August 13, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor (6) is sacked by Dallas Cowboys defensive end Baraka Atkins (59) in the fourth quarter at O.Co Coliseum. The Cowboys defeated the Raiders 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-US PRESSWIRE

Every year before the NFL season officially begins fans gather nation wide to buy their very own copy of Madden. The video game allows players (EA Sports estimates between 5 and 7 million dedicated fans) to play against one another as their favorite team, play through the career of a rookie player, and participate in many other NFL centered game modes. The game becomes more realistic year after year constantly topping the previous game. As the years have passed the game’s popularity has rissen leading to a telivision show and even a madden bowl in which players compete for a trophy. Typically in the game the depth chart of the Oakland Raiders is poor to say the least. This should come as no surprise since the franchise has never really gotten the respect it deserves from the league it plays in. However, the newest edition of Madden says otherwise.

The NFL witnessed Terrell Pryor’s mockery of the Detroit Lions on Saturday night. Now in Madden NFL 13 you can constantly remind your friends of the menacing presense that holds the clipboard behind Carson Palmer (Not Matt Leinart). With a simple flick of your right analog stick you can quickly sub in your number 2 quarterback changing the outcome of any short yardage situation. Without a chance to put a spy on the quarterback the defense must now be ready to stop a scrambling TP6 who has a worthy 90 speed rating. This advantage given to the silver and black is almost hard to put into words and it might even be a good idea to use in a real life game if Palmer continues to throw to the other team.

Darren McFadden is surprisingly underrated in this Madden game. His 91 overall rating would be received with a warm welcome by most running backs. The simple fact of the matter is that Darren McFadden is not most running backs. Despite injury problems throughout his career most can agree that McFadden is a top tier running back. However, players will still flourish using McFadden to lead the offense down the field drive after drive. He is also a solid option to split out at wide receiver.

Marcel Reese finally earns solid statistics in the new Madden. Reese as we all know is the Raider’s X-factor. Teams today just simply ignore the full back position, and when you ignore the big wide receiver out of Washington then you are going to get burnt. Reese serves as an excellent check down receiver in the game, and also fills his blocking role rather nicely.

The Raider’s receiving corps in no way at all resemble those in Green Bay. However, their speed can be utilized by any experienced Madden player making them just as deadly. The ratings of the receivers are well deserved in my opinion. Not one of these receivers have truly proven themselves as anything more then a overall of 85 (Darrius Heyward-Bey is the highest ranked receiver for the silver and black at 85). I expect that as the season goes on the ratings of the receiving corps will improve drastically.

The defense in Oakland has been in shambles ever since opposing offenses realized their game plan has been the same since the 70′s. Coincidentally as Dennis Allen and the Reggie Mckenzie era has been ushered in so has an era of good defense in Madden. Typically the Raiders have been unable to stop opponents from running down their throats. The best way to stop any rushing game used in Madden NFL 13 is to utilize the 4-6 defense. Opposing running backs find themselves drilled in the backfield due to the beastly defensive line. The run defense is nicely complemented with defensive backs such as Tyvon Branch, Michael Huff, and Demarcus VanDyke stepping up their video game stature.

The atmosphere in Oakland is truly changing. People are no longer thinking of the Raiders as an easy win for their home team. Obviously the work being done by the staff and the players has translated over to fans being able to enjoy a video game a little more. In the end the primary goal will be to score real life touchdowns and translate that work into real life wins. Until then Madden will serve as a device to keep the Raider Nation sane while waiting for the ever anticipated regular season to begin.

So the story is set. The protaginist Raiders have a chance to turn the tide on the future of their season. The only thing in their way is the problems of an eratic throwing quarterback, a young and thin secondary, the insurance policy running backs behind Darren McFadden, the injury bug, and of course the antagonist Detroit Lions. Like any good story Oakland has to first analyze the problems before they can be fixed.

1) The Carson Palmer project has had great potential, but potential doesnt win games. Palmer suffered through a season plauged with interceptions last year. The question is, now that he knows the playbook and his teammates can he throw to the guys in the same jersey? If Palmer fails to fill in his role his team could be left with a losing record and a bust draft pick (Matt Leinart) to salvage the team. However, if Palmer manages to control his cannon then there is a possibility of adding a ring to his throwing hand.

2) Every football fan has experienced a fan-fit. That brief moment of flailing one’s limbs in extreme frustration due to a mistake made by a player. Unfourtunatley Oakland’s secondary caused many of these fan-fits last year. To be the contender every Raider fan wants to watch the secondary in Oakland needs to be able to at least slow down a superb passing attack. Tonight’s game against Megatron and company will be the perfect test. Demarcus VanDyke has turned heads in camp, Tyvon Branch is primed for another good season, and Mike Huff has had an impressive pre-season, but can the rest of the secondary finish the job? To be a superbowl contender Shawntae Spencer and Ron Bartell both need to be more than capable of making plays.

3) With Micheal Bush taking hand-offs from Jason Campbell in the windy city, the Raiders have got to see some production from those running backs who arent named Darren McFadden. To keep McFadden healthy the Raiders will have to be able to give him a break on occasion. Obviosly they cant do that with Mike Goodson fumbling the football. Taiwan Jones has yet to show that he will be of any significance in the NFL, and unless one of the two step up the Raiders seem to have all of their eggs in Darren McFadden’s basket. A basket that in recent years seems rather brittle. Tonight’s game will have to show that the Raider’s can pick up tough yards.

4) The injury bug seems to have found a home in Oakland. Not many franchises in sports can say they have been hit by this problem as bad as Oakland. Last year the Raiders managed to go .500 without Jason Campbell, Darren McFadden, Marcel Reese, Jacoby Ford, and numerous others. This year there are plenty of things to deal with other than injuries. So it is vital that the Raiders eat all of their veggies and concentrate on winning games.

5) The Detroit Lions and Oakland Raiders have never been big rivals. However, after last years dissapointing and embarrasing loss to Stafford and Megatron this matchup could be a highlighted one in years to come. Tonight the Lions dont stand in between Oakland and the playoffs. However, they do have a great oppurtunity to crush team moral and leave the Raiders with one week to prepare for their last chance to prove themselves before the season begins. If the Raiders do not play with intensity tonight then we might not see any intensity all season. If they do come out hot and embarrass the Lions then the hype in Oak-town will be similar to the hype in 2002. Lets just hope the result of tonights game is the latter.

Tonight the Raiders will become the protaginist of either a gruesome horror novel or the tale of a determined underdog team on a mission. Fortunately for the silver and black this book has yet to be written.

Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

If there is any sense of pride in the Raiders locker room then they’ll treat today’s preseason tangle with the Detroit Lions as a regular season affair. Have we all forgotten how the Lions helped crush the Raiders’ playoff hopes last season?  I should certainly hope not considering how recent that was. I would also hope not considering how many of the Silver and Black that will play today also suited up in that pre-Christmas affair.

Now nobody is confusing the result of this game with any sort of reflection on what happened last season. By the time the clock strikes zero this evening many of the players on the field won’t even be in the NFL as of Monday.

However this is the third preseason game which is always the dress rehearsal for the regular season. That means the Oakland defense will get a heavy dose of the offense that ran all over them last season. It also means Carson Palmer and Darren McFadden will get extended playing time to show just what type of production we should expect in 2012.

While the Oakland offense has created the most angst this preseason it’s the defense that will really be under the microscope today. Hopefully Jason Tarver has no designs on letting Rolando McClain cover Calvin Johnson. That ill-fated move helped to put one of the biggest nails in Hue Jackson’s head coaching coffin.

More importantly will be watching the Oakland secondary try to slow the roll of Matthew Stafford and Detroit’s high-powered passing game. Last season the Raiders were sliced and diced through the air by Stafford and company. This time around the Raiders should expect passes-a-plenty as the Lions are without their top two running backs.

All that said the main concern is still the Raiders offense. All eyes will be on Palmer whose preseason play has been more miserable than Jennifer Aniston in an Angelia Jolie movie marathon. Palmer has claimed he’s not concerned with Oakland’s offensive struggles but if things don’t improve today then there will be serious cause for concern.

Even if Run DMC can make it through the regular season without any injury setbacks there is no way this team makes a playoff push without competent quarterback play.

So even if the score doesn’t matter today the effort certainly does. Seeing the Silver and Black play with some preseason pride would be a great way to display Oakland’s culture change. It would also be good to get a win considering the Raiders haven’t won a preseason game in over two years losers of six straight going back to the 0-4 effort of 2011. Again, this is all about pride and for that there is no difference between pre, regular or postseason play.