Raiders by the numbers: Wistful offseason version

By Os Davis  |   Wednesday, May 07, 2008  |  Comments( 72 )

Oakland Raiders
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans!
What’s a stat monkey to do during the offseason with no runners running, no passers passing and the football universe so disturbingly empty? Look harder! Today, a few numbers for Oakland Raiders backers to keep at their fingertips for those prolonged speculative office discussions on the fate of the silver and black in 2008 …

Zero. Truth to the rumor that Al Davis and company are bringing in St. Louis Rams football operations director Samir Suleiman as a “capologist,” despite reports from “a source within the Rams organization.” For some reason, this story captivated the imagination early this week, but team exec John Herrera quickly quashed the rumors with “I spoke with Al Davis and he's never heard of him … We've got a guy [Tom Delaney] who's doing a good job in that area. As far as a 'capologist,' we've got one and we don't know this guy."

All right, then.

11. As in May 9: The Raiders open rookie minicamp! The Raiders open rookie minicamp!

15. As in Aug. 15, the new date of the preseason game against the Tennessee Titans; earlier in the week, the NFL moved the game from a Thursday night to a Friday night for television purposes.

20. The number Darren McFadden’ll be sporting for the Raiders this season. A great if slightly obscure number, Oakland Raiders Inc. apparently hopes McFadden will follow in the legendary footsteps of the likes of Barry Sanders.

30. The age of Edgerton Hartwell, the linebacker once reckoned to be the salvation of the Baltimore Ravens, now aboard the Raiders ship. No salary numbers vis-à-vis Hartwell’s contract have been released, but surely even freewheeling Al Davis isn’t paying anything near the six-year, $26 million contract Hartwell’s agent Atlanta Falcons back in 2005">connived out of the Atlanta Falcons back in 2005.

47. The number of points Austria’s Swarco Raiders hung up on the Carinthian Black Lions in a five-TD margin of victory in Week 3 of the Austrian Football League. Pretty impressive when considering that the American version of the silver and black hasn’t scored 40 in a game since 2004 and hasn’t topped it since 2002.

XLIII. The goal, the elusive goal ...

130.4 and 164.4. Those are the 2007 Oakland Raiders’ running yards and passing yards per game, respectively. Because we have time before the preseason proper, tell me again what was up with the McFadden selection?

10,580,894. Approximate number of seconds (as of this writing) until the Raiders and Broncos kick it off in Oakland on Sept. 8. We’re ready for some football!
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans! (72)

About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
read more
Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report