Oakland Raiders: Wow, this is a fun team to write about. Last year I wrote my raiders’ preview about how they were a great pass defense, Will Oakland have much to celebrate this year? horrible run defense, and a decent rushing football team and they were really active in the offseason except for improving their passing game or run defense (the things that needed improving). As a result I predicted they’d go 4-12 for the second year in a row (they went 5-11). Well, last year they were (obviously) a horrible run defense (31st for the second year running) and a decent pass defense (10th) with a decent run game (10th) and a horrible passing attack. This offseason, to fix their horrible run defense and passing attack, they signed… ummm… Darius Heyward Bay? Greg Ellis? (Because DEs are pretty important in stopping the run, right?) They straight CUT Napoleon Harris (because the front 7 isn’t really important for run defense), and, I mean… they did nothing again to address the problems they have. My summary of their 2007 offseason was “just like last year, Al Davis is a bad owner.†This is a few years in a row that really there’s nothing more to say. As it is, they should continue to be decent against the pass and be able to run on bad run defenses. Jamarcus has been out of shape in preseason and in the third preseason game completed a total of one pass to a WR, when he was wide open due to bad SF pass defense. Darius Heyward Bay looks like he’ll be injury-prone and may not be that good anyways, Jamarcus should be bad and… I mean… as always the Raiders’ offseason makes no real sense. But at least they downgraded their offensive line by getting rid of their starting center for the second year running. Fantasy Potential: Their RBs may be ok but it’s tough to know exactly which one, obviously mcfadden is the best guess. Jamarcus is probably too scary. Their defense should be the exact same as last season. Outlook: 4-12 two seasons ago, 5-11 last season… ummm… 5-11 again? Their division is bad enough that they might eke out a couple of games. San Diego Chargers: Wow, I am definitely missing something with this team. Why the fuck are they a consensus favorite to win the AFC? I Chargers look to live up to hype. mean, they did NOTHING in the offseason, they’re the exact same team as last year, and they weren’t that badly injured or anything last season, they were just bad. Their defense was 11th against the run and 31st against the pass and they had a surprisingly bad rushing attack (20th?!?!?!) and a good passing attack with the best-rated QB in the NFL last season. I mean… last year I thought the chargers were a pretty “average†team and they were, I think people STILL just love to hype the chargers for reasons I don’t understand (remember when they were 0-2 with a couple unlucky losses and ESPN.com still ranked them 3rd in their power rankings?!?!? Fucking ridiculous). I mean, their run game has been getting steadily worse and they’ve a pretty bad offensive line. I mean, it’s 4 really young guys returning and I’m not even sure yet who’ll be starting at RG. Rivers to Jackson should be similar to last season, Norv Turner always produces decent offenses, but the defense is just the same as last year with a pretty bad secondary (eric weddle, Clinton Hart, and Quentin Jammer all starting next to Cromartie, who is pretty good obviously) and a good (but not great) LB corps and a decent d-line. I mean, they look like a team that is average against the run but when you have a bad secondary and an average d-line you are NOT going to be able to stop the pass consistently. I really have no idea what I’m missing here, and oh wait! Their head coach is terrible and their best player (LDT) is aging way faster than people give him credit for. Even football outsiders was convinced that they’d be the greatest team of all time this season. Oh you think I’m exaggerating? No, footballoutsiders LITERALLY is predicting the chargers to be the best team of all time, they have the highest preseason ranking ever for their system, better than the number two team: the preseason of the 16-0 patriots. They even evoked the word “inevitable†when talking about the Chargers taking the AFC, before mentioning that maybe Norv Turner was such a bad head coach that he could fuck things up (followed by a stat that in 9 of Turner’s 11 seasons as head coach his teams have failed to live up to fballoutsiders’ win projections). Football outsiders is basing this a lot on the chargers losing close games last season and getting some players back (even though they only had 2 players TOTAL on IR last season). I dunno, the chargers last year had a really good offense (FO calls it the best in the NFL) and a bad defense and that’s what it looks like again, that’s what it’s looked like in preseason, and that’s what Norv Turner’s teams always have. I mean… what am I missing? Fantasy Potential: Anyone involved in the Chargers’ passing attack. Outlook: They may well have been the best team in the worst division in football last season. I think that’s perfectly possible again. 9-7 as a result? I wouldn’t be particularly concerned if I were the Broncos or Chiefs though. I do think 9-7 will take this division, as it would have last year if any of the teams weren’t disgraceful. BM
