It's the third preseason game, which means the starters will be going most of the way on Saturday. Oh, it's against those guys on the other side of the Bay Bridge, too.
Yes, it's the San Francisco Forty-Niners. Mike Singletary and company have a smash-mouth team going across the bridge.
Tom Cable and his crew look as if they've finally built a smash-mouth team, and the Bay Area rivalry makes it a natural for must see, violent football.
But wait.
How will the Raiders get quarterback Jason Campbell through the game?
Other than Robert Gallery, the middle of the Raider offensive line has a leak in it. Singletary's defense is known for knocking around quarterbacks as well. Did you see what the did to poor, old Favre a few days ago? They had to get his behind right out of the game.
This being the third preseason game will not allow the Niners let up on the quarterback now. The two teams playing each other during the regular season tells us that some messages will be sent on Saturday.
I was concerned for a couple of days, but some good news came in.
The Raiders announced that 6'8", 320 pound Jared Veldheer is going to start at center. I'm sure the Campbell will sleep much better for the rest of the week knowing it won't be Samson Satele or Chris Morris—both of those men have failed to keep Campbell clean thus far.
I believe Cable loves Satele for some odd reason and his sprained ankle is the only reason Veldheer is getting his shot. Veldheer has clearly outperformed all Raider centers and it took Satele's ankle sprain for him to finally get a shot.
Veldheer was drafted as a left tackle and was just tinkering with playing center in cap at first.
Now...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders