Not a half-bad article from the raiders perspective--somewhat more optimistic than reality dictates-- How the Raiders can better the Jets By Os Davis | Thursday, October 16, 2008 | Surely now the Oakland Raiders have bottomed out: The last three weeks have seen a crushing loss to the San Diego Chargers, the choking shakeup and an utterly brutal demolition at the hands of the New Orleans Saints. Been done so long, everything?s looking up to the Raider Nation, right? After taking on a couple of playoff-minded squads, then, the Raiders get to host the contending New York Jets, a flawed team that would appear beatable on paper. Whether they?re beatable on the field by an Oakland team that just hasn?t played up to its potential is another question. In fact, though the spread reckons this one will be close (the Jets are at minus-3 at most sportsbooks), Oakland may be facing a squad perfectly built to beat them handily. Unless, of course, things change a bit in Oaktown. What has to change for the Raiders to win one this Sunday? Glad you asked. Recommendations follow. ● Get the ?D? off the field somehow. The Saints game hammered home the inference from the Chargers matchup and a concern throughout this season: When tested, the stamina of the Raiders? defense loses. Tom Cable is going to have to find a way to improve upon that opposition 31:32 time of possession. Worse yet for Oakland, behind Brett ?The Great Improviser? Favre, the Jets boast a decent 40 percent conversion rate on third down and a league-high 88 percent rate on fourth. The Raider defense, meanwhile, is giving up first downs on third to the tune of 43 percent; against teams not named the Kansas City Chiefs, this ratio balloons to 48 percent, comparable to bottom-feeders in the category such as, um, the Chiefs. Maybe they could ? ● Pump up the coverage in the secondary. Blitzing is all well and good, and at times the Raiders have been quite impressive when doing so (the first three quarters in Buffalo). However, pressure on Favre has, as is typical, been mostly irrelevant in 2008. The Jets? offensive line frequently crumbles under pressure ? stats say the unit has given up 12 sacks in five games, a bottom 10 rate ? yet Favre still leads the league in QB rating. Meanwhile, on the Oakland side, this soft one-on-one coverage just ain?t cutting it for the Raiders this season. Oakland has been particularly generous in giving up big yardage on one side (DeAngelo Hall's) while opposing teams have mostly deftly avoiding throwing the ball anywhere near Nnamdi Asomugha. Suspecting that Favre isn?t going to use his feet to get out of trouble (the man?s run for just eight attempts this season), shouldn?t the Raiders just dump extra men into coverage and let Brett look in vain for open receivers? (Never thought this would be coming from me, but how about a lot more Cover 2 defense, guys?) Meanwhile, on the offense, perhaps ? ● Fewer pass plays, more runs. Cable recently opined that JaMarcus Russell threw the ball too often on Sunday; the QB?s 35 attempts were the most in his NFL career save for the Chargers game in Week 4 and only the third time he?d surpassed 30. Because Russell is now third-lowest among starting quarterbacks in completion percentage, this might be a good call. Unfortunately for the Raiders, the Jets enter the game with an impressive run defense currently third in the NFL in ground yardage allowed. Of course, this statistic is based upon a bunch of opponents with little running attack to speak of ? Miami (pre-"Wildcat"), New England, Arizona and Cincinnati among them ? and when faced with a slightly off LaDainian Tomlinson gave up two TDs to the man. New York has yet to face anything like Oakland?s three-pronged backfield. And out of New Jersey comes speculation that we might even see ? ● The "Wildcat" formation. Half-seriously, folks, with an all-around athlete like Darren McFadden in play and a questionable receiving corps, shouldn?t Cable at least play with the notion of deploying the NFL?s newest craze on a couple of plays? The journos in Joisey seem to think the "Wildcat" is viable versus the Jets. This kind of exciting trick play could be a good energizer for the Raiders and the hometown Raider Nation on Sunday. Prediction: Despite McFadden & Co. running up more yards against the Jets than they've seen this season, it?s still gonna be New York 27, Oakland 14.
Regardless, Ronnie Brown is good without the Wildcat formation. Not to mention, when Jenkins was in during the Chargers game they did pretty well at stopping the run. McFadden isn't nearly as good as he should be....and just coming off of an injury. Not to mention, the Raiders get raped by just about every team they play. I'd like to see how they hold up against Cotchery and Coles....or any reciever for that matter.
I love how the Raiders think they have a 3 headed monster in the backfield when they actually just suck.
"The "Wildcat" formation. Half-seriously, folks, with an all-around athlete like Darren McFadden in play and a questionable receiving corps, shouldn’t Cable at least play with the notion of deploying the NFL’s newest craze on a couple of plays? The journos in Joisey seem to think the "Wildcat" is viable versus the Jets. This kind of exciting trick play could be a good energizer for the Raiders and the hometown Raider Nation on Sunday." I like the idea of the Raider using the Wildcat, the key to the play is having two quality RBs, thats what make if work at Arkansas and now at Miami. The Wildcat has the RB recieving the snap potentially power running up the middle or passing and the RB crossing over is supposed to be a speed back who can turn the corner on the outside. This is how Ark ran it with McFadden and Jones. How about having Bush receive the snap and have McFadden in motion? McF is there fastest back and Bush is their strongest, aaaaand Bush was a passing QB in high school. And remember all those jokes about how JaMarcus Russell should be an offensive linemen? The main job of the QB in the Wildcat will be to block.
This wildcat business is ridiculous. This is the NFL, how come NO ONE has realized that the best way to beat thestupid wildcat formation is to DECK THE QB. He's out there, you can hit him. So hit him hard. Idiots.
I told a friend of mine the same thing. You have your qb split out at WR, I would just hit him, every time they went to that set. That might end the experiment once and for all. I am not sure as big as jamarcus russell is that woulfd be effective. But that strategy could end Chad's carreer.
how the raiders can be better than the jets article by: Me -get a CB that knows how to cover a reciever better than talk shit, maybe al davis can boot up a copy of madden trade; Hall for Revis and tell the equipment team to just switch the name on the back of DeAngelo Halls jersey. -give your money to the right DT. Tommy Kelly or Kris Jenkins? -give a head coach a job and give him at least a full 3 years to implement his system instead of turning your team facility to a deli (HC position available, pick a number and not a number of an old OL from the organization who blew the gig earlier, oops too late) -WR's run routes and catch balls, and QB's are supposed to throw them. thats still league insider info that the Raiders staff has yet to get a hold of -and finally, if the raiders want to be better than the jets, rent a delorean, take it over 85 and head to Jan 9th, 1977. proceed living, and kill yourself after Jan 22nd, 1984.
I'm expecting the Ravens to lay down the foundation on stopping this annoying Wildcat formation once and for all this Sunday. Then, hopefully the rest of the league will follow and hand them loses so that all this Dolphins/Chad talk can finally end.
I'm confused about what's so hard about defending the Wildcat offense. Use man coverage on each RB and on Chad if he lines up at WR. Have a guy actually cover Chad, no matter what he does. If he drops behind the line and gets the ball in his hands, nail him. Worst they can do is have the RB take the snap and run up the gut for like 3 yards, which is what they would get on a straight draw play.
Along the same lines, here's how you cover the Wildcat. Jam Chad Pennington. Hard. Knock him on his ass. He's a wide receiver, not a quarterback. If they want to run the Wildcat, they can either watch Glass Chad get jammed to the turf or get him off the field, in which case we put nine in the box.
1. Hire a real good special effect man from the Hollywood 2. Disguise yourself as Tony Romo 3. Mission Accomplished. (Different voice? Do you honestly think Jessica Simpson will find the difference? REALLY?) I've just done it for you, to save inks and spaces on a newspaper.
Better yet: 1. Somehow, shut down Jets Offense 2. Somehow, score with Raiders Offense. Mission accomplished. No? (I could do that, you see? How can the Raiders D get off the field after 3rd down? SOMEHOW! Wow, freaking great or what. And running on Kris Jenkins? Are you fucking nuts? And extra man in coverage? It's not even like TJ is averaging 1 yard a carry, is he? Some love he's getting there too, eh? What a total garbage.)
Everyone is beatable on paper....I don't see how we are considered to be any easier to beat than the Chargers or Saints.....even though the Chargers pounded us......with better execution (ie. Coles not having those drops) and without the defensive TD the Bengals got, we'd have killed them. The Jets are starting to be for real.....we do need to work on the secondary and get the running game going, but with slight improvements in both those areas and our continued air attack (which could use the TEs a little more as well)/run Defence, we're starting to become a formidable challenge for any team in the league. Sure the Raiders could win on Sunday....but they'll either have to beat us in the air or find a hole in the run defence.....or shut us out....