| 20 August 2010
All you have to do is say the name, the Raiders and fans tend to get pretty fired up to play the silver and black. While the Raiders aren't the storied successful franchise they once were, and it's the pre-season this game will be interesting. The Oakland Raiders come to Chicago on Saturday for the Bears' home pre-season opener. I DVR'd the Cowboys Raiders game to get an idea of the opposition and found a couple of interesting things regarding this team.
To put simply the Raiders are devoid of play makers and their offensive line isn't very good. Jason Campbell is an upgrade over JaMarcus Russell, but not but a lot. Campbell has been a mediocre to poor QB throughout most of his career and he didn't suddenly get better by moving on from D.C.
The offensive line really struggled against the Cowboys' starters and only started to put it together when the Cowboys inserted their backups. From there the Raiders strung together their first real drive of the game, high lighted primarily by quick passes that had Campbell taking three and five step drops.
The Raiders have decent talent at the RB position, but they don't really have the talent to block for those 'backs. This leaves them in a lot of third and long situations, which really hurts their offensive production.
The lack of play makers at the WR position has never been more evident when you look upon Darius Heyward-Bey as one of the starting WRs. Heyward-Bey can't run routes worth a crap and he's certainly not a physical receiver. He's fast, but not very consistent with his hands so he's not really a threat.
The only real play maker on the offense is TE Zach Miller who does everything well, from route running, catching the football shielding the defenders with his body. Miller is probably the most underrated TE in the NFL right now and his production will only increase with a better QB situation.
On defense the Raiders will offer a better challenge for the Bears' offense primarily because of one man, Richard Seymour. Seymour makes everyone around him better as he's nearly unblockable. He's big, strong and athletic easily one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL and when he brings his A-game is tough to stop.
Next to Seymour is second year DE Matt Shaughnessy the former Wisconsin Badger who looked pretty tough in the Cowboys pre-season game. He's not an elite talent by any means but he has a consistent motor and does a lot of things well. He's a very good player who plays hard on every down and always seems to be around the football, amongst other overused football cliches.
From there the Raiders' secondary is pretty strong too led by Pro Bowl CB Nnamdi Asomugha.
The Raiders also don't blitz a lot preferring to do a lot in man coverage which should allow the Bears to exploit a lot of favorable match ups in the secondary. Cutler should get a lot of work in this Saturday and will have the opportunity to make plays down the field.
When the Raiders moved in their second team defense during the two minute warning drive prior to the end of the first half they really struggled against the Cowboys. I would like to see the Bears have equal part success against the Raiders' backups. This means a better game from Josh Beekman, Lance Louis and Johan Asiata against the Raiders' backups.
With the back up O-Linemen in the Raiders' offense is more productive than the starters. This definitely will be a challenge for the Bears' young defensive linemen. Bears will need Toeaina, Harris, Gilbert, Melton and Wootton to all perform at a high level in their competition for the spots on the roster.
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