Oakland Raiders at the Bye Week: Rearm, Rethink, Refocus...Will It Really Help?

For the Raiders, this probably wasn't where they expected to be. Coming into the season, the hopes of the Nation would have the team looking at 4-4, maybe 5-3, resting up, and then making the push to the playoffs.

Now, the team will be saddled with the effort to reach seven wins, in effort to keep them from a double digit loss year, yet again.

Oakland does have a few things to look forward to, considering this bye week. For one, it is nicely placed in the middle of the season, not like prior seasons where it would come in week five, and by the end of the year everyone was getting hurt late.

Oakland should also see several players coming back at full power, who have been sorely missed. Robert Gallery, Darren McFadden, and Chaz Schilens should either be ready for Kansas City, or on limited duty, depending on the injuries that exist. Some of our defensive players could also enjoy the week off, getting a chance to heal up.

At this point, I think the team needs to sit down for a couple days and look at what systems of plays worked truly well for this club. Twice our defense came close to delivering wins against the Chargers. We shut down the Chiefs and Eagles when needed.

We got killed by New York teams, we have no offensive numbers to speak of...if it wasn't for the Cleveland Browns ineptness, we'd truly be the butt of Adam Schefter's jokes. As it is, JaMarcus Russell will probably finish out the season, to see if he can work like he did late last year. It's anyone's guess if he can, since he will have Schilens back.

One of the biggest question marks out there, is if Cable will be wearing the headset in Oakland when the bye is over. The Raiders organization did no favor, with it's most recent press release, regarding the allegations of past actions.

Although, it seems foolish to fire a coach from a slapping incident 20 years past...didn't they do a background check on the coaching? Either way, if Cable is removed...it is back to the drawing board.