Keys To Succeed In a Raider Turnaround

What's up Nation- This is my first article here at B/R.  I find myself addicted to Silver and Black, it OK though we all our vices.  And I'm always reading whatever I find about team, often blogging(SlvrBlkLoco), which led to this article...

 

In response to a comment I read about our Run Defense.

I just finished reading an article hear at the B/R-

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/41630-things-to-watch-for-in-oakland-for-2008

 

Keys to Raider Turnaround(no particular order)

Great Raider teams played man to man, beat up the box and took a few shots downfield after playing a solid short passing game starting with a stout running game of both thunder and lightning

 

1. Time Management- 

Too many inept offenses that fell apart as the game wore on are to blame. We have seen too many close games go the other way over the last 5 seasons. If our offense puts up even average #'s in time of possession over that 5 year time period, we wouldn't have these conversations about the Run Defense. I have all sorts of flash backs where all game long I'm cheering our Defense ALL game long. While watching our Offense pull 3 and out ALL game long. The Defense wouldn't give in and was great for 3 Qtrs and 40 minutes. No defense playing 80%-90% of the game can last all game.

2. Maintain and Improve Rob Ryan's D- 
Clock management from the Offense could drastically improve the Running Defense. Ryan now has the players to implement the FULL defensive scheme he started with 4 years ago. We were always a Linebacker and Safety short in the past, often we needed more than that. This year we may see a 3-4 on occasion and blitz's. The Linebacking Core is coming of age and off season additions will only make training camp more productive towards finding a player to fill our SLB void. As we've all heard, Wilson is an improvement helping all the secondary by playing more physical and he may be the answer we've been waiting for to give us the FS/SS combo NFL teams, especially the Silver and Black, want. We will see if Hall and Aso work out(chances are good).

3. LINEMEN WIN GAMES- 
#1 rule I know of in Football. Keith Millard has his hands full with Kelly and Sands, if these 2 perform then I believe the rest falls into place. We all know Burgess can perform if he has 1 other lineman playing well. The second year in the ZBS with Cable should prove valuable. Continued solid play from both lines as a whole and individual improvement should be looked for. We can't turn heads if our line play drops off.

4. The Short Game keeps building momentum- 
QB/HB/FB/TB/TE- Winning Raider Teams, the teams that win Super Bowls, have these positons filled with QUALITY players. ALL ROUND players.  
A QB that has timing and can run off the cuff with a broken play. A pocket passer with the ability to scramble and roll out. Someone who will make you pay if you play underneath. 
RB's that share the load. FB and HB interchanging blocking, running and catching withoout noticable drop off. Rathman is good coach to have for our backs. 2 important components are Griffith and O'Neal. These guys along with our 3-headed-monster should be Top 5 in rushing/receiving compared to other team's RB's. 
TE's that block and most of all have hands of glue. Miller appears to be the next great TE since Christensen. Miller last season earned rookie of the year consideration. enough said.

5. The WR's find separation- 
Tim Brown over the middle. Jerry Rice with a precise route. Freddie B down the sideline(you know if Moss ever wanted, Awhole could have single handedly won 4 games a year, but instead....anyway). Those type of plays which create separation are needed and the receivers who can create separation are what we are looking for. This could be the year, with Curry, Carter and Walker supported by all the others, we have a good looking group.  But we have had that conversation in the past 5 years a few times, lets hope this year is different.

 

Give us those 5 things and this team has a serious chance at the Playoffs this year. Playoffs, did you say Playoffs. I mean it.  But if ANY of those things fail to be good, pray for .500