My First Top 10 List: Why This Season May Provide Something To Get Excited About.
Posted: Friday, July 24, 2009
by Chris Limburg
http://gothicfootball.com
10. The Haters
Yes Raiders Hating is like always running rampant; there may even be just as many haters as fans. Examples include Mel Kiper, Chris Carter, Chris Mortenson; well you get the picture basically all of NFL Network and anyone who buys into the garbage they preach.
9. Celebration Time
Don't be surprised if a few players, namely Johnnie Lee Higgins, act like they've forgotten what the end zone is and once one player starts celebrating that energy is often contagious. Also don't be surprised if you see Janokowski kicking point afters from 15 yards back
8. The Fans
Raider fans are some of the best and arguably most passionate fans in sports and we know how to show our colors. Whether it be silver and black war paint, masks, team gear whatever it always looks like Halloween if the Raiders are playing in Oakland
7. The Cannon
JaMarcus Russell has quite possibly the strongest arm in all of football, though I'm sure Jay Cutler would protest. Give him some protection and some time to further develop his accuracy and confidence and he may be the next John Elway.
6. Raider Speed
We're not just talking regular speed but Raider speed I mean sub 4.3 speed, game breaking speed and the Raiders have plenty of it to go around: Justin Miller, Darren Macfadden, Tyvon Branch, Johnnie Lee Higgins, Darius Heyward-Bey, and maybe a few others.
5. Potential to break a record
I'm talking about Sebastion Janokowski's monster leg. He is hands down the strongest legged kicker in the NFL and is often seen kicking 70 yarders for warm ups. Against the Jets in overtime he nailed a 56 yarder with plenty of room to spare; it had the distance to have been made from the 63 yard record mark.
4. The Backfield
The Raiders have one of the most talented backfields around with halfbacks Justin Fargas (who I believe has the heart and ability to keep the starting job), speedster Darren Macfadden and the big bruiser in Michael Bush.
And the talent doesn't end there at FB (hopefully returning to near his rookie form after knee surgery preseason last year) Oren O'neil and new additions FB Lorenzo Neal and FB/HB Gary Russell.
3. Outstanding special teams
One of the most impressive special teams squads around. The Best punter Shane Lechlar with ridiculous hangtime and distance on his kicks. Janikowski with his monster leg, Justin Miller returning kicks and Johnnie lee Higgins returning punts.
2. The Big Hits
Namely from the likes of Michael Mitchell and Lorenzo Neal. Maybe we will even see Frantz Joseph and the linebackers mix it up too.
1. The Return To glory
Yes, I said it; this can be the year returns to glory if they do all the right things above.
NFL and fantasy football fans check out my new site http://www.oaklandraiderscentral.com for commentary on everything that is the NFL and fantasy football. Also, sign up for my free fantasy e-course that will prepare you for your draft and enable you to dominate your league in 2009!!
This Article has been viewed 14 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.