Now that Richard Seymour has arrived in Oakland donning his #92 Raider jersey, the Raiders would like to get some pads underneath that jersey and get him out on the field to wreak havoc on the Chargers come Monday night.
As we all know by now, it has been a nail biting week of wondering where Seymour has been and why it wasn’t Oakland. Saturday the Raiders held a press conference in which Al Davis and Tom Cable introduced the newest member of the team. No, not newly acquired practice squad player, wide out Paul Hubbard, but newly acquired five time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Richard Seymour.
AJ DeMello breaks down the current situation with Seymour and the Raiders as they enter their home/season opener on Monday night against the highly favored rival Chargers.
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Well, things aren’t so bad after all for the Raiders. After a long five days of “he said, he said“, all-pro defensive end Richard Seymour arrived in Oakland today.
He says that he’ll be playing in the opener on Monday night, to help end the 11 game losing streak against the Chargers. And he will be doing it while wearing the number 92 as opposed to his previous #93 which belongs to Tommy Kelly. He wasn’t afraid to blurt out what may be to come for quarterback Philp Rivers on Monday night, when first being avilable to speak as a Raider. “I’ll be the guy on top of the quarterback,” he said.
On why it took the better half of a week to get to Oakland:
“Their was a lot of different emotions,” Seymour told the Boston Herald, “football was not my main concern at that point. I have had discussions with the Raiders…I’m excited and happy with the way they’re looking at me.”
Seymour pointed out that he had to work out the kinks with his family (Wife, four children, as well as guardian of 15 year-old cousin who’s mother had passed), who will be moving back to South Carolina while he heads for the bay area.
All other details aside, you can bet that the Raiders are excited to have him on their side, finally. Especially to attempt get this awful run defense up to par, which hasn’t been ranked higher than 22nd against the run (Ryan’s first year as defensive coordinator, 2004) in five years. Going from a starting lineup at defensive end of Derrick Burgess and Trevor Scott to Greg Ellis and Richard Seymour, well-that’s some serious progress.
Trevor Scott can be more useful now, after making his name known last year by leading all rookies with 5 sacks coming off the bench. His opening statement was, of course, the two sacks on future Hall-Of-Famer Brett Favre in the Jets game. Scott was prepping all off-season by bulking up to be able to be an every down player. Unfortunately, we saw in pre-season he isn’t there yet. If the Raiders had gone ahead and started him, it would have only served to make matters worse for the defense.
Now opposing defenses will have to account for two pro-bowlers with Greg Ellis and Richard Seymour on each side of the line, who together registered 16 sacks last season and played even better versus the run. Getting pressure enables the secondary to make plays, so it’s likely Asomugha could gather more than one pick this year.
Overall, this trade gives the defense another experienced veteran (like Ellis) which it sorely needs. Richard Seymour has been in a great organization in the Patriots, who have won* three Lomarbdi trophies in the past decade. The bottom line is, Seymour knows how to win and he carries himself as a professional. The Hope is that it rubs off on the Raider defense, and makes them better as a whole.
–AJ DeMello, TFDS Guest Contributor
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