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Archive for August, 2009
Continuing in my preseason series, I bring you the third edition of my "players to watch" series. Last week, I failed to submit an article. I knew the starters would get a lot of play, so there was no need to address any back-ups, or "bubble" players to watch for. As many of you know, offensive guard Marcus Johnson was cut, as well as center Jonathan Compas, wide receiver's Will Franklin and Shawn Bayes, and newcomer defensive tackle---forgive me, I cannot remember his name---oh yeah, Joe Cohen. So then, there were 75. seventy-five vying for fifty three spots. But, eighty ...
This article is about some interesting careers of NFL players before they went pro that you may not have heard about. It is about the guys who switched positions at some point in their career before making it big as a pro. You may be surprised at some of the names on this list, as well as what position they once played. These are people you all know about as a professional, but might have heard much about them prior to then. This article also includes a general background of the featured players' athletic careers. They are all big names, ...
I have one question for Tom Cable. "What are you doing man?" What I've seen the last two weeks is not Raider football. Raider football is Jon Ritchie bleeding from the forehead. Raider football is long hair tattoos and full beards. Raider football is sending in your big HB(Tyrone Wheatly, Zack Crocket or Michael Bush) right up the middle in short yardage expecting nothing but success even though the defense know exactly whats coming. Raider football is Tom Cable punching a useless asistant DB coach in the mouth. Raider football is a strong running game and a deep ball. Raider football is big ...
This is no joke. Jay Mariotti of AOL Sports, consider this your official blog-slap. Jay Mariotti of Around the Horn Admits to Media Bias and Threatens Raiders In recent weeks since reports have surfaced about the alleged assault of Randy Hanson by Raiders coach Tom Cable, Jay Mariotti of AOL Sports has called for the suspension of Tom Cable and that Al Davis should, "simply vanish." Mariotti has been a proponent of Roger Goodell's disciplinary actions, which he has called, "God's work." Mariotti has also in the past claimed to be an objective journalist, and even berated blogger Jerod Morris for printing gossip.  Yet, ...
On the team, this is a key component. Useful should the running game bog down, the wide receivers help keep defenses honest and protect the offense from teams' "stacking the box". Sometimes teams design the offense to run exclusively around these players or a coach might try a more balances approach. For the Oakland Raiders, JaMarcus Russell's maturity is going to be measured on how well these players respond and if needed, can help out the team as a whole. With one day remaining before the first cutdown of rosters, it will be interesting to see if any of the players mentioned ...
With the baseball season entering its last full month this is a good time to look at the AL Rookie of the Year candidates.   AL Rookie Batting Leaders Doubles—Gordon Beckham 22…Luis Valbuena 20 Triples—Elvis Andrus 7…Brett Gardner 6 Home Runs—Nolan Reimold 12…Jayson Nix 10 Runs Batted In—Gordon Beckham 49…Nolan Reimold 39 Stolen Bases—Elvis Andrus 24…Brett Gardner 20 Walks—Nolan Reimold 43…Gordon Beckham, Elvis Andrus 30 Batting Average (At least 200 at bats)—Brett Gardner .275... Gordon Beckham, Nolan Reimold, and Matt Wieters .271 On Base Percentage—Nolan Reimold .365…Brett Gardner .354 Slugging Percentage—Nolan Reimold .452…Jayson Nix .448 On Base Plus Slugging—Nolan Reimold .817…Gordon Beckham .784   Summary: Nolan Reimold leads in five of the rookie offensive categories ...
Raider Nation, let me be very clear. This game was unavoidable. The Raiders have been giving us glimpses of this for several weeks. The problem is not JaMarcus Russell. It is not a lack of capable personnel. The last two games have been a very accurate reflection of the level of effort put forth by most of the team. Admittedly, Tom Cable has spent training camp getting back to the basics of the game on both sides of the ball. I believe this is where the Raiders needed to begin the season. Oakland is a young team and will count on its ...
Too many times impressions are given, and sometimes subjectivity flavors the commentary in NFL news and other publications. My opinion is that if an attribute admits to some type of measure theory, then the researcher should attempt to measure it. Pattern recognition, at an elementary level, is a powerful way to study an issue, situation or phenomenon. The discipline to tally the sports data, define categories for the sports data, and to aggregate the sports (NFL) data are some of the fundamental steps to this type of study. This article is Pt. 3 and it is related to Pattern Recognition, Pt. 2: Number of HOF ...
Who knew one meaningless preseason game could cause that much uproar. Typically, the third preseason game is considered the benchmark of where a team is at, in terms of preparing for the upcoming season. If the Raiders 45-7 thrashing at the hands of the New Orleans Saints is any indication, it looks to be another long season in the East Bay. Drew Brees picked apart the Raiders defense going 14 of 17 as he lead the Saints offense to touchdown scores on his only three possessions of the game. By the end of the first half, the Saints led 31-0 and the crowd in ...
Look on the bright side, Raider Nation. Preseason records are rarely ever a good indication of a team's future success. Last year, the Lions went undefeated in the preseason, so you can only imagine how the Detroit faithful felt being blindsided by the worst season in NFL history. Still, the dejected look on Tommy Kelly’s face as he walked back to the sidelines following the point after to make it 31-0 said it all. The Raiders, a team with such vast potential, who came into the pre-season with good vibes and some nice momentum, have had their proverbial bubble burst. This isn’t to say ...