Archive for June, 2010

New Orleans Saints Super Bowl winning head coach, Sean Payton, is coming out with a new book. In it Payton discusses an encounter he had with the Raiders Al Davis. Before becoming the head main in New Orleans, Payton interviewed to be the coach of the Raiders. According to ESPN.com, Payton was impressed with Davis’ football knowledge. However, while talking football, Payton also had an interesting late-night meal with Davis, which included dishes from McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken. From ESPN.com: “Al is an extremely talented football guy. Few owners who interview can really talk about a defensive front, team travel and the [...]

LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Cromartie, Santonio Holmes, Jason Taylor….JaMarcus Russell? After signing a bunch of big-name players this offseason, ESPN is reporting that the New York Jets may be interested in former Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell. From ESPN.com: The Jets have received positive reports on JaMarcus Russell, but don’t jump to conclusions here. Frankly, Russell in New York would be a disaster. There are many reasons why it wouldn’t work, but let’s keep it to one: He’s an all-time underachiever, and you don’t want those kinds of players messing with your chemistry. You also don’t want him hanging around your young [...]

As I posted yesterday, Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports is ranking all the NFL teams by position. I went back and looked at a couple of his previous rankings and saw that Cole ranks Oakland’s offensive line the worst in the NFL. Here is what Cole had to say: 32. Oakland Raiders:Wow, this is bad. Mario Henderson and Cornell Green shouldn’t be the answers to: “Name the Raiders starting offensive tackles from 2009.” Yikes. It doesn’t get much better in the middle and the sad part is that the Raiders didn’t do much to upgrade the personnel this offseason. Say [...]

Here are my random Raider thoughts for Tuesday, June 29. Enjoy the Ramblings. – I recently read that JaMarcus Russell showed up to the Andre Ward/Allan Green fight at the Oracle Arena to a chorus of boos. Russell is just lucky he got out of there alive. If you want to know what a jerk the guy is, just listen to this. Russell arrived at the fight wearing an Alabama Crimson Tide jacket and hat. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal except Russell played quarterback at one of Alabama’s biggest rivals: LSU. I don’t care what anyone says, Russell is the biggest bust [...]

Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports has been ranking all the different positions throughout the NFL this summer and today he did defensive lines. According to Cole, the Minnesota Vikings have the league’s best defensive front, while the Raiders came in near the back of the pack at 24. Here is what Cole had to say about the Raiders: 24. Oakland Raiders:In two years since signing a then-record, seven-year, $50.5 million contract, tackle Tommy Kelly has produced all of 5½ sacks, including only one last season. Yeah, one, in a full 16-game season. Kelly returns and the Raiders are going to experiment with [...]

Fox Sports yearly list of the NFL’s top 100 players is out and Raiders CB Nnamdi Asomugha came in at No. 13, down one spot from last year. Asomugha was rated the second best corner in the NFL, behind only Darrelle Revis, who Fox Sports rated No. 7. Asomugha was the only Raider to crack Fox Sports Top 100 list. Here is what the article has to say about Oakland’s Pro Bowl cornerback: Though he’s never played for a team that’s won more than six games in a season, Nnamdi Asomugha continues to be recognized as one of the NFL’s [...]

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I worked for the Patriots from 2005-2008, right after Richard Seymour signed his big contract. In New England, we all knew there were two versions of Seymour. The Seymour who played with a chip on his shoulder and the one who just went through the motions. Let me give you an example. Before the 2007 AFC Championship Game versus San Diego, Chargers C Nick Hardwick called out Seymour, suggesting he was soft. Seymour didn’t take kindly to those comments.

The Raiders recently sent out a press release reminding everyone of all the great receivers that have come through Oakland over the years and warning not to give up on Darrius Heyward-Bey joining that list. “The greatest wide receivers in professional football have passed through the portals of the Oakland Raiders or have been coached by Al Davis,” part of the release stated. The receivers listed were Lance Alworth (Davis was Alworth’s position coach with the San Diego Chargers), Cliff Branch, Willie Gault, Art Powell, Andre Rison, Warren Wells, Bob Chandler, Fred Biletnikoff, Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, James Lofton and Randy Moss. [...]

Here are my random thoughts on the Raiders for June 26. Enjoy the rambling. – The more I look at it, the more I like the Raiders draft. Rolando McClain is exactly what Oakland needs. He’s not only big and fast but McClain is a leader on the field. I think he’s going to be a stud from Day 1. I was watching last year’s SEC Championship Game between Florida and Alabama. McClain was the spy on Tim Tebow for that game. He not only easily ran Tebow down all day, he tossed him around like a sack of potatoes. Anyone [...]