Can Oakland Be Competitive This Season?

 Here’s a loaded question: Now that they’ve gotten their quarterback of the future, can the Raiders be competitive this season? Even if you’re a Raiders fan, you have to wonder if the answer can be yes. After all, here’s a team that went 2-14 last year, 1-11 in the conference. Their anemic offense scored a league low 168 points – barely 10 per game. They have a rookie coach, 32-years young. Might as well chalk the season up to rebuilding, right? Not so fast. 

 If you take a close look at the Raiders, you will see that they really aren’t that far away from being competitive (remember, competitive and a winning team are two different things). Centered around this argument is their defense. Ranked number 2 in the league last year, there’s really not a lot of reason to think they couldn’t do it again. The key cogs to last year’s success return, and depth has been added via free agency and the draft. Threats abound in the secondary, and line is solid. The linebacking corps is made up of unheralded players, but they get the job done. This isn’t to say that
Oakland will win or even make the Super Bowl this year, but seven of the last ten winners were built around defense.  

 As for the offense, this is probably where their season hangs. This unit cannot score 168 points again. In fact, they won’t get it done if they score anything under 300 points, and I’d say their magic number is 19 a game. That’s not a difficult number to achieve. Dominic Rhodes was signed to inject the team with enthusiasm as much as to help LaMont
Jordan carry the ball. Randy Moss was traded to clear up locker room issues, and that means everyone will benefit. The quarterback can now rely on their receivers to actually run for the ball, and there should be a clear number one receiver. Joey Porter is happy and Ron Curry should step into the #2 position. Behind him there is Doug Gabriel and Mike Williams, who they received in a trade with
Detroit. Aside from the aforementioned
Rhodes, Justin Griffith comes in to help pave the way, and Michael Bush was drafted for depth. The Tight End position needed some major help, so
Oakland picked up Zach Miller in the second round. Considered by some to be a better pick than Greg Olsen, Miller provides better blocking and better hands while still posing a reasonable deep threat.  

 But now we come to the real issues behind the inability to produce much last season: Quarterback and offensive line. Don’t expect JaMarcus Russell to start anytime soon this season. Josh McCown will be the starter opening day, and should carry that moniker for the brunt of the season. MCCown is a career 58% completion signal caller with a 72.1 rating. He has 25 touchdowns compared to 29 interceptions. Those numbers aren’t really that bad considering the teams he played on. He’ll arguably have a much better supporting cast in Oakland than he ever did in Arizona and
Detroit. He has starting experience and showed leadership ability when in that role. His only problems are going to come from the people directly in front of him, because the line was pathetic last year.

Robert
Gallery might be move from left tackle to guard to help with that issue. Efforts were made through free agency and the draft to shore up the area, but Jeremy Newberry and Mario Williams may not be much of an upgrade. Even with all the talent surrounding them, if the offensive line and quarterback can’t get it done, all the talent in the world won’t help. 

 This is especially true when playing in the AFC West. With six total games against Denver, San Diego and
Kansas City, you can’t expect a lot from the Raiders as far as the win column goes. Other games are easier, with Detroit, Cleveland and
Houston at home. Away games include Tennessee, Minnesota and
Green Bay. However, their schedule also includes Indy, Chicago, Jacksonville and
Miami. Can this team gat in a winning season with this schedule? Probably not. But a 6-10 season isn’t out of the question. And for the Raiders, a four game improvement from last year has to be considered a victory.  

 They have the talent to do it, and they can easily be competitive against a good portion of their opponents (even Jacksonville,
Miami and KC). If they respond to the prodding of their young coach and the offense can get a few points, they should be able to keep games interesting.