Will The Real Raider Fans Please Stand Up!!!

Week 3 is in the books. It hurt...bad. I could not watch, because I was on the highway between L.A. and Vegas and the game was not on the radio anywhere along the way.

I did see the 49er's game. They put a whoopin' on the Vikings, but left 2 seconds too many on the clock. Brett Favre did what he does. He fired a bullet to Greg Lewis in the endzone to win the game for the Vike's.

The Jets are tough. They could win their division. But, I think the Ravens will come out on top. They have a very strong defense and the offense is not bad. I am really impressed with the Eagles, Bengals, Vikings, 49ers and Jets. I knew the Saints would be good and (as you know) the Raiders are ALWAYS my pick.

Lay off T.O. I am not a fan of Mr. Owens. Don't like him. But, you must give credit where credit is due. He is one of the best at his position, when you can get the ball to him. Analyst are continually taking pot-shots at him every week. In yesterdays post-game presser, Owens was prodded by reporters trying to get him to throw teammates under the bus. He handled it well. Even answer one reporter with "Sir?". While he was not happy with the loss, I don't think he is looking out for himself. But one analyst on NBC, Rodney Harrison, called T.O. a clown, because he refused to say if he was happy with the plays that were being called. let me put this in perspective, again. T.O. had a 105 game streak of at least 1 catch in a game. That ended in yesterday's loss. When asked about it, all he would say is "I run the plays that are called." When asked if he "liked with the plays that are called, he replied "whether I like them or not, I run the plays that are called."
For that, he is called a "Clown" by someone who can no longer play, not because he is out of shape or hurt, but because no team would pick him up. These are the things the media does that I do not like. How many receivers in the NFL, today, have caught at least 1 pass in 105 consecutive games. Look it up. If it is common, let me know and I will shut MY mouth, but having played receiver, I can tell you exactly hard difficult it is to do that. You don't do that by being selfish. You do not throw the ball to yourself. someone has to throw it to you and you have to CATCH it. CATCH IT. You may hate the player, but don't hate his game.

Now that I am fired up...

To those of you who booed JaMarcus after his 2nd interception, shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you. As I said, I did not get to watch the game as it happened. My brother texted me while I was on my way back home from L.A. when I got home, I watched it. The game was no where near as bad as the score indicated. I will make my point and then end today's rant.

The Broncos QB was 13/23. Russell was 12/21. I rate QB's on this scale, if you are 50% or better on your passes in the NFL, you did good. Remember, every DB is gunning for an INT. JaMarcus only throw 2 and he was still over 50%. He was just as good as the broncos QB. The difference, the Broncos had more yards on their receptions. Big deal. The first INT, if you really look at it, was thrown perfectly on target, but the receiver fell down before he could reach the spot. Had he not fallen, it would have hit him on the spot with no INT. The second INT appeared to be over-thrown until you look at the outside receiver. He was on a fly pattern and the ball was under-thrown. Something that Russell needs to work on. He has to get more air under the ball on some of his deep passes. People want to boo him, but they for get he has not one, but two rookie wideouts. They must learn to catch the ball. I only saw 2 bad passes and they were both under-thrown.

Darren McFadden was running well, but he had 3 fumbles. One of them was lost. It is time for the Raiders to send him to the Tiki Barber school of ball handling. Tiki had that problem for a number of years and then he developed a way of holding the football where it will ever be able to get it out of your arms. It recharged his career.

The Raiders defense is one of the tightest in the league. They kept the Broncos out of the endzone on 4th and goal from the 1-yard line. A not-so-good defense will not do that. Stop the hatein', people.

The problem, as I see it, is coaching. The Raiders only had 6 penalties. That ain't Raider football. As the Raiders defense applies pressure and continues to batter the opponent for 3 quarters, the coach lets up and goes into a soft defense that takes them out of the game. In life, if you have created a gaping wound, you must apply pressure to stop the bleeding. In football, if you have created a gaping wound, you must apply more pressure to increase bleeding making it tough for your victim to recover. I do not think Tom Cable understands that, yet.

so, to those of you who call yourselves "Raider Fans", yet booed JaMarcus Russell after INT #2, you are not, in my opinion a TRUE Raider Fan (unless you rethink the boo, after reading today's blog). Booing does not help. It does not make the problem go away. It does not show support for the team. The players know when they are playing bad. Booing only makes it worse. If you are a True Raider Fan, you will cheer them on when they screw up. You will encourage them to do better, to hold their heads high, to be proud to be a Raider and go out and turn things around. You, the fans, hold the key to preventing the players from giving up on the season. It is not over.

The Raiders travel to the Texans for game 4. A game they will when. You must keep the faith and spread it around for the teams sake.

That's my opinion. You do not have to agree with it, but you should respect it.

Raider-Man, good day.