In depth: Oakland Raiders

by | Feb 18, 2012 | 2011 season, 2012 season, NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Random Thoughts

After a rough decade, back-to-back .500 seasons made it look like the Oakland Raiders may have been heading toward a resurgence. But the death of Al Davis and the firing of Hue Jackson – who was the team’s fifth head coach in nine years – have Oakland heading in yet another new direction as the offseason gets underway.

Add in a new general manager, another new coach, big salary cap issues and a dearth of draft picks brought on by the Carson Palmer trade and other moves, and it spells an interesting offseason in Oakland.

Levi Damien, the lead writer for Silver and Black Pride and owner of Thoughts from the Dark Side, took some time to share his thoughts on where the team is headed. Here’s what he told Zoneblitz:

Zoneblitz: With the passing of Al Davis, 2012 represents a totally new era in Oakland. What do you think of the hires of head coach Dennis Allen and general manager Reggie McKenzie? (more…)

Comparing likely Hall of Famers: Brown, Carter & Reed

by | Jan 28, 2012 | Hall of Fame, NFL Random Thoughts

We’re getting close to learning who the 2012 inductees will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this August. Much of the discussion on one of our other Hall of Fame posts revolves around which of the three wide receiver finalists — or whether any of them — will get chosen for the honor this season.

Four-time finalist Andre Reed seems to have gained the most momentum, based on his near miss last season. Three-time finalist Cris Carter and one-time finalist Tim Brown are the other two wideouts in the mix for this year’s honor.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Website did a comparison of these three players and how they fared up against the other 21 wideouts already enshrined in Canton, Ohio. But I wanted to do some analysis of my own.

Let me start with this. All three of these guys had great careers and they definitely are strong candidates, at least in the eyes of Zoneblitz. They all would be in the top five in receiving yards, touchdowns and receptions among receivers already in the Hall. Even as we move into a heavy passing era, Reed, Carter and Brown all continue to match up strongly with the other candidates they’ll be compared with in the near future.

But as the competition gets stronger in the years ahead, as guys like Marvin Harrison, Randy Moss, Torry Holt, Terrell Owens and a host of others retire, it’s going to be more and more challenging for the current group of finalists to get in. That makes the voting over the next couple years that much more important. And frankly, after doing some analysis, I think the current wide receiver finalists might be gaining momentum in the wrong order.

(more…)

Raiders fire Cable? Really?

by | Jan 4, 2011 | NFL Random Thoughts

The Oakland Raiders have broken ties with Tom Cable, sending the head coach careening to the unemployment line.

Really, Al Davis? Really

You’re going to hire the guy even though he goes just 4-8 after replacing Lane Kiffin five games into the 2008 season?

You’re not going to fire the guy in August 2009 when he allegedly punched assistant coach Randy Hanson?

Or after he leads the team to another inept 5-11 record during that 2009 season?

But you’re going to fire him now? After the team had eight wins for the first time since the 2002 Super Bowl season? After Darren McFadden finally displayed some semblance of the talent that caused the team to draft him in the first round three years ago?

The reports indicate that the leading candidate to replace Cable is Hue Jackson. Jackson has a good resume and I’m sure he contributed a lot to the team’s turnaround this year.

But that’s just it – the team made a ton of progress this year. Instead of winning four or five games, the team improved to eight wins, including going undefeated in the AFC West division with sweeps over rivals Kansas City, Denver and San Diego.

The team looked far more competent than it has in nearly a decade and, though it does not yet have playoff talent, looked as though it was on the way toward again competing for the postseason with a couple of tweaks.

And the players looked like they wanted to play for the guy. Hue Jackson might end up being a great coach. That’s not the point. The point is that this is a team that appears to be on the upswing and now the owner has inserted a major, dramatic unknown. You know what you have in Cable. He’s not perfect. But for all the stuff Cable could have been fired for over the last couple years, he wasn’t. And, again, he appeared to have the Raiders going in the right direction.

Is this a shrewd move? Or is it Al Davis making one more mistake upon dozens of mistakes he’s made in running this team in recent years?

Based on the recent past, Raiders fans, I’d be less than anxious to find out.