What to expect in 2012?

The 2011 season was quite the roller coaster ride. Any Raider fan who followed the team last year saw crazy stuff that only the good old’ Raiders could accomplish.

They managed to beat some of the better teams in the league, but lose a 20 something point lead to the Bills in one half. They also had all the stars align and could have entered the playoffs upon their own doing but failed to arise to the occasion.

Let’s not focus on what cannot be changed but instead, we should look at what yet another coaching change should bring to the Raiders’ locker room.

1. Dennis Allen brings defense. This is the first defensive minded coach that we’ve had since the great John Madden. He brings in a new era of 3-4 defense that is needed to combat this new, non-Al Davis, way of offense that is so heavily favored by penalties.

2. Reggie cleans house. Reggie McKenzie has come in as the new General Manager and gotten rid of almost every front office member that was hired due to Al Davis’ loyalty. Reggie has continued that by getting rid of all the infamous recruiters and draft team members.

3. Last but certainly not least, the 2012 season is a season for adjustment, growth, whatever you wanna call it. Look people, I love the Raiders with all my heart but don’t expect much out of this team this season. The height of your expectations should be a playoff berth but nothing more than that. This year is a terrible year as far as salary cap goes, as far as draft picks go, as far as coaching goes, and as far as enthusiasm for playing for new staff this year.

Hello again friends!!

I am not dead. I haven’t left, I have only taken a vacation but don’t fret, I have plenty to talk about. I’m sure you guys have things to talk about too, so comment now and ask me any of your questions or complaints! Let me know about football, the raiders, or how to make this blog better for you guys!

New Franchise Player Tagged

About 5 minutes ago, the Raiders tweeted out that they have put the Franchise tag on SS Tyvonn Branch. I’m my opinion he was not the main concern of our salary cap issues. Tyvonn is a strong player but aren’t there some other players scheduled to make bigger dollars than Tyvonn. I think the tag could have been used on someone like D-Mac but I’m not sure if the player’s contract has to be up. If you guys know that, let me know in the comments please.

No Deal, No Wimbley

Kamerion wimbley is set up for a new deal this season and the production from last season has shown reason to up his salary. While Wimbley had a relatively good year last year, I have a feeling that he is getting a swollen head. A source said that if a deal was not met by Wimbley, that the Raiders will let him go and I don’t know if this is such a big deal because HC Dennis Allen is planning on revamping the whole linebackers crew.

The New Mr.Davis Has to Wash Away the Hue Residue of 2011

The Hue Jackson show has left Oakland but its impacts are still felt. Another reason for Hue’s dismissal? I think we can all agree from watching what happened last year that the GM position is more vital than anyone realized and that’s just one of the many hats that the late Great Al Davis wore unlike any other owner in professional football or professional sports for that matter. With that said, in all due respect to the late great Mr.Davis, the new Mr.Davis seems set on returning this team to greatness even if it takes a more modern approach and for this, I am excited and grateful. What do you think Raider Nation?

New Owner brings New “Structure”

Mark Davis was asked about the scouting of talent today and Davis replied with something that the original Mr.Davis might not have been too fond of. Davis said ” at (a) certain point in the near future, after careful evaluation, there will be a more modern structure so to speak.” Feel free to comment but to me, this means that Mark has an idea of what he needs to do to get this franchise successful again and he’s had this idea in his head for quite a while now. I think that Mark knew Mr.Davis was on his way out of this world and was already getting his plans together of what to do after his father’s passing. This simple 2 word statement “modern structure” speaks so loudly and proves true to everyone’s (including my own) complaints of Al being too old school and not adapting to the new type of ball that everyone is playing. So this is the end of my complaints with the ownership and front office of the Raiders, it is now up to the coaches and players to keep the ridicule and insult away from the team.

I’d appreciate it if you guys, all my faithful followers 🙂 would tell me what you like and dislike about my blog so I can improve it and make it fan friendly. Sincerely, The Oakland Predator

No longer a Raider, Now a trader

The most penalized player in the league has managed to stay in the AFC West despite being let go by the Raiders. He is now with the Kansas City Chiefs. This is actually a good thing Raiders fans, now all we have to do when we play the Chiefs is go deep on Routt’s side and we’ll know that we can get at least get a holding penalty if not pass interference every time. While this may seem like it adds to an already high caliber backfield, it actually encroaches on the Chiefs’ cap room because Routt signed a $19.6 million deal for three years.

John Herrera is last piece of Davis’ puzzle, that puzzle is not in Oakland anymore.

 

The late news from last night has proved that the Al Davis era is no longer. At approximately 9 p.m. last night, it was reported that longtime senior executive, John Herrera left Oakland. Herrera was known for his strong loyalty to Mr.Davis which caused him some trouble with the media but the most popular was an argument with Tim Kawakami (Whom I am not a fan of) which became a YouTube hit. Herrera was added onto the Raiders’ staff straight out of high school and was originally hired by Mr.Davis to run errands. As Herrera climbed his way up the ranks within the organization’s office, he eventually got to senior executive after returning from stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaqueers and the Saskatchewan Roughriders as general manager before coming back in 1985. The decision was not made by either Reggie Mckenzie nor Dennis Allen but as a business decision that was mutual between Herrera and the team.

Routt is Out/Apologies My Friends

I apologize for not posting all the big news recently.  I have been having technical difficulties as far as my posts actually publishing goes. Now to the big news and what’s ahead.

Stanford Routt, our best cornerback, has been let go but it may be for the best. If you look at his 17 penalties last season(Most Penalized Player in the League) then it’s not that bad of a decision to make, it’s also a very good salary cap move considering that he was third amongst highest paid corners behind only Nnamdi and Revis, who’s league he isn’t even close to being in. We definitely have a lot of work to do this off-season but I wouldn’t be suprised to see more players leave or be released. With how many new coaches we have, again, I can’t really blame players for wanting to leave because how could you stand learning a new playbook every year. Now that we have had two 8-8 seasons in a row, much better than 5 wins or less, we have a little taste of success and we have fallen short of the playoffs both years. So, with a good amount of improvement from last year, we can easily win our division. With virtually no draft picks, I will be watching what our new coaches and GM do with personell and players, which they have already done a lot. What we basically need to do is get a coach who can run this team and manage it good enough to win the games that we are supposed to win and have the guts and talent to win the games that we need to win. We are basically just taking last year’s team after week 9 and molding it into a Dennis Allen show on the field.

Come vote and see how everyone else feels about it too!