BEING A ROOKIE IS COOL

Can you imagine the world of the NFL rookie relating to the world that the average fan inhabits.

You do well at University, you are at a good level with your studies and it looks like you will be able to make a good living at your chosen profession.Then, out of the blue you pull off some brilliant finals results, beating people that were viewed as better students all along.All of a sudden your worth in the marketplace is sky high.

One of the top 32 companies in the world in your chosen profession then gives you a salary that surpasses anything that the top people within that company is earning, or for that matter, has ever earned.This, despite the fact that you rang in on your first day to explain that you were going on holiday for a few weeks, and not to worry because the induction course had given you some idea of what to expect.

You sit with your feet up while the rest of the employees go off on a series of team building weekends and then call to say you will be in on Monday, or maybe Wednesday.When you arrive at work, you get asked to do a tele-conference with the industry media, all the employees tell you how pleased they are to see you, regardless of how much work they've put in to the company for years for a fraction of your wage, and you get employee of the week award.Then you get a few weeks to ease yourself in to your new job, you might have to get some people a coffee in the morning and be the butt of a few workmates jokes for a while, but you can laugh about it on your way to your new home in your new car, while you plan your next shopping trip to the designer mall.Oh and if it turns out that you are shit at your job, its ok because the company has to pay you what your owed.Brilliant!

Just kidding JaMarcus, welcome to the Raiders at long last.If you are as advertised then this last few weeks will be a long and distant memory when you are leading future Raider teams to glory.As I said a few weeks ago the Nation will not forget this quickly, you will have to prove yourself, but even the most sceptical fan will be hoping that you do just that.

NEW RAIDERS...FAMILIAR RESULT

The expectation inside the Coliseum could almost be felt on this side of the pond last night, the Nation was ready, unfortunately so were the Detroit Lions.The end result in the win loss column was the same as opening day last year but the Silver and Black of 2007 offer some light in what has been a very long tunnel of late.
The shut out of the first half was painful to watch, in as much as the Offense were alternating between the good, the bad, and Seabass.This is surely the last year we can put up with the lottery that is a Raiders FG attempt.McCown looked tense and alot of passes seemed to be underthrown, Jordan was , well, Jordan.One good run followed by a run straight into a linemans backside, and Ron Curry was class again.The reaction from the stands was unfortunate for the team in one respect, but understandable considering the frustration.I too was calling for Daunte at halftime, but to be honest the half time numbers showed that as well as the Lions had played on Offense, we were neck and neck and a little more composure on third down here or there could make a big difference.
The second half saw McCown play with more confidence and the drives were well called by Kiffin and to be honest at 21-20 I thought we had the game, we had the momentum and the team was pumped, one stop by the D and that was it in my mind.But Mike Martz was not reading the same script, and the Raiders D never looked like stopping them from scoring, but I was confident that we could mount one last drive to sneak it, because their D had looked tired and the OL had been giving McCown time to throw.
It wasn't to be, but I'll tell you something I never want to see Lamont Jordan turn his back on a block ever again, which is what he did on the play that resulted in the turnover which effectively ended the game.Jordan is not a favourite of mine, but I had seen some good things during the game from him so was prepared to turn over a new leaf with him, but that play summed up why I didn't like him to start with - HALF ARSED ATTITUDE, simple as that.We may not have gone down the field and scored but that non-block was terrible, and I have seen it three times now and it gets worse.
I am still fully IN, and we got beat by a team that were better than most of us expected, but I think that realistically we should be looking for progress this year, and lets face it 7-9 or so would be that, the Kiffin era has just begun and he will be learning with each week and we should remember that.The Chiefs are bad, the Donkeys didn't look particularly great either so divisional respectability is a good possibility.Its onwards and upwards to Donksville, and you never know what any given Sunday will bring.

OAKLAND HERE WE COME.

A mention must go to St. Michael of Hayward this week.Our good freind Mike has been helping us with our ticket buying this year to avoid the usual Ticketmaster lottery.The Texans tickets safely in the bag, Bears tickets to come and the itinary is complete.
Nice one Mike, you know we appreciate everything, and we look forward to the hours of drunken rubbish to be spoken in Ricky's.

HOLY MOSES, ITS THE CUTS...

The round of cuts this week threw up a couple of surprises.Quentin Moses and Kevin Boothe being those couple of surprises.

Moses of course was a third round pick, and although his stock had fallen due to a lack of production in his senior year, he was widely considered a nice pick in the third.Indeed, during camp Captain Caveman Ryan had referred to Moses as a "superstar".This all pointed to what most would think a roster spot and a practise squad place at the very least, in fact we all thought a roster spot was a certainty right?wrong.

Since the Moses cut, the reaction of some of the RAIDER NATION has been nothing short of hysterical.Looking at some message boards you would think that we had cut Burgess or Sapp.The play of Tommy Kelly and Jay Richardson this pre-season, and presumably the ability of both Chris Clemons and Tyler Brayton being able to offer added value on special teams, sealed Moses' fate.The criticism that cutting such a high draft pick shows that someone was at fault in the drafting process, is one that can be tempered with the fact that a No.5 pick in Richardson has looked the real steal.

Boothe was probably, and I say probably as its the best reason that I can come up with, a victim of the new blocking system, and the entirely plausible scenario that has McQuistan, Carlisle, and the newly moved and hopefully invigorated Gallery being a better fit in that system.

The two cuts that had tinges of disappointment here were the ones involving Donivin Darius and Peter, sorry Eric Frampton.Both were hitters but due to injury coupled with age on Darius' part, and maybe a lack of NFL speed and smarts as a DB in the case of Frampton made them expendable.The play of B.J. Ward probably didn't help them either, having a great pre-season and showing a liking for the hit himself.

Zack Crockett wasn't too much of a surprise, when you consider Justin Griffith's abilty and familiarity with the system, not to mention his age, and Oren O'Neal looks like a powerful blocker and is younger still.But good luck to ZC and hopefully he can get picked up somewhere, as he was a popular RAIDER with fans and teamates.

The full list of waived and released players is as follows :

FB Zack Crockett, SS Donovin Darius, TE O.J. Santiago, DT Josh Shaw, OT Chad Slaughter, WR Alvis Whitted
TE James Adkisson, C Jesse Boone, OG Kevin Boothe, LB Kurt Campbell, DB Marquice Cole, S Eric Frampton, WR Carlos Francis, P/K Tyler Fredrickson, DT Anttaj Hawthorne, WR Chris McFoy, DE Quentin Moses, LB Kyle Shotwell, DE Dave Tollefson, OT Mark Wilson.

Practise Squad List :

LB Jon Alston and WR Jonathan Orr,WR Chris McFoy, C Jesse Boone, DT Josh Shaw, DE Dave Tollefson, and OT Mark Wilson.

ROBO QB SELF - DESTRUCTS....AGAIN

The life and times of one Todd Marinovich took a turn for the much worse this week when he was arrested in posession of methamphetamine, hiding in a carport.I remember when the RAIDERS drafted Marinovich, he was touted as a wonderkid, whose father had groomed him for stardom, directing him totally toward life as an NFL quarterback, with little else in the way of a life.At the time it seemed like the RAIDERS were onto a winner, dad Marv had been a RAIDER so it was obvious that we were getting a guy who was destined to wear Silver and Black.Then he got the No.12 jersey and we had a new Snake.
One problem.Todd had developed a commitment to weed and surfing.We all know what happened to his career as a RAIDER, and his present predicament is quite sad .But what is saddest is that the next QB taken in his draft class was Brett Favre.Doh!

PRE-SEASON THOUGHTS...

The Rams game was the first one available in its entirety in good old blighty, so our views on pre-season have remained in check until now.The game on Friday gave a glimpse of what may come this year, and so in no particular order, here are our thoughts as we watched.

Kiffin has to start wearing BLACK on the sideline.

The starting QB has still to be named, but I would be surprised if the depth chart was anything but Culpepper, McCown, Walter.C Pepp looked composed, and is looking healthy, and although McCown also had a good game, Culpepper has that arm.Walter didn't get too much of a chance to shine but I just don't see him starting.

Johnnie Lee Higgins is going to scare the shit out of opposing teams on special teams and as a contributor on Offense.A mention too for Chris Carr who returned well and a mix of Carr/Higgins will keep teams on their toes on every kick and punt return.

Great play from Josh McCown in the third quarter, backed up to our endzone, rolling out and throwing a great pass to Travis Taylor on the sideline, the fade on the pass meant that only Taylor could catch the ball.

LB Ricky Brown impressed with alot of hussle and good tackling and reading the game well.He seems to be making a real push for a backup spot at LB as well as special teams contributions, which Kiffin has maintained all along will be a consideration when handing out roster spots.

Jay Richardson looks like a steal, bouncing off blockers and making plays and getting pressure up front.Moses didn't get too much time in this game but both guys will make the D line better.Terdell Sands looked like the guy that Rob Ryan has been talking about in camp.This could well be the most disruptive line in the Conference.The Rams had to resort to quick hitch passes to avoid the pressure very early on.This bodes well for our secondary who may well have some hurried passes coming their way.

Jerry Porter.Catch the ball a bit more often.Maybe you should start playing for Al Davis after all.It doesn't seem to be doing Ron Curry any harm, that move he made on the TD catch was pure class.But then again that is the difference between Curry and Porter - CLASS.
Mike Williams started well and looks like a monster when he lines up across from those corners.But he too got a bad case of the dropsies.

The main receiving compliment to Ron Curry was from the tight end position.And not from the expected source.I was busy watching Zach Miller all night and he played well enough, but the guy who really caught my eye was John Madsen, he has great soft hands and runs well after the catch.Madsen showed some flashes last year and could well break through this year as a real threat.He and Miller have upgraded this position to a point where it could be one of our strenghts this season.

George Atkinson loved the hit by Eric Frampton in the second half, where the receiver and ball were separated from one another, and so did I.Hopefully he can make the squad and contribute on ST while developing.

The play of the Offense while not being particularly explosive, was night and day from last season.In the first half we had 16 first downs and 209 total yards.If that turns out to be a fair representation of our offensive output this year then I'll take it.Especially when you consider the way in which the Defense kept a truly horrible offense in games last year, if they keep games close again this time we may see those L's tuning into W's.And the Defense must be fired up to see that their efforts this season may actually be rewarded.

It was nice to see a Head Coach smile on the sideline, Lane Kiffin couldn't help himself following the TD throw to Ron Curry.Its a long time since we saw a HC a) Smile and b) Have a clue.

Kirk f@#*#ng Morrison.BOOOOOM.That hit on Leonard was a thing of beauty.

Lamont Jordan once again underwhelmed me.I know he has had a couple of decent-ish showings so far in the pre-season, but I still think that he hits the hole at less than full effort.Hopefully Fargas can step up and offer the change up needed in the backfield as at least he runs hard every play.The loss of Rhodes for those four games may hurt us more than I initially thought.Echemandu could be the surprise guy, again hr runs with heart and finishes off his runs.

The O-Line (except for a couple of collapsed pockets) gave the QB' s time to throw and opened up lanes for the backs.The decision on center seems to be un-resolved with Newberry and Grove sharing the load and coming in and out of the game.I believe that the QB starting position will dictate the center starting guy.Looking at Fridays game I would lean in the direction of a Culpepper/Newberry combination.

Seabass.He still remains an infuriating player.He boomed kicks through the endzone to negate the threat of Dante Hall.He nailed a fifty yard FG with some to spare.And he missed a thirty three yarder, which for him should be a chipshot.With Kiffin's perspective on accountability, this season could well be a defining one for Seabass.

All in all the future looks bright, we may not need shades just yet but the sun is definitely emerging from the stormclouds of last year.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

John Lynch pictured during his post-game interview, following the Denver Broncos loss to the Dallas Cowboys this weekend.Waaaah, they blitzed, waaaah they played serious, waaaah.