First Place Baby!

 

Our Oakland Raiders are in first place of the AFC West and how sweet it is. Stellar play on the offensive line, by Carson Palmer and Michael Bush along with our entire Defense took a hard won victory from the Chargers in classic Raider Fashion! Being a Bully!

The biggest stat of the day, in my opinion, was Michael Bushs' 30 carries for 157 yards, gashing the chargers as he ran through tremendous holes opened up by a newly formed offensive line. With Samson Satele out this week from an injury sustained in the Denver Game, rookie Stefen Wisniewski stepped in with StephonHeyer to shore up that center of the offensive line and parted the blue sea of Charger jerseys. He ran with finesse when needed and lowered the boom at other times. He also added another 3 catches for 85 yards on screen passes, which caught the gaping Chargers defense off guard and kept long drives going for the opportunistic Raiders Offense.

Carson Palmer was also key to this victory. Following up on his first 300 yard performance against Denver, Carson came out blazing, building on the chemistry with rookie Denarius Moore and throwing 14-20 and 299 yards with 2 touchdowns and one pick that should not have happened had Bush picked up the blitzing line backer in the 4th quarter. Carson read that play perfectly in a repeat opportunity similar to the play that Jacoby Ford caught against Denver for the touchdown against the sideline of the Black Hole end zone in the O.Co. Palmer also continued to keep the defense on their toes, distributing the ball to 6 different receivers in the game.

Not to forget, the defense came up huge in this game for us, with Kamerion Wimbley getting 4 sacks, another from Tommy Kelly and yet another from Desmond Bryant. He was pressured all night and could not find his groove with his banged up wide receiver corp, and miscommunication seemed to be the effect of the tough Bully play of the front 7. That was clearly obvious in the interception that Matt Giordano had in the end zone against Vincent Jackson, who did not appear to even anticipate the throw coming his way.

Team Stat Comparison

	Oak	SD
1st Downs	20	20
Passing 1st downs	11	13
Rushing 1st downs	8	5
1st downs from Penalties	1	2
3rd down efficiency	4-10	5-16
4th down efficiency	0-1	1-1
Total Plays	63	68
Total Yards	489	314
Passing	298	239
Comp-Att	14-21	23-47
Yards per pass	14.2	5.1
Rushing	191	75
Rushing Attempts	41	15
Yards per rush	4.7	5.0
Red Zone (Made-Att)	1-3	1-2
Penalties	7-45	6-31
Turnovers	2	2
Fumbles lost	1	1
Interceptions thrown	1	1
Defensive / Special Teams TDs	0	0
Possession	32:37	27:23

 

 

As you can see, the Raiders dominated in many categories and many more wont be shown by stats. True to form, the Raiders are on their way to Being The Bully we have been promised by Hue Jackson, and the Carson Palmer trade, as I have always said, was the best move of the year so far.


Leave me your comments and feedback below after reading. Let me know who you thought stood out more the others. Who was your MVP? Who was your most improved player or group?

Exciting news coming to Chaotic View in the next blog. Stay tuned!

Chaotic View

  

The Great Schilens Debate

As the bye week gets into full effect, the Oakland Raiders are looking to improve on the overall health of the team with many key positions. You have Nnamdi with the ankle, Henderson with the foot, Miller with the foot, and the most anticipated and oft injured Chaz Schilens and the knee, or is it knees? Or is it a foot? Or is it.......oh God I give up.

Lets get into who this notorious WR is that seems to be on the Al Davis scholarship.

Chazeray "Chaz" Schilens  is a 25 year old 6'4", 225 WR, with similar physical stature to Vincent Jackson of the San Diego Super Chokers. Schilens was a seventh-round pick out of San Diego State in 2008. His contract was signed on 7/17/2008 for four-years @ $1.755 million. The deal included a $50,000 signing bonus.

His yearly salary will be 2010: $470,000, 2011: $555,000, 2012: Free Agent.

After being drafted by the Raiders, Schilens played his first game against  the Denver Broncos where he caught two passes for 29 yards. Schilens got his first taste as a starter on October 19, 2009  vs. the New York Jets. In his first year, Schilens played in all 16 games, six of those as a starter. See his 2008 stat line below.

Schilens finally made his 2009 debut in a game against the Chiefs in Week 10 where he had 3 Rec. for 27 yards in a 16-10 loss. Schilens finished out the month of November with 7 Rec. for 100 yards, and bettered in December with 14 Rec. for 166 yards and two touchdowns. In the final game of the 2009 season against the Baltimore Ravens, Schilens hauled in eight passes for 99 yards, a career high, and the Raider Nation fell in love!

Here is his Career stat line:

2008

15 Rec. 226 Yards 2 TD's

2009

29 Rec. 365 Yards 2 TD's

Injuries

On August 18, 2009, Chaz broke the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot in a non-contact drill during an intra squad scrimmage against the 49ers and he subsequently missed half of the ’09 season. Upon his return, he had 29 catches for 365 yards and two touchdowns, but needed another operation after the season to help the foot fully heal.

During the pre season of 2010, the Raiders had high expectations of their wide receiver corps, with a returning Chaz playing the 1, DHB playing the 2 and Louis Murphy at the 3. That was until August of this preseason, when we found out the Schilens injured his foot during practice. When head coach Tom Cable was interviewed about the injury, he said it was that Chaz was just just pushing a little too much and hurt his foot again. They took it easy on him and upon his return to practice and two a days, the injury bug bit again when Chaz injured his knee. Cable said the knee injury was likely a result of overcompensating for the foot injury and he underwent a "minor procedure" to clean up the knee.

After week upon week of pressing questions and the press asking Cable about the injury and rehab, it was finally acknowledged that Chaz Schilens' August knee surgery wasn't just a simple scope as he originally led us to believe.

"I think the procedure that was done was not something real minor or anything like that," said Cable "It was fairly extensive, so it takes time."

Damn I hate a liar.

"He is on the field working now," coach Cable said in a week 5 interview. "There's no running, nothing quick twitch. (We're) just trying to get him back on his feet."

I mean come on, Schilens was only expected to miss 3-6 weeks after undergoing the knee surgery. Can someone say scholarship?

Our Achilles hell this year has been the wide receiver position. DHB sat out of the 3rd scrimmage game with what was called "fatigue" after a promising pre season and has been more then inconsistent during the first 9 games of the season. Louis Murphy has been a little more consistent during the season, but has been slowed by a collar bone injury he sustained against San Diego and a bruised lung that has kept him out since the San Francisco game. Without the unsung hero, Jacoby Ford who singlehandedly willed the Raiders in the win at home against Kansas City, its safe to say this wide receiver corp has been a huge disappointment.

Back to Chaz....what is it about this guy that is so amazing that the Raiders are wasting a roster spot to keep this guy on the payroll? Terrel Owens was available, and we passed. Michael Crayton was available, and went to the Chokers. Hell even Randy Moss was a free agent and we could have placed a waiver claim on him, but we passed.

So I did a little homework and found this highlight video of Chaz. Yes, you heard it right, a highlight video of Chaz.

To be quite honest with you, I am tired of waiting for this guy, as promising as he may be. Let me know what you think. Your comments and opinions are important!

As always, just a

Chaotic View

Seeing Is Believing - Offense

The yards are coming in chunks. The Oakland Raiders are finally doing what we have always expected they could, maintain possession of the ball on offense and gaining first downs. What do the stats mean? Let's take a deeper look.

Hue Jackson has implemented what I believe is the best formation packages we have seen since the Gruden era, where the Raiders had one of the top rated offenses in the league. After 7 weeks into the 2010 season, this team has mixed and matched players on the offensive line, at wide receiver, running back and everyone knows the quarterback situation. Even with all of that change, they have still managed to be ranked 14th overall in the league with 340 yards per game gained, 3rd in the NFL in rushing with 158.4 yards per game, 25th best in passing with 182 yards per game and 1274 yards gained this year and 5th overall with 25.6 points per game scored.

Well you ask, what difference does this all mean to us winning football games? I mean come on, San Diego Super Chokers have the number 1 offense in the league, yet their 2-5. Ahhhhh, the kicker, special teams.

No but really, the Raiders have one thing going for them that has put us in the win column 3 times this year so far, and its called Time of possession with the Raiders averaging 31:40 per game.

The long and short of it all is this, maintain possession, keep the defense off the field, that means the oppositions offense isn't on the field and guess what, they can't score points. Wow, what a concept that's equates to W's on the field.

Just Hang On To The Ball Baby!

Next Up, Seeing Is Believing - Defense.

Chaotic View

The Trap!

After a huge win against a Divisional team, what's the first thing our Raiders do? They take an extra day off. For many of the players, its a well needed break from the long season, even if it is just for a day. They can do the things that you and I do, live a normal life. Some make their way into the weight room, some seek out treatment, while others kick their feet up and watch a little TV and rest their bumps and bruises.

So I asked myself, what do champions do after a big victory? Well, just because I strive to be the best at everything I do I can say that there are no breaks if you want to compete on a high level. There are no breaks if you want to be champs.

So where is the trap in this mindset for our Raiders? Well simply put, they get too relaxed. They accept that they won and think its just going to happen next week the same way it did Sunday. Sorry to break it to you boys, but the Seattle Sea Chickens are coming to town carrying the NFC West Division lead (4-2) into our house and they're not going to just roll over and hand us a victory.

This week has to be the difference in this year if we expect to become a playoff contender. My challenge more so to this team is directed at these coaches. Tom Cable in particular. We haven't done anything yet Tom. I expect that you are going to slam these men for the mistakes we made during the last game. False starts, illegal motion, missed catches, miss alignments on defense and yards left on the field shows you there are things that can be fixed. But more importantly, I want you to pound their psyche. I want you grabbing their face masks during practice when they drop a ball. I want you having them working on fumble drills. I want you to put an emphasis on the Red Zone again this week. TD's not field goals! They should be so damn angry from practice that they come out and kick the crap out of the Sea Chickens. Here is an idea, before the game, show them the loss to the Niners. A full cut up of the disappointment. Show them the loss to Tennessee and how we allowed a team to pound on us. Show them the loss to the Texans and how they gashed our run defense over and over and over again. Then follow it up with the Victory over the Chokers. Show them the video from this last weekend against the Donkos. Show them how we kicked the crap out of them and then say this phrase to them:

"DON'T TALK ABOUT IT,  BE ABOUT IT!"

These players can not be given a free pass to have an easy week of practice. Last time I looked at our record, we're still 3-4.

So I say to you Tom, if you expect the Nation to fill the stadium, prove what you say on the field. Prove that the team is moving forward and another let down isn't on the horizon. I love my team as do all Raider Fans, but I trust you further then I can throw Richard Seymore. Not far.

Ill take a quote from Field of Dreams, "If you win, they will come"

Just Win Baby!

Chaotic View