Mini review of the season

[psj3809]

Well despite a good preseason i was pretty nervous, more so when Bush went down injured late in August as i wasnt sure about McFadden (To be honest i'm sure none of us were).

Think its been a great year, some crappy losses but also some great wins, need to be more consistent.  Badly need a WR to step up.

Good points - 'might' have found our LT finally, McFadden bursting out, some young defensive talent.

Wk 1 - Titans - Had such high hopes and it was depressing to see how bad our o-line was, McFadden showed what was to come all year.  But a poor loss

Wk 2 - Rams - Terrible first half by Campbell, Gradkowski ignited us but a very close loss, McFadden again got us excited

Wk 3 - Arizona - God i hated this game, Jano caused me to pull my hair out, didnt we have 1st and goal and Grads messed up.  Terrible loss, should have won this easily.

Wk 4 - Houston - Think this was the game where people realised Gradkowski wasnt some saviour.  Usual problems, couldnt stop the run.

Wk 5 - San Diego - HUGE game, big turning point was the Huff hit and the Branch return of the fumble.  Really thought we were going to lose this.

Wk 6 - 49ers - Just shocking how bad we were, was certain we were going to win this, so flat, just dire on offense. Ugly ugly ugly.

Wk 7 - Denver - Now this was brilliant, just such a huge win, wasnt it 31-0 after about 12 minutes ?  Just crazy. So good to hear that silence in Denver.

Wk 8 - Seattle - Great to win two in a row, this game i could enjoy it early on as it was an easy win at home

Wk 9 - Kansas City - This was our 'mini Superbowl', 3 in a row and such a great game.  The 4th down pass to Ford to help set up the tying FG, then the bomb in OT and soon after the win.  One of the best i've seen in years, such a huge game

Wk 10 - Pittsburgh - Then after the bye week comes the huge letdown.  Poor performance here in all areas, depressing.

Wk 11 - Miami - Gutted we lost this, Pittsburgh i thought we would lose but this game i thought we had a great chance to but were dire.

Wk 12 - San Diego - Then we go away to San Diego and win this in a pretty easy win with one of the best play fakes in years. 

Wk 13 - Jacksonville - Biggest game of the year, we had our chances, 24-14 in the 3Q, we had the ball but had to punt.  Soon after the Jags got a stupid long touchdown on a 3rd down run.  31 second half points the Jags scored, so frustrating, season over.

Wk 14 - Denver - So glad we won this, in years gone by we would have collasped in the second half but we came back strong after a poor start and won a good one.

Wk 15 - Indy - Didnt think we would win this, had some chances but our defense just couldnt stop the pass or run and Campbell went dink and dunk.  Shame

Wk 16 - Kansas City - Great win away in KC, showed what we could do.  When our o-line plays well and opens up holes for the rushing game then its obviously easier for our QB.  If we get stuffed (Miami with the run) then it'll be a long day.  Great win.

Well 8-8 is good, such a shame as Arizona/49ers were terrible losses but we did win some games we perhaps should have lost (SD/KC) so its probably fair.

So much better than a crappy 4-12 team.  Can wait till next year

[Vann_Mcelroy]

Not a bad review, when Al looks at that, its upto him to decide if its glass  half full or empty.

really should have won at least one of the jax/sf/zona/texans games

miami and indy  and pitt beat us down easy, we ere never really in those.
In truth , if it wasnt for Ford and some kick returns a couple of those games are not even as close as we would like to think they are.

Someone on iba posted next years teams, I think its a 10-6 team with better playcalling and a better line.

Miami,cleveland and  Bills  and vikes should be 7 home wins in total. we would need to go 3-5 on the road to be 10-6

Pats,Jets and bears are games that we currently cant win on the road under Cable, al just want to improve the team

Raiders Schedule:

Home-Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Bills, Dolphins, Browns, Packers, Vikings

Away- Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Patriots, Jets, Texans, Bears, Lions

[R8RMR]

Whilst I realise that divisional rivalry and the passions involved in some match ups cannot be discounted as a factor in the way that teams approach and play some games, as professionals, should they not be able to produce the same type of performance against opposition from other divisions and conference. To be able to produce a clean sweep within the division and only be able to win 2 games outside it could be seen as criminal. Especially as two of the teams in the conference were quite highly rated.

Besides, with the number of new and younger players on the roster, how would they know, other than by hearsay, of how big a deal these games are?  Yes, I appreciate that there are plenty of rivalries within the college ranks. But there is a greater consistency in the way they play whether it is a inter conference game or not.

The great mystery about this season is the total lack of consistency shown again, from one game to the next. Especially when you see some of the great games that they did play. Yes they won three in a row but two of them were against divisional rivals.

Don't get me wrong if they had offered  me an 8-8 season before it started I personally would have grabbed it with both hands. And I'm really hyped that they have at last got that losing season monkey off their backs. But I still feel that it could have been so much better.

However, the future does look much brighter. The coaching staff and the players are doing a better job and with a years more experience, the signs are good that it will continue next season.

Can't wait to see what happens in the draft and free agency.

[psj3809]

Yep agree, the inconsitency this season really was awful.  I mean after the bye week, we're 5-4, been talking a great game all week and then lay an egg against the Steelers.

The worst was the 49ers, i think every player (and fan) thought it was a win 100%, we were just awful that game, just terrible.

Same for the season opener, preseason was decent, late move for Veldheer at C which obviously didnt pan out, thank god his confidence wasnt totally shot and the move to LT worked out.  Terrible game against the Titans, line was a complete mess.

Like you say i would have taken 8-8 straight away back in August though.  The draft was brilliant, Jason Campbell played well, yeah hes not some All Pro guy but he can steady the ship for now and i hope we can draft a young QB and finally develop a QB in Oakland, not happened in about 30 years.

[Welsh Raider]

Imo the season was really lost with Gradkowski at the helm.

That Arizona game was terrible. You can blame Jano and his missed field goals, BUT we should have been scoring TD's. Our drives simply ran out of the steam. And yes we PSJ we did have a chance late in the game where we had 1st down on about the 4 yard line, and failed to convert.

The Texans game, how we could throw against the leagues worst pass defense(ever) is beyond me. Yes their run game killed us, but even so the Texans arent a great team.

The 49ers game, We just ran flat after DMAC got injured, the play calling was great Campbell was worse. Overall his worse game for us.

The Dolphins game. We totally blew this game. The QB situation was a mess, how Gradkowski ever started this game is beyond me. He's a very very poor QB. Enthusiam apart what attributes does h have better that JC?

The Jacksonville game. It was there for the taking but turnovers killed us. I didnt mind so much as it was players who had won us games earlier in the season.

With the Cardinals 49ers and Dolphin games we should have been in the playoffs.

[psj3809]

And yes we PSJ we did have a chance late in the game where we had 1st down on about the 4 yard line, and failed to convert.

Exactly, thats what was worse for me, failing to get a td than those missed FG's

Its like people who criticise the tuck rule, yeah its a bad rule but we lost that Patriots game by going conservative and Roland Williams dropping an easy pass for a first down and Zack Crockett simply not getting a yard.  Get either of those and its a win and no controversy.

I dont blame the tuck rule, i blame conservative playcalling in that game and those two key plays above.