Here are the people the Raiders should look at as possible free agents:

Darry Beckwith ILB LSU
Gerald Cadogon OT Penn State
Derek Peques Safety Mississipi st.
Mitch King DT Iowa
Danielle Ellerbe ILB Georgia
Michael Brown OT Mississipi st.
Jason Watkins OT Florida
Russell Allen OLB San Diego st.
Tim Jamison DE Michigan

-Dave

Cable earned the Raider job

10 Quick thoughts on Cable.

1.      The same system will be in place for three years with Cable as the HC.  People talk about continuity and, assuming the reports are true, we would finally have the same system for more than two years. Our Run game was still top 10 last season.
2.      Players started to respond towards the end of the season, especially the young guys.
3.      He has a Raider mentality of being aggressive on offense. The D, though, still needs someone with Raider blood to run it.
4.      He got it: the strengths of the team is to run. We ran, ran, and ran during our win streak.
5.      He finished with a .500 record over the last six guys, demolishes Denver, fucked Tampa like a hot step sister, and steamed over Houston.
6.      He knows the Raider system and he is not an outsider which is important.
7.      With a third solid draft we could be playing in January next year. The last two drafts have been solid on our accounts. Get a damn WR at #7, please!!!!!!!!!
8.      The offense became creative down the stretch. When was the last time we say a HB Option toss that worked in Oakland?
9.      Players started to play like men on the field.
10.   I like the name the CABLE GUY.  But then again, I think he looks like John Goodman from the Big Lebowski.

Receiver at #7; Front Line help rounds 2-7

Raiders must draft a receiver at #7.

Question… When was the last time the Raiders drafted a WR in the first round?  Anybody know the answer. If so, then I’ll buy you a couple of beers (assuming you live in the Bay Area) at Ricky’s.  The last time Oakland drafted a WR was 20 years ago and the guy that we drafted was named Tim Brown.

So what am I getting at? Easy. Although I would love to get a more stout line, particularly a new right tackle and right guard, we cannot ignore the fact that this team does not have any impact players on offense outside of Darren McFadden.  This team needs much needed speed at WR, guys who have the ability to do two things:  force the back seven to respect the vertical game and wr who can actually create yards after first contact.  It just so happen that there are three guys in the first round that can do this.  Who are these players?

Michael Crabtree – Texas Tech, Jeremy Maclin Missouri and Percy Harvin from Florida.  Realistically speaking, Crabtree and/or Maclin make the most sense just based on where they are projected. Harvin is a gamer but he goes mid or late first in my humble opinion.

With Jamarcus Russell at quarterback you need top level talent at WR.  He isn’t the type of quarterback (yet) who is creative enough to win with mediocre or bad talent. We need to start surrounding the kid with guys who are gamers, red zone threats and people who will open up the running game even more for Bush, McFadden and Fargas. With a pro style passing attack and an upgrade at WR, we will see more seven man fronts and we can become even more creative.

It is foolish for anyone to think that we are okay with the likes of Johnny Lee Higgins, Chad Schilens, and Javon Walker at wr. With the exception of Higgins, we have the slowest pair of starting receivers in the year – particularly Walker and Schilens who are nothing more than pure possession guys. Higgins, while he showed some nice moments is not a guy who will be consistent over a sixteen game season; and, moreover, he is important to our special teams; in fact, he has become our version of Devin Hester in that teams will start to fear him as a punt returner.

For too many years we have counted on wide outs that have been either projects taken in day two of the draft, or stiff wide outs who would win a bodybuilding competition (Jerry Porter.)  It is time to bring the element of speed back to Oakland. It is time to draft a playmaker rather than some mammoth line that cannot pass block to save his ass. It is time to.  Well…  you get it…

In closing, if we want to start to win some more and score points we need to address the issue of WR hardly. Arizona has proven you don’t need a dominant line to win; they have one of the worst run-blocking lines in football and their pass blocking is not that much better.  Roth from PITT has been sacked the most of any quarterback in the last four years.  The theory of getting line guys in the first round works, but for OAKLAND an upgrade at WR is a must and it happens that the guys on the board fit the build of best player available.

Andre Smith, Jason Smith, Eugene Monroe, and Michael Oher are okay, but none of them are franchise types who fall in the line of a Jonathon Ogden or a Joe Thomas. Further, with the dept at OT, we can avoid to go with a skill guy in round one. This is one deep draft at OT.

Let me repeat this one more time for Raider fans that still do not get it: if we don’t draft Maclin or Crabtree we are fucking stupid. We passed on Fitz, Roy Williams, Adrian Peterson and countless other impact players.

SPEED KILLS!!!

Black Hole Eric aka GenRaider

Food for though about the Raiders

1: Realistically speaking, how far along are we from being a playoff caliber team? With the growth of JR, Miller, Higgins, Henderson, Bush, Richardson, (ALL from the 2007 draft class ) we seem to have a young nucleus of young players that want to play ball. Add to the fact that we have a playmaker in Mcfadden and our offense seemed to look respectable down the stretch and we aren’t as horrid that most people think.

Defense is another story. Still have major holes in the front seven and we still get our lunch money stolen too often. THE D needs to get tougher in the front seven and more physical in the backfield; I don’t see a lot of guys I would take to a bar fight on my DEFENSE outside of Gibril Wilson, Tommy Kelly and maybe Thomas Howard. Yet instill, with this said, based on playing in the AFC WEST we should be able to win the division next year if we make some much needed tweaks with the roster. I still think 1/4 of the roster needs to be purged.

2: Who is this mysterious general manager or personnel guy that AL DAVIS is talking about? He stated during the KIFFIN PC that he would be bringing in somebody this off-season, possibly a guy to serve as the communicator between Davis and the HC. I know there are people who want us to hire a traditional general manager that will choose the head coach, etc, but that has never been the Raider way. We have always had guys who have been more of guys who have been strong personnel evaluators (Ron Wolf) or guys that are communicators between the coach and the owner (Bruce Allen). Here are some of the guys that I would consider:

Mooch – has Bay Area ties. Tom Cable was his OL Coach at CAL and he may be able to attract some guys with CALI roots. Plus I would love to get him just to stick it to the Niners for firing him several years ago.

Tom Gable: He is the pro personnel guy in SF. I remember reading in articles this off-season that he was on our RADAR but was never offered a deal or wanted to stay for the time being. He is worth a shot since he is a local guy and has helped with the drafting process of what the Niners have.

Jaws from ESPN: He knows the game of football, runs the NFL EDGE with another guy I would consider in Merril Hodges. He can probably become a top talent in terms of figuring out if a guy is worth a chance in the later rounds.

Ron Wolf: Let him become a consultant.

Other than these guys, I would just look at some of the more successful trees such as Parcells people. Or go look at what Philly and NYG are doing. They have bright scouts and directors. Really it is the directors and scouts who help put a team together.

3: Is Cable back as HC or do we go in another direction? Cable won 4 games after being handed a complete mess with the DAVIS and Kiffin saga. Although the team played like a bunch of misfits at times, we did manage to win 2 games down the stretch, and were able to close the season on the high note. If giving a good enough coaching staff around him, he may be able to succeed, but the ways that way we lost to New England, San Diego, Atlanta, New Orleans, Baltimore has left a sour taste for me to swallow. If we were at least more competitive in those games, I would say hire him right off the bat, but at the moment I cannot say this. But I would like him back on the staff in some capacity – as the offensive coordinator. Some of the play-calling that he demonstrated was fabulous. When was the last time we ran a half back option pass that worked? Not even Marc Trestman was that creative.

So who are head coaching candidates that I would consider at the moment.

Mike Mularkey (OC of the Falcons)

Josh Mcdaniels

Jack Del Rio(I would like him as HC or DC..)

Kevin Gilbride

Other choices would be offensive assistants from establish systems that are working. Really the next guy would have to be one who is going to push the right button, and have these guys competing hard week in and week out and producing wins.

We have plenty of time to talk about the draft. Maybe next time we can break down the obvious areas of where this team needs to address. Currently watching Mizzouri Bowl Game. JEREMY MACLIN is the next TIM BROWN if used right.

Peace out,

Black Hole Eric

Cable starts to get it

When was the last time the head coach of the Oakland Raiders preached the importance of rivalry week? Any answers? Lane Kiffin? Nope. Rivalry was just another game. Art Shell? Perhaps. But seeing as how the team never flew around on the field, I doubt he got the message across. Norv “I know how to destroy teams” Turner? He was too busy having a man crush and holding the hands of Kerry Collins. Bill Callahan? Nope. He would rather state how dumb his team play (anyone remember his famous line about the Raiders being the dumbest team in America). Jon Gruden is the correct answer.
So what does this means? That during the course of this black abyss of seasonal depression the importance of beating divisional opponents has been lost in the shuffle. Divisional games and stomping on teams that we hate– Chiefs, Broncos and the Chargers (all foes from the AFL) has not been preached to the Raider players. And fans ponder why we haven’t been winning (yeah, drafting and signing free agent bust is another story for a different day).

I am not saying that every other game is not important. Believe me… every game means something. However, based upon from where I sit, winning in your divisional is bittersweet – some team’s seasons become failures off the bat because they are unable to beat their nemesis. It is exciting to hear a head coach preach the importance of beating a rivalry – and we saw this with the play of the Raiders last Sunday. We finally saw a defense which was willing to put a hard hat on somebody; a special teams which was lethal; and a offense which showed no love for the Broncos.

Furthermore, I will make this prediction: if we are able to beat Kansas City and San Diego, we need to bring Cable back as head coach. Beating these two teams would mean the following:

We would be 4-2 in the AFC West for the first team since 2002. Moreover, the Raiders will have 5 wins for the first time since 2004 (4 of the wins by Cable who was handed a mess midway through the season. Thank you TWO-FACE KIFFIN.) And, in addition to these things, Cable is a fiery guy on the sideline, much better than the stoic Art Shell, or the standing man mannequin in Norv Turner. You can see the emotion that he brings.

In closing, we would be able to build around Cable . Additionally, players would have a believe system for the man and what he is preaching. Still, assuming this does happen, we would need to add much needed talent at OL, DL, LB, WR and depth at Safety.

Have a great Turkey Day.