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Darrius Heyward-Bey and Mike Mitchell: Best Friends Forever
Published: June 17, 2009
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When the Oakland Raiders made their first two selections of the 2009 NFL draft, the collective jaw of the NFL world dropped.
Darrius Heyward-Bey was considered a major stretch at No. 7 overall, but considering his speed, the selection shouldn’t have come as too much of a shock.
Mike Mitchell, on the other hand, was a name the vast majority of people had never heard before he was selected in the second round.
Despite Heyward-Bey’s claim that he isn’t worried about what the critics say, the Raider Nation is eager for him to prove them wrong.
Mitchell has already said he can’t wait to show his detractors that he was worthy of the 47th overall pick. He was a big hitter in college, and it is safe to assume he will do a large part of his arguing by throwing his body at opposing players.
Heyward-Bey needs only to spread opposing defenses to prove his worth, creating opportunities for his teammates. Well, that and maybe catch a few balls here and there.
Mitchell needs to be a presence in the secondary, striking fear in opposing receivers.
So what’s the connection?
Going over the Raiders schedule this season, Mike Mitchell will have a chance to go against eight of the top thirteen wide receivers drafted in 2009. He will face the consensus number one and number two receivers: Michael Crabtree in week two of the preseason and Jeremy Maclin in week six of the regular season. If he were to, say, take off both their heads with crushing hits, the Heyward-Bey pick would look like a no-brainer.
Not that I would wish harm to any person, but what if Mike Mitchell sends all eight of those rookie wideouts into the obscurity of once-promising players constantly plagued by the one injury that derailed their careers? Wouldn’t that be great!?!? I mean, a shame?!?!
Who am I kidding? I hope Mike Mitchell lays every one of them out. I can’t wait to see them timidly crossing the middle, the number 34 burned in the back of their brains.
And at the end of the season, when the bodies are piled up in the secondary, Darrius Heyward-Bey can shake the hand of the man who made him one of the only rookie receivers left standing, and he and Mike Mitchell will be best friends forever.
Raider Fans: Who Is The Lesser Of The Three AFC West Evils?
Published: June 16, 2009
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In the past two NFL seasons, when it reached the point when the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs were eliminated from playoff contention, the San Diego Chargers were hanging by a thread, and the Denver Broncos looked to have the AFC West all but locked up, I secretly became a Chargers fan.
Not in any game in which they played the Raiders, mind you, but in just about every other remaining game on their schedule. I would grind my teeth when their offense was in the Red Zone, I was panic-stricken when they were on defense with a small lead in the fourth quarter, and I was overcome with joy when they won.
And it hurt. It hurt every time I caught myself rooting for an AFC West rival. But the fact is, somebody’s got to win the division and if it’s not going to be the Raiders, I’d prefer it be the Chargers.
Not only that, I’d really prefer not to be the Broncos. My hatred for the Broncos rivals So, the past two years when the Broncos choked and the Chargers stole the division, I was relieved.
Maybe my dislike for the Chargers is less than it is for the Chiefs or Broncos because the Raiders and Chargers haven’t been good at the same time during my lifetime. Maybe it’s that the Raiders, despite having lost the last eleven match-ups, are well ahead of the Chargers in the all-time series.
Sure, I don’t like Phillip Rivers, but until he started to calm down a bit recently, he was one of the best interviews in the NFL. He was wild-eyed, screaming sentences full of randomly selected words while foam sprayed from his rabies-infested mouth. It was a riot.
Yes, I look forward to the day when LaDainian Tomlinson retires, but his thirty-one touchdowns in 2006 (plus the two he threw) was a pretty amazing thing to watch. The fact that he was named NFL Man of the Year (in addition to MVP) after that season for his contributions to society made it even harder to hate him. Besides, the Raiders went 2-14 that year and Tomlinson was a distraction from that.
But I’m getting carried away. The purpose of this article was not to convince anyone else to agree with me, it was to pose this question to the those of you in the great Raider Nation:
Which team is the lesser of the three evils in the AFC West?
I’ll put a poll on this page, but I do hope to see some elaboration in the comments.
Thanks, and go Raiders!
P.S. The Seattle Seahawks are a valid option, so I guess there are four evils.
BREAKING NEWS! Brandon Marshall Wants to Not Play for YOU!
Published: June 16, 2009
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Just a few weeks from his next suspension-inducing bit of criminal activity, Brandon Marshall has issued a statement to NFL teams that he desperately wants to not play for someone other than the Denver Broncos.
In his statement, Marshall announced that he is offering an astonishing 100 percent no-money-back guarantee and a solemn oath to embarrass the bejeezes out of any team who is looking for a talented wide receiver who will play at least five games per season.
Here is an excerpt from his statement:
“I just want you all to know [stumbles, hurts old person], that I will do whatever I can [pauses, teeters] to help your team [vomits, checks pocket for car keys], but I do have other responsibilities.” Marshall failed to elaborate on what those responsibilities might be.
A reporter familiar with the star wideout speculated that Marshall either meant helping needy children at the Darrent Williams Teen Center or helping children off a rapidly spinning merry-go-round with a motorized vehicle of his choosing.
In order to further spread this exciting news to NFL execs and fans alike, Marshall announced that he has signed an advertising deal and will be pictured on the box-front of the popular breakfast cereal, Won’ties.
Marshall concluded his statement by saying that his ideal situation would be with a team who will likely be switching coaches after the 2009 season and whose quarterback is a “self-focused brat.” This, he said, would increase the amount of time he can spend with his new fiance who, unfortunately, has recently contracted the dreaded Inexplicable Morning Bruises disease.
As he left the podium, Marshall sweetly hummed the melody of “Rocky Mountain High,” giggling after each use of the word “high,” which seemed to be the only word of the song he knew.
JaMarcus Russell’s Progress: A New Comparative Statistical Approach
Published: June 16, 2009
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At the completion of JaMarcus Russell’s first full season as quarterback of the Oakland Raiders, his fans and detractors finally had some numbers to work with.
Some used those numbers to label him a “bust,” while others called them “progress,” but none of it was definitive. As a Raiders fan, I wanted new analysis, which would prove that Russell was headed for greatness.
So I sat down today to do a little research, selecting three of the current era’s most successful quarterbacks (Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, and Peyton Manning) and three contemporary “busts” (Vince Young, David Carr, and Alex Smith) for comparison.
This analysis differs from ones I have seen previously, however, in that it is based on the early pass attempts of each quarterback, rather than their first full season or first 16 games as a starter.
Through 434 pass attempts (the number Russell has as of today), or through the game in which each player crossed that threshold, the six quarterbacks ranked, in various categories, as follows:
Completion Percentage:
Roethlisberger, 64.7 percent; Brady, 64.3 percent; Smith, 57.6 percent; Manning, 55.7 percent; Russell, 53.9 percent; Young, 53.8 percent; Carr, 52.5 percent
Hopefully Russell will improve on this soon.
Total Yards:
Roethlisberger, 3937; Brady, 3137; Manning, 2810; Russell, 2796; Young, 2782; Smith, 2699; Carr, 2552
Though I did not list it here, Russell came in third in average-yards-per-attempt (6.4), behind only Roethlisberger(8.9) and Brady(6.9).
Touchdowns/Interceptions: (in order of +/-)
Roethlisberger, 29/15; Brady, 21/12; Russell, 15/12; Young, 12/13; Manning, 19/23; Carr, 9/15; Smith, 11/18
Russell’s 6/2 performance over his last three games is cause for optimism.
Sacked:
Carr, 76; Smith, 51; Roethlisberger, 44; Brady, 43; Russell, 37; Young, 29; Manning, 15
I was shocked by this statistic. I was sure Russell was sacked far more than the others, with the possible exception of David Carr. That said, 37 is still too many.
Fumbles/Lost:
Manning, 2/1; Roethlisberger, 3/3; Brady, 12/3; Young, 14/3; Smith 17/7; Carr, 21/7; Russell, 16/9
Russell is the winner of losing fumbles.
Quarterback Passer Rating:
Roethlisberger, 100; Brady, 88.7; Young, 78.9; Russell, 73.9; Manning, 67.3; Smith, 67; Carr, 62.8
Not bad. Again, he showed dramatic improvement during his last three games. This stat is a pain in the you-know-what to calculate, by the way.
Overall, Roethlisberger and Brady stand out from the crowd. David Carr is the clear loser.
Here are two additional stats: Pittsburgh’s scoring-defense was ranked first during Big Ben’s first season as a starter and their offense ranked second in rushing. The same stats for the Texans during Carr’s first year: No. 27 and No. 31, respectively. (For the record, the Raiders finished 24th and 10th in these categories last year).
So what does it mean?
Maybe that the success of a quarterback is impacted by the ability of his team to run the ball and play defense. Maybe it means the ability of a team to run the ball and play defense is impacted by the success of its quarterback. It probably means both.
But do any of the above statistics indicate that JaMarcus Russell deserves the “bust” label, or do they suggest he deserves a pat on the back? One thing’s for sure—this analysis did not shed the all-absolving, greatness-guaranteeing light on Russell for which I had hoped. I guess I’ll just have to form my opinion of him the hard way—by watching him play.
Or maybe I just need to try another form of analysis. How about a touchdowns-to-interceptions-to-who-can-throw-the-farthest ratio? I’ll be giving three-to-one odds on JaMarcus Russell.
