alen Richard, running back for the Oakland Raiders, has a bright future with the team including a role that’s expected to grow running the ball behind Marshawn Lynch. Showing maturity beyond his years, however, it seems Richard is taking it upon himself to help some of the lesser known players find a place on his team.
The NFL Pre-Season officially kicked off this past week; the first taste of real football to trigger the fans around the world into a frenzy. For the next three weeks, the media coverage will tap into their crystal ball of power rankings, win-loss predictions and forecasting individual performance award nominees. It is nearly impossible for Raider Nation to resist after years of pre-season prediction coverage delegated to failures.
Now should we “sip the kool-aid” of Super Bowl contender status? Before you settle on that matter, take a look at a parallel I have noticed between the upcoming 2017 Oakland Raiders and the 2009 New Orleans who went on to win a Super Bowl contender.
Still recovering from the news of the release of Austin Howard yesterday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com announced that Donald Penn didn’t report to training camp.
Denarius Moore’s consistent play was enough to put him higher on this list than Curry even though Curry had more receiving yards. I had forgotten about Porter’s suspension in 2006 which stemmed from his bickering with then head coach Art Shell. I always wonder what these receivers could have done with the young star the Raiders now have under center. Either way, real fans can appreciate how far the Raiders have come from those days and enjoy even more the present day success.
In the first part of the preview and prediction series, we looked at the AFC East, and it was a unanimous decision that the Patriots would have no problem winning the crown there. Now, we get to start in the Raider Ramble’s back yard; Let’s take a look at the most notable offseason moves made in the AFC West.
In part one of this series, we took a look at the top three quarterbacks of the Oakland Raiders’ “Dark Age”. I’ve deemed this time with such gloom immediately after the Raiders lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2002 NFL Super Bowl up through the 2013 season, the season before Derek Carr, Khalil Mack, and Gabe Jackson were drafted. During this period the Silver and Black combined for a total record of 53-123. So now we will take a look at the best running backs during from this disastrous period.
The accolades continue to pile up for the 26 year old NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Mack had another dominate season with 73 tackles, 11 sacks, five forced fumbles, and an interception he returned for a touchdown. After being the only player in history to be named All Pro at two positions (Linebacker and Defensive end) in 2015, Associated Press created the “Edge Rusher” position. Mack was promptly named All-Pro at this new position.
As Raider Nation scans the 2017 horizon, one thing is clear, the “Autumn Wind” surely has begun to blow throughout the entire NFL landscape once again! Raiders fans across the globe are waiting with eager anticipation to watch their young talented team take the NFL head on and pillage and burn their way to an AFC West title for starters, then the AFC Championship, then claim the title as “World’s Best”. But one thing shouldn’t be forgotten; many dark days had to be endured to get to this point in Raiders history.
It’s no secret that injuries play a significant role in football and nobody knew that better than Oakland Raider fans in 2016. Indeed, Carr’s injury played the leading role in the demise of Oakland’s Super Bowl contention hopes last season, but two other injuries hurt the Raiders in 2016.Â
It’s a well-known fact that the AFC West is a scary place for quarterbacks. The Oakland Raiders’ own Khalil Mack is the reigning and defending NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Von Miller was the Super Bowl MVP in 2016, in 2015 Justin Houston led the league in sacks and last, but certainly not least, Joey Bosa is the 2016 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
