Oakland Raiders 2014 Season Countdown: Offense

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

In the second part of my 2014 Season Countdown series, I’m going to talk about the Offense. The Raiders could have more than six new starters on offense in 2014. Most of which they signed through free agency or trades. This side of the ball is still being led by Offensive Coordinator Greg Olson, who is entering his second year with the Raiders.

QUARTERBACK

This is arguably the most important position in all of sports. I don’t think there is any doubt that success in the NFL, starts with solid play from the Quarterback position. The Raiders have struggled to find that much needed kind of play from their QB’s since the retirement of Rich Gannon. Reggie orchestrated another offseason trade this year for a QB named Matt. The difference between this Matt and the first Matt, is Schaub has proven to be a consistent winner in the NFL, while Flynn had not.

The hope is Schaub has a bounces back, playing a couple more years at a high level and his career has not ended. Although if it has, the Raiders can cut him next year, with no dead money. I expect Schaub to be the comeback player of the year in the NFL for 2014 and help lead the Raiders to their first winning season in over a dozen years. Playoffs? Playoffs!!?? You god dam right. The other most notable aspect of this position, is the addition of 2nd round draft pick, Derek Carr. All signs point to him having the intangibles and physical skills to play the position. Something they didn’t have as a backup QB for the start of training camp last year. There is some chatter that if they had not acquired Schaub, Carr would have beat out the QB’s on the team and ended up the starter for 2014. Talk even going so far as to say he might start over Schaub. I’m not buying into any QB controversy until we get some live reps in the preseason and see how they play. One thing to keep in mind, Matt McGloin is still on the roster. Sure, he perhaps has been passed by Carr on the depth chart, but McGloin always seems to rise to the top. It’s quite possible the Raiders depth as this position is the best it’s ever been. I’d say it is the best since at least 1970 when they had Daryle Lamonica, George Blanda and Ken Stabler manning the QB depth chart.