2015 Oakland Raiders: A New Mentality With A Fresh Start

CLEVELAND, OH - SEPTEMBER 27: Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders throws a pass during the first quarter against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium on September 27, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

This year the Oakland Raiders are off to a great start. So far in the early goings of the 2015 regular season, we have seen team chemistry that has been missing for a long time.  Can this be our year to regain our stronghold in the AFC West, i believe it will be, and here's why.

This year has started off great because of a new ideology brought in by our new head coach, Jack Del Rio.  Del Rio was successful during his 8 years as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and his last two with the Denver Broncos.  Being that he had spent the last two years leading Peyton Manning and Co. Deep into the Playoffs, should give the raiders the edge when the two teams square off twice, the first of which is in week 5. 

Another reason is that the Raiders have an aggressive playbook, and a show of fast players, that can help generate big plays as well as put points on the board.  Derek Carr, who was the 2014 offensive rookie of the year, has continued to play QB at an extremely high level.  In Week 1 versus Cincinnati (3-0), the Raiders struggled to score, but in Weeks 2&3 amassed 64 points. 

With a lot of help from the strengthened Offensive Line, who has kept these  opposing defenses from getting close to Carr, which allowed him to put up 351 yards passing against the Baltimore Ravens in week 2.  This OL unit has only allowed 1 sack through three weeks, this is a great feat, lets hope this continues.

One also has to give praise to the running game led by Latavius Murray, the successor to Darren McFadden who signed with the  Dallas Cowboys during the off-season.  Murray has already gained 248 yards on 52 carries, placing him in the top 5 rushers in the NFL, fouth to be exact.

Lets get to the Receiving core, led by Rookie Amari Cooper, another stand-out player who can run routes as good as any receiver in the League.  His speed, and vision combine to make him a threat to score eberytime he touches the ball.  In addition to Cooper, the Raiders brought in Michael Crabtree, to be a solid number two receiver, with his strong hands and great field awareness, he has become Carr's favorite target.  These guys are a tough task for any defense, almost impossible to cover when you add Andre Holmes and Seth Roberts to the huddle.

Now the Raiders have an opportunity to build on their momentum this week against an 0-3 Chicago Bears team.  If Jay Cutler is the QB who starts in this matchup, expect Oakland to bring the heat defensively, and take Cutler to the ground early and often.  This should be a solid win for the Raiders, as long as the secondary shows up to play.

Funny Take On Sundays Matchup, C'MON MAN!

Pete Prisco and Will Brinson share their thoughts on the Week 3 Raiders-Broncos AFC West showdown on Monday night.


I think Terrelle Pryor is going to embarrass the Denver Defense. Watch Charles Woodson TKO Peyton Manning, Being the Sack Leading Defense in the League!

Raiders @ Seattle Game 4 of Pre-Season

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CP3: Carson Palmer is a Leader

Should Starting Carson Palmer, be seen as a weakness, or a positive? I believe, Carson Palmer is in no way sub-standard. In the 2012 Season so far he has shown poise, leadership, and game awareness like a true veteran player should. He knows what is expected of him while on the field with his team mates.

His play during this last Sundays win over the Kansas City Chiefs was impeccable. His first pass was picked off by former Raider Stanford Routt. After this turn over, he would only make wise decisions from here on out!

Denarius Moore, Jacoby Ford, and Darrius Heyward-Bey

Oakland Raiders vs. Atlanta Falcons Week 6 2012-13 NFL Season

Game preview

Week 6 Raiders @ Atlanta

Raiders WR Heyward-Bey leaves game on stretcher

By The Sports Xchange | The SportsXchange

Raiders wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey left Sunday's game on a stretcher after being hit by two Steelers defenders in the end zone with 14:31 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Heyward-Bey was surrounded by medical personnel and remained on the ground in the end zone for several minutes. He was ultimately lifted onto a stretcher and gave the home crowd a thumbs-up, signaling that he still had movement in his extremeties.

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Raiders rally past Steelers 34-31

Raiders rally past Steelers 34-31

Oakland Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski, second from right, celebrates with teammates Dave Tollefson, right, and holder Shane Lechler, third from right, after kicking a 43-yard game-winning field goal during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012. At left are Steelers linebackers Larry Foote (50) and Chris Carter (54). Oakland won 34-31. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

by Josh Dubow (AP Sports Writer)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- With an efficient offense led by Carson Palmer, an opportunistic defense that stepped up in the final minutes and a clutch kick by Sebastian Janikowski, the Oakland Raiders turned a somber mood into a celebratory one.

Janikowski kicked a 43-yard field goal on the last play as the Raiders scored the final 13 points after wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey was knocked out and hospitalized by a scary hit to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 34-31 on Sunday.

''You put a lot of hard work, blood sweat and tears into trying to build a championship team, and one of your guys goes down, especially in a situation like that, it's hard to keep your focus,'' coach Dennis Allen said. ''But I thought our guys did an outstanding job in getting their focus back, coming back and executing, and winning a game in the fourth quarter.''

There was a pall over the stadium early in the fourth quarter when Heyward-Bey was knocked unconscious by a helmet-to-helmet hit in the end zone by Steelers safety Ryan Mundy that was not called a penalty by the replacement officials. Heyward-Bey was taken to the hospital with a concussion and neck injury. But Allen said he was able to move his extremities, which was a welcome sign for the Raiders (1-2).



The team said he was in stable condition and will stay in the hospital overnight for observation.
Palmer then threw his third touchdown pass and Janikowski kicked two field goals to beat the Steelers (1-2) and get the Raiders on track after two losses to open the season.

''Any time they take one of your brothers out, you have to retaliate and get them back,'' safety Michael Huff said. ''Obviously not in an illegal way or anything like that. We wanted to go out and get the win for him because he couldn't finish it.''

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Palmer prepares for familiar foe in Steelers

By The Sports Xchange | The SportsXchange

Oakland Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer (3) looks to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Carson Palmer brings an AFC North rivalry to the West Coast Sunday when the Raiders play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It's doubtful Palmer will have any better understanding of an opposing defense than he does this week, given the 12 regular-season games since 2004 he has played against the Steelers while a member of the Cincinnati Bengals.

"There's some different pieces to the puzzle, but it's really the same scheme," Palmer said. "There's always a new wrinkle or two each week. But as far as preparing for a fist fight in the trenches, battles on the outside, getting rid of the ball on time and finding ways to run the ball, it's the way you prepare for them every time."

Palmer is 4-8 against Pittsburgh as a starter, with the most success coming in a two-game sweep of the Steelers in 2009.

His 12-game statistics, not surprisingly, are below his career norms against a team that historically has one of the NFL's top defenses.

Palmer has completed 57.1 percent of his passes (234-for-410) for 2,402 yards, 17 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 76.7 passer rating.

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Carson Palmer with the Media Thursday Sept 6th

Carson Palmer with the Media

Carson Palmer On San Diego: “It’s a good unit. Defensively they’ve looked really good on film in the preseason. They played well against us last year in the finale. Their offense can score a ton of points. There are a lot of things to worry about. They’ve got a new coordinator. Week one you never know exactly what you’re going to see. You’ve got to be ready for everything. We’re not real, real comfortable going into this. We’ve had a great start to the week, we’re working extremely hard, and we’re going to go in and we know we have to play our best football offensively to come out with the win.”

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Howie Long Autographed Mini Helmet Oakland Raiders

NFL Preseason Games 2012: Studs and Duds from Saturday's Action

Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE

Studs: Terrelle Pryor/Juron Criner, Oakland Raiders
By Jesse Reed (Featured Columnist)

Terrelle Pryor was the best quarterback on the field when the Oakland Raiders and Detroit Lions went toe-to-toe on Saturday night.

Yes, you read that right.

In a game when Matthew Stafford went down with another injury (apparently a minor one, according to ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert) and Carson Palmer stunk up the joint (more on that later), Pryor gave the fans in the Black Hole something to cheer about.

He only threw the ball five times, completing three of them, for a whopping 137 yards. Out of those three completions, two of them went for touchdowns. One was 39 yards and the other a 76-yard bomb—both of which were caught by Juron Criner in the fourth quarter.

Criner only caught those two passes, but his work was more than enough to be worthy of a spot on tonight's "studs" list.

I suggest every RAIDERS fan who loves to tailgate, the keg2go is great.

Head Coach Dennis Allen spoke with the media via conference call a day after the Raiders 3-0 loss to the Cowboys in Preseason Week 1.

Q: Do we have any updates on Stefen Wisniewski’s injury?

Coach Allen: Nothing other than it’s a calf and we’ll be monitoring that as we go along, day-to-day.

Q: What did the film tell you and your coaching staff last night after reviewing it?

Coach Allen: It told us that we have a lot of things to clean up as far as the little things are concerned. Our execution wasn’t where it needed to be but we still have a long way to go to get where we need to get to.

Q: Last night you said [WR Rod] Streater’s stat line looked good but you wanted to see the film to see more of what he did; what did you see specifically from him?

Coach Allen: I thought he did a nice job; he executed like he’s been executing all of camp, caught the ball well, was able to get up field and not a lot of wasted movement. I thought Rod Streater played really well.

Q: Jack Crawford was active for the game but he didn’t play; can you explain the decision to keep him on the sidelines?

Coach Allen: He’s not ready to go as far as that foot is concerned. There’s still a little soreness there so we just thought it was best for us to hold him and not play him in the game.

Q: Any timetable for when he can come into a game? Will he play in this next game?

Coach Allen: I’m not sure about Arizona yet. Again, he really is a day-to-day situation; it’s not anything serious but there’s obviously still some discomfort there so we’re trying to push him through it and we’re trying to get him out there as soon as we can.

Q: With how quick this next game is coming up on you, how much can you accomplish in the next couple of days in practice and what do you want to address?

Coach Allen: I think we can get some things accomplished. Obviously we don’t have as much time to prepare as we would like, but we are still in training camp mode and there are some things we still have to work on from an execution standpoint. That’s going to be my message towards the team. That’s going to be our motto is to be able to execute the little things better.

Q: What jumped out at you on the tape that you really liked last night?

Coach Allen: Darren McFadden was obviously very explosive; two explosive gains in the three touches that he had. And then I thought the first team defense played exceptionally well.

Q: What jumped out at you as something you were disappointed with?

Coach Allen: From a special teams standpoint we had a couple of tackles inside the 20-yard line, We muffed two punts, and then we didn’t have good operations on our field goal attempts. Those were a couple things. Offensively the dropped passes were obviously a big issue. I thought our tempo in and out of the huddle in the second half wasn’t where it needed to be offensively. Those were probably the biggest negatives looking back at the game.

Q: Did you expect to see Darren McFadden so early in the year, especially after not having him most of last year? Was it exciting to see him flash like that early in the game?

Coach Allen: Obviously it was exciting. I don’t know if I would say it was surprising. Every time that he touches the ball he is a threat to go the distance. Those are the things we expect out of Darren. I thought our guys did a nice job of blocking up front, both on the screen play and on the explosive run. He’s really a guy that you just have to give him a crease and next thing you know he might break it the distance. It’s not a surprise but obviously I felt really good about it.

Q: Does Jacoby [Ford] need to do a better job fighting for the ball on the interception Carson Palmer threw?

Coach Allen: Obviously there’s a couple things there. Carson thought that safety was a little bit more centered up. It was middle of the field safety so it wasn’t a double coverage situation. It’s the thing you coach your quarterback to do, to take a shot in those situations. I think Jacoby could have been a little better at the end of the route trying to break that thing up. You’re going to take that shot. We want to be aggressive there and we wanted to take a shot and get a big play but it didn’t work out for us.

Q: With McFadden is it something where you are going to want to increase his workload a little bit? Or are you still waiting to see how he responds to this one?

Coach Allen: We are going to look at how the week plays out. Darren needs to get his touches so that he goes into the regular season ready to go. That’s the most important thing for him; to make sure that he’s fully ready to roll when the opening game comes up on Monday night.

Q: Which of the injured players do you except to be back to practice tomorrow?

Coach Allen: I am not really sure yet who is going to be back. I would hope that we might get a couple of guys back. I think Mike Goodson will probably be back tomorrow. I will look at that again and sit down with the trainer and find out more about who we might have back at practice.

Q: Regarding Mike Goodson, if he is good to go, when is the timetable when he is able to practice of him being able to play in the game against the Cardinals?

Coach Allen: I think if he is able to practice this week we will get him in the game and let him play against Arizona.

Q: There is no concrete cutoff time for getting him into practice prior to getting into that Cardinals game?

Coach Allen: No, we have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and then we play the game on Friday. I would expect that he would need to practice either Wednesday or Thursday to have a chance.

Raiders Almost Tie In Shut-Out

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The Oakland Raiders played a decent game, with the Two missed Field Goals that could've won the game! 'SeBass' we love you and all, but not that much!

Heyward-Bey pleads no contest to DUI charge

Heyward-Bey pleads no contest to DUI charge
By The Sports Xchange | The SportsXchange – Mon, Jul 23, 2012 6:10 PM EDT

photo: courtesy of SFGate



Oakland Raiders wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey pleaded no contest on Monday to a misdemeanor DUI charge that resulted from an arrest in April, the Contra Costa Times reported.

Heyward-Bey was stopped by police around 2 a.m. on April 7 while returning from a nightclub, his attorney, Ivan Golde, told the newspaper. The California Highway Patrol said a chemical test administered at the scene indicated his blood-alcohol level was .13 percent.

Heyward-Bey, 25, agreed to plead no contest to the misdemeanor charge in exchange for three years' probation and three months of DUI classes. He also will pay fines.

Heyward-Bey had 64 receptions for 975 yards in 2011.

Oakland Raiders trade Louis Murphy to Carolina Panthers

By Jerry McDonald jmcdonald@bayareanewsgroup.com
Posted: 07/23/2012 10:48:57 AM PDT

The Raiders traded wide receiver Louis Murphy to the Carolina Panthers on Monday, freeing up salary-cap room and a roster spot for one of a handful of promising youngsters.

The Panthers agreed to send the Raiders a conditional draft pick in exchange for Murphy. An ESPN report said the teams agreed on a seventh-round pick.

Murphy, 25, led all Raiders wide receivers in receptions and receiving yardage in 2009 and '10. His production dipped last season after a sports hernia injury caused him to miss most of training camp and the first five regular-season games.

Murphy could not be reached for comment. He took to Twitter on Monday afternoon to wish the Raiders well and thank his fans.

"Thanking God for this opportunity!" Murphy tweeted. "Super excited to be a part of the @Panthers organization! Can't wait! #letsgopanthers!"

Murphy entered last season as the Raiders' No. 1 wide receiver. He finished the season behind Darrius Heyward-Bey, Denarius Moore, Chaz Schilens and Jacoby Ford on the depth chart and with 15 receptions for 241 yards and no touchdowns.

Moore's surprise ascension, the quantum leap in performance by Heyward-Bey, along with strong showings by fifth-round draft pick Juron Criner and undrafted free agent Rod Streater this offseason, made Murphy's grip on a roster spot tenuous.

Murphy caught 75 passes for 1,130 yards in his first two seasons after being a fourth-round draft pick out of Florida. He said in early June that this season is a "crucial" one for him in terms of showing that last season's drop-off was an aberration.

"I have a big chip on my shoulder," Murphy said at that time. "I have a lot to prove. I hear the outside talking, and it's just part of me, with my mentality, that I have a lot to prove. Even if I don't, I just feel like I do."

This marked the second deal between Carolina and Oakland this offseason. In late March, the Raiders received running back Mike Goodson for backup offensive lineman Bruce Campbell.

Heyward-Bey pleaded no contest Monday in San Francisco to a misdemeanor for allegedly driving drunk across the Bay Bridge in April.

Heyward-Bey took what his attorney, Ivan Golde, called "a gracious plea bargain" offer from the San Francisco District Attorney: He pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge in exchange for a sentence of three years' probation, three months of DUI classes and some fines and fees.

Heyward-Bey "wants to put this behind him," Golde said.

Staff writers Steve Corkran and Sean Maher contributed to this report.

Reports: Oakland Raiders sign Tyvon Branch to multi-year deal

This man deserves the Multi-year deal, due to the level of play he showed up with last season. TB, you are staying here with the Nation. ConGratS By Jerry McDonald Bay Area News Group Posted: 07/14/2012 09:20:15 AM PDT

This is a photo of Tyvon Branch of the Oakland Raiders NFL football team. This... ( Anonymous ) The Raiders tied up one loose end heading into training camp with the reported signing of franchise free agent strong safety Tyvon Branch to a multi-year deal, according to the NFL Network and CBS Sports. Although not confirmed by the Raiders, Branch's deal according to the NFL Network, is for four years and has $17.1 million in guaranteed money. The team reports to training camp in Napa on July 29, with the first practice the following day. The Raiders had until Monday to sign Branch or have him play under the $6.2 million franchise free agent tender he had already signed. Finish reading the story here!

Denarius Moore Highlights

Denarius Moore Highlights Denarius was a key addition to the Raiders roster last year. He made the plays we would expect from a #1 wideout. I am not to stoked with the Raiders releasing Jason Campbell, in exchange for Carson Palmer. I am expecting Terrelle Pryor to step up and grab the reigns.