If you watched the two games last night you clearly saw why some teams can't win: they won't let themselves even when they are in a favorable position against the best team in their division and there's very little time left on the clock. The Bengals also found a way to lose at the last minute. There's a reason that Oakland, Buffalo and Cincinnati can't get off the mat at this point: they've developed a losing culture that makes mistakes like the ones that killed them last night endemic for them. All three of those teams need to go out and hire one of the big guns that's going to go back to the coaching sidelines next year. All three of them have coaches who have not won anything in the NFL and they need a heavy hitter to change the culture. Parcells did it for the Jets. Cowher and company are going to be on call next year and all three teams need to pick up the phone and call one of them in.
Nice post!! Ownership is the problem in Cincy & Oakland. The Bills have a lousy coach. The Raiders won't improve till Al Davis is gone. Same with Mike Brown in Cincy...stubbon owner that needs to go. When you think about, it wasn't too long ago.....the Jets were a similar franchise with no direction.......Bradway/Herm years and Mangini's suffocating style. I have a lot of faith in the Tanny/Rex combo.....things are looking up....a complete culture change. Rex has Tanny's ear and is making alot of the decisions.
I *think* the Jets have gotten lucky with Woody as the owner. He has the right instincts at this point to make them a consistently good team. The Herm/Bradway era was his first real exposure to the NFL and it took awhile for him to figure out that what they were doing wasn't really helping improve the team. He cleared them out when it became obvious that their long-term plan, beyond milking the Parcells era players, wasn't very effective. Then we had the Tannenbaum/Mangini situation, which looked really good initially until Mangini's tendency to alienate his players and his failure to either delegate full responsibility on defense or actually take it over did him in. At this point with Tannenbaum and Ryan the Jets actually have a shot at stabilizing and moving ahead for the first time since 1997. Tannenbaum has put together as good a team for 2009 as you could reasonably expect and he's set us up with building blocks at QB and the offensive line for the forseeable future. That's a good combination of hedges and it should serve us well unless disaster strikes. I don't pretend to know if the Jets will jell and get their early super bowl run before the old guys age out but they have a shot now. If they fail it will cost Tannenbaum and maybe Ryan their jobs in a couple of years but Sanchez, Mangold and Ferguson are great building blocks for the new regime in that case. I'm as optimistic about the Jet's prospects as I have been since 1997.
Raiders lost not because there QB didn't play a good game(which he didn'T) or the coach but because they went prevent defense on the last two drives. Raiders defense was all over the Chargers all game with a stiffling man to man defense(not easy with weapons Chargers possess on offense) Raiders decided to drop alot a guys back with a soft zone.(raiders suck in zone) Chargers got most all of their yards on those last two drives. Raiders played not to win. Hopefully they learn from this. charger oline was real inexperience , raiders should have brought the house. There was no way the Chargers would kept rivers uprighted.
I really hate to do this, because I really hate the Raiders, but I thought last night was promising for Oakland. Clearly, they're not there yet. It'll take a lot for them to get close to .500 this season, but last night was a big step in turning around that organization. I haven't seen the passion that the Raiders displayed last night in several seasons. They were flying to the ball on defense, their line was blocking well...if they could only get better play out of the QB, they might have something decent. Either way, all of the talk we've heard this preseason about how the team has given up and refuses to compete seems to have gone away, at least for one night. Cable may not be much of a coach, and he certainly looks like he rolled up to the game in a plumber's van, but he had his team motivated and ready to compete last night.
The Raiders lost because Al Davis has allowed a culture of losing to permeate the team. Whether you're a fan or a hater the facts are that the Raiders are 24-72 over the last 6 seasons, or since the point that the nucleus of the Gruden teams began to disintegrate. They've had 5 head coaches in 6 years now and the key feature of all of them is that they had no control over the team personnel with Al Davis effectively having veto power of the 53 man roster and all draft choices made during that period. JaMarcus Russell is probably not an NFL QB. He's just not accurate enough and he doesn't have any touch on his passes. He has a wonderful arm but he's not accurate and that will kill the Raiders over the next 2 or even 3 seasons as they come to grips with that fact. On a normal team the coach, GM and owner would be making this accomodation much quicker. The problem on the Raiders is that Al is the only person whose opinion really counts. And he's not what he used to be.
Raiders weren't playing the Texans but the Chargers. Who have some of the best talent in the NFl the last couple of years. Raiders blew that game last night(I was pissed when i went to bed) because Raiders went to prevent defense and it cost them the ball game. Still as a Raider fan you have to be happy what you saw overall last night. I saw a Defense stop the run and a team play a suffocating man to man defense for most of the night. Raiders pasing offense didn't play as well as they were capable but alot of that was because there top wrs are out with injuries right now. You start two rookie Wrs and your going to go through growing pains. Raiders play like that and they are going to win their share of football games this year. COIuld be a playoif team in 2009.
I wasn't talking about one game. Br4 and I were refering to the culture of the 3 teams mentioned. The Raiders have the worst record the past 6 years in the NFL and Cincy isn't too far behind. Granted, the Raiders played well last night, especially on defense. The Raiders are an improved team over last year....especially their run defense looks much improved. Lets' not make excuses....your boy...DHB was healthy. The Jets have shiitty WR's like you've stated in the past and that didn't stop Stuckey and Cotchery.
Yes, they fell apart at the end of the game. And yes, they've been mired in a culture of losing for the past 6 seasons. However, it's hardly appropriate to suggest that things are going to change over night. Let's at least give them credit for looking like a different team for 3 and a half quarters. They responded well to adversity until that final drive. Agree completely on Russell. I can't count how many passes were simply thrown into dead space. Completely irrelevant, but the guy doesn't even look like an NFL player when he's sitting on the sideline with that stupid puffy ball beanie on his head. I couldn't help laughing every time they cut to him on the bench.
Offensively, the Texans are right there with them. Given that I was mostly impressed with the Raiders defense, the comparison is a lot closer than you seem willing to acknowledge.
IG.... I hate alot of teams...but admitting another team is improved is no big deal . The Raiders should have won that game and their defense was impressive for most of the game. Just because Joe is a Raider fan, some TGG Jet fans will never admit the Raiders look better....which is sad. I just wish Joe could admit the Jets are a good team and a team on the rise...I doubt you will will Joe. I call it the way I see it.
Means very little what has happened the last six years. Nothing ever stays the same in the NFl. See Atlanta and Dolphins last year. Russell did play like garbage last night but he still put them in position to win the game. Raiders lost because they stop playing their defense that was so effective all game. They played not to win on defense and it cost them. (prevent defense) You going to compare a Houston defense to a Chargers defense. Did you see Russell numbers he put up against Houston last year. The facts are even though Raideres oline did a pretty good job protecting Russell last night, the clock in his head was alot faster remembering the problems his oline had in protecting him against the Chargers in the past. He just never seemed very comfortable in the pocket last night.. See Tom Brady who didn't look too comfortable in the superbowl against the giants. It happens. It really suckes that raiders blew a game, but you saw enough to know this team is going to win alot of games in 2009.
Try reading. I said that the comparison was fair because I was impressed by the Raiders defense. I wasn't impressed by the offense, despite the running game, because Russell was such a dud. So, they both played well against similarly talented offenses, although the Jets defense was obviously better. Still, if you'd like to compare the two, the Chargers gave up MORE yards last season than the Texans, despite playing in a much weaker division than the Texans. As far as Russell, his numbers were roughly the same in the home game against Oakland and the game against Houston. Your point on that matter fails. I don't know that this team is going to win a lot of games in 2009. They could approach .500 if they learn to close games out. Otherwise, it's more of the same.
I see your team still stinks.......they played some nice D at times.....but, a loss is a loss. That's gotta be "routine" for you by now, eh Jeaux. :lol:
Texans offense is no where close to the Chargers. Not to say Texans offense not good. Just they fall far short than the Chargers offense. Go down the positions on offense which one you rather have. Its pretty obvious Chargers offense is way scarier than Houston.
Chargers and raiders played more top passing offense than any teams last year. Look it up. Yea the Chargers gave up more points last year on defense. Don't think Shawn Merriman injury was a big reason for that. Chargers offense is not similiar to the Texans. Only offense that might be more potent than san diego , is the saints. again go over each position and tell me which one you would take. As far as Russell, his numbers were roughly the same in the home game against Oakland and the game against Houston. Your point on that matter fails. Btw what are you trying to say here .
Go through each position on offense real fast and its not even close which offense is better. Who you rather have matt Schaub or Phillip rivers . Texans oline versus Chargers oline. Who is the Texans answer to D sproles. Texans have one WR that clearly better A Johnson but don't have anywherte the depth at Wr that chargers possess( Which Te would you rather have gates or Daniels.
One game dosen't make a season. They let one get away but its going to happen. When it all said and done Raiders will have more victories than the Jets in 2009.
