Raiders cut ties with Brooks after one season

[Tony]

Cut and pasted:
At one time at the scouting combine, Robert Gallery was 'The Can't Miss Tackle'.
Now he's 'The Tackle on the Move'.
In a reshuffling of their offensive line, the Raiders are moving Gallery from left tackle back to right tackle, and moving guard Barry Sims off the bench and back to left tackle, a member of Oakland's coaching staff confirmed this weekend.
The moves are an attempt to overhaul an offensive line that allowed an egregious 72 sacks last season. To round out the offensive line, the Raiders plan to keep Jake Grove at center and play former third-round pick Paul McQuistan at left guard and former sixth-round pick Kevin Boothe at right guard.
The thinking behind the switches is to get more speed and skill on the field, at the proper positions. The Raiders coaches believe Sims is better suited to the offensive line's toughest position, particularly at a time when Gallery is attempting to regain the confidence he lost.
Until he becomes the confident player he was when he was at the Combine coming out of Iowa, Gallery will be stationed at right tackle. And the Raiders will continue tinkering with an offensive line that did little right last season.

 

[Tony]

Cut and Pasted:

3. The Raiders have debriefed the new mentor of JaMarcus Russell, leading to rampant speculation (mine) that the fix is in and that Randy Moss is about to be a very happy man.

You may have heard that California quarterback consultant Tom Martinez, the mentor of Tom Brady since Mr. Super Bowl was 13, worked with Russell for a week at the Athletes Performance Institute in Arizona and came away highly impressed. You have not heard that the Raiders, prior to the Combine, summoned Martinez to ask him about Russell. Martinez says he told the Raiders, "There's nothing you'll ask him to do that he can't do. Nothing.'' Here are some other interesting tidbits Martinez shared with me Sunday night:

a. He told Oakland offensive coordinator Greg Knapp to remember how good Russell is, and he's only 21.

b. He told Russell after analyzing LSU tape he too often looked sluggish, like he was carrying too much weight. And the one thing he stressed with Russell is consistency with the passing motion. "Like a golf swing -- you get really good when the swing's exactly the same every time.''

c. "I told the Raiders, 'The worst thing you could do with this kid is give him four coaches in his first four years,' " said Martinez. "He needs stability. He needs the right guy coaching him the first two or three years, where he'll be taught consistency and stay on him about his technique. That's what every young quarterback needs.''

d. Everyone's talking about how well Russell throws the deep ball, and they're right. "But he makes such beautiful throws on the curls and the comebacks," says Martinez, "like an outfielder hitting the cutoff man perfectly. And his touch is so good. He throws it short with touch, deep with touch. Every throw looks so natural.''

e. Martinez worked with Russell on throwing the ball more over the top. "When Tom Brady throws an interception, it's very rarely a tipped ball because he's releasing the ball high, so it's hard to deflect it." said Martinez. He said the 6-5 1/2 Russell, releasing the ball high over his head, would, in effect, make him about 7-3 and make it very hard for defenders to tip his passes.

 

[3VID3NC3]

Cut and pasted:
At one time at the scouting combine, Robert Gallery was 'The Can't Miss Tackle'.
Now he's 'The Tackle on the Move'.
In a reshuffling of their offensive line, the Raiders are moving Gallery from left tackle back to right tackle, and moving guard Barry Sims off the bench and back to left tackle, a member of Oakland's coaching staff confirmed this weekend.
The moves are an attempt to overhaul an offensive line that allowed an egregious 72 sacks last season. To round out the offensive line, the Raiders plan to keep Jake Grove at center and play former third-round pick Paul McQuistan at left guard and former sixth-round pick Kevin Boothe at right guard.
The thinking behind the switches is to get more speed and skill on the field, at the proper positions. The Raiders coaches believe Sims is better suited to the offensive line's toughest position, particularly at a time when Gallery is attempting to regain the confidence he lost.
Until he becomes the confident player he was when he was at the Combine coming out of Iowa, Gallery will be stationed at right tackle. And the Raiders will continue tinkering with an offensive line that did little right last season.

Sims will be just as bad at LT as Gallery. He's gettin older and didn't do that great at LT 2 years ago. Looks like the O-line will be garbage once again...Boothe may be the only decent player on the whole line. They seriously need to look into bringing in another T through free agency or the draft..another center wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Tony]

^I hear you mayne. I don't think they're done with the o-line yet.