After further review, no reason for Oakland to worry

By Anthony Carroll  |   Tuesday, August 08, 2006  |  Comments( 15 )

Oakland Raiders
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Oakland's performance on Sunday was sloppy. On both sides of the ball, players looked lost and confused. At best, the play-calling was questionable.

In short, it was the first game of preseason--exactly what it should look like.

The Oakland Raiders entered into Sunday's game with an almost entirely redesigned staff, including head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and special teams coach.

On the field, quarterback Aaron Brooks was starting his first game since Dec. 12 of last year. Under an entirely new system, Brooks expectedly struggled. Head coach Art Shell and offensive coordinator Tom Walsh held Brooks' throwing arm in close confinement, as he attempted just three passes on the evening. A little bit of everything resulted, including an incompletion, an interception, and a completion for a touchdown.

Randy Moss was held without a catch. He also walked out of the game uninjured.

The first-team offensive line was dominated; but, again, Rome wasn't built in a day. Only Jake Grove--who started the game at center--was a returning starter from Week 17 of last season at his respective position. Over the past several months, Oakland's front five has been shuffled more than a deck of cards. At left tackle, 26-year-old Robert Gallery was making his first appearance away from the right side of the line. In return for offering his position to Gallery, veteran Barry Sims was re-allocated to left guard duties. Furthermore, on the right, rookie Paul McQuistan made his NFL debut. Needless to say, it looked like his NFL debut.

With that being said, LaMont Jordan played as well as the line in front of him--not very good.

"We're still in training camp mode. There's a lot of wrinkles that we have to work out," commented Moss.

Defensively, those "wrinkles" were equally discernible. On Philadelphia's first drive of the game, Donovan McNabb led his first-team offensive unit down the field for a long 4:51 drive. Nine plays and 61 yards later, the Eagles were on top of Oakland by seven points.

On the line, 26-year-old Tyler Brayton started his first game at end since 2003, his rookie season. Inside sat Tommy Kelly, who will also be tried as a full-time starter for the first time in 2006. Kelly attacked from the defensive tackle slot; however, in previous seasons, was utilized as an end/tackle tweener. Rookies Michael Huff and Thomas Howard saw plenty of time with the first team, remaining quiet when on the field. Darnell Bing, moving down from safety to linebacker, struggled in his first test, along with Sam Williams, who was also given the starting nod after missing 38 of the team's last 48 games.

In all, Oakland's young, inexperienced defense looked young and inexperienced.

"We still have a lot, lot, lot of football left to play, so hopefully we can fix some things up and head to Minnesota and see what we got," Moss added after the game.

To be exact, Oakland has 33 days and four games remaining.

Until then, just be thankful it is the players, not the fans facing Art Shell the day after.

Anthony Carroll can be contacted at acarroll@realfootball365.com

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About Anthony Carroll

Anthony Carroll began writing for RealFootball365.com on Sept. 26, 2005, making him one of the longest tenured contributors to the “365” team. As a senior writer, Anthony has taken on the task of delivering original content to the silver and black faithful year round, despite having to deal...
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CommentsComments: 15  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Spoakland		06:51 AM
08/08/2006
Mr. Carroll, thanks for your coverage of Raiders, and to your fellow writers, for coverage of other teams. Fans are very hungry...
No.2
Christafur		09:53 AM
08/08/2006
If that game wasn't obvious then nothing will ever be.(1)The game didn't mean a thing.(2) We checked out our line(3) We ran most...
No.3
Catfish63		10:57 AM
08/08/2006
Holy cow! Sebas is back. Defense forced fumbles and interceptions, albeit second string. Offense moved the ball to get Sebas...
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