least.

Chargers Comeback to Beat Raiders with Last Minute Drive

There are bitter rivals in the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers don't like each other, the Patriots and Colts always have epic battles, but few of these rivalries are as heated as the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers when the two AFC West rivals go head to head.

These two teams don't just dislike each other, they hate each other with an undying passion!

It isn't a personal thing like the way Phillip Rivers and Jay Cutler openly hate each other, but these two teams absolutely despise losing to one another and in this match up it has been the Raiders getting the short end of the stick in the last eleven meetings between these two.

Coming into this season the Oakland Raiders don't have expectations of being a great team or even a good team as they are still very young and struggling to establish an identity. Last season was forgettable, in fact, the past seven years have been very forgettable as this franchise has just fallen apart since their last Super Bowl appearance back in 2002.

Despite not looking great on paper, the Oakland Raiders do have some young and promising players on their squad starting with JaMarcus Russell.

Russell is a freak of nature with a 6'6" 260+ frame at quarterback. That is unheard of and closest thing to him is Big Ben Roethlisberger with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but even though this kid is huge he lacks finesse and accuracy on his throws and that was never more obvious then this week one game against the San Diego Chargers.
The positives to come out of this loss against he hated Chargers is that the tide is changing in Oakland, yes they have some work to do at quarterback, but the defense looks great and the running game is firing on all cylinders with the deadly combination of Michael Bush and Darren McFadden.

The Raiders ran the ball down the throat of the Chargers all night long as San Diego just couldn't find an answer for Bush and McFadden, but the problem was the passing game as Russell continues to struggle. At times it was the receivers faults as Russell either put it right on the numbers or on their hands, but with two rookies starting at wide receiver in Darrius Heyward-Bey and Louis Murphy, there are bound to be problems in the passing game.

Russell did have a moment of brilliance near the end of this game throwing a 57 yard bullet to Louis Murphy for the go ahead touchdown with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter, but that was plenty of time for Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers to drive down the field and hand it off to Darren Sproles for the game winning touchdown and end the game 24-20.

There were a few things for both the Raiders and Chargers to look at after this game that will drastically change the look and feel of both teams. For one, the Raiders will have to work the running game until Russell can get some confidence or look at bringing in Brad Gradkowski who actually got in the game when Russell got hurt on a quarterback sneak. Gradkowski threw the ball twice and completed both passing for 17 yards.
So sit Russell, milk the running game with McFadden and Bush who combined for 123 yards and a touchdown or see if Russell can get back on track in the coming weeks.

The Chargers on the other hand seem to be in the passing of the torch mode as we could be witnessing the end of the LaDainian Tomlinson and the emergence of Darren Sproles. It seemed more and more obvious as the game went on that Norv Turner has become comfortable using Sproles in place of LT as Sproles was the back to get the call at the end game and came through with the game winning rushing touchdown.

San Diego did struggle in the passing game though despite Rivers finishing with 252 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Even though you would think it was Rivers just having an off night it was actually the much improved Raiders defense keeping the Chargers in check.

So the positives for the Raiders is a great running game with two backs and a much improved defense. Negatives for Oakland is inconsistent play by JaMarcus Russell and failure to capitalize on offense. Positives for San Diego is Darren Sproles and negatives are LT and struggling offense.

Even though there has been Super Bowl talk surrounding the Chargers I still think they have a ways to go before they can be considered legit contenders this season. As for the Raiders I see nothing, but positive things coming out of this game. Yes, Tom Cable and company have to deal with the problems at quarterback, but the defense looks good and their is potential to turn this offense back into a major force in the AFC.

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Week 2: Oakland Raiders @ Kansas City Chiefs Sept. 20th 1pm EST

New England Patriots Trade Richard Seymour to the Oakland Raiders

Where did this move come from? Good news for the Raiders, but why would the Patriots do something this drastic, this close to week one?

Obviously the Oakland Raiders have been in somewhat of a desperation mode for quite some time now as they try to get back to dominant status in the AFC, but why the New England Patriots would want to get rid of a five time Pro Bowler like Richard Seymour is beyond me.

The Raiders will definitely get an upgrade at their defensive line with the addition of Richard Seymour, but it didn't come without a price as they had to give up their 2011 first round draft pick which has been a very high pick in the draft in recent years as they have brought in high profile players like JaMarcus Russell, Michael Huff and Darren McFadden.

The main motivation for Al Davis to pull the trigger on this deal was to help stop the run as the Oakland Raiders have struggled stopping the run ever since their last Super Bowl appearance in 2002. In fact the Raiders have been the worst team in the league at stopping the run since 2002 allowing 141.7 yards per game on the ground.

As for the Patriots point of view this somewhat of a surprise, but maybe it shouldn't be as the New England defense is starting to looking quite different this season. First move the Patriots made concerning the defense was trading away linebacker Mike Vrabel in the Matt Cassel deal then both Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi decided to call it a career and retired from the NFL.

The one thing about the Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick though, they always seem have some master plan and end up coming out on top.

So in the short term I believe the Oakland Raiders defense just got a lot better, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the New England Patriots turn their new first round pick into something special.

Raiders Cut Quarterback Jeff Garcia

It is no secret that the Oakland Raiders are one of the most troubled NFL franchises in the league if not the most troubled franchise. One of the main reasons for the Raiders troubles has been the combination wacky NFL owner in Al Davis and bad decisions with team personnel.

Over the past couple of seasons the Raiders have had nothing, but bad publicity. One bad move after another like getting rid of arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL in Randy Moss, firing head coach Lane Kiffin in a very embarrassing fashion and now cutting veteran quarterback Jeff Garcia.

Now Jeff Garcia isn't the quarterback he used to be when he was a Pro Bowler with the San Francisco 49ers or even the Philadelphia Eagles, but he is still one of the best backup quarterbacks in this league, too bad the Raiders didn't think so as they cut the veteran only a week before week one.

Since Garcia will no longer be in silver and black as the backup to JaMarcus Russell, the Raiders will be using Bruce Gradkowski and Charlie Frye as the backups.

Along with Jeff Garcia 21 other players were cut from the team to set the final roster.

Jeff Garcia Intends to Start for the Raiders

It is no secret that quarterback JaMarcus Russell has hit a few bumps in the road as he tries to become a prime time QB in the NFL, but after just two seasons are the Oakland Raiders justified to pull the rug from under the young quarterback's feet and hand the starting job over to veteran quarterback Jeff Garcia?

In my opinion, no, it isn't justified and the kid deserves one more shot before he gets dropped to the backup role. Obviously when the Raiders pick Russell number one in the draft a few years ago they were planning for the future and intending to make him the face of the franchise, but just the drastic mid season firing of head coach Lane Kiffin, Al Davis has absolutely no patience and wants to win as soon as possible.

Wanting to win in the NFL or any professional sport in the US for that matter is natural and admirable, but what Davis is asking for is just ridiculous. Yes, the Raiders have potential to be at least a playoff team, but the way he is imposing his will on the Raiders is not healthy and will continue to tear the team apart with frustrated coaches and unhappy players.

The Raiders went out an made somewhat of a drastic move by signing veteran quarterback Jeff Garcia to motivate Russell and secure the quarterback position as best they could for the next NFL season.

Garcia has been great quarterback throughout his career starting with another bay area team in the San Francisco 49ers where he had to deal with the ego of a young Terrell Owens. Once Garcia started to get on in years and the Niners started to drop off the veteran quarterback started to hop around the NFL with stops in Philadelphia and Tampa Bay before signing with the Oakland Raiders this offseason.

Some say Garcia is over the hill and others believe he still might have a few good years left in him like Kerry Collins in Tennessee. The one thing that has made Garcia successful every where he has gone has been his will to win and never say die attitude which he fully intends to bring with him to Oakland as he tries to compete for the starting job with JaMarcus Russell.

"Not knocking JaMarcus or anybody else on the team, but I have a belief in my own abilities," Garcia said in a phone interview from his home in San Diego.. "[That has] me feeling I am the best quarterback on the team. That's just how I approach the game."

The debate in Oakland now is: Who to start at quarterback?

JaMarcus Russell has tremendous upside with a cannon for an arm, quick feet and a big body, but he lacks experience and has had problems with his weight. Garcia on the other hand is a proven quarterback with experience and the competitive fire sorely lacking in Oakland.

Who will get the starting job? Honestly, I couldn't say, but I think they will either put Russell on a short leash and once he makes a mistake pull him out or start Garcia at the get go and have Russell use Garcia as a mentor.

Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens and who will be taking the snaps when the season begins.