AFC West Updates

[21&500]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryin%27_Like_a_Bitch

So this is a song by a band called Godsmack
it's inspiration came from some drama the band had while touring with other bands.
the title itself, "crying like a little bitch" was inspired by Philip Rivers (yes, they are shitty raider fans)
I find it ironic that this group of unmasculine losers would ever dare to call out one of the toughest SOBs to ever play QB.
anyway, I wonder what they think about their guy in Carr now??

As a side note, I've decided that I can go my whole life without listening to maybe the 2 songs I like from them.
F U Godsmack.

[QSmokey]

Crazy situation. Irsay is reminding more and more of Al Davis in his later years. He cited Al Davis as his inspiration. Charger fans complain about the Spanoses, but there are worse owners in the NFL.

Now I feel better.

[Velo]

314591861_1640778433023237_4540870861915848026_n.jpg?_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=NiZ5n9F8i7oAX_Ivunu&tn=DWCgRRNW8wTl2WgS&_nc_ht=scontent.fsac1-2.fna&oh=00_AfANtuV1cy4_GJXWoroSe-aWqFRjsrPSRn0t2wtFc2tQYA&oe=637BDA06.

[Berserker76]

314591861_1640778433023237_4540870861915848026_n.jpg?_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=NiZ5n9F8i7oAX_Ivunu&tn=DWCgRRNW8wTl2WgS&_nc_ht=scontent.fsac1-2.fna&oh=00_AfANtuV1cy4_GJXWoroSe-aWqFRjsrPSRn0t2wtFc2tQYA&oe=637BDA06.

That's gold!

[Bolt-O]

Sorry, dupe post but its worthy...

[ghost]

Sorry, dupe post but its worthy...

Thank you, Bolt-O. Best laugh I've had this morning.

[BearWithJetpack]

On the one hand I feel bad for Gordon. It clearly broke his heart when he fell out of favor with the Broncos. And then I remember his holdout and shrug.

[ghost]

https://theathletic.com/3755848/2022/11/02/raiders-dave-ziegler-josh-mcdaniels/

Dave Ziegler says frustration from Raiders’ 2-5 start is ‘totally warranted’

SARASOTA, Fla. — Dave Ziegler can appreciate Raiders fans’ frustration.

“When you’re 2-5, there isn’t anything that you have done well,” the general manager said Wednesday morning. “Fans want their team to get off to a fast start, make the playoffs and get to the Super Bowl. The frustration from the fan base is totally warranted, and I can appreciate their passion.

“But we’re seven games into a new regime and a new way of doing things.”

Ziegler said that he and coach Josh McDaniels are still learning about their team.

“We were hired to build a football team that can sustain and win,” Ziegler said. “The focus is always on the long term. Every trade and contract extension that we have done has been with the focus on the long term.

“We can’t let the results of seven games steer us in a different direction.”

Ziegler met with three reporters at the Raiders’ team hotel in Sarasota as they spend the week in Florida between Sunday’s game in New Orleans and the upcoming contest in Jacksonville.

He is very confident in the job that McDaniels has done thus far.

“I have been really impressed with Josh,” Ziegler said. “When you’re 2-5, your leadership really gets tested. Your approach really gets tested. And I have been really impressed with how Josh has handled that — his consistency and message with the team, his attitude, he continues to teach … the game management has been good.

“He has had a good plan every week — we have to execute the plan.”

Ziegler said many players have improved under the watch of McDaniels and his staff.

(When asked for examples. Ziegler said tight end Foster Moreau, tackle Jermaine Eluemunor, running back Josh Jacobs, linebacker Divine Deablo, safety Tre’von Moehrig, center Andre James and receiver Mack Hollins, to name a few.)

Ziegler said the Raiders had “tons of conversations” before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, but nothing materialized as the price of available players was too high and there wasn’t much interest in the Raiders’ non-star players.

“We feel good about the team that we have here and we feel good about the guys that we have here — we have to execute better,” Ziegler said. “We looked at some things to help improve the team and nothing materialized, but at the same time we are excited about the group that we have and we’re excited to continue learning about the group that we have and identify the players that we can continue to build with.”

Sunday’s embarrassing 24-0 loss to the Saints didn’t force Ziegler’s hand to make a change, and the 2-5 start doesn’t change the Raiders’ outlook, he said.

“When you come in for Year 1, what you’re doing from the beginning until the end of the season is evaluating,” Ziegler said. “You’re figuring out what the fits are, what your strengths are as a team, what your needs are as a team going forward. That was always going to be a big part of Year 1 and continues to be a big part of Year 1.

“Obviously at 2-5, that’s not where we want to be so you have to continue to take a critical look at things that you’re doing, from a scouting standpoint or whatever it may be organizationally, it hasn’t been good enough.’

The Raiders are trying to win games now while looking at the future.

Ziegler doesn’t want to read too much into being shut out in New Orleans. While some players said the team lacked urgency and was flat, Ziegler said he thought the team got off to a slow start and will defer to the players on whether not there was a lack of energy.

“I don’t expect to see that this Sunday,” Ziegler said. “The game against New Orleans was a little bit of an anomaly of how we’ve played up to this point. We have been competitive in every game. Every game has been tight. You are going to have some of those outlier games where you come away with a lot of questions but you also can’t overreact to that in a long season.”

Ziegler and McDaniels are evaluating which players they want to bring back next season, and the team’s best offensive player this season has been Jacobs. The running back, whose fifth-year option for next season was declined last April, is fourth in the league in rushing with 676 yards.

“We are excited the way that Josh is playing,” Ziegler said. “Running back in the NFL can be a short-term thing. It’s a tough position to play. And Josh has shown improvement over his career, and really taken a step this year. His ball security is really improved, he’s improved in the passing game and in pass protection.

“He continues to be a great runner and he embodies a lot of the things that we’re looking for in a football player — his work ethic, his approach every day. … If Josh continues to do the things he is doing, things will take care of themselves.”

The passing game has not been as consistent, and Ziegler said that’s because of the lack of “continuity” due to the injuries to receiver Hunter Renfrow and tight end Darren Waller. He also mentioned the 11 different combinations the Raiders have tried on the offensive line.

“We’re looking forward to having a full group out there that’s able to work week to week and improve week to week,” Ziegler said, “and that will pay dividends.”

The patchwork offensive line was his own doing, as he opted not to bring in a veteran to compete for a spot after Denzelle Good retired, Brandon Parker tore his tricep and 2021 first-round pick Alex Leatherwood flamed out.

“I just didn’t feel like there was a player out there that was going to really upgrade our offensive line for the cost of doing business,” Ziegler said. “I think our offensive line has grown into a unit that needs to continue to improve but has been fairly consistent. I don’t think I would pinpoint that as a major problem.”

This was the first time Ziegler has talked to reporters since training camp, so he was asked about cutting ties with Leatherwood so quickly. Ziegler said Leatherwood simply wasn’t one of the team’s 53 best players coming out of training camp.

“It’s about performance, and that’s how you make the team,” Ziegler said.

Leatherwood started games at guard as well as right tackle his rookie season but it did seem like the new regime decided it was “tackle or bust” for him at camp. Ziegler didn’t dispute that notion.

“Tackle is a difficult position and I want to see if a player can play tackle first, because of the value of the position,” Ziegler said. “It wasn’t necessarily ‘tackle or bust’ but we put him at tackle to see how that would go and at the end of the day, we felt like the group that we kept was the best group.

“We saw him play guard last year and we decided that the best group was going to stay … and he wasn’t part of that group.”

The offensive line did not play well against the Saints and was often pushed back into quarterback Derek Carr.

Carr has had a roller-coaster season, from throwing three interceptions in the opening loss to the Chargers to winning two of three games to leading a team to the lowest offensive production — 183 yards of offense against the Saints — of the season by any team in the NFL this season.

“He is very smart and has picked up the system well,” Ziegler said. “He has made steady progress in terms of learning the system and learning the checks and being comfortable with the reads. He competes very hard and he has done a lot of good things.

“We have to help the quarterback too, and we have to be able to get open and have good protection.

While the Raiders gave Carr a contract extension and traded for receiver Davante Adams, their big move on defense was signing former Patriots and Cardinals pass rusher Chandler Jones to a big contract. Jones, 32, has half a sack and one tackle for a loss in seven games.

“He has done a good job for us in the run game,” Ziegler said. “We wanted to bring in a player with some length that could set the edge, and he has done a good job of that. From the pass-rusher standpoint, he has had some games where he has had some disruptive rushes and affected the quarterback.

“The sack numbers haven’t been there and he would like to finish at the quarterback more. But he still garners a lot of attention and protections get slid his way, he is getting chipped and checked which opens up opportunities for other teammates. We need them to capitalize on those opportunities.”

That pretty much sums up the Raiders as a whole going into Sunday’s game against the Jaguars — before the focus solely becomes on 2023 and beyond.

---

Raiders are ascending, because they cleaned house in January. Broncos need to divorce from Russell Wilson, like they divorced from Melvin Gordon and get back to the draft for a blue chip QB and trade into the Top 10. Still, with their house cleaning and hiring of Paton (Paton inherited Vic Fangio as HC) the Broncos are ascending.

The Chargers need to clean house.

[jamrock]

[
Raiders are ascending, because they cleaned house in January. Broncos need to divorce from Russell Wilson, like they divorced from Melvin Gordon and get back to the draft for a blue chip QB and trade into the Top 10. Still, with their house cleaning and hiring of Paton (Paton inherited Vic Fangio as HC) the Broncos are ascending.

The Chargers need to clean house.

Not sure how you can come to the conclusions in bold. They were 2-5 when this was written and are now 3-7. Same as Broncos. Getting rid of Gordon was easy. Can't get rid of Wilson like that with his guarantee and cap hit. Both teams are huge disappointments this year (as are the Chargers thus far). Before the season the AFC W was supposed to be a super division. Turned out to be the AFC E and NFC E.

[SBbound]

Broncos need to divorce from Russell Wilson, like they divorced from Melvin Gordon and get back to the draft for a blue chip QB and trade into the Top 10.

How are they going to pull this off?

[Tges58]

I mentioned Lucas Niang....he's trash: why are you acting like its a significant injury?
Rashad Fenton is a dime a dozen cb: Charger fans like it when he's on the field.

So it all comes down to a decent inside linebacker Willie Gay and a rookie? Are you serious?
Most teams would be on their knees thanking sweet Jesus for such inconsequential setbacks.

Get back to us if Mahomes, Kelce, Jones, Sneed, or Humphrey get injured:
players who make a difference.

Otherwise, don't waste our time attempting to puff up the Chief injury report.

Well if Niang is trash so are most of your guys that are hurt. His problem is not ability it's durability.

They were down THREE WRs against the chargers and still beat them. The difference between LA and KC is the Chiefs have the depth to withstand some injuries, unlike obviously the Chargers You need to either get a better training staff or acquire tougher players.

Same old Chargers and charger fans. Another year of you saying "we should have beat KC!".

No you shouldn't have.

[powderblueboy]

The Raiders just hired Hiram Kreutzer as the new equipment manager at their training facility in Henderson Nevada