Psst … anyone notice Grove’s gonna start?

By Os Davis  |   Friday, August 29, 2008  |  Comments( 56 )

Oakland Raiders
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Maybe the whole Michael Bush-as-fullback thing was a smokescreen, or maybe the Raider Nation is correct in assuming the California mainstream media’s morbid fascination with stirring Oakland up by deployment of exaggeration and/or false rumor. While West Coast journos within 24 hours scrambled to imagine the damage Lane Kiffin’s idea would do to the Raiders’ locker-room karma, another piece on the offensive line quietly fell into place, unobserved amid the Bush frenzy.

Final preparations for 2008 fall into place with the naming of Jake Grove as opening-day starting center over free-agent veteran signing John Wade. A fifth-round draft pick of the Jaguars in 1998, Wade had started 105 of a possible 144 games and six times played the entire 16-contest slate; his relative durability seemed to make him the favorite to take the starting job right from camp’s beginning over the injured Grove.

All reports on Grove’s knee surgery of January have been positive, though, which is always good news, particularly when discussing a guy for whom “oft-injured” is a critical understatement: A 2004 draft choice, Grove has been an anti-Wade and has been available for the entire season only once. Head coach Lane Kiffin clearly favored the stalwart Raider, however, as he had Grove getting the lion’s share of reps “throughout training camp and most of the preseason.”

Though Wade isn't going anywhere and would-be third-stringer Chris Morris may yet see action on the 53-man roster later in 2008, congratulations go out to Grove for earning the starting nod and receiving a new pain-free existence. Raider Nation should keep its fingers crossed for this guy, because after giving up a whopping 115 sacks over the past two seasons, the silver-and-black offensive line needs some improvement. Stability might be a nice step in that direction.

Wade, meanwhile, will reportedly be adding that much-needed stability to the depth chart ... at least for one season. Kiffin & Co. have reportedly stated that Wade will be spending time at backup guard; rumormongering aside, can we speculate that the situation at left guard still seems as hopeless as it has for some time? Surely, Raider Nation citizens have no problems visualizing Wade starting in place of Robert Gallery by season’s end.

(Then again, on Gallery, maybe the San Francisco Chronicle nails it with, “This is the first time Grove's offensive line coach returned for a second season. Like left guard Robert Gallery, Grove went through four line coaches in his first three years. Tom Cable instituted a zone-blocking system last year and did well enough to not get fired.” Nah.)

So here’s a point of interest for any NFL fan into line play: What’s the blocking going to look like out there in Oakland? Imagine a combination which includes Grove at center, Wade at guard and Zach Miller paving the way for such a quick tandem at running back – whoa, crazy.

And perhaps, as they say, so crazy that it just might work. In any case, it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Rumor and speculation aside, of course.

Training Camp: An entirely new kind of fantasy game!
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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 ...
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CommentsComments: 56  |  Sign Up  View all comments
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No.1
RaiderSensation		01:42 AM
08/29/2008
I think Tom Cable has done a marvelous job with the limited talent we have, BUT sooner or later we're going to have to address ...
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No.2
08:55 AM
08/29/2008
Hopefully this is the year that Grove lives up to his pre-draft reputation. Gallery ? He could play excellent at guard this ...
No.3
RaiderFan N Milw		10:39 AM
08/29/2008
Damn Os, You're like a day late and a dollar short with this story. Iwas all over bay area newspapers 3 days ago, but thanks for ...
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