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!
