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Every drive Seattle scored on, CJ gave a 30 plus yard play.
And this is not a first string offense on the field. With 17 seconds left in the 1st half, Whitehurst looked deep to whatever receiver was against CJ. He's got the speed, but he does not
belong on the field. Seriously.

The getting a little long in the tooth William Joseph hurt himself by drawing a flag that gave the 'Hawks a first down.
The call? Illegal hands to the face.

Mike Mitchell knocked Justin Forsett hard enough to jar the ball loose. The very next play, Forsett dropped the pass. I think he heard footsteps and saw the 3 on a jersey. Luckily for us, he didn't know #37 is CJ. I am sure he was told immediately upon his return to the huddle. However, he tried to tackle running back Louis Rankin by grabbing him at his shoulders. That will not bring down Rankin, let alone any first string running back.
He's got to learn where to tackle.

I still like Chris Cooper. He was called for a blow to the head, but that was no worse than the hit Jason Campbell took against the Niners. What's the difference??? (That's a rhetorical question.)

Miscellaneous Notes

I was really impressed with #34, Roy Lewis. I think he should be our offensive play of the 2nd half. Well, I guess the
SeaHawks organization wouldn't be thrilled with that. What can I Say? He really helped us get out of trouble when we were
3rd and forever. So what if he plays for Seattle and it was personal fouls that gave us 2 first downs when we were
dead in the water???

Louis Rankin, the best running back to make our team that we put on the practice squad returned a kick off for a touchdown - 99 yards. Jacoby Ware, one of the fastest guys on our team couldn't catch him... with the angle. I know Rankin isn't with us, and his run yards weren't so great. But that's why they have Julius Jones.

So what it boils down to is this. Just as rookie Kellen Heard said to me, this is grown up man's game. No more playing with boys earning a stipend.

I am not the one breaking down game film, (NOT to be mistaken with DVR recording of that the television broadcast shows us), so I don't have all the facts.

Some of my personal assessments may be all wet. Some may not.

What I do know? This was a final rehearsal, a final game, for many of the guys that took the field. This was it.

I remain cautiously optimisitc about the regular season, even if the Raiders decide to keep guysI think should be cut, or vice versa.

Why?

Win , Lose or Tie, RAIDERS til I DIE!

BlitzChick

As the Oakland Raiders faced the Seattle Sea Hens, um sorry, Seahawks, in the final 2010 pre-season game, it was with the knowledge that in a short time some of these players will be seeing their last time on an NFL field. It doesn't matter that we beat them 27-24, though it probably helped the mentality of some of the players.Louis Murphy reminded me that the Saints went 3-1 in the pre-season last year. I sort of burst his bubble when I mentioned were 1-3 when we won our Super Bowls. (Sorry, Louis!)

Back to my previous train of thought. This is the final rehearsal for some of these players. Some made a name for themselves.
But that doesn't mean it's all good for them.

I will discuss my opinions by squads.

Starting with special teams, we know our coverage is bad. A kick off and punt return went to the house in the pre-season.
As Coach Cable said, this is unacceptable. It doesn't matter 1st, 2nd , 3rd string guys, they need to do their job. That is blocking and tackling. It's sticking to a lane. It's not allowing a crease. It's TACKLING, not grabbing , or throwing out an arm. Yes, tackling deserves to be mentioned twice.

Swayze Waters may have helped himself get a job if someone is looking. He had some touch backs. He's kicked some nice field goals. He's a double threat because he can punt.
He isn't the next Ray Guy. That's Shane Lechler. (He received the Golden Boot award pre-game. I wish they had waited til opening night for that...) Swayze will throw himself at a player, too. Not a great tackler, but he'll give it an effort. I wouldn't be surprised to find out another team has brought him in to give him a shot.


Sam Williams and Jerome Boyd are still showing they are good special teamers. Even on short 32 yard punts.The open field tackle Boyd made after a 23 yard return could have been a touchdown saver.

Yamon Figurs didn't do himself any favors by having a negligible return. He had another chance after the SeaHawks scored their first field goal. He did much better with a 34 yard return. He followed that by getting a corner on a another return for 30 yards. Then towards the end of the first half he dropped a big
pass that hit him in his hands.

Johnnie Lee Higgins leaves me shaking my head. Not only does he seem to be unable to run towards the right goal line, he had trouble with open space on a reverse. Then he flashed catching a pass in traffic in the middle of the end zone for a score. These flashes need to come more often. He showed another with a 15 yard reception. Still not enough in my book. He is on the bubble and this is one that should be popped.

Jacoby Ford had a 22 yard return after having to take a touch back. Add a 60 plus yard reception where he hadto slow down for the ball? Also look for his name below re: receiving.

Nick "Miller Lite" Miller, caught his 2nd pass of the pre-season for a touchdown. He danced a bit too much on a 5 yard punt return. His 24 yard kick off return looked decent.

As some of our wide receivers trying to earn spots make themselves more versatile by playing special teams, please see above for those looking for a roster spot. Below I discuss other offensive players.


Michael Bennett for -1? Then a rush for no gain? Not a plus for him. it took him to his 3rd time with the ball to get
positive yards. Inside the 10 he got thrown for a loss. His next carry he got swallowed at the line of scrimmage for no gain. His next carry, Luke Lawton had a nice lead block, but Bennett was too far behind him and gained only 2 yards on what could have been an easy 5-6 yard gain. With just over 7 minutes
in the half he had a 3 yard carry. I have to give credit too the people announcing games, they made a 3 yard run sound exciting. His numbers in the first half made me yearn for the return of Joe Aska. His 2nd half numbers were a little better. Perhaps spurred on by Cartwright's play. Bennett responded with a 12 yard rush, followed by an 8 yard gain good for a first down. But in the 4th quarter, he was still getting caught behind the line of scrimmage. He also lost a yard on a 4th and goal from the 1 yard line. With him getting so many carries so late in the game, you know it is to protect Cartwright from injury.

Rock Cartwright didn't fare much better. He and Bennett are fighting for a roster spot. He had a couple of short rushes, but his reception for a first down helped him. He was behind a line led by Morris. This line wasn't able to get any push. Rock had another reception with some nice yards after catch. When
it came time to us needing the yards for the first to end the game? Cartwright got the rock...

Manase Tonga made good on a catch and run for a score, ...

At the end of the media hyped "Battle of the Bay" between the home team Oakland Raiders and the SF Forty Niners , the scoreboard lights showed the Niners as the winning team, 28-24. But that score doesn't tell the entire story.

Not by a long shot. I'd love to jump straight to the end of the game, but I'll wait.

I want to give a piece of advice to those people that are dejected and already predicting doom and gloom for my beloved Raiders. Get a grip. This is a pre-season game. We are facing the Niners in the regular season. No way in heck did we want to tip our hands to them.

So let's start at our effective opening drive. That would be the 8 play, 81 yard drive that took 5:23 off the clock. Yeah, that one. Okay, so we received a little help courtesy of Niner Manny Lawson jumping off sides on a run play that went for no yards. But who knows? Manny being off sides could have taken away an option Michael Bush may have had while running the ball. At least it was a legitimate call. And the drive itself looked good. Last year's first round pick, Darrius Heyward-Bey , had a couple of receptions. It ended with the touch down where the running back actually broke the plane of the end zone with the ball.

It showed that we have talent on the offense.

That we stopped them in the red zone , and actually pushed them backwards, after giving up a huge play? That shows something about the defense.

Joe Nedney missing the 37 yard field goal attempt was icing on the cake for me.

After the iintial drives, I didn't expect much of a game.

While some want a showcase pre-season game, it usually isn't the 3rd pre-season game against a team you are going to face in the regular season. Head Coach Mike Singletary obviously decided that was exactly what he was going to do. Curious, but he obviously put a lot of stock in this game.

While we played, we showed far less of what our opposition will see in the regular season.

We also had some lackluster performances.

After manhandling Manny Lawson on one play, Langston Walker attempted to help Marcel Reece block someone that Reece had handled. In doing that, he allowed Patrick Willis to go by him. Willis had no issues in bringing down Jason Campbell for an 11 yard loss.

Mario Henderson was beat at the line by linebacker Travis LaBoy, which ended up allowing an 8 yard loss. LaBoy also hit Campbell so hard that Campbell ended up with a stinger and was removed from the game.

Fortunately post-game, he seemed okay. I still don't anticipate seeing much of him in the next game.

The run defense looked mighty suspect at times, as did the pass rush.

I am concerned about susceptibility over the middle, both on the ground and in the air. Our alleged savior and defensive signal caller , Rolando McClain, Seemed out of position at times. Right before a 17 yard run up the middle, I saw the big hole. I muttered under my breath for McClain to do something. He didn't. The run proves it. he allowed completed passes. Granted the yards after catch was negligible, but the passes were complete.

That's what happened to us all last season.

Tackling was definitely an issue for us.

Consistency was missing on both sides of the ball.

Special teams? Aside from Sebastian Janikowski's 57 yard field goal from the dirt? Not so special. We didn't do much return wise, and we allowed a punt return fro a touchdown.

We converted only 2 out of 9 third down conversion attempts. Yard wise, we were almost perfectly even with net yards. That they had the ball for about 5 minutes longer than us game wise helps with that. They also had about 14 more plays than us offensively.

While I know everyone is in pre-season mode, there were some questionable calls that I didn't get.

I can almost understand the defensive holding on Nnamdi Asomugha. That flag gave new life to a struggling drive, The pass interference on Walter McFadden should have been on them.

But by far the worst call of the game was the one that gave the Niners their final touch down towards the end of the game. No way did Anthony Dixon break the plane of the goal line with the ball. There is as much chance of that being a deserved and earned score as there is of me rooting for a Niners v. Patriots Super Bowl to be played in Oakland.


It all boils down to this for me:

-Jason Campbell. Michael Bush and S Desmond Bryant were hurt in the game. Hopefully none will be out for long.

-We stayed in the game, and it took officiating help , plus some 2nd string assistance to beat our 3rd-4th ...

When left guard Robert Gallery was called for holding the second play from scrimmage on the Oakland Raiders opening drive against the Chicago Bears on the Bears home turf, I have to admit I felt that familiar tug of despair. I figured it was going to be a drive killer, just as it has been so many times in the recent past. Two plays later, on a 3rd and 12, when Gallery was called for a false start? I never imagined that we would end up winning the game 32-17.

But that is exactly what happened.

Instead of seeing some tired and predictable draw play on the 3rd and 17, or watching a former quarterback whose name doesn't even deserve to be mentioned throw the ball into the ground, Campbell threw a screen to Michael Bush. That worked. For a 24 yard gain.

That, in and of itself, is a sign that the Raiders are recovering from the last few seasons of less than .500 ball.

But it went far beyond that one play. Not only did the drive not die, the Raiders moved the ball down field on their own.

With 8:31 left on the clock, Jason Campbell scored a rushing touchdown on a designed keeper. He kept pushing , pumping his legs, giving an effort , until he got in. Again, not something we saw with a certain former number one over all pick.

The entire offense worked as a unit to overcome the errors of one player. In a no huddle offense. Something we haven't seen from the Raiders this early in a game since I can't remember when. All I know is it has been a long time.

I loved it as it shows that the offense is progressing, recovering, from the former lack of leadership from one that was considered "chosen".

But it doesn't stop there.

The defensive line is impressing the heck out of me.

I mentioned after last game I thought it had to do with Coach Waufle, and after this game, I am even more convinced of it. Desmond Bryant, in his 2nd season, was on the field much of the game. Considering it was a very humid 82 degrees at the start of the game, and it's in this kind of weather players cramp up, Dez hanging tough shows better conditioning. So does the leaner, meaner and faster Tommy Kelly.

The defense has something to play for . The offense is putting points on the board, moving the rock down field, not going 3 and out series after series after series. And the DL was missing veteran leader Richard Seymour.

There was no falling apart. No pointing fingers. It was a squad effort and a squad failure when there was a breakdown.

Not just the defensive line, either. With neither starting corner playing, Jay Cutler was struggling. Yeah, he completed a pass for a touch down, but that was a busted coverage play. I don't know who exactly blew it, but rookie defensive back Jeremy Ware was closest to the play.

That the defense put up 6 sacks in this game, after getting a few last game? It seemed at times we were lucky if we had a single sack in a game, let
alone 6!

With the defensive line and the linebackers aiding in applying real pressure on the opposing quarterbacks, our secondary isn't having to cover a player for 6-7 seconds as the opposing qb has time to set and throw a precision strike.

The defense is definitely healing after being left on the field as long as 40 plus minutes a couple of games last season.

Special teams scored. Slade Norris blocked a punt, and was seemingly angry with himself that he couldn't get the ball in the end zone, but watched it bounce out for a safety. After Bears special teamer Eric Peterman muffed punt, we recovered in the end zone for a score. I was pretty sure Mike Mitchell was the one that recovered and made the score, but according to NFL .com, it was again, Slade Norris.

Again, a positive sign of solid heartbeat for the Raiders Something they have been sorely missing.

That isn't to say it was perfect game.

We gave up an 89 yard run. They had 3 pass plays of over 20 yards. On our side, though, we had a run of 44 yards, with 2 pass plays of our own for over 20 yards.

After being down by 1 point at the the half , the Raiders responded by scoring 19 points. The Bears? A whopping 3.

Big time performers: Kamerion Wimbley, 6 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 tackles for a loss, 4 quarterback hurries.
I am going to give rookie middle line backer Rolando McClain a nod. I saw one beautiful stick by him that could have gone for a lot more yards had he not shut it down. As I mentioned previously, Desmond Bryant for playing as long as he did. Travis Goethel. I don't know if I was the only one that noticed that he was the one calling the defense. He was the one with the green dot on his helmet. Stanford ...

I am so glad that the Raiders won their first pre-season game 17-9 as they squared off against the Cowboys in Dallas. Not because it was a great win, because it wasn't. I am glad we won because a win is a win, whether it be good, bad or ugly.

I haven't seen the Faketri... er Patriots turn in any of their play off or Super Bowl victories that were won by some of ugliest and/or luckiest play. So with the struggles my Raiders have had, I'll take this win.

Dallas, obviously lost. Their fans have reason to be concerned.

A team that was 5-11 last season with one of the poorest ranked defenses in the league held their starting offense to a field goal. Add to that, Dallas had a prior game under their belts to look that much better. Our defense currently has more touchdowns than the Dallas offense at this point in time, as Dallas has gone 8 quarters with no offensive touchdowns.

The first winner/loser : we won, they lost. (WOOOHOOO!)

So as far penalties go? I will call a draw, we had more penalties called against us, but they were penalized for more yards. 9 for 63 us, 8 for 66 them. But can someone explain to me why a defender gets called for pass interference on a pass that couldn't have been caught in bounds, while the opposite way, a defender that pushes the wide receiver off his route isn't called for illegal contact? Yes, I know we won. Hopefully it's just pre-season for the officials. I'll accept that explanation for the TD-Incomplete Pass-TD of Nick Miller. For the record, I am surprised that review went our way. I also won't expect it in the regular season. (John, you were right on the call...)

Losers all the way around - both teams on 3rd down conversions. We were 2 for 12, they were 3 for 16. Neither team will get far if they can't bring these numbers higher. Less than a 20% 3rd down conversion rate = struggling offense.

Same goes for red zone efficiency. We were 1-3, but they went 0-4. Not numbers any team can look on with pride. but considering we had one of the worst ranked defenses in the league last season , and Dallas scored only 3 field goals? Horrid. Especially with Jon Kitna, the Raider Killer, under center. I am glad he has disproved my theory that he could beat us with a dozen angry, iron-man playing chihuahuas. Both teams make the loser list.

With 317 net yards compared to 263 net yards and 5 yards per play as opposed to 3.9 average yards per play, the Raiders are the winners for total offense. Same for total defense. The Raiders sacked a Dallas QB 6 times. The Dallas defense got to our QB once. The Raiders defense had 2 interceptions, including a return for a touchdown. Dallas had zero interceptions.

Over all team play - score decides that , so we get the nod. It's not like Dallas' first string mopped the floor with us. At the end of the first half, the score was 3-0 Dallas. And again, Dallas had already played a game.

Individually, props go to the sadly coiffed Lamarr Houston, who not only saw significant game time, but had 2 quarterback sacks in his initial game as a Raider. Same goes for 2nd year defensive lineman Matt Shaughnessy. I like that while being interviewed about his off season, Nnamdi Asomugha commented on Matt's play. Mike Mitchell led the team in tackles, with 4 solo tackles. Mitchell also strung out an end around by their WR Austin that could have gone for a lot more yards had he not stayed home. Solid games by Quentin Groves and Tyvon Branch helped highlight the seemingly stronger defense.

The same can not be said of corner back Chris Johnson , He would be in the loser category. He seems to be picking up where he left off last season, having three bad plays for every one good one. He was burnt twice badly, one of those where he didn't even seem to have a concept that the ball had been thrown, let alone where it was. For a first string player, he still doesn't look around for the ball like he should. On the other hand, Jerome Boyd's 48 yard INT return for a score late in the game cemented the Raiders victory.

Quarterback play: Raiders are the winners While a combined QB rating of 82.6 isn't anything to hang one's hat on, it beats the 52.4 average rating of the Dallas quarterbacks. Single individual winner, though, was Jon Kitna of Dallas with a respectable 99.1 rating. Single individual loser also goes to Dallas, courtesy of the young. Mr. Nichols with an atrocious 31.5 QB rating.

My general feeling regarding the Raiders is a far sight better than what I had last year. While I may wonder what is going on at quarterback Jason Campbell still inspires more confidence in me than does the starter we had last year. I like our options at back up, too, even though 2 of them never saw the field ...