In this article I am going to take the time to examine what is right with the Oakland Raiders. This should be a short one, right? Yeah, I can be funny at times too.

First things first, Justin Fargas has looked great in the last two games. He looks as explosive as he was in 2007 when he eclipse the 1,000 yard rushing mark.

He’s tied for the team lead in rushing yards (204) despite missing the first four games this year. In the last two games, he has totaled 154 yards on just 31 carries for an average of 4.96 yard per carry.

Now all we need is for Tom Cable to call 31 running plays in a game instead of his average 28.2 pass plays per game. The Raiders have thrown the ball 43 times on first down, compared to 32 rushing plays.

But Fargas is a man on fire, and Coach Tom Cable said that he and Justin have a special bond. Tom likes his work ethic, his demeanor, and his attitude. I expect Fargas to start against San Diego, in spite of the fact that Cable has previously said he would like to see Fargas be the teams closer.

What else is going well? The drive starts looked really good in the Jets game, although the end result was meager; Oakland was able to get some ball movement before committing turnovers. This is not the same team who started the season, when they were barely able to get a first down at all, now they are getting consecutive first downs.

I think this can be directly attributed to the development of the rookie wide receivers on the squad. I would also attribute JaMarcus Russell’s recently improved completion percentage to their progression as well.

Darrius Heyward- Bey actually had a multi-catch game, and nearly pulled in a difficult first touchdown against the Eagles. Louis Murphy has nearly matched the 22 receptions by Johnnie Lee Higgins last year, who led the Raiders in receptions.

After completing just 40.67 percent of his passes thru the first four games, JaMarcus Russell has completed 58.9 percent thru the last three games. It’s still not where he would like to be, but its progress and it shows that he is starting to get more help on the outside from his young pass catchers.

Is there progress anywhere else, B.A.?

Why, I thought you’d never ask. Both Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler are having amazing years. Seabass has hit every kick he’s attempted this year, and Lechler is blasting 52.2 yard punts on average. Lechler has more yards (2,194) punting 42 punts than the Oakland offense has on 381 plays from scrimmage.

I know it’s not much kiddies, but I’m trying to stay positive. I just hope the owner sees the progress and decides to keep the coaches this next offseason.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 21:05 and is filed under Most Recommended, News Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.