Oakland Raiders: Why are we afraid of the run?

Oakland this year, to a degree, has been trying to work itself out of the past. The old Raiders, who gave this team it's teeth, it's namesake, and it's method of madness, won in large part, to a vertical, deep game.

With Darren McFadden, Michael Bush, and one injured Justin Fargas, it looked like Oakland was ready to turn the page.

Then, can someone please tell me, why are we overly concerned with a passing game?

Looking through the first 3 weeks, we've seen McFadden have a breakout game, and decent numbers from Michael Bush. Our Recieving corps, meanwhile, has been harder to spot than say, Hailey's Comet on a visit. Our longest passing play, was a thread-the-needle play against the Bills, and even then, it didn't look anything like the old Jim Plunkett to Cliff Branch bombs of the good old days.

What is it, that frightens the Raiders?

I can understand, that part of it comes from the worry that if you run too much, you'll burn out your players, or get injured.

But to me, something deeper must be going on.

If you look at Raiders' rushing stats, they were never happy with a single back.

Marcus Allen, for example. A couple seasons after he wins the MVP for his game against the Redskins, the Raiders are out fishing for another RB. Why? Was Al paranoid on Allen, or simply afraid Allen wouldn't hold up?

Along comes Bo Jackson. They wanted Hershel Walker when the USFL fell apart....but didn't get him.

Oakland's always been a passing team, that much is obivous. But you gotta wonder, if Oakland will have to finally embrace the fact, we don't have a lot of choices....and McFadden might be the only thing to give this team some respect.

Lastly, we can only hope that Al doesn't have another fit of so-called brilliance, and try to sign a WR for too much money. Work with the players we have, get through the season, and then, whoever is the coach next year, draft some WRs.

And get some money to lock up Burgess and Nmandi.