Oakland Raiders: At Halftime

Alright i'll be easy on the little guys.

No I wont.

Yes, it's a pre-season game, but it's going as I had presumed. We're half-way through the 3rd Quarter and it's 6-0 Cowboy's.

Oakland couldn't get anything going on offense in the first half, which is the only half which writing about. Heyward-Bey did not get nearly enough looks. From what i saw, he was targeted once and it was almost picked off because it was a bad pass from Campbell. Campbell didn't look like the Jim Plunkett Al Davis described him as. In all actuality, at this point last year JaBust looked better than Campbell does now. You can't let the completion rate confuse you, yes he threw 7 for 11, but only got one first down. He checked down on almost every pass attempt.

On to the defense. Lamarr Houston instantly shocked NFL fans, getting two sacks in the first quarter, and Matt Shaughnessy would also tack up two sacks. They stuffed the run for the most part except for somewhere around a 10 yard rush from Choice. 

As i've written about in the past and nobody would here my word...The secondary was horrible. Yes, we had Asomugha in for a total of 2 series and when he was in, he looked better than ever.

But, everybody else failed. Chris Johnson was always right there for the tackle, but could never disrupt the catch. Stanford Routt ankles got broken on a couple of plays. The rookie Jeremy Ware got picked on a bit and gave up a big play that led to 3 points for Dallas. He did, although, save a first down to prevent 6 points on the same drive by timing a hit perfectly to knock the ball loose.

So the Raiders surely improved on their aim of run defense shutting down a well-seasoned backfield. But, they were exposed as i thought they would be, in the pass. I hope the Raider Organization proves me wrong as the season moves forward, but if i'm right...It will be a long year for the Raiders Secondary.