Divisional games a blessing...

[Don]

I have noticed some peeps are perturbed about our schedule early on, and I'd like to say that I think it is a blessing for the 2009 Raiders, and here's why:

The Chargers on MNF: LT and the Chargers in general have started off their seasons poorly over the last couple years and eventually warmed up and took the West. Beating them at home would catapult our team's confidence, but losing an at least competitive game would not crush our teams start, if we could:

Beat KC at the Arrowhead: Two straight years beating the Chiefs in their house. New GM, New HC with zero experience. Larry Johnson probably gone, they may be trading away Gonzo. New defensive scheme, players will be lost early in the year. The best time to play a team with a new QB, and new schemes is obviously the beginning of the year..See Thigpen 2008

Whoop Broncos at home: So after a humiliating loss in Den to start the 2008 year, lets look at what has changed since: New GM, new HC. Cutler gone. Marshall may be suspended again to start the year. Orton doesnt make anybody pee themselves. New defensive scheme and a bunch of old ass vets to install it.
We came back on these fools and straight up embarrassed them at the Mile high towards the end of the season. No more DeAngelo Hall. We know about Eddie Royal with cheese. We are without Kiffin. We will have an actual semblance of an offensive line.

WE will win 2/3 of those games you can bet on it.:roc:

[Boom]

I have noticed some peeps are perturbed about our schedule early on, and I'd like to say that I think it is a blessing for the 2009 Raiders, and here's why:

The Chargers on MNF: LT and the Chargers in general have started off their seasons poorly over the last couple years and eventually warmed up and took the West. Beating them at home would catapult our team's confidence, but losing an at least competitive game would not crush our teams start, if we could:

Beat KC at the Arrowhead: Two straight years beating the Chiefs in their house. New GM, New HC with zero experience. Larry Johnson probably gone, they may be trading away Gonzo. New defensive scheme, players will be lost early in the year. The best time to play a team with a new QB, and new schemes is obviously the beginning of the year..See Thigpen 2008

Whoop Broncos at home: So after a humiliating loss in Den to start the 2008 year, lets look at what has changed since: New GM, new HC. Cutler gone. Marshall may be suspended again to start the year. Orton doesnt make anybody pee themselves. New defensive scheme and a bunch of old ass vets to install it.
We came back on these fools and straight up embarrassed them at the Mile high towards the end of the season. No more DeAngelo Hall. We know about Eddie Royal with cheese. We are without Kiffin. We will have an actual semblance of an offensive line.

WE will win 2/3 of those games you can bet on it.:roc:

You make a very valid point brotha Don, but IMO the division games are the most important games during the regular season.. We have to come away with at least two of the three games.. All I know is that this year is an opportunity for us to grab the AFC west and we must capitalize on that opportunity while KC and denver is going through the radical changes.. I just didn't think that the divisional games will be back to back, and that's what intimidated me.. It is what it is and there ain't no changing it, so let's roll with it and hope for the best.. Go RAIDERS!!!

[Gridiron PIRATE]

Yep, i believe you.

[Sonny Cheeba]

I agree. It's always crucial to get off to a good start and Cable could really put a stamp on this team by charging (no pun intended) out of the gate. It all starts week 1 and Big Tom better be telling the guys that it ain't no fuckin joke, and getting whooped at home by a hated divisional rival is totally unacceptable.

[Don]

I agree. It's always crucial to get off to a good start and Cable could really put a stamp on this team by charging (no pun intended) out of the gate. It all starts week 1 and Big Tom better be telling the guys that it ain't no fuckin joke, and getting whooped at home by a hated divisional rival is totally unacceptable.

Candy was telling me that they were clowning on Kiffin at the CTE awards dinner, that basically after big losses, Kiffin would bring in Cable to throw chairs and scream and cuss and shit, and Kiff would just slip through the cracks. I thought that was very telling as to how seriously Tom takes losing and how much desire he has to win.

[Don]

You make a very valid point brotha Don, but IMO the division games are the most important games during the regular season.. We have to come away with at least two of the three games.. All I know is that this year is an opportunity for us to grab the AFC west and we must capitalize on that opportunity while KC and denver is going through the radical changes.. I just didn't think that the divisional games will be back to back, and that's what intimidated me.. It is what it is and there ain't no changing it, so let's roll with it and hope for the best.. Go RAIDERS!!!

Yeah, they are the most important, and how awesome would it be to rob these fukkers when theyre sleeping.

KC starts off playing Ravens, so we will go to their house a slap around a already bloody pulp.

Broncos on the other hand start of playing Browns and Bungles, so you never know they can come to us cocky....

whatever the case, we had better go .666 on these three games

[Raiderette619]

Very Good Post Don. I agree w/what you say about the chargers and they normally start off weak. I think if we can win some of these first divisional games that can put us in a good spot. These games are very crucial and hopefully this will only make Cable push them more during training camp. I'm excited to see what happens and I'm going to keep the Faith for our team like I do year after year.

[JRaider17]

Liking the optimism.... I for one like the opening with the AFC West.

[Boom]

Yeah, they are the most important, and how awesome would it be to rob these fukkers when theyre sleeping.

KC starts off playing Ravens, so we will go to their house a slap around a already bloody pulp.

Broncos on the other hand start of playing Browns and Bungles, so you never know they can come to us cocky....

whatever the case, we had better go .666 on these three games

Whoa bro change the percentage number LOL.. .665 or .667 will do just fine haha

[Don]

Whoa bro change the percentage number LOL.. .665 or .667 will do just fine haha

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/JANETTE_08_2007/raiders-1.jpg

[Sonny Cheeba]

Candy was telling me that they were clowning on Kiffin at the CTE awards dinner, that basically after big losses, Kiffin would bring in Cable to throw chairs and scream and cuss and shit, and Kiff would just slip through the cracks. I thought that was very telling as to how seriously Tom takes losing and how much desire he has to win.
Well that's a great place to start. For the record I happen to think that RAH RAH LET'S GO OUT THERE AND RAISE HELL type tactics are overrated, perfect example is Herm Edwards. It is much more important to play smart and execute and be discipline, but regardless I still like Cable's approach.

Will I be singing the same tune if we're 2-6 at the midway point? Probably not, but Cable is 100% committed to turning this shit around and fully believes that we can win. You can't ask much more than that. Now let's go out there and get it done.

[Jerseyboy]

I'd love to go 3-0 over those first three games, and If we win the opener than I'm sure as hell its possible. If we lose against the Chargers, chances are we lose either one of or both the other two games. That opening game is the sole most important game this year.

[DutchRaider]

I'm with you Don, Jimi18 already pointed out in the 2009 schedule thread that there's a possibility we could go 5 - 1 against our division rivals. I'm as confident as he is that we can defeat the Broncos and the Chiefs both times coming season but I'm not as sure about the Chargers though I still hope that we can defeat them in the home opener.

[cheapshotartist]

I agree. It's always crucial to get off to a good start and Cable could really put a stamp on this team by charging (no pun intended) out of the gate. It all starts week 1 and Big Tom better be telling the guys that it ain't no fuckin joke, and getting whooped at home by a hated divisional rival is totally unacceptable.

I'm not sold on Cable Buck he talks a lot of sh!t but besides talk what has he really done? He won one more game than Kiffin with a team Kiffin put together. Now that he is head coach what has he done? He already stated that we will run the same defense that Ryan ran which is really Al's defense.Everyone on the planet knows that defense never has worked. If we are going to play man you need a pass rush and we don't have one. Teams have run on our defense for years so what makes anyone think that it won't continue. Our front seven is very weak along with our Safetys. The only bright spot on our defense is our corners. I'm not going to even start on our offense. There is a good chance that we could start the season 0-3 and 0-3 in our division. I'm just being real here I'm not hating on the team but why should I look forward to 2009 when nothing has changed? We signed some offensive linemen and another OC so Russell will be on his 4th OC in three years. The draft will be here soon and If we can fill some of our major holes things may look better. I'm not a Kool aide drinker so all of the talking Cable is doing is just that....talk.
:csa:

[or24]

I wont assume anything. We proved last year we are still not a good team. We can lose to ANYBODY imo. I mean 99% of us had us pinned to beat Detroit 2 years ago and what happened?

Defensively I honestly believe we can be pretty solid with simply good coaching and playcalling. The biggest problem I saw last year was the lack of a consistent pass rush and poor tackling. Burgess is a big name but was inconsistent last year. Watch the season opener against Denver. DBurg was completely shut down by Denver's RT. When we brought in Scott on 3rd down Denver blocked him with TE DANIEL GRAHAM!! Then they doubled both our DT"S.

We slowed down Denver's run game pretty good. We crashed the A and B gaps with Howard or brought R. Brown off the edge to keep their OL from getting to the 2nd level. We contained a pretty good run game. They started to tuen it up in the 2nd half though.

Offensively Dmac and Fargas dominated them. Reminded me of the game against the Jets back around 03 where we ran the ball down the jets throats all game with Tyrone Wheatley. JaMarcus only threw like 5 passes in the 1st half.

There were a lot of close debatable calls that seemed to not go our way that game too. There were a couple bad spots by the officials and a missed holding call when Zach Miller might have scored a TD that cost us 6 points.

And far as KC, as BAD as they were last year how much did we beat them by?? What was it? 10 points total?

Now SD is heads and shoulders better than us imo but of course its always possible we steal one from em. So 5-1 is possible but 3-3 is my call. Its not even draft time yet but if I had to pick based on last year and our pickups as of now thats my decision.

[ROCKET]

I just want these guys to come out and play hard from the jump, week 1.

Put the flashy, trying to look cool shit aside and play football! Last year, all our secondary comes out wearing only black socks....oooooohhhh. WOOOOOW.

BURNT TOAST.

PLAY FOOTBALL AND WIN GAMES...Im sick of the look good losing mentality.

[ROCKET]

I have noticed some peeps are perturbed about our schedule early on, and I'd like to say that I think it is a blessing for the 2009 Raiders, and here's why:

The Chargers on MNF: LT and the Chargers in general have started off their seasons poorly over the last couple years and eventually warmed up and took the West. Beating them at home would catapult our team's confidence, but losing an at least competitive game would not crush our teams start, if we could:

Beat KC at the Arrowhead: Two straight years beating the Chiefs in their house. New GM, New HC with zero experience. Larry Johnson probably gone, they may be trading away Gonzo. New defensive scheme, players will be lost early in the year. The best time to play a team with a new QB, and new schemes is obviously the beginning of the year..See Thigpen 2008

Whoop Broncos at home: So after a humiliating loss in Den to start the 2008 year, lets look at what has changed since: New GM, new HC. Cutler gone. Marshall may be suspended again to start the year. Orton doesnt make anybody pee themselves. New defensive scheme and a bunch of old ass vets to install it.
We came back on these fools and straight up embarrassed them at the Mile high towards the end of the season. No more DeAngelo Hall. We know about Eddie Royal with cheese. We are without Kiffin. We will have an actual semblance of an offensive line.

WE will win 2/3 of those games you can bet on it.:roc:

Agree. Very important to face our D rivals early before they get in a groove with all the new changes. :cheers:

[Tooz72]

We'll see what happens, we got a young team and we've seen how in the recent years these primetime games seem to bring out the ugliness.

How about minimal penalties by the offensive line, and giving the QB time. Also need to get pressure on Rivers from the jump.

[cheapshotartist]

If a defensive player can't tackle by the time he gets to the NFL no amount of coaching is going to help him! I'm just saying.
:csa:

[Padrino]

I love your positivity Don, but I'm not sold. I'm going to let the team play a real game before I give any predictions. God knows we have fallen flat on our faces on national tv too many times to have any confidence what so ever for the opener.

GO RAIDERS!..

[cheapshotartist]

I love your positivity Don, but I'm not sold. I'm going to let the team play a real game before I give any predictions. God knows we have fallen flat on our faces on national tv too many times to have any confidence what so ever for the opener.

GO RAIDERS!..

I hear you Tor talk is cheap and I hate to say it but I've got use to losing. I don't like losing but when we lose I don't get pissed off or drunk I just look at who we have coaching the team and the back ups we have starting and take it with a grin of salt. Our team needs a lot of help but listening to Cable you would think we are a couple of players away from the playoffs. Time will tell!
:csa:

[Padrino]

I hear you Tor talk is cheap and I hate to say it but I've got use to losing. I don't like losing but when we lose I don't get pissed off or drunk I just look at who we have coaching the team and the back ups we have starting and take it with a grin of salt. Our team needs a lot of help but listening to Cable you would think we are a couple of players away from the playoffs. Time will tell!
:csa:

Talk is cheap. I'm going to let the playing speak for itself. No false hope, no expectation's. Just win games and I'll have to believe. Having said that, I'll NEVER get used to losing, CSA. NEVER...

[VaRayder]

We have a VERY favorable schedule... can't complain...

That said we would be lucky to go 7-9

[cheapshotartist]

Talk is cheap. I'm going to let the playing speak for itself. No false hope, no expectation's. Just win games and I'll have to believe. Having said that, I'll NEVER get used to losing, CSA. NEVER...

I know what you saying Tor, losing is a b!tch. :csa:

[cheapshotartist]

^^I'll take it Va. :csa: