AFC West Oakland Raiders
Finished 2004 season 5-11, last place in the AFC West
Key returning starters:
Kerry Collins - QB
Jerry Porter - WR
Ronald Curry - WR
Charles Woodson - CB
Warren Sapp - DT
The Raiders appeared to be coming off a rebuilding season even though it was a season with hopes of winning the West before the loss of starting QB Rich Gannon. Poor defensive play and a lack of a balanced offensive attack lead to a 5-11 record. With the addition of Randy Moss and Lamont Jordan, this offense is now balanced with the ability to stretch the field often. But did the Raiders do enough in the off-season to improve their defense?
2004 Stats:
Ranked 17th overall in offense, #9 ranked in AFC
Ranked 30th overall in defense, #15 ranked in AFC
Your thoughts on the Oakland Raiders this upcoming 2005 season...strengths/weaknesses and your prediction on where they will finish in the division.
posted by Steve at 8:02 AM
3 Comments:
Just as in every other division, there has to be a team that finishes in last place - the AFC West is no different and that position will belong to the Raiders. I was speaking with a Raider fan the other day whom I thought had some good football knowledge, but who was I kidding. His prediction? Raiders in the Super Bowl.
Let me explain why this isn't even a reality.
Sure their offense looks 10x better than last season, Randy Moss was a huge trade for them. But lets see...Kerry Collins/Daunte Culpepper...hmmm....
Sorry all you Raider fans but Collins is no Culpepper. Can Collins perform well with Porter and Moss? Probably...will he? Has yet to be seen. The Raiders had Porter, Curry and Doug Gabriel last season and look how long it took Collins to feel comfortable, yet still finished 5-11.
Here's another interesting fact for you, the Raiders are 2-14 on the road in the last 2 seasons.
But that Raider fan was praising Lamont Jordan. Lets see, the guy has never gained more than 500 yards in any season, has never scored more than 4 times in a season. Oh, you're going to toss out the fact that he was a back-up to Curtis Martin...sure, let me ask you this...why are Raider fans praising a back-up RB then who has yet to prove himself?
Then there is the biggest question of them all - every team that gets to the Super Bowl has a somewhat good defense. Name one team that made it to the Super Bowl in the past 10 years with a defense ranked 30th or higher? The Raiders didn't do anything this offseason to improve the one area where they needed the most help. This is why the Raiders will end up scoring 25-30 points per game but still lose because the other team scores 35-40. The Raiders have just turned into the Chiefs of last season but even worse, won't have enough offense to be close to .500.
Raiders finish the season 6-10 or 7-9 at best but last in the AFC West
Look for the Raiders to go deep into the playoffs only to lose in New England perhaps in the snow by a tuck rule. Hmmm sound familiar? Well this Raider team is for real this year with Moss and Porter as Kerry Collins arsenal and Lamont Jordan getting a shot to prove he should have been a number one somewhere in the NFL instead of being stuck behind all time great Curtis Martin. The Raiders are stacked with big named great athletes on defense like Charles Woodson, Warren Sapp, Big Dog Washington and the rest of the gang. On offense Kerry Collins is on the hot seat to get it done, he can't be tossing pick all year like he has in the past. It's going to be a tough task for teams to D up on this packed offense, not to mention QB turned WR Ronald Curry who might just have the best hands of all of them. Look for the Raiders to take the division by storm and go 12-4 1st Place.
The Raiders will look great some weeks and get blasted others as they did not do enough to shore up that 30th place D. Kerry Collins is very Drew Bledsoe like, capable of 400 yard games followed by a three interception game, also , he does not protect the ball. The division is stacked, the Chiefs will beat the raiders in a shootout and the Chargers LT will shred them as well. A split with the Broncos combined with the three losses they will suffer from the AFC east will plant them in the cellar.
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