Raiders’ Quarterback Situation
OR
OR
There are three men pictured above: two of the men have a realistic chance to become the Oakland Raiders opening day starter, the other still isn’t wearing a uniform.
Based on the performances of the QBs in Thursday night’s 19-14 pre-season loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin needs to name Daunte Culpepper as the starter. It is time for the team to focus on winning real games, and for now the Raiders have the best chance of winning if Culpepper is the starting quarterback.
It looks like Culpepper has that something extra, that energy and leadership ability that a good starting quarterback needs in order to lead his team to victory. Josh McCown may have a better grasp of the offense and a desire to defeat his former team, the Detroit Lions, but Culpepper has the best ability.
A quarterback that I haven’t even mentioned is Andrew Walter. Walter was the primary starter in 2006, leading the team to 2 wins with 3 TD and 13 INT. Lane Kiffin already stated that Walter isn’t being considered for the starting QB, trade rumors have started in the past couple of days, and Walter could easily be cut when and if overall #1 pick JaMarcus Russell signs a contract.
Concerning Russell, I’d really like to see the Raiders take a stand and not even sign the kid at all. I don’t believe that committing all of that money to an unproven player is a good move for the Raiders at this time. Let’s go with the players we have and JUST WIN BABY!
U.S. Team wins world football championships
The team from the United States won the World Championship of American football 23-20 over two-time defending champion Japan in the gold medal game on Sunday, August 26, 2007 at Todoroki Stadium in Kawasaki, Japan.
This is the first time the team from the U.S. participated in the tournament and it makes sense that they emerged victorious. It is a great thing that this type of tournament is expanding the fan base for American football and perhaps in the future more Japanese fans will develop an interest in the game.
NFL Power Rankings for 8/27/2007
This is something that will become a regular weekly feature. With no further adieu, here are my current NFL power rankings from 1 to 32. Do you agree or disagree?
1 Colts
2 Patriots
3 Chargers
4 Saints
5 Ravens
6 Broncos
7 Bears
8 Cowboys
9 Eagles
10 Steelers
11 Bengals
12 Seahawks
13 Panthers
14 Jets
15 Bills
16 49ers
17 Giants
18 Rams
19 Cardinals
20 Packers
21 Jaguars
22 Titans
23 Texans
24 Chiefs
25 Redskins
26 Buccaneers
27 Vikings
28 Raiders
29 Dolphins
30 Falcons
31 Browns
32 Lions
Raiders vs Rams on Friday night 08/24/2007
The Raiders better come to play on Friday night. I don’t care if these games mean anything or not, I think it is important for the Raiders to develop a taste for winning now so the players can compare the feeling they have after a victory to that which overcomes them after a loss. After 14 of them in the regular season last year, it’s a taste the team needs to get out of their mouths for good!
The JaMarcus Russell thing not withstanding, I’m very confident about this offense, and the leadership of Lane Kiffin on the sideline and Daunte Culpepper on the field. Dare I say 8-8? OK, the Raiders may not perform as well as I would like this season but there’s nowhere to go but up from last year’s debacle.
I agree with the commentators who say that the pre-season is way too long, I’m ready to start the games yesterday. Good luck on Friday!
Raiders QB Situation Part II
The Raiders were unable to pull out the pre-season game against the San Francisco 49ers the other day, but the QBs played OK. Does anyone believe that JaMarcus Russell would be a huge improvement over Daunte Culpepper?
If the NFL veterans and the NFLPA start to look at the current state of things, there is going to be a change in the collective bargaining agreement. Some guys bust their asses for years and never receive the kind of money many of the first round draft picks want, and receive coming directly out of college. Is that fair? Is it fair that the guys who played before the money exploded to such outrageous levels have an insufficient pension fund?
I don’t care if the Raiders sign JaMarcus Russell or not. I don’t think he will add a great deal to the present team. I’m a Raiders fan and I will back the players on the field!
Oakland Raiders QB Situation: No JaMarcus Russell is OK
Fans of the Oakland Raiders know that the #1 overall NFL draft pick in 2007, JaMarcus Russell hasn’t signed a contract with the team yet and has already missed training camp. That’s too bad for JaMarcus Russell because whether or not he realizes it, the team probably doesn’t even need him now, although the Raiders would love for him to sign and join the team. 
Daunte Culpepper, Josh McCown and Andrew Walter all performed well in the Raiders first pre-season game. All three of these QBs are capable and Culpepper could be outstanding once he learns the Raiders offense better.
At this point the Raiders should let Mr. Russell sit out the season if a contract can’t be reached. NFL draft picks, especially first rounders make way too much money anyway: when these men don’t perform up to the levels that they did in college, the money is wasted and the teams that signed the players lose some ability to acquire other players via free agency. The NFL salary cap makes sure of that.
If Russell does sign (for $30 million guaranteed or whatever) I sure hope he performs. It looks like a wasted draft pick to me right now.
Hater Sites: Hate is Hate
Is not hate simply hate? There are many different people out there writing a lot of hateful things and then excusing themselves for some reason or another, making their hate OK in their own minds.
I’m a white guy and I frequently come across hater sites that concern me. The people who hate ME for no reason concern me the most.
There is a virtual “Rainbow Coalition” of haters all around us and some of them hate YOU. If not, they hate someone else…
I don’t really know if these haters could explain to you in a logical way why they hate. The haters have a variety of ‘reasons’ for their hate. It was interesting to see what invented logic they used to justify their hate of others.
Obviously it is OK, even fashionable to hate someone. If not, why all the hate on the web? Of course even haters are entitled to write whatever they want….
If someone hates shouldn’t they have a really good reason? If someone hates that much do they really love anyone, including themselves?
Here are some links to haters that concerned me personally due to their unabashed hatred of ME!
http://www.blackplague.org/holocaust/
Satanists that hate Christians. From the site: “The Christian Holocaust movement founds its kinetic potential upon the simple discovery of how language, culture, and social inculcation dictate individual human intellectual precepts, forming the filter which the individual uses to process the world.”
I don’t know what that means but I guess they hate me because I’m a Christian.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_n9_v24/ai_14694586
The writer believes the ‘love’ she feels for black people excuses her hate for white people. I guess she hates me because I’m white.
http://www.afterellen.com/node/20386
From the site: “Men are ruining this country and the world with stupid men SH** Football and car racing and their constant competitive nonsense.”
This one hates men, Christians, sports, heterosexuals, etc.
http://www.theblacknationalist.com/
From the site: “Black Nationalism in the United States , the set of beliefs or political theory that African Americans should maintain social, economic, and political institutions separate and distinct from those of whites.”
Another group that hates me because I’m white.
http://www.rastafarispeaks.com/cgi-bin/forum/archive1/config.pl?read=54774
From the site: “Speaking for myself, I do not hate ‘white’ people. I DESPISE the systems they serve but I do not hate them. Speaking generally, I will say Africans got enough reasons to hate ‘white’ people but, in the main we do not. How could we and still stand to live among them?”
This guy claims that all white people hate all black people.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/julie_bindel/2006/11/why_i_hate_men.html
She hates me!
Barry Bonds breaks HR record
As a sports fan, I think it is great that Barry Bonds has now broken the all-time MLB HR record. It would have been better if “hammerin’ Hank” could have retained his place in history, but Aaron’s record could not have remained forever.
When people think of Barry Bonds, they think of steroids. Steroids and other performance-enhancing agents are not good for sports, but I don’t know for sure if Barry Bonds ever took steroids: so let him have his record.
Perhaps now we can concentrate on talking about football.
Hello world!
Raider Ryan’s Weblog (raiderryan.wordpress.com) will initially be about sports, and primarily football. After all, I started this blog in anticipation of the upcoming football season.
However, current events in sports will help to determine which way the blog turns. It is interesting how an event like the Michael Vick dogfighting scandal has grabbed the nation’s attention, for example. Had I been blogging at that time I certainly would have commented on the case.
My favorite team is the Oakland Raiders and they lost 14 games last year, winning only 2. The current #1 draft pick of the Oakland Raiders is Jamarcus Russell, a QB from LSU. The Raiders have not been able to sign him as of yet, Jamarcus has missed 14 practices and there is no end in site to the holdout. How do you think I feel going into the season if this is an indicator of things to come?
I’m sure some of you don’t know a whole lot about American football. For those of you who want to know more, ask me a question and I will do my best to satisfy your request.
We are just getting started now, but the future awaits.
