Week 1: Raiders @ Indianapolis Colts Quarter-by-Quarter Reaction(s)

4th Quarter:

Score: OAK 17 IND 21

Game ends pretty much. TP taking a sack and a bad interception sealed the game, but it was a good effort, I'm not upset too much at least we showed some heart against a heavily favored Colts instead of giving up on the first few drives by the Colts. The game winning TD by Luck, obviously some controversy on that play on DHB holding DJ Hayden as well as a phantom penalty on us, called on Tracy Porter and he wasn't even near the play on the previous play, but it is what is and I'm not mad, we didn't push the "QUIT" button when the Colts were scoring at will on us in the first before we turned it up a notch in the 2nd half. Stay tuned for the full recap.

3rd Quarter:

Score: OAK 10 IND 14

Run DMC's TD is under review, but man what a show of life by the Raiders. The 4th and 1 stop from Jason Hunter and TP's monster game in the run and the pass. This is what the Raiders need, heart and they're currently showing that against the heavy favorited Colts. I am thoroughly impressed and hopefully there's inconclusive evidence on DMC's TD even though clearly he got out of bounds.

*UPDATE: Beginning of the fourth McFadden's TD is reversed.

2nd Quarter:

Score: OAK 7 IND 14

2nd quarter comes to end, better drive by Pryor, him and McFadden stole the spotlight during that drive and it's just what we needed at the right time. I thought the defense did a great job putting pressure on Luck aside from his early TD in the quarter, Jason Tarver made as much adjustments as he can without a true pass rush and we prevented Luck to score another one on us. Good 2nd quarter from the Raiders, could've put it within 4, but the inconsistency of Marquette King as the holder is what concerned me the most when we cut Kluwe because Sebass is capable of chipping in from 48 and I wasn't happy about that. So onto the halfitime report.

1st Quarter:

Score: OAK 0 IND 7

Alright first Q-Q reaction post for the 2013 season and for the most part, mixed reactions on my part. I thought Terrelle Pryor is holding on his own at the QB position taking us into Colts territory, aside from the bad interception in the end zone, I thought he did good and Streater is definitely proving to be the true #1 go to guy. On defense, the pass rush and the run D, obviously our concern because Andrew Luck had a lot time in the pocket to throw I mean he could take ages and still get a man open because we have no pass rush. Other than that, this was out of my expectations, I expected the Colts to just torch us from the beginning, but we had the ball and we managed to keep Luck off the field for the most part which is why it was 0-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Raiders @ Colts Halftime Post

Score: OAK 7 IND 14

Alright two quarters in the books and so far it's close than expected. So I thought the positives so far Terrelle Pryor, Darren McFadden, and Rod Streater, those 3 have been carrying our offense the whole game. TP2, passed for 114 yards and rushed for 56 yards including the 21 yard drive to put us in for a TD. The bad interception after going deep into the end zone on our first drive, I was really pissed off on that one and it was obviously a bad play call by Greg Olson because we know Pryor underthrows most of his deep passes twice to Rod Streater and one to Marcel Reece. As I said Rod Streater, proving to be the #1 go to guy had 3 receptions for 45 yards, he's growing up, I mean rapidly and hopefully he continues that.

Run DMC, we need to see more from him, even though he did score a TD on a 2 yard run, 21 yards on 9 carries, I mean we're back at the power blocking scheme and we need to see at least one drive where he is loose and to do that, the line needs to do a better job creating holes for him.

Most concerning though the defense, but I though they managed to hold off their own aside from Luck throwing 2 passes to Reggie Wayne already, but they're holding off their own, for now. We don't know what kind of adjustments the Colts will make, but for sure they'll turn it up a notch in the third.

My 2013 Fantasy Football Team(s)

Team 3: Matt's Awful Team

Starters:

QB: Tony Romo (DAL)
WR1: Demaryius Thomas (DEN)
WR2: Dwayne Bowe (KC)
WR3: Marques Colston (NO)
RB1: LeSean McCoy (PHI)
RB2: Stevan Ridley (NE)
TE: Rob Gronkowski (NE)
K: Phil Dawson (SF)
DEF: Arizona (AZ)

Bench:

RB: Montee Ball (DEN)
QB: Sam Bradford (STL)
TE: Jared Cook (TEN)
WR: Mike Williams (TB)
WR: Michael Floyd (AZ)
DEF: Pittsburgh (PIT)

Team 2: Paradigm Shift*

Starters:

QB: Matt Ryan (ATL)
WR1: Calvin Johnson (DET)
WR2: Victor Cruz (NYG)
WR3: Miles Austin (DAL)
RB1: Maurice Jones-Drew (JAC)
RB2: Darren McFadden (OAK)**
TE: Tony Gonzalez (ATL)**
K: Steven Hauschka (SEA)
DEF: Seattle (SEA)

Bench:

QB: Robert Griffin III (WAS)**
WR: Josh Gordon (CLE)
RB: Montee Ball (DEN)
RB: Benjarvus Green-Ellis (CIN)
WR: Malcom Floyd (SD)
TE: Heath Miller (PIT)

* = Defending Champion
** = Was on final Championship Roster

Team 1: TD Twister

Starters:

QB: Colin Kaepernick (SF)
WR1: Victor Cruz (NYG)
WR2: Mike Wallace (MIA)
WR3: Miles Austin (DAL)
RB1: Arian Foster (HOU)
RB2: Darren McFadden (OAK)
TE: Tony Gonzalez (ATL)
K: Robbie Gould (CHI)
DEF: Cincinnati (CIN)

Bench:

TE: Antonio Gates (SD)
RB: Montee Ball (DEN)
WR: Emmanuel Sanders (PIT)
QB: Josh Freeman (TB)
RB: Ben Tate (HOU)
WR: Rod Streater (OAK)

Oakland Raiders 2013 Regular Season Preview

Last preseason game is pretty much over so it's best to talk about the Oakland Raiders 2013 campaign. Looking at the 4 preseason games, there's a lot of thought bubbles on this team heading into week 1 against the Indianapolis Colts and it could be all season long considering the weak state this team is in.

For the offense, the loss of Jared Veldheer has definitely hurt the way we run our offense and thank goodness that Greg Olson is making adjustments to the offense, I mean if this was still Knapp's offense, it would've been disgusting to watch that kind of offense without Veldheer. Menelik Watson, watching his first start tonight against the Seahawks, has impressed me and deservedly so a better option to be Veldheer's insurance coverage than the likes of Alex Barron and Willie Smith considering Watson's athleticism and IQ. Next, Darren McFadden, it's contract year for him and it's been frustrating to watch him all 5 years because he can't stay on the field for a full season. McFadden has only had 1 1/2 breakout season in 2010 and 2011 before he went down with the Linsfranc injury. There's no excuse for McFadden to stink up this season considering we went back to the gap scheme because he's in the last year of his rookie contract. Starting quarterback, throughout the preseason, Terrelle Pryor can WOW you at times, but like in New Orleans and tonight against Seattle, he can piss you off, but it's obvious Pryor gives us the best chance to win because there's absolutely no confidence for Matt Flynn to start, especially with that shaky O-line minus Wisniewski and hopefully Watson. Receivers, it's obvious Rod Streater is the true #1 go to guy because Denarius Moore has been disappointing, which I don't know why. In all honesty, Denarius has gotten a little soft as he progressed through his three years because it looks like he doesn't want to fight for the ball in the air anymore while Streater is grabbing all the tough catches in tight coverage and he's only in his sophomore season.

What can I say about the defense? Pathetic, even at full strength, it's been a tough pill to swallow to watch this defense on the field. First off no pass rush off the edge, outside of Lamarr Houston, we are just making opposing offenses run over us. I think the only upsides in our defense are the linebackers and the defensive backs, but they are vulnerable because our line can barely get pressure on the quarterback and can barely stop a running back coming off the edge. It doesn't matter if the starting defense barely played a game together, it won't eliminate our problem of stopping the run and rushing the QB. When the opposing team is barely playing their first stringers against our first stringers and still manages to gain big yardages and points on the board including at least one redzone TD, it's embarrassing.

Our schedule, our home games look favorable, but the road trip is very brutal. Opening up against Indy, going to Denver early for a Monday Night showdown, Thanksgiving showdown against the Cowboys, then we got the Texans and going to the same East Coast location twice against the Giants and the Jets. I mean that is a brutal way to go in terms of road schedules, I think we can pull off a few wins, but with that schedule, highly impossible. The home games, I think Washington and Pittsburgh are the most concerning and in all likeliness, Philadelphia and Tennessee could also be threatening, but other than that the home stretch is good enough to get wins than on the road.

In conclusion, I have no expectations, but I'm confident that the great depression is almost over. To say we're automatic favorites for Jadeveon Clowney is an understatement, but this team will compete enough to remove itself from the #1 pick threshold. If you look at how Reggie McKenzie is building the team, he's like a construction worker basically imploded the old building, getting rid of the overpaid contract, so McKenzie is basically paving some ground to construct his buildings, which is why there's a lot of holes to fill on this team, he's planting the seeds this year while removing the weeds from last year and next offseason, McKenzie's gonna finally have that green thumb. It's going to be another long season, but McKenzie has done a great job prepping up for the plentiful harvest of next season. GO RAIDERS!

Kobe Bryant - The Heart is Still Beating (My Vignette)

Yeah this video was uploaded 1 week ago, but this is my most recent creation and I forgot to promote in this blog. Basically this post is just a little get to know me a little more and outside the lines of my blog, I make videos as a hobby and this right here is a recent masterpiece of mine. Usually I make video game music videos, but when an idea pops up, I can potentially make videos like the one down below.

Even though this offseason so far was a huge debacle, us Laker fans are waiting in joyful hope for Kobe Bryant to return in full force and come back stronger from a devastating achilles injury. Rudy Tomjanovich once said: "Don't Ever Underestimate The Heart of a Champion." Kobe is a warrior and a champion (realistically he's not the second Michael Jordan, he's the first Kobe Bryant). He's fought through past pain and injuries.

"What does Kobe say to Father Time and his pet Injury Bug? NOT TODAY!" - (Game of Thrones reference) #CountonKobe

Quick Hit on Cowboys vs. Raiders

Yes yes I know, I said I wouldn't post any preseason games, but you know what? I freakin' miss posting football results so I'm going to post up on today's preseason opener vs. the Cowboys and hopefully this post helps give you guys the feel on the direction where my blog is currently heading right now.

So the Raiders pulled it out against the Cowboys 17-19, way better display of exhibition than last year's opener where it was 3-0 and we managed to get a better feel on the state of the team, who stood out and who didn't stand out and even though it's the first preseason game, I'm impressed and there were a lot of things that stood out.

So first off I would like to say, it is so so good to see C Wood back in that silver and black uniform in the Coliseum. Man did I feel nostalgic like it was the Gannon-Gruden era all over again except C Wood and Sebass are the last of that era's kind (wish we retained Lechler too to complete it, but we couldn't and that sucks). Moving that aside I do see the competition in the quarterback position and in the running back position (who gets to be in the backseat of Darren McFadden that is). All 4 of our quarterbacks were in double figures, which is good because we see a feel of that competition in that position in this game. Matt Flynn, shaky start and I mean a fumble in the early goings to give the Cowboys an early edge, but I love the response back drive completing passes to D Moore and Streater and the hand offs to Jennings, which is not bad. TP and Matt McGloin did put on great displays. TP as usual, very exciting to watch as usual, showed much improvement, well a little aside from that bad INT in the red zone, TP had a good showing completing 60% of his passes for 88 yards and rushed for 31 yards. Matt McGloin, very impressive showing; I heard a lot of reports about him that he's beating out Tyler Wilson for the 3rd string and he might be showing it managed to put up our first TD with a 30 yard pass to Brice Butler and Butler put up a great showing too, 70 yards in just 2 receptions, definitely proving to be a diamond in the rough in the draft.

It is really going to be one heated battle between Rashad Jennings and Latavius Murray and so far Jennings threw the first punch in round 1. Again, the battle to back up McFadden. Jennings did get most of the rock getting 9 touches for 39 yards and Latavius Murray had 8 carries for 29 yards, statistically comparable between the two and it's definitely in my prediction another position to watch out for because unlike the quarterback position, this is not gonna be won by knockout, but it will go all the way to 12 rounds (all 4 preseason games, hope you guys enjoyed my boxing analogy).

The defense hoo boy, I gotta say the run defense and the pass rush was not good and it's definitely a harbinger for our defense as the season rolls on. Other than that, Sio Moore, I want to see more! And by that I mean, how he blasted Tony Romo in the Cowboys' first drive for his first sack in the NFL and as a Raider and Romo's O-line was protecting him so well (credit to the secondary for the tight coverage), but man Sio does bring the energy and I see him winning the Sam LB position to go along with Nick Roach and Kevin Burnett, who I think will be the default Middle and Weakside LBs heading into Week 1. Let me note Usama Young also, who recorded 1 INT and returned for 21 yards, I think DA wants to keep C Wood fresh, no doubt Woodson is going to be the starting safety, but I think DA will keep using Young at certain plays to keep C Wood fresh off the field or if DA wants to play C Wood at another defensive position, that's just my speculation and it would make sense to give C Wood plenty of rest if Young can perform well in the safety position, which I believe he is capable of, I mean over 220 tackles in his career, enough said.

Anyway just felt like posting and see you guys on Week 1 against the Indianapolis Colts. Oh yeah I may post my regular season preview either directly after the 3rd preseason game or the last one, I don't know yet so keep track of that. As always, GO RAIDERS!

Major Changes to Blog Announced

A little midnight showing in this blog, it's currently 12:30 AM on the West Coast and I'm here to announce some changes in the blog. I'm shaking things up when it comes to blog posts. If you guys saw my coverage of the 2013 NBA Finals, you know where I'm coming from. So some major changes that will be highlighted:

- I will be doing Oakland Raiders and Los Angeles Lakers season previews before the start of the regular season where I analyze the current state of the teams, their schedule, and thoughts where they are going to finish either in the playoffs or a lottery team

- I won't be doing any preseason games (sorry guys)

- For the Oakland Raiders, I will be doing in-depth discussions after the game and I will be covering all 16 games (provided if all games are all locally televised and not blacked out)

- For the Los Angeles Lakers, I will be doing in-depth discussions ONLY on nationally televised games on TNT, ESPN, ABC, or NBA TV ; every other game that's not televised, I will do my traditional quick recap (unless they are facing off against the Golden State Warriors, I will be doing in-depth discussion on those games considering I have Comcast Sports Net Bay Area on DirectTV if they are playing outside of Wednesdays and Fridays) *Due to my fall semester college schedule where I have a Computer Science and Programming class from 6:30 pm-9:30 pm, there will be no in-depth discussions on NBA Wednesday or Friday games on ESPN, I will just post a quick recap unless I'm off*

- Adding on to my in-depth discussions after the game, I will be posting Quarter-by-Quarter instant reaction posts while the games are on and I will do a halftime report of my own

- I will continue to cover the Super Bowl and the NBA Finals, regardless of which teams advance. I'll give you my preview, my quarter-by-quarter instant reaction, my halftime report, and in-depth discussion after the game

- I will continue to recap the Draft and the Off-season Activity for both teams

Anyways this is going to be the new format, some of them are tentative and will be subjected to change anytime at any place. GO RAIDERS! GO LAKERS!