Denver returns to Oakland on Monday night

Discussion in 'AFC West' started by The Return of the Raider, Apr 27, 2008.

  1. The Return of the Raider

    The Return of the Raider Active Member

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    Leave your thoughts on the week 1 matchup. Here is what happened to Denver last time they showed up:

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    Lane Kiffin is 1-1 vs. Shanahan....
     
  2. The Return of the Raider

    The Return of the Raider Active Member

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    Russell's mind is catching up with his body. Russell's body is in the best shape ever. Sports Illustrated's rumor of him hitting 300 pounds was complete bs. Javon Walker is going to make Dever very unhappy in week 1, my prediction.



    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Greg Knapp didn't need even one full day to see that JaMarcus Russell's head was in the game. It was March 10, the first day of offseason workouts for the Raiders, and Knapp and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo drew up a defense on a whiteboard and asked Russell to react.

    "<u>Why are you asking me that question, coach</u>?" the second-year quarterback retorted. "<u>That's the one you asked the night before my workout at LSU</u>."

    Russell was referring to his pro day workout on March 14, 2007, practically a year earlier.

    "He was exactly right," Knapp said. "We were putting up a quiz against a certain defense: 'If this guy were to blitz, where would the ball go to?' He was like, '<u>You got something new for me, don't you</u>?'

    "And that's exciting. Because if you've got that kind of recall on a night that was very important to him a year ago, way before the draft, you know he's into it and really wants to become a better quarterback."

    The Raiders welcomed dynamic running back Darren McFadden -- conceivably, their best runner since Marcus Allen -- into the fold Saturday, then added some much-needed speed on Sunday. But as the team gets down to the business of building a winner from the ashes of five disastrous seasons, Russell is still the cornerstone.

    After missing all of training camp and the exhibition season in a bitter contract dispute, the giant quarterback from LSU and No. 1 overall pick of 2007 made only tentative strides as a rookie. He played in four games, started one (the finale, against San Diego) and wound up with 373 passing yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions.

    It was little more than a trial run. Now, with an entire offseason to absorb coach Lane Kiffin's system and work with his offensive teammates, Russell is expected to look like an NFL starter.

    So far, the Raiders couldn't be happier with his effort.

    Russell hasn't missed a day of offseason activity. The offense isn't allowed to work together as a unit yet, but the quarterbacks meet with DeFilippo and often Knapp for an hour and 45 minutes each Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and Russell then works on footwork and throws for another hour on the field. He's a regular in the weightroom, too.

    "Most of the guys are here really three or four hours a day," Kiffin said. "He's here about 5½, six hours a day. . . . By far, he's in the best shape since I've seen him, even if you go back to his pro day in college."

    That contradicts a Sports Illustrated note nearly two months ago that Russell had ballooned to nearly 300 pounds, a rumor that never gained traction.

    Knapp gives Russell extracurricular assignments, too, handing him study guides each week and then quizzing him verbally on his progressions, his footwork, his defensive keys. It's a luxury the offensive staff doesn't have with rookies, who don't show up until mid-May.

    "Even then, you're jumping into OTAs (organized team activities), so the time we get to spend now, of really wiring a guy's brain on how to play the position in our offense, is during this time," Knapp said. "We've seen great strides in the classroom and in the individual stuff, and now we're hoping to see it in the OTAs when we start team practice."

    The Raiders will have a mini-camp on May 9-11, but it's for rookies only. The whole team probably will not assemble until early June.

    When it does, Russell should find a lot of new firepower at his disposal. He'll have a couple of fleet rookie targets in fourth-round draft choice Arman Shields of Richmond and seventh-round pick Chaz Schilers of San Diego State, and a game-breaking veteran in Javon Walker -- assuming the former Pro Bowl receiver is healthy after having his right knee operated on for the third time.

    "His progress has been excellent," Knapp said of Walker. "And what I have found, guys like that, that have already reached a certain status -- and I was with him at the Pro Bowl, back in '04 when he went there from Green Bay -- they've got something to prove now. And they've got a little hunger and a little fire."

    And then of course there is McFadden. He has more wiggle and better hands than Justin Fargas, more speed than LaMont Jordan, and should become an immediate focal point of the offense.

    "I think it's going to help JaMarcus a lot," Kiffin said. "It gives him another tool to work with. As you go back and you research quarterbacks that have done really well over a long period of time, it's because they have the right things around him. It's the same thing we talked about in the press conference (after the San Diego game). We need to surround him with better talent. We think we've done it this offseason."

    The added firepower will give Russell a better chance to succeed in Year Two. It also ratchets up the pressure on Kiffin, on a short leash after a 4-12 first-year record and a much-publicized rift with owner Al Davis to start the offseason.

    "Have we increased expectations?" Kiffin asked rhetorically on Saturday. "Yes, if that's what you really wanted to know. We've increased our expectations on offense with our group a lot."

    Now it's up to Kiffin, Knapp and their assistants to distill all this speed and potential into performance, something Raiders fans haven't seen consistently since 2002.</div>
     

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