Las Vegas Raiders Thread

ButcherOfNog

ButcherOfNog wrote: »

3-3 and looking good, big test next week at home to the Jets, if we get a win in that game ........

4-3 and looking good, big test next week away to the Steelers, if we get a win in that game .......

Prefab Sprouter

ButcherOfNog wrote: »

4-3 and looking good, big test next week away to the Steelers, if we get a win in that game .......

And it is a big "If", but we have the potential to get a result. Its already been a great season. Thank you Jack Del Rio!

golfball37

ButcherOfNog wrote: »

4-3 and looking good, big test next week away to the Steelers, if we get a win in that game .......

Bell is surely out too so that gives us even better chance than normal.

heyjude

I know the Raiders have plenty of cap space, but I was curious as to how the Denver Broncos were able to afford to fit Vernon Davis under the salary cap and were also apparently trying to trade for Browns LT Joe Thomas as well.

I'd like to think that maybe the Raiders resurgence might have played some small part in their moves for Davis and Thomas, both of whom are much closer to the ends of their careers' than the beginning. Seems that Elway was prepared to go All-In to win it this season. Hopefully not a repeat of their salary cap activities in the 1990s.

Kev8360

So close last night - it was like the Bears game all over again with the last second FG. Really liking the offense now with Cooper and Crabtree looking a good 1-2 punch at WR and Carr looking more composed every week. Ever since Week1 we have been very competitive and picked up some good road wins too.

The next 4 games will set the tone for this team , all are winnable - need a big response from the defense next week against the Vikings.

ButcherOfNog

Great back and forth game, was great to see Carr getting us from 14 points down in the 4th to within a few seconds of OT, had worried that heads would go down or Carr would make mistakes under pressure but no, not at all. He's impressing me more and more each week.

Our secondary was always going to be a weakness this season, and with a number of injuries and walking wounded covering Brown, not really a surprise he had a field day. Front 7 has to step it up a notch next week.

Kev8360

That was a tough loss - got into a hole early but good response from Carr to get us back into it in the second quarter. The kickoff TD return right after going ahead was a sucker punch we did not recover from.

A really good day for the defense for the most part - kept the Vikings offense in check and had Bridgewater under pressure all day but got no help from the offense in the second half - I give them a pass on Peterson's last TD as they were being over aggressive trying to get the ball back with time running out.

That ones in the can as they say - will be a different game vs Detroit, hopefully the Pass rush shows up against Stafford to give the Secondary a chance.

Magico Gonzalez

Kev8360 wrote: »

That was a tough loss - got into a hole early but good response from Carr to get us back into it in the second quarter. The kickoff TD return right after going ahead was a sucker punch we did not recover from.

A really good day for the defense for the most part - kept the Vikings offense in check and had Bridgewater under pressure all day but got no help from the offense in the second half - I give them a pass on Peterson's last TD as they were being over aggressive trying to get the ball back with time running out.

That ones in the can as they say - will be a different game vs Detroit, hopefully the Pass rush shows up against Stafford to give the Secondary a chance.

If you are lucky it might be Mark Sanchez!

Prefab Sprouter

Yeah Sunday's game was pretty chastening alright. I thought we might have performed better, especially being at home and all, but no matter. We have to pick ourselves up and move on. Hope we can impose our game on Detroit, they had a good win at the weekend so will be on a high.

golfball37

Aldon Smith suspended for a year

golfball37

Great win earlier, defence really stood up. Some great conversions by Carr too when needed.

eire4

golfball37 wrote: »

Great win earlier, defence really stood up. Some great conversions by Carr too when needed.

Great win but a bit of a strange one really and lets be fair Denver deserved to win. Having said that the Raiders should have won the game in Oakland when the roles were reversed.


Overall 6-7 heading into the last 3 games of the season. Looks like either a 7-9 or 8-8 finish and no playoffs. The no playoffs is not that big a disapointment given how pathetic the Raiders have been for so long. I think while the team missed some chances to get a wild card spot this season in reality it was never really quite there. It is just considering how much progress has clearly been made it was actually within the teams reach. But at least finally the Raiders are no longer a laughing stock and are actually a middle of the pack team in the NFL. Considering the team was easily in the bottom 3 or so of the NFL for most of the last decade thats legitimate progress.

Prefab Sprouter

I'm really happy with how our team has progressed this season. There have been some growing pains (Week 1 v Bengals still makes me wince!) but it has been a generally upward trajectory. We now have a receiving corps (and significantly the top 2 guys are locked down to good contracts so no worries about Free Agency), we still have decent salary cap to bid for top drawer Free Agents (and this time we have proved ourselves as a team so the Raiders will be much more attractive to potential players). I'm looking forward to Green Bay this weekend. Bring it on!

eire4

Prefab Sprouter wrote: »

I'm really happy with how our team has progressed this season. There have been some growing pains (Week 1 v Bengals still makes me wince!) but it has been a generally upward trajectory. We now have a receiving corps (and significantly the top 2 guys are locked down to good contracts so no worries about Free Agency), we still have decent salary cap to bid for top drawer Free Agents (and this time we have proved ourselves as a team so the Raiders will be much more attractive to potential players). I'm looking forward to Green Bay this weekend. Bring it on!

Yes the Green Bay game will be an interesting one. Technically the team is still alive for a playoff spot but realistically this is about trying to get to 8-8 which would be fanastic given where the team has come from. Other then last weeks win over Dallas the Packers have looked surprisingly shaky the past 6 weeks so an opportunity for a late season signature win.

eire4

Well not quite the finish desired but 7-9 and clear genuine progress on the field especially with Carr who while still young and learning very much looks the part as the franchise QB so badly needed for so long. In fact I would suggest the question now with Carr is more so will he develop into an elite NFL QB as already I am confident he will have at the very least a good career as a starter with the Raiders.
Beyond that now the question turns to what will happen off the field with officially as expected the Raiders sending in the paperwork to relocate to Los Angeles yesterday.

golfball37

Carr 3000 yards, Murray and Cooper 1000 yards this season. Only 4th time in franchise history this has happened.
I think we'll be competitive for next few years. Future certainly looks brighter anyway.

heyjude

Great achievement by Khalil Mack, who has been named to the Associated Press All-Pro First Team at both defensive end and linebacker, making him the 1st player ever to elected as an All Pro at 2 positions in the same season.

eire4

heyjude wrote: »

Great achievement by Khalil Mack, who has been named to the Associated Press All-Pro First Team at both defensive end and linebacker, making him the 1st player ever to elected as an All Pro at 2 positions in the same season.

Very impressive indeed. This season the Raiders first round pick will be somewhere around number 14 I think. So upper middle first round. Hopefully the recent trend of very good drafts of which Mack was part of and which have laid the foundations for this young and promising team will continue.
Personally if a truly quality corner back is available that is where the Raiders should go I think.

heyjude

eire4 wrote: »

Very impressive indeed. This season the Raiders first round pick will be somewhere around number 14 I think. So upper middle first round. Hopefully the recent trend of very good drafts of which Mack was part of and which have laid the foundations for this young and promising team will continue.
Personally if a truly quality corner back is available that is where the Raiders should go I think.

I agree that corner back is the greatest area of need, but I think that alongside quarterbacks, they are also the greatest hit/miss prospects in the first round. I'm thinking DJ Hayden, who was rated the 1st/2nd best cornerback the year he was drafted and hasn't panned out. I suspect Reggie will look to sign an experienced free agent corner back to play opposite David Amerson, so he isn't forced to pick a corner back and allowing him to take the best player available at any one of several positions of need.

I see the top draft needs being on defence with cornerback, safety(to replace Charles Woodson) and also linebacker(outside as a possible replacement for Aldon Smith if he isn't re-signed or at inside lb as a possible replacement for Curtis Lofton(if they think Ben Heeney isn't up to the job). The D-line is pretty solid. On offence, I think they'll be looking for a right guard and possibly a left tackle(to start immediately if they don't re-sign Penn or as a long term replacement, if Penn returns for another year). Other than that, its best player available especially at running back.

eire4

heyjude wrote: »

I agree that corner back is the greatest area of need, but I think that alongside quarterbacks, they are also the greatest hit/miss prospects in the first round. I'm thinking DJ Hayden, who was rated the 1st/2nd best cornerback the year he was drafted and hasn't panned out. I suspect Reggie will look to sign an experienced free agent corner back to play opposite David Amerson, so he isn't forced to pick a corner back and allowing him to take the best player available at any one of several positions of need.

I see the top draft needs being on defence with cornerback, safety(to replace Charles Woodson) and also linebacker(outside as a possible replacement for Aldon Smith if he isn't re-signed or at inside lb as a possible replacement for Curtis Lofton(if they think Ben Heeney isn't up to the job). The D-line is pretty solid. On offence, I think they'll be looking for a right guard and possibly a left tackle(to start immediately if they don't re-sign Penn or as a long term replacement, if Penn returns for another year). Other than that, its best player available especially at running back.

I would agree with you there in terms of the teams needs and whats the best way to go with that 14th pick. The thing about Hayden though that ticks me off is he had major injury/health issues yet the Raiders still wasted a top 10 pick on him. He wasn't just a risk because he was a corner back he was an even bigger risk because of his health. Thankfully the last couple of draft classes have been very good so hopefully that trend will continue in 2016.

heyjude

Tomorrow we should find out whether or not the Raiders are moving to LA or not. Apparently the six member league committee are believed to have recommended the Carson project, which would see the Raiders and Charger sharing a new stadium, but Cowboys Jerry Jones(who was supposed to be a close Davis family friend) is pushing an alternative plan that would see the Stan Kroenke Inglewood project with the Chargers sharing the stadium with the Rams and the Raiders remaining in Oakland.

Given that the city of Oakland submitted no plan to keep the Raiders and the Raiders themselves do not have the money to build a new stadium where they are(or they wouldn't be thinking of leaving), if the Raiders are to build a new complex in northern California, the league will have to put up a huge sum to make it happen.

It will hopefully be a little clearer after tomorrow.

Itssoeasy

heyjude wrote: »

Tomorrow we should find out whether or not the Raiders are moving to LA or not. Apparently the six member league committee are believed to have recommended the Carson project, which would see the Raiders and Charger sharing a new stadium, but Cowboys Jerry Jones(who was supposed to be a close Davis family friend) is pushing an alternative plan that would see the Stan Kroenke Inglewood project with the Chargers sharing the stadium with the Rams and the Raiders remaining in Oakland.

Given that the city of Oakland submitted no plan to keep the Raiders and the Raiders themselves do not have the money to build a new stadium where they are(or they wouldn't be thinking of leaving), if the Raiders are to build a new complex in northern California, the league will have to put up a huge sum to make it happen.

It will hopefully be a little clearer after tomorrow.

NFL total access is saying that several owners have left the meeting which is been taken as a sign the meeting is over. So we will see.

Prefab Sprouter

So we have what seems to be a clear situation for the Chargers and the Rams, and as ever, the Raiders are left up in the air. And the rest of the NFL wonders why we have a chip on our shoulders!!

eire4

Well that leaves things as clear as mud. The only settled thing is the Rams are back in LA. Now will the Chargers still go ahead with Carson by themselves or be junior partners with the Rams. Tough call for them. But one in which they only have 1 year to make it in. Their attendances at home games next season could end up being an embarrassment to the league.


If the league wants the Raiders to stay in Oakland they certainly did nothing to help make that happen yestertday with the derisory $100 towards costs which only stays on the table for 1 year and obviously is contingent on a deal to build a new stadium in Oakland being done in that time. Then of course there is the 1 year timeline for the Chargers to move to LA. If they don't then the Raiders could step in but where and how. Carson alone not likely, to be the Rams junior in Inglewood not likely.


In fact unless someone is willing to be the Rams junior its going to be hard to see how a second team will move to LA now. Where to for the Raiders. Well I imagine at some point soon we will see another 1 year done to stay in Oakland but beyond that its anybody's guess at the moment and that kind of uncertainty is just a killer. Finally after a decade and a half of getting worse and worse on the field and in the office to the extent the Raiders became a league laughing stock. The team is finally on the up with stability in key positions and at the coaching level. So what does the league do yes they take a size 9 boot and kick the Raiders right back into nowhere. Either let the team move to LA or make a strong commitment and give clear financial support for the team to get what is needed stadium wise in Oakland and they have done neither. Total joke.

heyjude

Next time the league decides to have a relocation meeting, they needn't bother, just let the guy with the biggest wallet do what he wants, as thats what happened anyway. There was supposed to be a rule that a team couldn't move unless their host city refused to upgrade their existing stadium/ build a new stadium or words to that effect, but St Louis did give that commitment and the owners ignored the rule and let them move anyway. You can bet that if the city of Oakland had offered a new stadium and the Raiders had still tried to move, they have been told that under league rules this wasn't allowed !

The committee that the league set up to look into the two proposals for LA relocation, recommended the Carson project involving the Raiders and Chargers and the owners rejected the recommendation of their own committee and green lighted the Inglewood project instead. So was the committee supposed to favour Inglewood and if not, what was the point of having a committee if the owners intended to reject its recommendations ?

The $100m offer to the Raiders is on face value worthless, I think Mark Davis said before that they (owners + investors) could put up $400-500m, the city of Oakland made no offer(but offered infrastructure works for the new stadium worth perhaps $90m) and while Davis made it clear they didn't need a $1bn stadium like the 49ers built, even a more functional football stadium would still leave the Raiders several hundred million short. Not to mention that I read somewhere that the 49ers were loaned $200m by the league for their new stadium, yet the Raiders are offered $100m....

So now the Raiders can't afford to build in Oakland, are prevented from going ahead with the move to LA and likely would be prevented from going to San Antonio either. Meanwhile the NFL has decided that if the Chargers can't get a new stadium deal within a year, they can move to LA and stadium share with the Rams. The Raiders only get to move if the Chargers get a new stadium and if the Rams agree to stadium share at Inglewood(and even then the Raiders would be tenants not owners of the facility).

If Al Davis is somewhere looking down, he's probably shaking his head and muttering "I told you so". Obviously the efforts by Mark Davis to adopt a more conciliatory tone towards the NFL in recent years, hasn't been reciprocated. Wait until the Jaguars owner decides he wants to move to LA.....then again the NFL will have several years to come up with reasons why their project is treated more favourably.

heyjude

As a Raiders fan I'm pretty relieved that the Panthers beat the Cardinals on Sunday, as the prospect of Denver facing Arizona(with former Raiders Carson Palmer and Jared Veldheer), would have made it tough to root for either team in the Superbowl(goodness knows it was hard to watch the Patriots and Broncos in the AFC championship game), but now the way is clear and I hope that the Panthers deliver a devastating performance that shows up the Broncos feeble offence for what it is. Go Panthers

Prefab Sprouter

I'll be honest, I like Manning and I dont mind Denver (Elway was my fav QB groing up). I'm easy now who wins the Superbowl, once Brady and them are gone. I want a good game!

eire4

Prefab Sprouter wrote: »

I'll be honest, I like Manning and I dont mind Denver (Elway was my fav QB groing up). I'm easy now who wins the Superbowl, once Brady and them are gone. I want a good game!

No interest personally now for me in the superbowl at all although I naturally have a much bigger dislike for Denver.

theflipdave

eire4 wrote: »

No interest personally now for me in the superbowl at all although I naturally have a much bigger dislike for Denver.

Lol kinda the same

Prefab Sprouter

I know they are our rivals in the Division, but I personally feel no antipathy for the Broncos. And the same goes for the Chargers. I'm not sure why!!! I suppose I dont know many fans of either team, although I dislike the Chiefs and I don't know any Chiefs fans either!! Tis a fool that looks for logic in the mind of a football fan. Of the other teams, I really dislike the Steelers and the Patriots. Immaculate Reception and Tuck rule, I guess. Anyways please excuse the ramblings of a bemused and middle aged Raiders fan.