No Pain, No Gain

By MikeBullock  |   Tuesday, August 10, 2010  |  Comments( 2 )

Oakland Raiders
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While most fans want to see nothing but success and wins in preseason games, for players and coaches the failures are more informative. Where do we need to improve? What works and more importantly, what doesn’t? Ideally, Raider head coach Tom Cable will want to get a good look at his projected starters, his projected backups and a handful of other players who are on the bubble. In the end, though, this is where challenges and obstacles are welcome, as coaches would rather learn now than when it counts next month. Playing against a team like Dallas in their new stadium will present a great learning opportunity for Cable and his staff.

Unfortunately, Oakland is already reeling with the walking wounded on their roster. Darren McFadden, Bruce Gradkowski, Chaz Schilens, Charlie Frye, Jay Richardson and Nnamdi Asomugha are some of the most notables on Oakland’s injury list, even though such lists aren’t set in stone until the season begins.

Cable will certainly want to get a look at new signal caller Jason Campbell in live fire scenarios, but without a proven running game, Campbell won’t get a fair shake off the bat. Unless Rock Cartwright or Michael Bennett can suddenly rise above their average play and help Michael Bush, a mediocre run game is all Dallas will need to focus on. However, new offensive coordinator Hue Jackson must have seen something in the off season that gave him hope of success since Oakland essentially stood pat on their run game in free agency and the draft.

After watching the ease with which the Cowboy’s defense pressured Carson Palmer in the Hall of Fame game, you can expect similar results against Oakland’s o-line, which isn’t much better (on paper at least) than the Bengals protectors. This will certainly give Robert Gallery, Bruce Campbell, Samson Satele, Khalif Barnes and the rest of the Cable’s protégés lots of game film for study and improvement. Campbell, this year’s offensive version of Vernon Gholston at the combine, has moved from tackle to guard, at the behest of Cable, who worked wonders moving Robert Gallery inside. If Campbell can achieve at the level Gallery has since the move, Bush should have some good running lanes up the middle and Jason Campbell should have a few extra instants to get the ball away to his speedy wideouts.

Similar to the Bengals, Oakland’s defense is much improved and should have equal success shutting down Tony Romo and company, especially with the injuries to Dez Bryant and John Phillips combined with Romo’s proclivity for throwing to twelve foot tall receivers. However, this will be the first outing for a revamped Oakland defense, and as with all teams, they’ll need time to jell on the field. If the Raider D can shut down the ‘Boys in the first quarter, you can chalk this game up as a win no matter what the final score is.

Another area to keep an eye on is special teams. Oddly enough, this has been the one facet of the Oakland franchise to perform at an above average level year in and year out over the last seven abysmal seasons. However, as often happens in football, when the coaching staff concentrates overly on one or two areas of the game, in this case the passing game and defense, the third facet suffers. Nevertheless, Dallas doesn’t have what most would consider a stellar return game or stifling kick coverage themselves, so while the challenges should be many for Oakland’s special teams, in the end, they should come out victorious on this front.

Either way, the first battle in the Raider’s 2010 campaign is nearly upon us and if nothing else, the game will provide a base line for just where the team really stands when going against an opponent that some talking heads are already calling this year’s eventual Super Bowl Champion.
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