Some Raider fans have hopes of returning to the playoffs. Some have already started to predict how their team will implode.
Some Niner fans have hopes of returning to respectability. Some have already started guessing who their team will take with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
Some local fans are optimistic about Sunday’s start to the NFL season. Some not so much.
Count on your friendly columnist to take a look at both perspectives:
OAKLAND RAIDERS
Glass Half-Full
Quarterback Rich Gannon did nothing in the preseason to deserve a demotion. Backup Kerry Collins did nothing to dispell talk that he should be given a promotion. Both are positive developments. A little competition never hurt anyone. Think the Niners wouldn’t like to be in the same situation?
At least in the preseason, the team’s young receivers made that “let’s kick Mr. Raider Tim Brown to the street” move look like evil genius. Jerry Porter looks like he’s embracing the go-to role. Jerry Rice looks like he’s 21. And several of the actual-young guys – Doug Gabriel chief among them – look like serious deep threats.
The defensive line, a big reason the team ranked dead-last in the NFL against the run last season, got about 900 pounds of help in the form of Warren Sapp and Ted Washington.
As far as NFL feet go, they don’t get much better than the combination of kicker Sebastian Janikowski and punter Shane Lechler. And that atrocious coverage unit should be significantly better under new special teams’ firebrand Joe Avazzano.
Glass Half-Empty:
Collins is the type of strong-armed quarterback that fans love. What happens if Gannon starts to struggle? He is 38, after all. And in quarterback years that’s like 76. Will the Black Hole faithful turn on him at the first signs of trouble? Will his own teammates, not exactly known for their team-oriented approach, begin to take sides?
The secondary still has some major questions. Right cornerback Phillip Buchanon has that rare, God-given ability to follow up a big play with a big blunder – really an endearing trait. And when starting strong safety Derrick Gibson suffered a season-ending injury in the preseason, the Raiders were forced to trade for Marques Anderson. The Packers were so thrilled to get a 2029 draft pick for Anderson that they even threw in a block of Wisconsin cheese.
Al Davis still has a say in day-to-day operations.
I’m usually an advocate of the 3-4 defense, but when you move that number of linebackers up one, you should probably move that talent level up, too. Oakland didn’t, and now it might pay for it with Napoleon Harris and DeLawrence Grant both banged up. Travian Smith? Akbar Gbaja-Biamila? Danny Clark? Are you kidding me?
SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
Glass Half-Full:
– They aren’t getting much pub, but I think the wide receivers could very well end up being one of team’s strengths (yeah I know, not saying much). I really like Brandon Lloyd and rookie Rashaun Woods and Curtis Conway all the sudden looks like Curtis Conway circa mid-90s. And as long as Cedrick Wilson is kept off the field in the last 20 seconds of the game, he should be all right, too.
– There aren’t a whole lot of teams who would turn down the backfield combo of Kevan “he’s got breakout year written all over him” Barlow and blocking extraordinaire Fred Beasley. As long as Barlow hangs onto the ball and Beasley stays healthy, expect Pro Bowl years out of both of them.
The Arizona Cardinals appear twice on the schedule.
Julian Peterson is still roaming around the field. Yeah, so he didn’t deserve quarterback-like money as his agent demanded during a recent standoff with management. But there’s a lot of quarterbacks around the league – and a lot of offensive players, period – that wish that standoff had never ended.
Glass Half-Empty:
If you haven’t noticed, the star-power on this team is a bit on the lacking side. I can almost guarantee you a majority of NFL fans can name more players from the ’84 Niners than they can from the ’04 Niners. That’s just sad.
A quarterback with three quality starts in his career is starting behind a group of offensive linemen with three quality starts between them.
The rushing defense looked absolutely horrific during the preseason. Among the running backs set to face San Francisco in 2004: Deuce McAlister, Stephen Davis, Clinton Portis, Corey Dillon, Marshall Faulk twice, Shaun Alexander twice … do I really need to continue?
John York still has a say in day-to-day operations.
Now this is a team that could use a whole lot more 3-4 defense. The defensive line has been so decimated by injury that an already glaring weakness is now nothing more than a laughingstock. The team actually held tryouts last week so it could have enough bodies in time for the opener. One of the participants was P. Diddy’s former bodyguard. People, I couldn’t make this stuff up.
