MODS PLEASE LOCK | The Oakland Raiders 2015 Season Thread: Week 17 @ Kansas City / 7-8

How many wins will the Raiders have this season?

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  • 3-5

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  • 6-8

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  • 9-11

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  • 12+

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I like it as motivation but I'd be really, really mad if Ray-Ray Armstrong gets pt over Sio.
 
Did ya'll see when JDR was roasting Sio for the celebration vs the Chiefs game? lol Seen it on during the season recap when they delayed the Raiders/Vikings game. Can't find that clip on youtube...

No way he don't make the team though...JRD tryin to light a fire in his *** right now...
 
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Can't find the article but I remember reading that Ken Norton Jr. says that Sio is very receptive and highly driven by motivation.

Hell if that means more QBs and RBs eating dirt...LETS GO!
 
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So you guys dont like the Taylor Mays pick up?

I aint gonna lie, I wish we woulda got him from day 1 he reminded me of the great Sean Taylor..

maybe it was just cause madden made him a beast.
 
Logjam at receiver needs to shake out for Raiders

Bill Williamson, ESPN Staff Writer

The following are three positions to watch closely Sunday when the Oakland Raiders host the Arizona Cardinals at O.co Coliseum. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET.

Cornerbacks: We all know the gory details. DJ Hayden -- the No. 12 overall pick in the 2013 draft -- has been inconsistent in his career and this summer. He had a rough game last week at Minnesota. The Vikings picked him apart. The Raiders are expecting a lot from Hayden. They are inexperienced at cornerback; TJ Carrie, a seventh-round pick last year, has been solid, but the Raiders need more. Hayden, Keith McGill and Neiko Thorpe have to play well or Oakland may be forced into going outside the organization to find a starter at cornerback. And that’s not easy to do at this point of the year.

Receiver: The Raiders’ deepest position is receiver. They are in good shape with starters Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree. If he can stay healthy, Rod Streater should be a solid No. 3 receiver. They also have Brice Butler, Kenbrell Thompkins, Seth Roberts and Andre Holmes would return from a broken hand right around Week 1. Oakland likely won’t keep more than six receivers on the regular roster. Thus, the rest of the preseason is vital for Butler, Thompkins and Roberts.

Running backs: Again, the starters are going to get most of the work against the Cardinals, but the Raiders need to find out who will back up Latavius Murray at tailback. Undrafted rookie Michael Dyer had a good game against the Vikings after struggling against the Rams. He had 45 yards on 12 carries and received praise after the game from coach Jack Del Rio. The expected backup, Trent Richardson, struggled, with 5 yards on five carries. The Raiders guaranteed Richardson, a former No. 3 overall pick, $600,000 but if Dyer continues to outplay him, it may be Dyer who makes the team and Richardson who gets cut.
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With Dowling released I can see why the Taylor Mays pick up. Hopefully Ken Norton Jr. reunion will help his career.
 
Raiders’ coach, GM credited for building cohesive team
By Vic TafurAugust 28, 2015 Updated: August 28, 2015 6:33pm

View media item 1692528Oakland Raiders defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr., left, gives instruction to linebacker Curtis Lofton, right, during their football training camp Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, in Napa, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Oakland Raiders defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr., left, gives instruction to linebacker Curtis Lofton, right, during their football training camp Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, in Napa, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Lee Smith has done the math.

“There are 1,600 people in the world that do this stuff every Sunday,” the Raiders’ tight end said. “So every team has good players. I think most importantly, you have to have good men, and I think we have that here.

“Plus we have a great quarterback, which is very, very important.”

Derek Carr’s progression his second year will go a long way to determining how many games Oakland wins, but middle linebacker Curtis Lofton agrees with Smith that character and chemistry are more important than talent.

“On top of character, you have to have chemistry, and our chemistry started building in the offseason workouts,” Lofton said. “Coach set out the vision for this team and what our goals are, and everybody started buying in.

“Things started clicking and then chemistry started happening. All great teams have character and chemistry.”

First-year coach Jack Del Rio and general manager Reggie McKenzie deserve credit for the close-knit roster, Smith said.

“I love what Jack’s done, I love what Reggie’s done,” Smith said. “They have put a good group of men together, and that’s most important in my book. In this business, if you don’t have a close-knit team and guys that can trust each other, everything goes to you-know-where in a handbasket quick.”

Smith likes how while most teams practice a couple of hours a day, the Raiders have been putting in 2 hours and 45 minutes - “because the games are going to be close to three hours.”

“They put the right guys here and everybody is concentrating on the same goal,” Smith said. “We want to win games, we want to stay together for a long time and be playing in January. It’s awesome.”

In his head: Lofton had told reporters earlier how great it was to have two former middle linebackers, Del Rio and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr., always in his ear.

Was he fibbing a little bit? All that firsthand experience doesn’t get old?

Lofton smiled and rolled his eyes.

“It’s funny because Coach Norton will say something to me and I’m thinking in my head, ‘I’m not trying to hear that right now,’” Lofton said. “And then he said, ‘I know in your head you’re thinking you’re not trying to hear that. But you need to hear this.’

“So it has it’s advantages and it’s disadvantages.”

Go make catches: Smith, 27, told third-year tight end Mychal Rivera that he is now free to do what he does best.

“I told Mike that I am here to do the stuff that you don’t want to fool with anymore,” Smith said. “Mike is 235 pounds and he is the best blocking 235-pounder in this business. But some of these defensive ends are 290.”

The 265-pound Smith has 20 catches in four seasons and will start because of his blocking prowess.

“Mike and Clive (Walford) can have all the catches and glory and have their pretty faces on the Jumbotron,” Smith said. “I am fine doing the dirty work and then going home and kissing my wife and my babies.”

New digs: Lofton was blown away this week by the new weight room and practice fields in Alameda. Especially because when the eight-year veteran came for a visit in March, the place was a dump.

“They showed me pictures of how it was going to look, and I was like, ‘Ummm, I dunno…’ I thought it was just a big sales pitch and I would hate to see these pictures and then it doesn’t happen.

“But they lived up to their word and this place is awesome.”

The Rock: Del Rio was asked how much better the new field turf surfaces are than the old ones.

“Than the Rock?” he asked back, laughing. “That’s what they affectionately called it. Yeah, I think replacing ‘The Rock’ was huge. We’ve got a couple of excellent multi-directional fields and the drainage is phenomenal.”
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Ishnaga said:
So you guys dont like the Taylor Mays pick up?
I aint gonna lie, I wish we woulda got him from day 1 he reminded me of the great Sean Taylor..
maybe it was just cause madden made him a beast.
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Sean Taylor had unreal instincts, Taylor Mays is more like a unguided missile.
 
Raiders must pass deep face deep ball test from Cardinals’ Palmer
By Vic Tafur August 29, 2015

View media item 1692651The Raiders’ TJ Carrie (38) stretches to break up a pass intended for Jared Cook (89) of the St. Louis Rams during a preseason game at O.co Coliseum. Photo: Ezra Shaw, Getty Images Photo: Ezra Shaw, Getty Images The Raiders’ TJ Carrie (38) stretches to break up a pass intended for Jared Cook (89) of the St. Louis Rams during a preseason game at O.co Coliseum.

Former Raider Carson Palmer is back Sunday night — maybe not for long — and the Cardinals quarterback will surely test Oakland’s highly questioned young cornerbacks in the third preseason game.

TJ Carrie hasn’t gotten thrown at much, because so far St. Louis and Minnesota have had success going after DJ Hayden. The former first-round pick gave up a couple of big plays in the last game Aug. 22, not to mention getting called for a penalty.

Then there’s second-year player Keith McGill, who started training camp ahead of Hayden, but has struggled as well.

Raiders defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. said he is not losing any sleep over his young cornerbacks. Not yet, anyway.

“It’s all good until you see them catch the ball,” Norton said. “One of our main objectives is to stay on top — no deep balls. If you don’t see them catching deep balls, then we’re good. So it doesn’t matter whether we’re young or old. Can they play the technique and can they stop the deep ball — that’s what it comes down to.

“The age doesn’t matter. Do they understand the technique, and do they make plays?”

Their window to make plays against a top-notch quarterback like Palmer may be small Sunday night.

There have been a rash of knee injuries around the league this preseason, and Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said he was going to have to look at possibly reducing his starters’ playing time in the third preseason game to play safe.

It doesn’t look as if Palmer and receivers Larry Fitzgerald and John Brown will play longer than a half.

Raiders coach Jack Del Rio was asked if he was going to have a similar discussion with his staff.

“My thoughts are very similar to Bruce’s,” Del Rio said. “I know we’ve both been in the league a long time, done it a certain way and there are certain things you kind of expect about what you’re going to do and try to do, but I think you do have to take pause and make sure you think about it. We’ll do that.”

Getting starters a chance to get going after halftime has been the norm in years past.

“You’d like to get the guys to feel coming back in the second half and starting the second half at least,” Del Rio said. “Because that’s what it ends up being that first week of playing with smaller rosters and getting the feel of what it’s like to take that number of snaps in a game. The conditioning aspect, not only physically but mentally, it’s important.

“But you have to weigh that against having your best people healthy and ready to go for the year.”

Dowling cut: The Raiders surprisingly waived safety Jonathan Dowling on Saturday, a day before their third preseason game. Dowling had his first career interception in the Aug. 22 game when he picked off a pass by Minnesota’s Shaun Hill.

League sources say Dowling was cut because of maturity issues and not his play on the field. The Raiders were trying to trade him the past couple of days.

Apparently a series of small incidents built up to the point where the coaches decided to move on; the personalities were a bad fit. Dowling was shocked when he was told.

Dowling had been playing ahead of four-year veteran Brandian Ross this preseason. The Raiders, who start Charles Woodson and Nate Allen at safety, also signed Taylor Mays, who was cut by the Lions, on Wednesday.

It shouldn’t be assumed that Dowling’s departure was tied to Mays’ arrival. Norton, who was on the USC coaching staff when Mays was there, stresses that the sixth-year veteran is just trying to make the team.

“It comes down to competition,” Norton said. “If Taylor wants to be competitive, if he wants to work, if he wants to strain, if he wants to have passion, if he wants to make plays, then this is the place for him. If not, then it’s not the place for him.”

A seventh-round draft pick out of Western Kentucky, Dowling played in seven games last season as a rookie.

The Raiders, currently at 88 players, must trim their roster to 75 by 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Vic Tafur is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vtafur@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VicTafur

Five players to watch

RB Roy Helu Jr.: He is finally back from a hamstring injury and the coaches hope they can relax as the Danville native steps into the third-down role.

RB Trent Richardson: Coach Jack Del Rio said he wants to see some of the explosiveness that Richardson had in college at Alabama. Might need a time machine then.

TE Gabe Holmes: Will the Raiders really keep four tight ends? Holmes had a good training camp but needs to make some noise Sunday.

DT Leon Orr: He’s going to need to make some plays to crack a deep group of interior linemen.

S Brandian Ross: He played well last season, but the new staff had him behind Jonathan Dowling. Dowling was cut Saturday, so Ross has a window to the coaches’ hearts.
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HNL HI said:
Sean Taylor had unreal instincts, Taylor Mays is more like a unguided missile.
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Taylor was 6'2 212lbs and ran a 4.51 with a 39" Vert and put up 11 BPs 
Mays is 6'3 230lbs and ran a 4.43 with a 41" Vert and put up 24 BPs 

Not even close to me - purely physical specimen it's Mays

If only his ball skills could be compared to ST .... sigh

I hope he gets it together.
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