OL + Youth + Greg Knapp & Tom Cable = Oakland Raiders Wins in 2008

After the laughingstock that was Oakland "protection" in ugly 2006, Lane Kiffin brought in offensive coordinator Greg Knapp and O-line coach Tom Cable to fix the unit. Though keeping essentially the same personnel, Knapp's system favors smarts-over-muscles guys like Sims and Carlisle. (Someday Mario Henderson will thrive in this scheme, too.)

Newberry made for quite a pleasant surprise in coming back from three consecutive seasons mostly on injured reserve. Though those trouble knees got dinged up again, Newberry still managed to suit up for 14 games at center. Adding the excellent abilities of second-round tight end Zach Miller was huge for pass protection and run blocking this past season as well. And who knew Gallery was this good?

Such praise for a unit that gave up 43 sacks and whose offense ranked just 25th? Sure, because the positive spin here is that nearly two sacks were shaved per game by these guys in 2007, enviable improvement for any team. (Just ask the Detroit Lions.) Congrats to Knapp and Cable, then, two near-miracle workers who took ... well, whatever it was Art Shell and Tom Walsh thought they were doing and turned it into something that sometimes ran slickly and quickly.

However, there is still quite a bit of progress that needs to be made.

Henderson and McQuistan ought to see more playing time, and now that sanity has reared its head vis-à-vis the re-signing of Justin Fargas, the Oakland brass can concentrate on giving Cable a few more bodies (and minds) to work with.

It says here that Knapp plus youth equals surprisingly potent offense. To the Raider Nation: Cross your fingers for Jake Long in silver and black next season or maybe even Ryan Clady. Good things are afoot here.

Watching the line throughout the year at RealFootball365.com