The Daily WTF: Richard Seymour Said What?

In one of the many blockbuster moves this offseason, and just days before the regular season opener against the Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots traded their star defensive end Richard Seymour to the Oakland Raiders for a first-round selection in the 2011 NFL Draft.

The move was highly criticized by fans on both ends of the deal.

Fans in New England felt they were getting rid of an excellent player who had been a key component to the organization for almost a decade.

Fans in Oakland didn’t want to see their future mortgaged on the faith of a defensive lineman whom many have speculated is in the twilight of his career.

As it turns out, Seymour has played extremely well, even though his defense hasn’t. He’s registered 23 tackles and four sacks in only six games, with a pass defended and a forced fumble.

Despite his efforts, the Raiders’ defense ranks in the bottom half in every statistical category, including 16th against the pass and a miserable 28th against the run.

So it came as a shock when ESPN reported Thursday morning that Seymour predicted a playoff appearance for his currently 2-4 Oakland Raiders.

The Raiders look up at the 6-0 Denver Broncos and the 2-3 San Diego Chargers in their division, along with a host of other teams throughout the AFC that appear primed to make a run at the two Wild Card spots.

Despite the controversy, Tom Cable fully supports his players talking with that kind of confidence. He knows it’s good to have that type of confidence in the team, saying, “You’re not going to get anywhere until you start to believe in where you’re going.”

Cable went on to say, “It’s good to stick your neck out a little bit, but know with that comes the responsibility of backing it up.”

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ESPN for making something out of nothing. As it’s their job, they will always report anything a player says, and as they must run sports programming 24-7, they will talk about it endlessly regardless of its actual relevance.

Seymour is just trying to get his team to play with some confidence. They need it after being called out so many times over the past few months for a lack of heart. Antonio Pierce even said playing against them was like playing a scrimmage game.

It seems out of the ordinary for Seymour, because it’s something he never had to do in New England—the team already played with so much confidence. When a team has that, good things follow.

This isn’t the type of prediction that teams are going to put up as “bulletin board material” either, because it doesn’t call out any specific team or player.

Sure, it may mean the team has to perform exceptionally well this Sunday. In the end, though, the only person this prediction affects is Seymour because ultimately, he’ll be the one who either looks like a zero or a hero.

He’s playing the best of any player on the defense, so excuse him if he has a little confidence. This is what Seymour was brought in to do—bring veteran leadership to a defense that severely lacked in that category.

After playing under Bill Belichick for eight years, Seymour knows a thing or two about making that type of prediction: at the end of the day, it means nothing. It only matters what you do on the field.

He’s hoping that his prediction will mean nothing in a good way.

Sources:

Contra Costa Times