Pre Season Week 3 Cardinals@Raiders

[Aeyjay]

NFL Game Center: Game Recap - Arizona Cardinals at Oakland Raiders - 2008 3

OUCH!

It's always darkest before the dawn!

[Aeyjay]

Quick hits from Saturday night’s 24-0 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at McAfee Coliseum:

– A forgettable night was rendered unforgettable for coach Lane Kiffin when the Raiders lost two key players, probably for the season, less than two minutes into the game.

Oren O’Neal was helped off the field with a left knee injury on the opening kickoff and did not return. JaMarcus Russell opened the game with four consecutive pass completions for 37 yards, but the last of those was a 7-yard gain in which Drew Carter fell awkwardly.

Carter, who has three previous knee surgeries while at Ohio State and the Carolina Panthers, was also helped off the field with a left knee injury. Kiffin said Carter’s tear was an anterior cruciate ligament. He wasn’t sure about O’Neal’s, but said, “It doesn’t look good.”

Let’s just say that Kiffin wasn’t exactly Dr. Feelgood when he greeted the media.

“I don’t know if it was a sign or what but I felt our team’s energy died down on the first play when O’Neal went down with an obvious long-term injury,” Kiffin said. “It’s something that most likely will be the whole year. It’s the last thing you want to have happen in a preseason game, especially that early.

“Everybody knows that last thing they want to do is to get hurt. For that to happen right away wasn’t a very good sign. We lost Drew Carter probably for the rest of the year as well later in the game. So not a very good day. That was way more important than the outcome of the game. Nobody remembers these outcomes. They really don’t matter. But we lost two significant parts of what our offense hoped to be so not very good from that perspective.”

– Kiffin didn’t confine his glum assessments to injured players. The passing game he hoped would carry the offense against the Cardinals wasn’t up to the task.

“We weren’t very good. Our pass protection was not very good,” Kiffin said., “It looked like Kwame (Harris) struggled a lot, I’ll see on film. We missed probably at least four blitzes. Guys bounced off guys and came free or we just got beat on them. I was very discouraged. It just kind of reminded me of who we are.”

And then this:

“Unfortunately I think that I saw what I already knew,” Kiffin said. “If we try to just throw the ball around you are going to get penalties, you are going to get your quarterback hit, he is going to start running around a lot, he will be in trouble.”

– Russell’s solid opening drive, which was short-circuited by the first of four Cardinals sacks, gave way to an uneven performance which wasn’t helped by the fact that Kiffin announced his intention to virtually abandon the run and concentrate on passing.

It was almost as if Kiffin was out to prove to anyone with a pair of eyes why complaints about opening up the offense were off base.

“The thing about the running game is it’s not the type of running game you can just run a couple times and things are going to break,” Kiffin said. “It’s a running game that wears on people. Looking at our stats from last year we continued to improve as the games went along. We weren’t very good in the first quarter. That’s the system. You’ve got to wear them down, get them on the ground, get them tired. When you are throwing it around you are not getting that. You are not getting the defensive line tired. We have to go back to the way we were before.”

– If Kiffin’s plan put Russell in an impossible position, he didn’t seem to mind.

“It was just what coach wanted,” Russell said. “No matter what the down and distance was, we was out there throwing the ball, and it was pretty fun. But at the same time, the running game will help out.”

Fullback Justin Griffith said the Raiders were doing what teams do in the preseason _ experimenting.

“I think in preseason you tend to try some things,” Kiffin said. “ You go out there and try stuff. That’s what preseason is for. Everybody saw what we did the first two preseason games, running the ball.”

– If Carter is indeed gone for the year, the Raiders at least have reason to be more optimistic about Javon Walker. Walker caught four passes for 60 yards and on his first catch was an ankle tackle from Roderick Hood from a 64-yard touchdown.

“I know what type of player I am. When I’m in the zone I feel like I can’t be stopped,” Walker said. “That’s the only thing you can think of and motivate yourself to play. So to get out there and get some opportunities catching the ball going into the regular season feels good. I know what I can do, and I know what I can bring to the table. So hopefully this team will win, and I’m looking forward to that.”

While Walker bristles at the suggestion that he had a crisis of confidence, Kiffin isn’t so sure.

“Even though (Walker) has had two big seasons throughout, his career confidence can get shaken and so having no catches coming into this game, watching him catch a couple balls, he looked more confident this game than in a long time,” Kiffin said.

– Kiffin said he felt good about the Raiders run defense, although it’s worth nothing that when the Cardinals tore through Oakland in the third quarter for a 13-yard scoring run by Tim Hightower and an all-too-familiar 67-yard burst by J.J. Arrington, frontline defenders Tommy Kelly, Gerard Warren, Kirk Morrison and Thomas Howard were still on the field.

“The four were still in there, but the way I look at it is we lost force (on Arrington’s run),” Kiffin said. “Stanford Routt let the ball get outside him.”

– Kiffin wisely didn’t revisit the roster issue directly, but you could still read between the lines regarding the Raiders’ lack of depth.

“I was not very happy with our backups as far as our effort and execution we played with,” Kiffin said.

– The loss of O’Neal should have the Raiders checking the waiver wire when teams cut rosters in each of the next two weeks, but it may be tough to find an adequate replacement.

“That’s a big deal right there,” Kiffin said. “There are a number of games last year he played even more for us than Justin. He’s a guy when we run the ball and he is in there play after play, he brings a physical attitude, and he’s very good on special teams as well.”

Said Griffith: “He represents what we’re all about, a hard worker and when he’ s on the field he makes the best of every opportunity. Just to see him go down, man, me, personally, I hate it. Fullbacks tend to hang tighter. There ain’t a lot of good fullbacks in the league and he was one of ‘em. Hopefully he bounce back from this. To me, he’s a Pro Bowler in the making.”

– Safety Jarrod Cooper conceded it was tough to see two players helped off the field in the first two minutes.

“The first thing the players think when they see that is, `The preseason is too long,’ ” Cooper said.

– With a 29.3 average on three kickoff returns with a long of 31 yards and one punt return for all of seven yards, Johnnie Lee Higgins seemingly assured himself the job as Raiders return specialist simply because he held on to the ball.

– When the Raiders did run, they persisted in sending Darren McFadden up the middle. He gained 40 yards on 12 carries running into the heart of the Arizona defense, and common sense suggests they’re saving a few opportunities to spring him outside for Sept. 8.

– The good news for the Raiders _ at least they didn’t draft Matt Leinart in 2005. Leinart was 4-for-12 for 24 yards, threw three interceptions. The Raiders deserve partial credit for flummoxing the left-hander, but in truth Leinart brought a lot of the misery on himself.

The interceptions were by Stanford Routt, Michael Huff and Rashad Baker. Huff’s came on a classic center field, free safety break on a depe ball. Routt and Baker were delivered gifts.

Leinart wasn’t the equal of Kurt Warner, who could end up the regular-season starter. He wasn’t even the equal of Brian St. Pierre, who smartly guided the Cardinals against mostly Raiders reserves in the third quarter.

Who coached Leinart in college, anyway?

[R8RMR]

The loss of O'Neal will be felt more so than Carter and a replacement more difficult to find. The fact that Walker has started catching the ball is a hopefull sign. As an experiment, this game came up as a big negative. But at least it is only the pre-season and there is still the opportunity to come up with a game plan that will provide us with some wins during the regular season.

The next game should merely be the culmuination of the selection process for those who will be cut.

[Aeyjay]

I get the feeling Kiffin was just showing how bad we are to lull oppenants into a false sense of security and also to dampen down the hype that we will be playoff bound. Also to keep Al off his back with the throw it deep mantra.

A mans always got to know his limitations as one bay area police detective always said.

[R8RMR]

I hope that you are right but Al will still a deep threat.

[draft jedi]

Notes on the defence from Saturday, if any thing else does get posted I will copy for you all. Remember this is writen by a 3rd party. Speedkills who recides on nfl forums if any one does want to thank him.

 Yesterday, 09:38 PM 
speedkills21 
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 Notes vs AZ: D

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1. On D, Ryan used the exact same 11 men (except for Hall/Routt) vs AZ's first 13 plays, halfway into the Cards' 3rd possession. Regardless of down and distance, field position, etc. However, DC moved his 11 around a great deal. Thomas played 3 of his first 6 downs at Mike, with Mo at Sam. Sorta. (Sam and Will are becoming obsolete terms). Ho's sposed to be Will, but fast #53 faced over TE 5 times. Three of those saw Ho, really, at CB, widest guy on D.

2. Using the same 11, Ryan ran 3-4 vs AZ 3 straight plays inside our 10, 1st down, 2nd and 3rd. Burg played 3-4 OLB, hand off the ground, standing up. On both passes down there, #56 dropped into coverage. AZ kicked its FG.

3. Thomas played 13 downs vs AZ, 3 at Mike, 3 times at scrimmage, outside DE, strong side each time. Ricky Brown then the got the next 16 tries at "Sam." Twice RB stacked over TE. While 5 times RB was ON scrimmage, hand up, stacked outside DE---ON THE SIDE OF THE FIELD OPPOSITE TE.

4. What's going on here is---Ryan intends to cover TE's, at least some times, with Will, ie Ho. Keep reading.

5. All of the above, then, pertains to AZ's first 8 possessions, Mo AND Ho on the field every play of AZ's first 8 drives, 37 downs. Those 8 possessions went: 3 yards/Huff int. 47 yards/FG. -9 yards/punt. +11/Routt. -1/Baker. +21/punt. HALFTIME. Indeed, the play before Baker's pick saw Kelly force a fumble with a massive run stuff.

6. Mo and Ho, therefore, were on the field both those awful TD drives with which AZ began H2: 68 yards to Hightower's 13 yard score, a draw. And 2 plays, the 2nd being Arrington's 67 yard humiliation.

7. The only "big play" given up by D in all H1 was one: Boldin beat Routt on a slant on 3rd and one.

8. The 68 yard drive to Hightower began with Kelly's PF. Then, Boldin +24 (Waddell slipped). When Waddell collapsed trying to jam the stud, FS Baker (who's only playing cuz Eugene's out) came over fine, excellent over-the-top, arrival, and a big blast of Boldin. But Baker hurt himself in the doing.

9. Thus, Ryan played Jarrod Cooper at SS the rest of the nite, moving 1-handed Branch from SS to FS to take over for Baker, for Eugene.

10. And THIS more than anything told the tale of Raider D in H2: Jarrod Cooper.

11. After Boldin's +24, Hightower banged over LT for +21 to our 18. Ricky Brown, stacked at play's front, got sealed. Cooper in space, an arm grab, feeble, at +6. And 1-armed Branch took 8 yards to get the rookie down.

12. Hightower's TD: 2nd and 5 on the 13. Spread. 4 WR's. Ho at CB. Shotgun. Draw over RG. Spread us out and draw. Vs 3-4-4. Kelly, Warren, Richardson. NT Warren got driven 3 yards by C and LG, he needs to die in the hole. Mo, from deep, steps up well to support NT, boom, there's LG. Ho goes past a little. Coop late from the side, gets dragged in. Who: Warren, Mo.

13. Arrington's 67 yarder: Sweep R, pitch, Mo's crowded up between Warren and Scott, a yard off LG---this is what happened, we got caught wrong. Pitch goes wide. Stacked strong LB RB takes out wing in front, good. Richardson walled by TE, timing. Ho, good angle, gets canned by pulling G---it might be ok of G is taken out, but no, he shields Coop, who has bad angle. Warren excellent penetration, unfortunately away. Who: Richardson, Ho, Coop, Branch (FS).

14. Ryan began the nite using the exact 11 and moving them around a lot. 13 plays vs AZ: Burg, Warren, Kelly, Richardson. Thomas, Mo, Ho. Hall/Routt, Nam, Wilson, Huff. Hall played 2 downs, covered the bomb to Fitzgerald which Huff picked off his draft-rival Leinart. Hall had A+ coverage on the bomb---until ballplay---at which point Fitz, with R arm sticking out, somehow got Hall on his face. Bad pass.

15. The same 11 for 13 plays. The 14th was 2nd and 20, after Wilson got held by TE #82. First D off the bench (very revealing): DE Scott for #98, CJ in for Routt who slides to Nickel, benching Thomas. Scott was the 12th and last DL to play last week vs TN. Week 3, he's not just 5th DL, he's 12th D.

16. Play #15 was 3rd and 19. D went 3-2-6: Burg, Warren, Kelly. Mo and Ho. CJ, Nam, Routt, Baker, Wilson and Huff. THE ONLY ZONE I SAW ALL NITE.

17. As Ryan began the game with set pieces he kept shuffling, so he used in H2: Spires, Joseph, Sands, Scott. Williams, RB (at Mike), Alston. Waddell, CJ, Coop and the FS with the cast. The point: I saw Sam Wms at CB. DE Scott MANNED over slot WR, not dropping into zone blitz, like Sapp often did.

18. It's true. On Hightower's 13 yard TD, Ryan went 3-4, used Scott like Burg. When slot WR flared into R flat, Scott obediantly followed, perfectly over-the-top as the pair exited TV-screen right.

19. The other big plays yielded by D, all H2: Bourbon +22 (beat CB Brown). Vincent +25 on a draw---Wms missed bad in the hole at -2, ruining a gorgeous fill, wrecking a great penetrate by Joseph. Spires has rubber legs, why, it's his 3rd play? Hit once by RT #94 goes gimping back 5 yards, opening a big lane. Coop held/beat in the hole at +2. Who: Wms, Spires, Coop.

20. A screen to FB in Q4 gained 13 on 3rd and 10, beating CJ and RB, both blocked by backup OL's in space, 2 fine screens.

21. 13 yard TD to TE Pope: Either they're in zone, which I'm pretty sure they're not. Or---Alston's sposed to jump TE like Ho would. This is weird fare for "Will." #47 instead jumps FB, very well. But no one covers TE. If zone, RB's lost underneath, and Branch and Coop are late. Who: Alston, Branch.

22. Long +16. Who: Coop.

23. Cornelius +13 on 3rd and 10: CJ.

24. DT Shaw played only the last 3 plays of the game, not a good sign.

25. D thru Q4---Spires, Joseph, Sands, Edwards. Wms (or Waddell), Ek, Archuleta. Waddell (or Brown), CJ, Coop, Branch.

26. The Raiders played only 2 guys at Nickel all nite vs AZ: Routt and Waddell.
 
 

[R8RMR]

Thanks for that jonesy.

[draft jedi]

Here's the O

08-25-2008, 09:04 PM 
speedkills21 
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 Notes vs AZ: O

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1. Team Captains---Wilson, Wakefield, Williams.

2. 1st KOR (could be revealing)---Elling, JLH, Grif, ON, Wakefield, Wade, Mq, Ek, RB, Wms, Alston. Asleep vs OSK!

3. 1st P team---Pak, Condo, Ek, Alston, Madsen, Wms, CJ, Thomas, RB, Coop and ?

4. PR: JLH, Stew, Baker, RB, Coop, Alston, Wms...

5. On Routt's int, Warren was wrapped around the belly by LG. Scott was borderline held by LT.

6. Carlysle's hold in Q2 didn't show up on TV. He was beat tho. RT Green was either holding, or close, on the play. And the next play, for sure, Green, R arm crooked all the way across DE's chest more than a second.

7. Kif's 1 for 10 on 4th down this year.

8. Opened the game empty backfield---Fargas and Grif in slots---threw to Miller. Later, McFad and Grif emptied, and Russell ran a draw, for +1.

9. Situation was first and goal on the 10. You know how everything changes down there, how it's a whole new world, really, a new O plan, new D's... Kif often, up to half the time, will throw quick to the FB on his first first down in that area.

10. As Cooper at SS particularly distinguished himself with an awful evening, so on the other side, unfortunately, did LT Harris. Particularly in the run game. Particularly vs speed, #94 mostly, whoever he is. Barry Sims rarely played so bad. #77's first SEVEN run blocks were whiffs. Don't panic, he's played pretty well up to now, there's much there to work with. But work, clearly, is called for.

11. As DE Scott got treated to a little special time with the 1's, so was RT Wakefield elevated, played the first 2 series of H2 with Harris, Gallery, et al.

12. TE Miller's worst game as a Raider.

13. Sack #1: 6 rushers vs 7 blockers, who: Grif. Sack #2: 5 vs 5, who: Green. Sack #3: 4 vs 5, Harris and Green. Sack #4: 5 vs 5, Harris, Grove, Wakefield. Sack #5: 5 vs 6, Carlysle.

14. Walker's +24 came :05 before HT.

15. OL's Report Card vs AZ (plus-zero-minus):

Harris run: 2-1-8, pass: 11-10-14 (net -9)
Gallery run: 4-2-5, pass: 10-21-4 (net +5)
Grove run: 8-0-3, pass: 7-20-8 (+4)
Carlysle run: 6-2-3, pass: 10-11-14 (-1)
Green run: 2-5-3, pass: 6-10-12 (-7)
Wakefield run: 2-1-2, pass: 3-4-5 (-2)
Henderson run: 2-2-0, pass: 1-2-2 (-1)
McQuistan run: 3-0-1, pass: 1-4-0 (+3)
Wade run: 1-3-0, pass: 0-5-0 (+1)
Morris run: 2-1-1, pass: 3-2-0 (+4)
Fargas pass: 5-0-0 (+5)
Griffith run: 3-0-3, pass: 2-2-1 (+1)
Miller run: 3-3-5, pass: 1-2-3 (-4)
McFadden pass: 2-1-0 (+2)
Madsen run: 1-1-2 (-1)
Stewart run: 1-0-2 (-1)
Bush pass: 2-0-0 (+2)
Reece run: 0-1-2 (-2)

16. Kif used 1 WR 4 plays (Curry 3 of those, Walker once). 2 WR's: 23 plays. 3 WR's: 18. 4 WR's thrice, from L to R: JLH, Schillens, Curry, Walker. JLH, Curry, Watkins, Walker. And Watkins, Schillens, Curry, Walker.

17. Walker: 16 plays split L, 22 split R
Carter: 2 L, 2 R
Curry: 8 L, 12 slot L, 21 slot R, 6 R
Schillens: 3 L, 2 slot L, 1 slot R, 7 R
JLH: 5, 1, 1, 3
Watkins: 11, 2, 1, 12
McFoy: 1 L
Holland: 3 L, 1 slot R, 1 R

18. I was actually surprised to see the youngsters see any slot time, but you can see that all of em, Schillens, Higgins and Watkins, played the great majority of their plays on the outside. Curry NOT ONCE lined up wide of a WR, not even wide of Madsen. When Curry's lined up wide, we're in 2 WR's. When the youngsters come in, they're then gonna have to be Curry, who's really just being Carter. That is---Curry's gonna have to do 2 jobs now, starter (Carter) and #3 WR (Curry). When the youngsters come in, they will not go to #3, they'll go to #2, and Curry will play slot/nickel/#3, whatever you wanna call it. You can see that Kif has given the kiddies a couple slot plays each to learn and memorize, in addition to the WR duties they're so busily trying to master

19. So I did spend quite a bit of time following WR's around and seeing where they line up when they break huddle. Watching film, man---you grab any clues you can (gloves). You bigtime in time learn to recognize their body mass/shapes on TV. By the end of last year I could identify a DL without even seeing his jersey #, maybe 90% of the time. My point---I have a feel for who these guys are, a glimmer, especially Watkins and Schillens. And Walker. As of now, that is, where they are right now, the kids, I mean.

20. Watkins appeared on film, how do I say this, squat, boxy, limited in reach, short armed, very hard working, too hard working, pumping lots of rpm's but not covering as much ground as you'd think. I'm speaking too soon, here, but I saw it. I'm also pretty sure his fluency, shall we call it, with this O is very very raw.

21. Schillens. Same thing on the raw bit. Very very. These guys are absolutely not ready, Kif can hardly put them on the field, they're likely to end up in the stands selling popcorn... Schillens shows more what you wanna see on tape. He's longer. Physically he is more impressive. He had a bad nite. He definitely wants it. He might be a keeper.

22. Walker's legs are stiff. On film. He is not explosive. He is tall. He protects his legs. He does not drive with em, not like you want. He does not cut on em, he breaks down. I've seen him stop his feet. I am super super super worried about the HEALTH of his legs. What I saw in Walker's legs is exactly what I saw in DE Spires, but nowhere near as bad. It's the way you and I would go about trying to play, a little gimpy. Not young.
 

[R8RMR]

Thanks again jonesy. Still too many negatives!