Archive for November, 2010

Two weeks ago the football world bore witness to the rebirth of one of the great rivalries in all of sports as the Oakland Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs in a thriller. This week, yet another vintage rivalry gets new life as the Raiders roll into Pittsburgh. These days, it is hard to ignore the Silver and Black. Media outlets worldwide are making their way to the East Bay as the most infamous franchise in American sports has worked its way back into the national conscience. One year ago the Raiders were nothing more than a punchline. Well, who’s [...]

They are two of the best at what they do and there is a chance neither will get to prove it against the other. This Sunday the Oakland Raiders will march into Pittsburgh where they’ll try and make it two straight W’s at Heinz Field and they could be doing so without the services of All-Galaxy cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. Not that playing without Aso is anything new. Just before the bye the Raiders went into their biggest game in seven years without the best cover corner in the game. Stanford Routt played a brilliant game against the Chiefs but the [...]

Things have been working just fine for the Oakland Raiders so Tom Cable sees no reason to change things. On Monday, Coach Cable announced that there was nothing new to announce. Jason Campbell is still the starter and the sun still rises in the East and sets in the West. It wasn’t all that long ago that we’d be waiting right up until kick off on Sunday for this news. Funny how a three game win streak will change things. Bruce Gradkowski has been cleared to practice this week and I’m sure he’s a little disappointed. While Bruce Almighty is [...]

Seeking to recoup lost wages he forfeited by being an all-around douchebag, Lane Kiffin was denied by an NFL arbitrator today according to an ESPN report. Let this be a lesson to Lane. If you take Al Davis to court you’d better have an air tight case. Davis spends more time in court than the cast of Law & Order. When that projector got fired up, Kiffin laughed thinking Davis was making a Bronco of himself. Turns out he was actually building his case right there for the entire world to see as ESPN peeked in live on the event. [...]

I never thought I would say this but…thank you, Denver! The Donkeys Broncos abused Kansas City yesterday, paying forward the pain the Raiders inflicted by demolishing the Chiefs 49-29. Josh McDaniels is certainly bringing back the douche that once wafted from the East Bay office of Lane Kiffin. A true chip off the old Belichick block, Mc D inserted the human victory cigar (Tim Tebow) and allowed him to get a little shine during the blowout. That move rubbed Todd Haley the wrong way and led to a nice little post game snub. Good stuff for the AFC West! The [...]

“Right now, my feeling is, we’ve won four of the last five games with the same guy. When you’re winning, you’re winning. You don’t mess with that.” Sometimes the most obvious solutions are the best and that’s why Tom Cable is sticking to his guns. Has Jason Campbell been the best quarterback in the league? No. While he’s had moments of brilliance there have also been the occasional sprinklings of stupidity. Is Campbell going to start every game for the rest of the season? That would seem unlikely. Not that there’s any anticipation of JC reverting back to JaMarcus form [...]

For Raider Nation, Chaz Schilens is quickly becoming an urban legend. Despite having just 44 catches in 24 games played during his two plus NFL seasons, Schilens is as highly regarded a receiver as you’ll find in Silver and Black – if he’s healthy that is. Yesterday, Vittorio Tafur reported that he witnessed Schilens running drills and testing out his surgically repaired knee. That would be the same knee that Schilens hurt while overcompensating for his surgically repaired foot. With almost as many injuries as career TDs, many are beginning to wonder just how durable Chaz truly is. The Lancaster native [...]

It seems like it was only yesterday that I was talking about the new found love affair the national sports media has with the Oakland Raiders. Today, ESPN officially announced as much to the world. Mark Kreidler authored a piece for ESPN.com that proclaimed the Raiders to be America’s Team in wake of the debacle in Dallas. For the record, only bandwagon fans outside of Texas and the national media still proclaim the Cowboys as America’s team. Most places I go, the sentiments towards the Cowgirls are anything but kind. Secondly, this wasn’t a glowing review of why the Raiders [...]

Move over New England. Clear a path Pittsburgh. Dallas…eeehhh…just stay down. The national sports media has a new found fascination with the Oakland Raiders. For the last seven years the Raiders have been the punch line to any joke that didn’t involve the Detroit Lions. Now, even Raider haters like ESPN analyst Tom Jackson are singing their praises. Of course TJ didn’t have much of a choice after Tom Cable knocked sandals off Josh McDaniels with the 59-14 destruction of Denver.   Where praise goes awards will follow. Yesterday, Jacoby Ford was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his [...]

It’s never too early to start campaigning and now is the right time. With his Oakland Raiders within a half game of first place and having completed a perfect first lap around the AFC West, Tom Cable is setting himself up nicely to be honored as the NFL’s coach of the year. Cable has already got Peter King’s vote and if this were San Diego you’d see a lot more people jumping on the bandwagon. But since this is Raider territory, where bandwagons are much a figment as JaMarcus Russell’s work ethic, there is only enough room for those that [...]