Do you ever sporadically buy a lottery ticket? If you have, you buy that ticket because you have hope for something better right? You get back into your vehicle and say a quick prayer while enjoying butterflies-of-the-maybe. When it’s all said and done, you always seem to be left disappointed. This is exactly how The Only Nation feels entering week 3 of the 2014 NFL season.
Every year we’re full of optimism and positive chatter until it turns into opinionated bitterness. One thing I’ve seen over the past month is the continued divide within a nation that is supposed to stick together through the decades that we struggle. After the never-ending Terelle Pryor saga, I thought fans would come together in agreement; To just win baby.Enough with the aggression, lets focus on the problem at hand: moving the chains and stopping the opposition from moving them on 3rd down.
In my opinion, the Oakland Raiders began this year against 2 premier defenses in the NFL. I know there’s a lot of fans that disagree with me, but the Jets are a play away from being 2-0 and it’s not by luck. Although they allowed Green Bay to put up 31 points, that was against Aaron Rogers. The Packer’s possessing an elite signal-caller is no excuse for the Raider’s offensive production, but what did everyone expect from a rookie QB? Was Houston an inferior defensive team in 2013? Let’s be honest, the Jets and Texans didn’t allow Oakland to gain any type of momentum throughout 7 quarters, which left the Raider’s defense on the field too long.
A rookie quarterback struggled to find an open man and when he did, it became pure embarrassment. Although the performance of Oakland’s defense makes you want to stick your head in the sand, my biggest concern is the Raiders inability to grasp the momentum when it’s there for the taking. Even though Seattle won a Superbowl with their defense, the NFL is now a passing league, and if you can’t pass the ball effectively, then you lose. The problem is, Derek Carr isn’t getting any help from his pass-catching supporting cast.
We all know that the Raider’s wide receiver group was questioned and second-guessed throughout the off-season., but we didn’t listen. Spectators debated whether or not James Jones would be enough while Greg Little happened to be the most athletic receiver on the roster. I watched a terrible Cowboy’s secondary bully Raiders wide receivers for 2 days in Oxnard.