A Season In Review: 2013 Raiders

*Blog post was pre-written last night*

Final Record: 4-12 .250, 4th AFC West, Division Record: 1-5, Conference Record: 4-8, Inter-Conference Record: 0-4

Alright welcome in to a special post of the 2013 Oakland Raiders' season in review. This wasn't a part of my changes in the new format, but it's good to add this in because if you guys remember in my old format, I used to write a lengthy piece where I write a final word at the bottom of the recap of the final regular season game. Here, I just summarize the season, look back at all 16 games, which personnel needs to change, and address the Raiders' needs heading into the offseason and into the 2014 NFL Draft.

Going into this season, a lot of experts didn't give the Raiders a chance, they projected the Raiders to win one game or to win no games at all and tank for the #1 overall pick. The Raiders have even been penciled in as the worst roster in the NFL. Then you have the QB controversy of the Raiders where they named Terrelle Pryor as the starter, Pryor gets hurt, Matt Flynn has to step in for one game and flops, Flynn gets released, TP has a good game against the Chargers, regresses, gets hurt again, Matt McGloin starts, has one good game against an awful Texans team, loses the last 5 games, and TP starts in the finale and didn't do much for the offense. That is basically the story of our QB situation this whole season. Obviously you can pinpoint at how decimated the offensive line was at the beginning of the season and they only played just I think 4-5 games together. Also, our receiving corps were too young and they were dropping balls all over the place, even though I give the edge to McGloin because I thought he made guys like Andre Holmes, Rod Streater, and Mychal Rivera look like pro bowl receivers out there, but that doesn't mean I'm all in for McGloin as the quarterback of the future. Neither TP nor McGloin showed us that they are capable of carrying this franchise.

Week 1 against the Indianapolis Colts, the Raiders opened some eyes, everybody expected Andrew Luck and the Colts to just steamroll us, but Pryor did perform his best doing his damage on the ground and the defense was actually getting to Andrew Luck without a star pass rush. For the most part of the season, the defense actually kept us competitive, even though the offense was non-existent, the defense kept us alive to give the offense a chance. And not taking anything from what Pryor did in his 3 victories or what McGloin did in his one and only victory, but the defense won us most of the games because it came down to the final possession of the opposing offense in all 4 games and most credit was given to both Jason Tarver and Dennis Allen for mixing up coverage and all-out blitzing. Early, they made QBs like Luck, Roethlisberger, Alex Smith, and even Peyton Manning confused in our week 3 Monday Night game at Mile High and teased that hey maybe we don't need a pass rush. But like I said in my preview, the area of concern on the defense is mostly on the pass rush and it showed during week 9 against the Eagles and Chip Kelly's style of an up tempo offense because the defense couldn't get to Nick Foles and he was burning our defensive backs all game long setting a record tying record. At least I could weeks 1-8, the Raiders managed to compete with the kind of defense they had, heck they were in the conversation of being a top 10 defense in the league, but the rest of the season, they couldn't stop anyone, especially on 3rd down.

All season, the Raiders were like a tale of two halves, like they have been in the games. At times, the Raiders would start fast putting up point on the board in the first half and kept playing aggressive, but in the 2nd half game plan becomes more vanilla and more predictable than ever. Just like this whole season. The Raiders teased us that with the kind of team voided of talent they had, they managed to hang around with some of the playoff-contending/top tier teams of the NFL, but as the season goes on, it becomes the same old Raiders of throwing the white flag and calling it a season because the game plan became more predictable. Do I think the Raiders could've won more games? They could've. They were this close to upsetting Indy, they would've won against a terrible Washington Redskins team with a healthy Pryor, they should've earned an East Coast win against the Giants, could've won against Tennessee, could've won against Dallas in Thanksgiving. However, shoulda, woulda, coulda, they are what their record shows and that's why the Raiders finished at the basement of the AFC West, while the Broncos, Chiefs, and Chargers are enjoying their trip to the playoffs.

Personnel-wise, there are a lot of rumors that Reggie McKenzie and Dennis Allen and his coaching staff could be on the way out. I personally think that we need to see what they could do with a full roster. They've been thrown into a mess that was made by the Al Davis regime and later by Hue Jackson. Completely filled up in cap space and lack of draft picks that were traded away. 3rd season, I think is where they should be truly judged. They now have the money to spend on more valuable free agents and have a full load of draft picks. I am a firm believer of continuity, but if McKenzie and DA still couldn't get it done to build at least a competitive, rebuilding team and flop on the free agency and draft, then Mark Davis has every right to move on from them.

So what do the Raiders need to do in the offseason and the draft to be more competitive than the last two seasons in the McKenzie-Allen Era? We need a pass rush. Most people are calling for us to go after a franchise quarterback, but we need a pass rush badly on the defensive ends. If we can take Jadeveon Clowney in the first round, that would be good, but at the same time if we are going after Clowney, we gotta sign a veteran defensive end like a Jared Allen or somebody else that has more fresh mileage. Personally, if we're going to make a run at re-signing Lamarr Houston, we have to move him to his natural position at defensive tackle. First few seasons, Houston has not proven he can be a dangerous edge rusher in the league, but put him at DT along with Pat Sims and Vance Walker, he could do some serious damage in the run and pass defense. The linebackers corps is fine, I would love to see Kevin Burnett, Nick Roach, and Sio Moore play another season together this time with a capable defensive line to help them. The secondary, DJ Hayden has to get healthy and I would look at re-signing Tracy Porter, Charles Woodson, and a very capable strong safety to back up Tyvon Branch. Brandian Ross has played good for the most part in Branch's absence, but he got exposed at times and Branch's absent definitely hurt the secondary's potential to become good.

Offensively, the Raiders need to beef up the offensive line because the O-line has been beaten and bruised all season. Watson has to get healthy, Veldheer has to be 100% and re-signed, and we gotta sign serviceable backups for depth. The area the offensive line is most concerning are the guards. I'm not sold on Lucas Nix or Mike Brisiel or even Khalif Barnes as our offensive guards for the future. It would also help to get a couple of proven play makers. I thought the receiving corps of Holmes, Streater, Moore, and Rivera did a solid job all season, but the Raiders need a proven go to guy like a Hakeem Nicks or a Pierre Garcon in the offseason and heck if the Saints don't franchise Jimmy Graham, go for it. In the backfield, Jennings should be kept, McFadden should go. I'm done with Darren McFadden, you could put him in a system he can be successful in ala Hue Jackson's offense, he'll still find ways to get hurt on the field. Contract year for him this season, and McFadden didn't do anything to deserve a new contract. He even admitted he owed the Raiders a full season, but face it McFadden's time in Oakland is done, if we can sign him, good, but for cheap and make him a short yardage back. It wouldn't also hurt to replace D-Mac with Maurice Jones-Drew. Yeah I said it, but it does make sense because MJD doesn't want to re-sign with Jacksonville and he is from the Bay Area, born and raised in Oakland, which is another plus. It wouldn't make sense for him to go to San Francisco because it'll be difficult to split time with him and Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter has proven he can be a very capable backup. MJD to Oakland, I'm sure like Jennings, he can probably thrive with a change of scenery.

Well thank you Raider Nation, this is officially the last Raider-related post until March. I wish you all a Happy New Year and here's to the 2014 season.