RB (Fargas, Bush, McFadden): B
If I was grading on a curve, our RBs would get an A. In all honesty I don’t even think they’re anywhere near their potential. Our backs carried the brunt of our offense on their shoulders. Not only through pure rushing, but through short passing schemes. While I’m not a fan of the McFadden pick, it’s clear that he and Bush are our RBC of the future. Does anyone on the Raiders payroll play with more heart than Justin Fargas? I can’t tell you how excited I am about our run game.

O-line: D
Henderson, Gallery, Grove, Carlisle and Green. There’s not one guy in that lineup worthy of keeping their job. JRuss spent far too much time being hurried or pulled to the ground. And Of course, promoting our OLine Coach to interim head coach mid-season probably didn’t help their progress a great deal. If your car keeps breaking down, you eventually need to decide between dumping more money into fixing it, or buying a new car.

Defense: C
The domination of our defense in 2006 has made me terribly unforgiving with their mediocre play over the last two seasons. Tommy Kelly’s contract didn’t help. My frustrations aside, Burgess, Morrison and Howard are the heart of our Defense and this group of guys has the potential to be one of the best D’s in the league.

Secondary: C
Nnamdi Asomugha is arguably the best CB in the game, maybe even the best player in the league. So let’s take him out of the equation here. DeAngelo Hall was a joke and cost us the game vs Denver when he got schooled by a ROOKIE. As soon as he was cut and replaced by Chris Johnson, things tightened up a bit. I know Asomugha was upset Hall was let go, but the CB tandem was much better with CJ. Gibril Wilson was solid at SS, but Huff has been a disappointment even after moving to FS, which should have enabled him to exploit his speed. We’re really hurting in that FS slot.

Special Teams: B+
Lechler gave us another Pro Bowl season and Janikowski snagged a few records – longest FG to end an overtime in NFL history as well as surpassing Ray Guy to have the most career points in Raider history. Johnnie Lee Higgins and his end zone back flips were a legitimate punt return threat. One of the better season-side acquisitions was picking Justin Miller up off waivers mid-November. He took over duties returning kickoffs, giving us 2 trips to the endzone, finishing the season as the AFC ST Player of the month. If it weren’t for our coverage, the ST squad would get an A.

By: Knup on Jan 4th, 2009
Tagged as: RaiderRefuge.com

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