Aug 18 2008
A new era for Oakland?
The Oakland Raiders would like to forget most of this decade. So far, 2000 through 2002 saw winning seasons while 2003 through 2007 saw the Raiders win just 3 more games, 19 total, than the 2007 New England Patriots at 16 wins. Those 19 wins spanned over a 5 season drought of making it to the playoffs. The playoffs were a feat that they accomplished each of the first 3 seasons in this decade. And they did it by winning their division each of those three years.
With that said, the Raiders were a team that saw five quarterbacks last year. Out 
is Josh McCown who is with the Miami Dolphins. Out is Daunte Culpepper who still remains an unsigned free agent. Andrew Walter is not out, but he is currently the backup. In is JaMarcus Russell as the starter. This is really where he needs to be if he is to be the future of the team. With said, I truly think that he will be an improvement over the other two that are gone.
However, a quarterback can not win alone. I think that the Raiders have decent starting receivers. Past that, it is shaky at best. Javon Walker, Drew Carter, and Ronald Curry are all proven performers. Then you go to Todd Watkins that has spent most of his career on practice squads to Johnnie Lee Higgins that spent all last year as a backup except for 2 games in which he was the starter.
Now, as for the backfield, I am not overly thrilled with the starter that they have. When I look at Justin Fargas, I just can not see how he can be better than that of Darren McFadden. As the experience might give Justin the edge, Darren is a more complete runner. I can understand Justin breaking the 1000 yard mark and all, but he has done that once in his career. Prior to that, he could not break 700.I think that we will seen Darren in the backfield as the starter befor it is over.
As for the defense, this is a team that lost 8 games with only a -105 net point differential. That tells me that they needed some help. That help arrived in the form of Gibril Wilson from the SuperBowl Champion New York Giants and DeAngelo Hall from the Atlanta Falcons. These are two very good cover guys. Along with these additions, leading tackler Kirk Morrison is back to clog the middle of the playing field. Defensively this team will be strong.
With that said, i think that they have some question marks going into the year. I think personally they will end at 5-11. I do not think that they have enough power to plow through the league yet.
