Oakland Raiders 2008: Setting the Table. What's for Supper?

Well, today we learned the order of our opponents for the NFL Season.

To say I'm mildly surprised, isn't doing it justice.

First of all, it's known that we have the third-easiest schedule, with only four games against last year's playoff clubs, and two are against the Chargers.

One is at the end of the season, Tampa in Tampa and if Jon Gruden does his usual head-in-the-sand approach, it could bode well for Raider Nation.

The other, is against the Patriots, which I should be watching live, if all goes well.

A couple things, that I find interesting, is yet again, the Bye week comes early. Who assigns this? Some clubs have it halfway down the season, some have it at the 10th week....we've always gone early.

I'm also looking forward to seeing how the ex-teammate factor, comes back to some clubs. We face Denver, will Javon Walker step up? How about Atlanta, when they come to visit, will Hall burn his former club, or get owned by them?

The first four weeks will prove pivotal the Raiders have the Broncos out of the gate, then away to the Chiefs, to the Bills, and then host the Chargers.

The Denver/KC tandem shouldn't worry many people as they are the same teams that the Raiders played against last year at the same location and went 2-0.

Some people will say ‘Oh, but now they'll be healthy. They'll be looking for revenge.’

We've been looking for some payback for a number of years.

Key thing is this: If we go into the bye week with a 2-2 record, we'll probably be tied for first place. At 3-1, we'll own the division.

After the bye, you get to look at the Saints, Jets, Ravens, and Falcons, who all looked completely lost last year.

The Saints, reverted to form and dropped from the NFC Championship game to golf in one year. The Jets, are still searching for a QB. Ravens, same situation and if you lose to an 0-14 club, that's got to hurt.  And then the Falcons who well...we know.

Then comes the Panthers, Miami, Denver in Denver, and KC at Oakland

The Panthers are hoping there's a healthy QB to throw at Steve Smith. Denver and KC both will be looking at either a double dip or trying to regain some respect after earlier season outings.

These two games should paint a good picture for the AFC West and if the Raiders are coming back to respectability. The Dolphins, it'll be interesting to see if they're up to five wins.

To finish off the year, we've got Chargers, Pats, Texans, and Tampa.

The Chargers game is on a Thursday night, which means we'll be well rested for the Patriots game.

If anything, I'd have the Raiders spend a week at the field studying the tape of the previous weeks and find every way possible to get into Brady's mind.

Mess up Moss's routes. And make sure Wes can't find a seam.

Cris Carter thinks the Patriots will go 16-0 again this season and I'd like to see him wrong.

Next up, is the one club I can't figure out why we can't beat.

The Texans have an absolutely horrible record against the NFL, but the Raiders can't seem to solve the riddle. You'd think in the David Carr era we could do something.

Anything.

Maybe this will be the year.

Last comes the Tampa game.

Last time the Raiders locked horns with Tampa in Oakland was the last game the Raiders had Rich Gannon.

Ironically, unless the Bucs fire Gruden, we'll face a former coach again for the fifth time this season. Hopefully when we meet, we'll be going for a playoff spot.

All in all, I like it.

I figure if we can go 8-8 or 9-7, it'll get us a wild card spot. If we split with the Chargers, we'll take the division.

Fearless prediction? We leave the cellar this year.