Raiders defense suffers two more big losses

The Raiders lost two more players to free agency.  Desmond Bryant signed with the Cleveland Browns, per ProFootballTalk.com.  In addition, PFT also reports that the Miami Dolphins signed Philip Wheeler to a multi-year deal.  While it wasn’t expected that the Raiders would be able to retain either of these guys, it still stings.
Thanks to the releases of Dave Tollefson, DHB, and Michael Huff, the Raiders have some salary cap room.  Reggie McKenzie may decide at this point to wait out all of the big spenders, and target as many budget picks as possible.  It worked last year with Philip Wheeler, though that’s in the past now.

Tommy Kelly’s situation also becomes more interesting.  Kelly is still on the roster, though the Raiders would obviously like him to take a pay cut.  Still, with a very thin defense, Kelly may balk at the request, gambling that the Raiders wouldn’t cut him at this point.

Don’t be surprised to see more big changes in the Raiders in the next few days.

Shocker – Raiders release two former 1st round draft picks

I was wrong on one, the other, I didn’t even see coming.

Via the Oakland Raiders twitter feed, the team has released Darrius Heyward-Bey and Michael Huff, as well as Dave Tollefson.

I figured Darrius Heyward-Bey was safe, but it’s possible he wanted to explore free agency rather than take a pay cut. I never even considered Michael Huff to be a candidate for being cut. Huff filled in at cornerback admirably during the Raiders’ secondary emergency. However, these cuts will free up a considerable amount of cap space. Still, these are some stunning decisions. Absent from them were Carson Palmer and Tommy Kelly. Could they both have restructured their deals? It’s possible.

Still, Michael Huff’s departure leaves a hurting secondary even worse off. Hopefully Big Reg and Dennis Allen have a big picture that makes this all work out.

Preseason week 3 recap: The Terrelle Pryor show

The game ball for Saturday night’s game goes to Terrelle Pryor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Back from my work travels!  Time to recap Oakland’s 31-20 preseason win over the Detroit Lions.

Carson Palmer still doesn’t have it all figured out.  But his play was improved.  Looking solely at the stat line, Palmer seemed to be up to his old interception tricks.  However, wide receiver Eddie McGee completely bungled a catch that resulted in an interception.  On the play that resulted in his second pick, Palmer was targeting Taiwan Jones on a screen play, but Jones was very obviously being held and could not complete the play.  Still, Palmer should have thrown the ball away instead of trying to force it.

Darren McFadden made some terrific plays, including a short catch that would have been difficult for a receiver to complete.  Palmer led McFadden on a passing play, and McFadden was able to extend his hands to make the running grab.  McFadden also scored the first team’s first touchdown of the preseason.  However, once again, Oakland had issues punching it in from the goal line.  McFadden’s TD was initially called a fumble, but replay showed he barely crossed the goal line before losing the ball.

Starting receivers Darrius Heyward-Bey and Rod Streater each looked solid.  DHB made an incredible catch, wrapping his hands around Detroit’s defender and snaring the ball with one hand.  Streater once again looked like an old pro, despite being an undrafted rookie.

The defense held all-universe wide receiver Calvin Johnson to one catch.  Oakland’s defense has looked surprisingly solid all year long.  Cornerback Ron Bartell has stepped up and looks to be fully recovered from last year’s neck injury.  The front four harassed the Lions all day.  Dave Tollefson and Philip Wheeler each excited the Oakland crowd with their stellar play.

Oakland’s special teams players are the current question marks.  Kicker Sebastian Janikowski appeared to have injured his groin chasing Lion returner Justin Miller (former Raider), who broke through Oakland’s kickoff team for over 70 yards.  The extent of the injury is not known, but in his absence Eddy Carmona booted a 56 yard field goal off the infield dirt.  If SeaBass misses any regular season time with his injury, Carmona may hang around for a bit.
OK, I think I got everyone out of the way.  Now on to the man who, in my opinion, earned the game ball, Terrelle Pryor.  Pryor played Saturday night’s game as Palmer’s primary backup due to a Matt Leinart injury (non-throwing hand, he’ll be fine).  Shortly after entering the game in the third quarter, Pryor scrambled outside and found a gap.  Demonstrating his blazing speed, he barreled down the field nearly 60 yards before being tackled.  The ball came flying out, and the Lions recovered, but the referees determined that the ground caused the ball to come out.  About two plays later, Pryor literally brushed off a Lion attempting a sack, and once again used his skills to roll over 25 yards into the end zone, electrifying the O.co Coliseum.

These were the skills everyone expected Pryor to have.  Where Pryor surprised everyone was his passing game.  On another series, Pryor threw an unwise pass that was intercepted by Detroit’s Alphonso Smith, however it was nullified by a penalty.  Smith burned a lot of energy trying to return the worthless pick.  Two plays later, figuring Smith had to still be exhausted, Oakland went after him.  Pryor threw a deep pass to rookie camp phenom Juron Criner, who despite being absolutely molested, made the great touchdown grab.  Even replacement referees couldn’t ignore the pass interference, so even if Criner wouldn’t have come up with the pass, Oakland would have been at the goal line.

On the next series, Pryor made possibly his most impressive play to date.  Keep in mind, everyone has repeated that Pryor would be treated as a quarterback, not a tight end, receiver, etc.  Pryor rolled out, and on the move, delivered a strike to Criner, who was cutting across the field.  Criner then took the ball over 75 yards to the house.

Final thoughts: Overall, Pryor had to TDs with his arm and one with his legs.  Oakland needs to find a way to get him on the field this year.  Palmer is the team’s starting quarterback.  That should absolutely not change.  But Pryor is too gifted to ride the pine, as he showed tonight.  Janikowski’s injury appeared to be the only significant one.  Hopefully it turns out to be minor.  The defense held strong and penalties were low.  Oakland, for the time, appears to be a disciplined team.  Now, the starters need to rest up and everyone on the bubble needs to prep for their last chance in preseason week 4.