Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Encouraging???

So the Raiders have played 2 pre-season games, what have we learned? They played a young 49er team that cant fight its way across the Bay Bridge at mid-night with no traffic, and they played a mediocre Tennessee Titan team that is still trying to find its identity.

Against the 49ers the Raiders played well enough to win against their cross Bay rival but did they impress you? The defense looked good and Johnnie Lee Higgins brought a little light to the special teams play. JeMarcus only played sparingly so what did we really learn from that? Michael Bush looked good on only 8 carries but the touchdown always goes a long way even in the pre-season.

But really was anyone thinking that this game was anything more then one more chance for the winning teams fans to rub the losers nose in it? Not really.

As far as the game against the Titans while it ended in a Raiders loss, there were some encouraging moments and a few shining moments that made you go Hmmmm. The touchdown Russel threw to Zach Miller was a beauty and gave fans a reason to cheer. Russel really only looked good in that series but in limited duty it may have been enough to bring hope to even the most pessimistic of fans. JeMarcus finished his duties going 10-of-17 for 75 yards and the aforementioned touchdown. That being the encouraging moment, I believe the shining moments belonged to the rushing game. Darren McFadden the rookie rushing phenom had limited duties that he made the most of with 6 rushes for 44 yards with a spectacular run for 26 yards capped by a field goal giving the Raiders a 10-7 lead at the half. Averaging 7.1 yards a carry is going to go a long way in securing a starting position for McFadden should he continue to churn yards out like this on limited carries. The one, three punch behind McFadden could be narrowed down by the end of the pre-season but there are a litany of backs looking to back Darren up should the need arise. It may be deceiving because of all the differing players contending for playing time during the pre-season but the Raiders did have 224 yards on just 37 carries for a 6.1 ypc average.

So what have we learned so far this pre-season? Nothing we didn't already know. JeMarcus has a canon for an arm and the Raiders can run the ball against a fairly porous defense. This weeks game against the Arizona Cardinals won't be much of a test either but it could be...encouraging.

2 comments:

ArgyllDuke said...

Never be encouraged or discouraged by preseason action. That is rule #1.

Rule #2 escapes me at the moment

Rule #3 is Do unto Denver what they just did unto you.

ArgyllDuke said...

BTW, Fargas is so jacked on Adrenaline after hearing that The Atomic Man DARREN MCFADDEN had a neck stinger he fly to Denver, went straight up to Jay Cutler, and punched him in the face.

It was brilliant.