2009 NFL season in review: Oakland Raiders
It is kind of hard to bag on a team that won five games, and one who is led by a former NFL legend. However it is clear that Al Davis is behind the times of the current NFL, and his record in the draft lately is highly questionable. It also seems, he is unwilling to give up on former number one overall pick QB Jamarcus Russell. Al shouldn’t take it too hard, we don’t see the San Diego Charges moping about the disaster Ryan Leaf was, but Al seems unwilling to move on, and that is hurting his football team.
The Raider offense scored just 197 points in 2009 that was the second worst offense in the league, and a strong indication that Russell is not the guy to lead the Raider attack. His stats for the 2009 season are just as bad. He completed less than 50% of his passes, threw for just three touchdowns, with 11 INT’s. Bruce Gradkowski, who played in seven games, had slightly better numbers completing 54% of his passes, and throwing for six TD’s with just 3 INT’s. On the ground they did earn 1,701 yards, but the failures at the QB position limited their effectiveness.
The Raider defense gave up 379 points, or 23.7 points per game. That means on average the Raiders were outscored by more than 11 points. Adding to their misery is the fact that there take away differential was -13. That means their defense could not get the ball as many times as their offense was turning it over. However things are a little brighter on the defensive side of the ball, with two of their players getting more or very close to 100 tackles.
What all this means is that the Raiders have a lot of work to do. They have had turmoil throughout their organization for several years now, and Davis seems apathetic to the situation his franchise is in. They need a strong leader, they need Davis to step away from being the General Manager, and they need to find some legitimate talent in the next few drafts. If they don’t they will continue to be a sad remnant of what they once were.
Related Links:
•Oakland Raiders News and Notes
•NFL Complete.com
