COOPER CARLISLE NOW A RAIDER

[Solitary 1]

GOOD ARTICLE TONY. THANKS.

 

[Tony]

It's all good my folks... I did find this quote quite disturbing though "No wide receivers have more than five catches in four games." Man wtf? Is that a "prevent" offense or what? 4 games and no receiver has more than 5 catches?

That's crazy in my opinion. This is all speculation on my part but I think Kiffin and Javon Walker had problems like Porter and Art Shell. I think when J-Dubb threatened to quit (which he never probably intended to do anyway) that was his way of telling Al that Kiffin was getting on his nerves with all the criticism (come on man who's going to walk away from all that money). So Al probably told J-Dubb to hang tight because if he (Kiffin) keeps screwing up he's going to be out of here... so that's why J-Dubb never complained to the media about Kiffin's play calling and the lack of balls going his way because he knew it was only a matter of time before the mf got fired. I did find it pretty strange that Kiffin held Walker out of the game against the Broncos on opening Monday night. Dude was ready to face his former team.

Like I said, it's all speculation on my part so it doesn't mean that it's true, it's just what I think... We'll see what's up this Sunday though...

 

[POLTERGEIST]

is greyson gunheim still on the practice squad?

 

[MRTHECOSE]

Check this article out fellaz:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/07/SP5313CD9E.DTL

Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Knapp has waited all his life for this moment. OK, so it has been only 20 games, but all those weeks without play-calling power sure felt like a forever or two.

"I love calling plays," Knapp said. "That's my chess game. That's my way to feel like I can help the team win and put the guys in the best position to win.

"It's my juices. It's how I get my juices flowing in the game."

Knapp's adrenaline is back in operation this week when the Raiders visit New Orleans. As soon as head coach Lane Kiffin was fired last week, Knapp was assigned play-picking duties to match the coordinator title he has held since last season.

Sure, interim head coach Tom Cable will give input during the week, and he'll get in the last word. Still, Cable said he's counting on Knapp to bring passing balance to a run-heavy offense during the Saints game and beyond.

"He's certainly excited about it," Cable said. "The nice thing is he's called a lot of big plays in a lot of big games ... when something big was really on the line. To have that experience there is going to be awesome."

When the 2004 Falcons reached the NFC Championship Game, Knapp was shepherding the offense. When the 49ers made the playoffs in 2001 and '02, Knapp was barking plays into the quarterback's radio.

The Raiders hired him to be their offensive coordinator last year, only to sit him in the booth. Kiffin - a first-time head coach who was co-offensive coordinator at USC - called the shots from field-side.

Knapp hadn't stood by like that since he was the 49ers' quarterbacks coach in 2000. How the game-day idleness didn't make his temple vein burst, no one knows.

"It was different," Knapp said. "It took me, I'll be honest with you, about four (or) five games last year to finally just chill and not get uptight. The fact I was upstairs last year, it was a little bit harder. I was always so into it on the field.

"This year, being down on the field again, it at least took some of the edge off me because I was at least able to see the quarterback in the eyes and help give little reminders in the headset."

Now, he gets to talk directly into JaMarcus Russell's earhole. Those expecting Knapp to turn Russell into a downfield throwing machine, well, not so fast.

Knapp's offenses led the NFL in rushing from 2004 through '06 and were top-six the three years before that. Only once has he directed a top-10 passing offense.

Cable doesn't expect Knapp to go all vertical, but there won't be a repeat of the second half at Buffalo - when the Raiders threw three times in a 24-23 loss.

Cable's thinking something closer to what the Falcons did in 2006, when he was the offensive line coach and Knapp was the offensive coordinator. The run-pass ratio was 53-to-47.

"He's very good at what he does, so there's no issue there," Cable said. "We went through a year together and he's calling plays, and in between series, we talk about the next series of runs, how I want to do this and set this up, and he would do it.

"I really feel like that's a dynamic that's in place, and we can really go after it together."

Right now, the Raiders have 130 rushes to 99 pass attempts. No wide receivers have more than five catches in four games. Knapp's job, Cable said, is to throw to score points and build leads for the run game to protect in the fourth quarter. He wants the run-versus-pass line to be 50-50, if possible.

At this point, Knapp is glad to do anything other than sit silently.

"Always," Knapp said. "I really do have a passion for it."

Good shit..

 

[Tony]

It's all good folks^^^... just trying to provide a little more insight on a point I've been trying to make to my Raider affiliates bro! Nothing wrong with a little more balance in regards to the play calling...

 

[REdRUM]

The thing is...basic math tells you that the run-verses-pass comparison is about 60%-40%, in favor of the run, so it's not that lop-sided.

We'll work some more passing in, but I think we need to still rely on the run.

 

[REdRUM]

Also...so much has been made about only throwing the ball 3 times in the second half vs. Buffalo. While I agree that number is extremely low, we also had the lead, a lead we should have held onto, in part by running the ball, pounding the ball down the middle, to try to take time off the clock.

But, like I said...it's the past. Let's see how the team works out from now on.

 

[Tony]

Also...so much has been made about only throwing the ball 3 times in the second half vs. Buffalo. While I agree that number is extremely low, we also had the lead, a lead we should have held onto, in part by running the ball, pounding the ball down the middle, to try to take time off the clock.

That's understandable, of course you want to run the ball and protect your lead, and run time off of the clock. The D has to step up too. But at the sametime, you have to score points to help protect your lead and to "keep" or stay in the lead. Stretching the field by passing opens up the running game a bit. You protect your lead by moving the chains and playing "keep away". We were running the ball but we weren't "moving the chains". We'd run on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and then punt... giving Buffalo's offense opportunies to put points on the board and catch up. Buffalo was selling out with 8 man fronts daring us to throw it and we wouldn't, but when we did you saw what happened.

Yeah it's in the past now though, so more balance to come!

 

[Solitary 1]

It's all good my folks... I did find this quote quite disturbing though "No wide receivers have more than five catches in four games." Man wtf? Is that a "prevent" offense or what? 4 games and no receiver has more than 5 catches?

That's crazy in my opinion. This is all speculation on my part but I think Kiffin and Javon Walker had problems like Porter and Art Shell. I think when J-Dubb threatened to quit (which he never probably intended to do anyway) that was his way of telling Al that Kiffin was getting on his nerves with all the criticism (come on man who's going to walk away from all that money). So Al probably told J-Dubb to hang tight because if he (Kiffin) keeps screwing up he's going to be out of here... so that's why J-Dubb never complained to the media about Kiffin's play calling and the lack of balls going his way because he knew it was only a matter of time before the mf got fired. I did find it pretty strange that Kiffin held Walker out of the game against the Broncos on opening Monday night. Dude was ready to face his former team.

Like I said, it's all speculation on my part so it doesn't mean that it's true, it's just what I think... We'll see what's up this Sunday though...

EXCELLENT ANALYSIS/ THEORY.

 

[T-Rip]

lol @ prevent offense, that pretty much sums it up. Never even heard of the term before but the Raiders need to start running Shotgun more

 

[Tony]

lol @ prevent offense, that pretty much sums it up. Never even heard of the term before but the Raiders need to start running Shotgun more

Yep, I agree, that could help too because the shotgun is designed to give the qb a little more time to scan the field and to go through his progressions/reads.