Raiders thoughts

I'm feeling pretty positive about the Raider's offense. It's debatable whether Randy Moss is the best wide receiver currently playing football, but he's definitely high on the list and in the debate. I'm fucking giddy that he's on the team. No more 8 men in a box. If I was Norv Turner, (the ultimate statement in armchair coaching) the first offensive play against New England would be a deep ball to Randy. Possibly overthrowing it just to bring it to attention. It must be fun to create an offense around someone like Randy. Then Jerry Porter and Superfly-one-hand-snatch-man Ronald Curry also wide receiving.

I'm not a Kerry Collins fan. A guy with almost 1:1 on touchdowns and interceptions is just frustrating as hell. I think he's slow and gets stupider in direct proportion to the amount of pressure he's under. Thank God he's got a great deep arm. Allison's brother went to Penn State and the word on campus was that Collins was as dumb as a rock but they went as far as they did because the offense was completely balanced. I'd totally take studious and meticulous Rich Gannon over Kerry Collins any day of the week. But Rich broke his neck and needs to stay away from football. I'm of course always rooting for my API brother Marques Tuiasosopo.

The line is big and beefy and I'm interested in seeing how Jake Grove handles himself being the starting center. Robert Gallery... I'm thinking about owning his jersey. I don't own a Raiders jersey and I'm thinking hard about buying Gallery's. He's the who will one day protect the QB's blindside against big bad REs. Him and Jake are the future of the line. Offense starts with the line. Thing is... I'm cheap and poor and on the Raiders' website they were only selling authentic jerseys. It's like $200 or something. I don't own any one article of clothing that costs $200. Shit $200 could buy much of my closet.

LaMont Jordan... gaudy yards per carry, but never the main man. Can he stay healthy and can he carry the ball fulltime? Can he run a defense down. I'm hopeful but will reserve my judgment and excitement. Justin Fargas... too fragile for the position. Zack Crockett like a rock.

Courtney Andersen and Teyo Johnson. Big strong guys that can catch the ball. I would like to know more about their blocking abilities. I'm glad Teyo toured with Yao, maybe he could have caught more balls if he never talked about it though.

The defense. My feelings here aren't so positive. I'm nervous. Apprehensive. Pit in my stomach feeling. My buddy Tucker's from Minnesota and a big Vikings fan. Great offense, stinky defense. It's sad cause Tucker says the entire state is seems to be quietly resigned to never having a Superbowl ring. His dad laughs at him and says he's not old enough to have truly suffered as a Vikings fan. Will the Raiders defense stink like the Vikings? Will it be like that cliche, "Offense wins games, defense wins championships."

I really like the fact that the Raiders have brought in more coaches on defense. Just like in schools, students/players will do better when there is a lower student to teacher ratio. Players are more likely to get individual attention. Hopefully the defense will learn to tackle.

The line is old. I found out recently that Ted Washington is the homophobic asshole that used to simulate rape on gay 49ers trainer, Lindsy McLean. What a fucking domineering shithead. This is kind of like how I felt about Romanowski. Great player and good for the team, but a shitbag the rest of the time. I used to praise good tackles by Romanowski by saying, "Good job you racist roid freak!" What to say about Washington??? Sapp, I like the man and I hope he'll be back in form back in the middle. Bobby Hamilton will run a man down. Tommy Kelly... we'll see. We need to get pressure on the QBs this year if anything good is to happen for anyone.

I'm really worried at the linebacker position. Danny Clark is solid. But I'm worried about Tyler Brayton and Grant Irons at outside linebacker. Will they be fast enough? One of the Vikings problems was that they weren't fast enough at linebacker. I'm praying for the Raiders to be able to tackle. Vikings weren't able to stop runs to the outside or passes to backs in the flat.

The cornerback situation should be interesting. Woodson... how will he play and will he stay healthy? I really haven't seen enough of Nnamdi (fricking blackouts) and two fast rookies. While Davis is the evil Sith Emperor. He is right in speed being an equalizer.

I'm a little worried about the safety position. It looks like Stuart-I-go-for-strips-not-tackles-Schweigert is going to be the free safety. I know in college he broke woodson's record, but he's got to do a lot of penance in my mind to make up for that missed tackle. Marques Anderson strong hitter and hopefully will make things happen again.

Lechler and Janikowski. I think Lechler is the probably one of the best guys on the team. That guy has a thunderfoot. Janikowski is starting to make up in my mind for all the missed kicks when the Raiders first drafted him. Just stop choking people in SF and having seizures at Sno-Drift. Who's going to return the balls?