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Akh’s Thoughts: Week 14
5 thoughts on the Skins’ drubbing of the Oakland Raiders:
1-The story of this game was the pounding that Jason Campbell took, but he stood in the pocket and made plays that put the skins in a position to win the game. He’s really developed a firm chemistry with Davis/Thomas and Moss even showed some signs of life as a contributor. The difference, imo, is beyond just Sherman Lewis: Campbell is trusting his WRs far more. He’s not waiting for them to get open, he’s deciding to make the throws to where the WR should be according to the play, and the difference in performance is that the skins are hitting those routes further down the field. It does help that Devin Thomas is a player who plays hard every down(or appears to), but its Campbell’s trust in Thomas(and Davis) that is yielding the improved results we’re seeing.
2-Two defensive players who had much different results playing different positions were Brian Orakpo and LaRon Landry. The defensive staff finally slipped some thorazine into Blache’s pre-game meal and he finally put Orakpo at DE for a significant amount of time against a piss poor OT(Mario Henderson). Naturally, Orakpo totally ripped him several new orifices in making JaMarcus Russell’s life a living hell(well, more so than it already is lol). On the other hand, LaRon Landry was moved to strong safety for this game(Reed Doughty at Free safety? Really? Really?!?!) and the Raiders(hardly a well coached offensive squad) targeted him in the passing game anyways(I would like to point out that Landry’s INT was pretty clearly an incomplete pass, balls don’t bounce straight in the air after hitting a player’s hands). Time to face facts: Landry is just ruined(or never had it). He has poor technique and teams are adjusting their gameplan to take advantage of his presence on the field.
3-Another big theme in this game was the constant stream of mistakes on both sides, but especially from the Raiders. Make no mistake: the Raiders have some talent on both sides of the ball, but as is always the case with that franchise, they play with absolutely zero discipline and they suck your team into the black hole of late hits, facemasks and sloppy play. The skins fell victim to this at times(especially early), but left it to the Raiders to continually shoot themselves in the foot. The Skins kept their mistakes to a minimum, and they blasted the Raiders for their errors.
3a-The biggest mistake the Raiders made was drafting JaMarcus Russell. I’d like to hook Mel Kiper and Todd McShay up to a lie detector test and ask them the following questions:
1-What exactly did you see in Russell that made you think that he could play QB in the NFL?
2-Why didn’t you mention the fact that Russell is not only lazy and dumb, but doesn’t seem to care about the game?
3-Did Russell’s agents offer you any compensation for perpetrating this fraud upon the NFL?
4-A few weeks ago, I pointed out that Rock Cartwright might have a role moving forward as a 3rd down back, I would like to retract that thought and say the same thing about Quentin Ganther. He had an okay game as a running back(he’s not a feature back, he hesitates far too much out the outside runs), but in pass routes and blocking, he did fairly well. He also looks like a guy who can be split out in the slot to try and create mismatches.
5-The bottom line is that the skins blasted a really bad Raiders team, and that’s a good thing. The skins struggled with equally as bad teams in Detroit, Tampa and St Louis this year, so this can be seen as some form of progress. Also, its becoming clearer which players need to go(moss, ARE, Landry, etc etc) and which ones need to be put in a position to succeed(and built around). Its also becoming clearer how much of an impact bringing in Sherman Lewis had in improving the offense(Lewis is a competent Offensive mind, but I think it says more about Zorn and the Zornettes than what it does about Bingous Maximus).
Player grades:
To make it clearer what the grades mean, I submit to you a legend on how to read the grading:
10: Legendary performance.
9: AP All Pro team caliber performance
8: Pro bowl caliber performance
7: Good, maybe a brain fart here or there.
6: More good than bad.
5: More bad than good
4: I’m looking at NFL.com’s depth chart for who’s behind him
3: Liability
2: Should be starting for the Raiders
1: Opposing fans not only know his name, but openly mock him(and we have creatively snarky nicknames for him)
0: The player must have incriminating photos of his coordinator or position coach(or both)
Pass: the player didn’t play enough to merit a grade.
X WR: Santana Moss 6.6. Okay game, had the drops and that PI call he drew was unbelievably egregious.
TE: Fred Davis 7.3. Reminding more and more of Bo Scaife.
LT: Levi Jones 6.8. Nothing special, nothing bad.
LG: Derrick Dockery 6.4. Struggled with Warren, but better in pass pro
OC: Casey Rabach 5.8. Meh. A big ball of Meh.
RG: Mike Williams 6 flat. Can’t pass block, but does okay in run blocking.
RT: Stephon Heyer 3.4. Just when I thought you were making progress Stephon.
Y WR: Devin Thomas 6.3. The Raiders were clearly afraid of him.
QB Jason Campbell 7.79. Very efficient and effective despite running for his life far too much.
FB: Todd Yoder 6.4. I didn’t think the skins missed Common’s fatter older brother, did you?
RB: Quentin Ganther 7 flat. Good on pass routes, decent running.
PK: Graham Gano 7 flat. Made his kicks and looked solid.
DE: Andre Carter 7.99. 2 sacks, solid performance.
DT: Kedric Golston 6.78. Okay at times, struggled too much for my tastes.
DT: Cornie Griffin 5.5. Invisible
DE: Philip Daniels 3.4 Why does he play again?
SLB Brian Orapko 5.5 at OLB, 9.7 at DE. It is inexcusable that he doesn’t start and play 40 snaps a game at DE.
MLB London Fletcher 7.7 Solid if unspectacular.
WLB Rocky McIntosh 5 flat. MIA
CB Carlos Rogers 6.25. Some nice run supports, but so-so coverages
SS LaRon “The Clap” Landry 5.7. I’m not giving him credit for that INT, and the Raiders were targeting him all game long.
FS Reed Doughty 6.25. Nice sack, moving him to FS is just jaw dropping.
CB Fred Smoot 6 flat. Some nice coverages, but also looked bored/lazy at times.
P Hunter Smith 7.78. Really solid game for the vet.
Coaching grades:
Offense: B+
Defense: B
Special teams: C
Per Dolla Bill’s request, a quick comment about each of the 31 other teams in the NFL:
Playoff teams:
Saints: You’re only going to beat them outside of NOLA in bad weather.
Colts: Their defense(and defensive injuries) will cost them the title.
Chargers: Look fearsome, but Norv will find a way to blow it in the clutch.
Vikings: The old INT-throwing Favre seems to be trying to get out.
Patriots: They need to find a pass rush or they’re one and done come January.
Broncos: Enigma, but like a rattlesnake: if you know how to deal with them, no problem..if not, they could kill you.
Eagles: Like the Broncos, if DeSean Jackson is hitting long plays, they’re very tough. If not, they’re not.
Cards: They need to trust their Rbs, or Warner will get killed behind their Oline
Packers: Dangerous offense, frisky defense. Not a team I would want to face in January.
Giants: A lot like Philly, if they hit deep balls, very tough. If not, very meh.
Ravens: Flacco is regressing, and the defense isn’t what they used to be.
Bengals: Injuries have taken the teeth out of the jungle cat.
Everyone else:
Browns: A mess who needs to flush everything but their Oline.
Bears: Everyone wants to discuss Cutler, but their defense has looked far worse.
Steelers: 7-8 win team without Polamalu.
Lions: Schwartz looks like he’s fixed the offense with Stafford et al. They are praying Suh falls to them in April(although they won’t cry if they’re forced to take Gerald McCoy or Eric Berry).
Texans: Gambled too much of the season on Slaton taking a Chris Johnson-esque jump in year 2.
Falcons: Injuries have effectively knocked them out of the playoff hunt, but they can fix their problems in the offseason fairly quickly(especially if Peria Jerry comes back healthy).
Jaguars: Tebow won’t fix Eugene Monroe.
Tampa: They should just admit their mistake and fire Morris. But they will enjoy Suh.
Titans: Chris Johnson and the Chris Johnson-ettes. Nothing more.
Cowboys: Style sells jerseys and makes the pro bowl, but substance wins in December.
Bills: Not much going for them. Did you know that they didn’t make the playoffs in over a decade?
49ers: Singletary has done some good with that team, but it seems like he’s alienating them faster than they are winning.
Dolphins: I like the Wildcat and it gets them some wins, but I have to think that they would be better off just with a conventional run-first offense.
Seahawks: They should bite the bullet and realize that they aren’t remotely a contender so they can wipe out all the dead wood on that team.
Jets: They better hope Sanchez figures out that throwing the ball to the other team doesn’t help them or Rex Ryan will be Mangini in a fat suit.
Chiefs: They have some pieces, but they’re 2 years away. They need to figure out their oline.
Rams: They need to focus on their Qbing above all else.
Raiders: The league should name the rookie salary scale after JaMarcus Russell.
Panthers: On the bright side, Cowher will have some pieces and a first round pick after he deals Peppers to New England.
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