Posted on Wed, 05/14/2008 - 10:52 — by shastagoat
Al Davis's tried and true (or untrue) method of filling the gaps on defense by picking up older, no-name players "with something to prove" during the off season continues with the pick up of Spires, 33, who is expected to compete with Jay Richardson, Trevor Scott and Kalimba Edwards for playing time at right defensive end. WHO ARE THESE GUYS? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? The Raiders signed Spires as another potential replacement for Chris Clemons, who signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as a free agent. Tell me Al, why didn't we keep Chris Clemmons, a total stud of an end? I'll tell you why, because we have to make cap room your new little pet Darren McFadden who we picked up at No. 4 overall with Dorsey staring us in the face.
If any of you out there think Tommy Kelley can stuff the run all by himself at the line of scrimmage, you're terribly mistaken. It takes all 7 guys in the box with a strong D-line to do that and we have DONE NOTHING to improve that group so far.
Getting ready for another stellar season against the run! CONGRATS TO AL DAVIS FOR ANOTHER JOB WELL DONE!!
YOU'RE AN IDIOT!!
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 416
Hey man, I too think that we should have made some moves for our DL however I think your wrong about the signing of Spires. If the guy makes the team and is healthy he could be quite good. Clemons had a good year for us, but he only played 37% on D. Take that as you wish. He was a great DE and he was young, but with the money that he commanded and the amount of time he was used wouldn't pan out for us. We will find out how he plays for the Eagles and see if his stats weren't in part inflated due to Burgess on the other end.
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 32
I disagree with you on this. I have no idea what kind of health this guy is in, but he was VERY disruptive in Tampa and in many cases forced plays to go right into Warren Sapp. What I suspect is the plan is to have Spires and Richardson play on running downs and have Burgess and Edwards play on passing downs. I dont think they want Burgess in on every down. They want him to play passing downs so that he is fresh. If they run the D line in this manner, I think our run D will be much stronger this year. Richardson & Spires are both very good against the run. Edwards may be another Clemons on passing downs. Simlar body types.
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 124
Count me in with OldFaithful.
Clemons wasn't a total stud. He was a partial stud, a pure pass rusher who was a liability against the run.
This group of nobodies have much better resumes/potential than last year's nobodies. Before Al brought CC to Oaktown the kid had only 5 sacks in 2 seasons for the Foreskins.
When paired with a healthy Burgess I expect Kalimba the black Lion will likely come close to matching CC's sack total and KE is stronger than CC against the run. ....which after all is what you were worried about.
If Hartwell can regain his old form look for the Raiders to play him inside and spend a lot more time in a 3-4. The main worry is lack of depth on DL and to a certain extent a 3-4 mitigates that. ...oh and don't believe Kif's mantra about us not playing a 3-4 and kelly not playing any DE. That is about as reliable as his pre-draft blather or his BS about QBs last year. I'd go so far as to say it confirms we will be playing more 3-4.
Also we really didn't have to make many personnel moves to improve our DL. All we needed was for the health to improve. Burgess (Calf), Kelly (MCL), Sands (conditioning), Warren (puss) all missed time because of health. Combine that with a JRich the rookie and SappLite and you have a recipe for disaster.
If there is one position I actually trust Al's judgement on it is DLine. He is the Tom Cable of DLine. Last year we had a perfect storm of set backs that screwed us.
You've gotta be excited about the Offense and that was before we added a quite possibly over priced 3rd down back via the draft. I think this team will be elevated from joke to legitimate pretender. When you look at our schedule it isn't a stretch to think that this season we have a very realistic chance of having a record that is better than we are. We could be the Saints of 2 years ago if everything falls into place.