When the Raiders entered training camp on July 28th, they had a mission in mind according to head coach Tom Cable, “The mission was to try and get better every day, not have those days where you’re really disgusted or disappointed as a coaching staff, that, ‘Man, we really went backward today.’ We didn’t have any of those days.”
He’s right, they didn’t and now they have officially ended training camp complete with Mayflower moving trucks. At this time, most of the players are at home with their families or significant others having their first home cooked meal in about a month and digesting their memories from what was supposedly the foundation for the turning point in the franchise.Jackson Talks
Hue Jackson came out firing on all cylinders today in his first media meeting. Among the things he spoke about was trying to be as fierce as those classic Raiders’ teams that he and Tom Cable loved to watch when they were young lads, “Honestly, we’re trying to build a bully here. We want to go back and take our football team and understand what the Raiders’ tradition is. And I think every player that wears that helmet understands what we’re trying to build here each and every day, and it’s about competing. It’s about going out there every day and being the best at what you do, and I think our guys are taking that challenge.”
He also gave high praise to Al Davis, “Oh my gosh, this is a dream come true for me, to be very honest with you. To have an opportunity to work for Mr. Al Davis – and I’m being very sincere when I tell you guys that – that man is phenomenal. There is nothing about football that you can’t talk to Mr. Davis about. And you guys talk about a resource; that is one of the biggest resources in our building
“I’ve been with a lot of different owners in the league, the Dan Snyders, the Steve Bisciotti, the gentleman at Atlanta (Arthur Blank), and they are fine, fine men. But this guy knows as much about football, and he is as sharp about football, as any man I’ve ever been around, so to have a resource like that and not be able to use it, I don’t think would be very smart on my part. Just watching how he ran the draft. Again, this is an exciting time in my opinion in Raiders football.”
You can read Jackson’s whole interview right here.
Raiders Set High Goals
The Raiders revealed new t shirts on their last day of practice in just helmets, the shirts read, “We are going to win the AFC West and then go after Super Bowl.”
There is a different perspective from the point of view of the Raiders these days, Jason Campbell will help me explain, “I think the different thing between this year and the years before, from talking to the guys that have been here, is the attitude, the mindset. Guys expect to go out and win, instead of just hoping or one thing happens and getting down.”
That’s right folks; the Oakland Raiders are expecting to win, but how?
“We’ve had many games where we’ve been on the field more than the other teams in the league,” said cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. “You want to be fresh on defense. And I think our offense is going to give us that opportunity this year, and we’ve seen some really good flashes from them during the preseason of the things they can do so the defense is definitely excited about that and they’ve gotten us better through our practices against them. They’re doing really well.”
Aha, they are planning on moving the ball on offense, but how?
“Work after practice,” says Nnamdi. “Work after practice. And now, there’s like, you know you’re seeing like seven, eight guys, nine, ten guys doing it, and you’re like, ‘well this is new,’ and it’s great. Then you see our starting quarterback after every practice getting work in with the receivers and the tight ends. I think it’s great.”
It is great and it is new and Asomugha would know all about that, because for a long time he was doing that all by himself. Now to have it become a trend, that really does speak volumes for how far this team has progressed and it speaks volumes for how far these players are willing to go to make it happen. Perhaps this year it is not all about collecting a paycheck and finding the most expensive restaurant to eat at afterword *couch* JaMarcus Russell *cough*
Passing Game Dominates Defense
The Raiders passing game was on fire today, completing one touchdown pass after the other. The players I gathered (from twitter feeds) who caught touchdowns today were Zach Miller, Tony Stewart, John Owens, and Darrius Heyward-Bey. DHB actually hooked up for three touchdowns according to my colleague Levi Damien’s twitter feed.
One of them he bobbled in traffic but managed to haul it in, another was a left to right crossing route where he broke free and Campbell threw it up the sideline for six, and yet another over the shoulder on a fade route.
Johnnie Lee Higgins also looked like a guy who we saw on the field at the end of the 2008 season. He made a leaping catch on the sidelines from Colt Brennan and hooked up with a nice throw from Jason Campbell on a 15-yard slant route. It was a huge practice for Higgins as he is potentially in danger of not making the final 53-man roster as the coaches look ahead at what Tom Cable called the hardest cuts the team has had since he joined them in 2007.
Meanwhile, Louis Murphy apparently did not get enough repetitions with Bruce Gradkowski this offseason; this marked the second day in a row Murphy has had a pass bounce off his hands from the Raiders back-up quarterback. But it should be noted that he did make a nice catch in traffic from Jason Campbell later on.
Players talk about San Francisco 49ers
Think the battle of the Bay only matters to the fans? Wrong!
The players want this one too and so do the coaches. This game could be the biggest game of the preseason for the Raiders and they will do everything in their power to not make the third preseason game a replica of the horrible loss to the eventual Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints in 2009.
“We’ve got to go into this game trying to win,” said Darrius Heyward-Bey who is looking to move his practice self out onto the field on Saturday. “They have a great coach, they got a great team. We feel like we got the same thing going over here. We’re going to go out there and try to win.”
“They’re well-disciplined, they’re well-coached and they don’t beat themselves,” added Jason Campbell. “So it’s a great challenge for us heading into the regular season because you get to face an opponent, in San Francisco, that there’s a lot of different things (for us) offensively. Defensively, they move around a lot, they bring different blitzes, so it will be good for us to get a lot of stuff on tape, see what we need to continue to work on and what we need to do.”
Coach Tom Cable reiterated his players, “It’s your next door neighbor. We all live right there together, basically, so there’s a part of that that’s important to all of us.” Cable also said the starters will play the entire first half and a little of the third quarter before they get to rest.
“If they’re keeping score, I want to win,” said Hue Jackson. “I think that’s the way our players are. We’re going to walk out there and they’re going to put a ball out there and we’re going out there to play and we’re going to play to win. We’re not just going out there to play. Any time we take the field and we’re wearing that uniform, that’s what our intention is, to go win a football game.”
P.S. It’s Jon Condo’s birthday today, so if you see him make sure you give him a birthday poke!
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