Subplots for Sunday

By Os Davis  |   Thursday, October 09, 2008  |  Comments( 66 )

Oakland Raiders
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Throughout Raider Nation this weekend, folks are sure to be turning down the volume on the TV set for the New Orleans Saints game: After all, what Raiders fan isn’t sick to death of hearing the mainstream party line on Al Davis’ questionable recent decisions, on poor Lane Kiffin, about the worst five or six years in franchise history? And what else would the officially approved Troy Aikmans of the world be talking about, anyway? RealFootball365 would like to suggest some of the following factors, subplots in Oakland’s soap opera storyline that will actually play out on the field.

• The return of Justin Fargas. One surefire measure of the Raiders’ cachet within the public consciousness, Fargas somehow went incredibly ignored (excepting a few fantasy owners in the season’s second half) in 2007 as he topped 1,000 yards with a nice 4.5 yards per carry average. This season, he’s averaging a sweet 5.2 on limited carries in two games and, excepting that bizarre moment of insanity against the Denver Broncos when he attempted some dipsy-doodle flip to Darren McFadden on the double reverse, has looked pretty decent.

So here’s a guy who had a breakout season last year and was the recipient of the Raiders’ 2007 “Commitment to Excellence Award.” In response, his team drafted a halfback in the first round and today may well consider Fargas No. 3 on the depth chart; not a single grousing or whining moment from the man. If he were playing in almost any other NFL market, he’d be an overhyped magnet of hyperbole right about now.

Personally, I can’t wait to see him put the head down and just cruise past Sedrick Ellis into the secondary.

• The continued development of JaMarcus Russell. It appears to be development, anyway, but one wonders when the last time a dude who looked to have this much natural ability was this erratic for this long. Russell fires bullets, but the occasional duck emerges (on, like, one of every three passes). Sometimes the guy’s precision is admirable – just one interception in 99 attempts is none too shabby – but his completion rate is a lamentable 54.5 percent. He’s led some drives which guise him as one who’s been there a million times before, yet simultaneously surely leads the league in three-and-outs.

Though the Raiders have zero choice right now, isn’t anyone else wondering about the guy a bit? I mean, I’m no card-carrying Raider Nation citizen, but Russell makes me crazy. On the other hand, another game means another opportunity to grow and Russell looked pretty OK against San Diego.

• Signs of life in certain parts of the secondary. Look, truth is that Drew Brees is going to throw: He leads the NFL in attempts. Brees also throws with deadly accuracy while sporting an impressive third overall completion percentage of 68.6. He can, however, be exploited if harassed, as most recently demonstrated in the Washington game; thanks to a couple of key interceptions there, Brees won the stat battle in going 22 of 33 but lost the game. Some folks thought that Kiffin didn’t bring Oakland’s fairly effective blitz often enough; we’ll see how much Tom Cable and Rob Ryan call for it, but here’s to thinking “basically every play” might be a good way to begin formulation of an answer to the Saints.

The Raiders, meanwhile, with a secondary fit for an all-star team on paper, have been adequate at best on the field. Statistically, they’re middle of the road; empirically, well, let’s just say “Hall” might best be considered a four-letter word in the greater Oakland area. To what extent Brees is allowed to control this game will determine the outcome, and certain members of the Raider backfield – ahem, DeAngelo, cough cough – have to wake up and smell the AstroTurf or this one’s over quickly.

• Another potential barnburner of a game. In New Orleans, nothing is going to top Monday night’s weirdness for a while, but Raider backers could surely do with a little edge-of-the-seat shootout. Over this season and last, Saints special teams and defense have shown a distinct propensity to give up the big play; despite out-performing the Vikings in passing, rushing, third-down conversions, time of possession, punting and almost every statistic dreamed up this side of interceptions (what was that about harassing Brees with a pass rush?), the Saints were set for the loss in a game that, thanks to Reggie Bush’s ridiculous heroics pumping New Orleans’ side of the scoreboard, wasn’t nearly as close as the score would indicate.

This one might be fun, too.

Prediction: New Orleans Saints 31, Oakland Raiders 23.
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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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