Oakland Raiders: Offensive Line Will Be Key To Success Against the Rams

Going into Sunday’s game against the Titans in Tennessee, most Raiders fans were optimistic that this year would be different. What we saw on Sunday was, for the most part, the same old story.

The defense couldn’t stop the big play, and the offensive line couldn’t control the line of scrimmage and protect the quarterback.

Heck, even Sebastian Janikowski had a hard time kicking the ball between the uprights.

About the only bright spot was a very solid performance from Darren McFadden, where he had 95 yards rushing on 18 carries, and 55 yards receiving with a touchdown. If he continues with that kind of play, I will be writing an article very much unlike my article where I questioned his abilities and desire to excel in the NFL.

While most NFL analysts are now predicting another dismal season for the Raiders I’m still not sure. In my Bleacher Report article where I gave my predictions on the season, I had the Raiders winning in Tennessee, but inside, I knew it was a long-shot.

I knew Tennessee was a good team at home, and I knew Chris Johnson would get his yards against the Raiders.  But I was also hoping the defense would stop other Titans players from making the big play. You know, like Nate Washington’s 56-yard pass reception from Vince Young where he burned the Raiders defense, and Javon Ringer’s 15-yard run in the second quarter.

I was also hoping for some offense from the Raiders. Instead they looked so bad many were comparing Jason Campbell with JaMarcus Russell.

In my mind, comparisons like that are not fair. Campbell had no time to do anything with the ball thanks to the Raiders’ horrible offensive line play.

From the time Campbell got the ball, he had maybe two seconds to do something with it. I’m not sure Joe Montana in his prime could have done much better.

I became a Raiders fan somewhere around 1968 when ...

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