Raider Schedule

Mon. Sep 11 Chargers

Opening night at home on MNF. While LT will be a menace, I think Rivers makes some crucial turnovers and Huff keeps Gates out of the endzone. Moss scores 3 Td's and admits he was hurt last year, but played anyways. Raiders Win.

Sun. Sep 17 @ Ravens
This team never has any offense besides J. Lewis, so we should have a low scoring game. Very winnable game.


Sun. Oct 1 Browns
CLeveland is not a threat coming into our house

Sun. Oct 8 49ers
This should be another home game against the worst team in football. Alex threw 22 picks last year I say Huff and Washington get picks. I can't imagine us losing this game.

Sun. Oct 15 @ Broncos
Broncos on the road should be our first big challenge.

Sun. Oct 22 Cardinals
The lowly Cardinals are soft cause they play in the NFC west after playing the Cardinals we should dominate this game in the trenches. This might be the game were Burgess breaks Warners finger and we get to see the rookie everone is talking about.

Sun. Oct 29 Steelers
The Steelers will punch back when we punch them in the mouth, although Ben Toothlessberger might not play.

Mon. Nov 6 @ Seahawks
Seahawks remember how we used to come into their house and smack them upside their head.

Sun. Nov 12 Broncos (my Birthday)
All I want for my Birthday is to whoop some Donkey ass!!!


Sun. Nov 19 @ Chiefs
This game will come down to the 4th quarter; always does. Last year 2 bad officating calls cost us the gamers against KC.

Sun. Nov 26 @ Chargers

This game could be interesting depending how the season goes for each of us.

Sun. Dec 3 Texans
Gallery will shut down their number one pick and keep him away from our QB, while Moss wipes his ass with Buchanan towel. After SD this should be an easy game at home.

Sun. Dec 10 @ Bengals
It's hard to think off the Bengals as a winning team, so this might be a battle unless the Bengals self destruct
Sun. Dec 17 Rams
Rams haven't scared anybody in 3 years

Sat. Dec 23 Chiefs
KC game will be close
S
Sun. Dec 31 @ Jets
Jets are spiraling downward.

Looking at our schedule I'm positive barring serious injury we should win 8-10 games.

We should beat: Ravens, Browns, 49ers, Cardinals, Texans, Rams, Jets
That leaves us with challenging games against Pittsburgh and Ben Toothlessberger, Seahawks, Bengals &
Denver, KC & SD

Offseason Thoughts.. ...

Coaching: I'd be lying if I said Shell was my first choice, I was rooting for Wisenhunt cause he runs an aggressive offense commited to the run. However, I believe the game is won in the trenches and Shell should make Gallery and our youngsters on our line better. I am very dissapointed with Walsh at OC, but I have confidence the D.

Draft:
It's obviously too early to say but I think we had a good draft and with the exception of RB i think we filled a lot of holes. I like the Huff pick. I'm glad we didn't pickup Leinart cause we have Walter who is the real deal. I think either Howard or Bing will develop into a starter at LB and I like the OL the Red Mullet, this was a pick Shell felt good about. Why we chose a WR with the last pick is my biggest question.

Defense:
I think our D played average last year which is great considering we lost Woodson and Sapp early in the season. Our corners are not bad. Moss said last year, "Aso gave him his hardest challenge. Aso plays the deep ball and tackles above average. However we don't have depth at corner which is scary.
Besides Burgess, we are in desperate need of some playmakers on D. Clark and Morrison play solid but unspectacular. Shweagart took some bad angles at times and looked horrific. I'm counting on T. Kelly or and to a lesser degree Hawthorn (who had a strong ENFL season) to step it up and become impact players. Kelly plays very well at end or tackle, but it's been said he has conditioning issues. If Sapp is able to bounce back to the form he was playing in before the injury, our line play will be a force to be reckon with.

Offense
Despite the fact that our offense underachieved last year, we lost a lot of close games which we could have won if we made one more big play on offense. Assuming Jordan doesn't get hurt we should have a good ground game and we got the best WR corps in the league and you have to believe that our OL will get better with Shell's influence. I think Jordan is a big key cause he needs to block better, catch better and not get hurt, cause we have no depth at RB. Our line played poorly but we can blame part of that on Norvell bizzare play calling.

Special Teams
Carr played well, but Sea Bass sucked major ass. If Sea Bass can make field goals we will be OK.
Lechler is a pro bowl punter.

Overall I think the upside is we lost a lot of close games last year which could have went either way if we: eliminated stupid penalties, made a couple more offensive or defensive plays, managed the clock better or made our kicks.

So I'm excited for the upcoming season. I think we can win 10 games and make playoffs, but it will be a couple years before we become serious contenders.