MVN: Most Valuable Network

So now we wait.  Friday can't come soon enough for the Raider Nation to get its first glimpse of their 2008 Oakland Raiders, 'glimpse' being the operative word.  The first preseason game is not a game for fans to get good long looks at most of the players that will be starting on opening day, but there will be a series of plays to go around for most of those starters on Friday night.  Yesterday was a 'first impression' from the stance that each team got to measure the other before showing their wares on Friday night.  Let's see how they did.

49ers pass offense against the Raiders pass defense

The morning practice wasn't a crisp one for the Raiders pass defense.  What was troubling about the pass defense is that the Niners used all three of their quarterbacks in 11 on 11 drills and completed 17 for 25 passes.  Bruce sat out and Johnson got injured, so the pass defense faced the likes of Ashlie Lelie, who also has a sore calf, and undrafted rookie Cam Colvin.

It didn't help that Nnamdi Asomugha was absent all day with a stomach virus, (and later, Derick Burgess succumbed to the beginnings of the same thing), but Stanford Routt started in his stead and from most accounts handled himself well...just not great.  Routt did injure a Niner though...Ok, maybe he didn't injure him, but on the first play for Bryant Johnson, he pulled his hamstring and came up lame for the day.

Hall was mentioned as a victim on a couple of touchdowns in the evening, in fact the defense didn't look as good during the evening as they had during the morning session.  Robert Thomas and Gerrard Warren were mentioned as interception recipients.

Only the second time the Raiders had been fully padded and their front seven didn't disappoint.  The 49ers would've not had such a good completion percentage had the front seven been able to tackle.  Trevor Scott, after getting munched by Jennings got in his fair share of QB pressures/sacks as did Greg Spires, and of course Derrick Burgess.  On a side note, the only offensive lineman that stood out for the Niners was Jonas Jennings, who gave as good as he got against Burgess and dominated most everyone else he faced.

49ers run offense against the Raiders run defense

Many of the 49ers runs were in the middle.  According to most everyone, the Raiders were in position on every play, but like last season, they weren't able to tackle.  Ok, they weren't supposed to tackle in the practice and didn't, but the point is we'll have to wait until real action this Friday night to see if being in the right place matters.  You'll recall that last year, there were many missed tackles in the backfield on runs of 10+ yards.

Sam Williams made an excellent play walling off on a sweep to his side and stuffing the run.  Many of the 49ers rushing plays had a similar fate, there was always a wall of Raiders ready to stop the incoming running back.  Worthy to note that Frank Gore wasn't practicing much, but it was mostly DeShaun Foster with the first team.  From reports, the Niners coaching staff are just being cautious with their starter.

Jarrod Cooper, trying to stage a fight with friend and former teammate DeShaun Foster, accidentaly wrapped up Frank Gore by the throat.  The two laughed it off with Cooper blaming it on Edgarton Hartwell for raising the tempers.  Hartwell laid a shoulder hit on Niners back Moran Norris that Norris took offense to.  William Joseph got into it a little with rookie Chilo Raschal.  All in all, no real fights or brawls, just a few love taps.  Jesse Boone was mysteriously not mentioned in a scuffle.

Raiders run offense against 49ers run defense

If you didn't know any better, you'd think that the 49ers had the second worst run defense last year, and not the Raiders.  Left tackle Kwame Harris was handy in the running game by opening huge holes for the running backs.  Darren Mc"fabulous" was just that.  McFadden impressed even the most homer of Niners beat writers.  McFadden was very excited to practice against 49ers all everything linebacker, Patrick Willis saying, "...in college I had he had good games against me and I had good games against him...it's a good challenge."

One observer noted that if the Raiders use all three of Ghidorah, it's going to be very exciting and interesting to watch because all three bring a different style to the game.  Fargas and Bush both carried the ball well with the huge holes being opened in front of them.

Raiders pass offense against the 49ers pass defense

The 49ers surprised and confounded the Raiders line and running backs all morning.  There was plenty of worry about the Raiders pass blocking and the morning practice gave more credence to that worry.  Kwame Harris had good plays and bad plays while his bookend, Cornell Green, did the same.  The most worrisome of the blocking was the blitz pickups by the running backs.  Michael Bush looked the best, McFab, looked confused.

In the evening, the blocking got better for the Raiders and they seemed to have worked out some of the kinks that they had in the earlier practice.  Gallery was called for his first false start of training camp, but hopefully it's just a coincidence that it was against a 'real' opponent.  It was reported that Justin Smith had crushed him in one on one blocking drills.  In fact, Smith looked like the high priced free agent that the Niners hoped he'd be.

Speaking of high priced free agents, Javon Walker was seen OPEN!  Although, Kiffin wasn't impressed with Walker's day, he did have a good one in the morning.  He sat out the evening practices.  The Arman Shields watch is starting to begin.  He was kicked off the field in the morning for not knowing his route and then was seen dropping balls.

Russell and Walter both looked good passing the ball.  Walter had the nicest completion, a sideline strike to Jonathan Holland over Donald Strickland in 11 on 11 drills in the morning.  Walter sat out the evening practice with a tired arm.  I don't understand this 'tired arm' deal.  Is there something wrong with his arm that requires him to take the odd practice off because it's tired?  He's probably fine, but if he was the starter, it would worry me even more.

Raider Nation will be happy to know that Zach Miller is uncoverable (is that even a word?).  He was open every play that he was a receiver.  Not a single 49er linebacker could keep up with him or handle his route running and will be an integral part of the offense when the Raiders are passing.  The only problem seems to be that he'll lose catches helping out the offensive line on passing downs.

Top quotes

Edgarton Hartwell on Norris after their scuffle - "I wasn’t trying to take him to the ground.  It was just that when I hit him it kind of lifted him up. I guess it was kind of too hard for him. I didn’t really hit him that hard but he got kind of upset. I can understand that if you don’t like contact."

Hartwell again this time on Coach Nolan - "That’s my buddy right there. We were just talking.  Mike was like, ‘Come on Ed’ and I said, ‘Come on Mike, you know how we do it.’ We were in Baltimore together, you know how we thud up.’ . . . He knows in practice back in Baltimore that’s how we do it. You catch the ball across the middle we give you a nice tap just letting you know we’re there." (let's do it that way here to Ed)

James Lofton to Arman Shields - "That’s why you’ve got two hands catch the ball!"

Mike Martz to Josh Morgan - "It's a corner (expletive) blitz! What do you do?"

Martz again to his offense in general - "This is pointless."

Cooper on Frank Gore - "You know, they got the same facemask on.  So I was going for DeShaun but I couldn’t get him."

Cooper on his scuffle with Gore - "You know how it is these days. We don't fight, we sue."

Kiffin on Walker - "I’m not into the whole `Well, when the lights go on, they play well.’ That’s not my deal. I’m trying to work him out of that mentality."

Big Al tired of the criticism?

Al Davis hasn't been on the practice field much over the past few seasons, but he's becoming a fixture during this camp.  Davis was on the field observing both practices yesterday.  This can only be a good thing for Kiffin and the Raiders.  If Al Davis is going to play GM, then he ought to be out there watching the players so that he and Kiffin can be on the same page when it comes to cuts, depth chart, and signings.

Is it possible that Davis is tired of hearing how his moves are questionable?  Being on the field and taking a more active role is a sign that he's at least putting more into running the day to day operation than in the past few years.  It could just be that his troublesome leg is finally not as troublesome as it had been.  Either way, it's good to see that he's there watching.

Schweigert Cut

Turns out the Washington Redskins didn't waste any time cutting former Raider starter Stuart Scheigert.  I've assessed in the past that the Redskins have the best eye for safety talent in the league so this doesn't bode well for the fifth year veteran.  No doubt that he'll get a job somewhere, but if he's starting anywhere in 2008, that team is probably pretty bad.  Thanks goes out to Junior for bringing this to our attention.

Marshall suspended

Chalk up opening night as a win.  Broncos only receiving threat won't be playing and with the running back situation fluid in Denver, the Raiders might only need 10 points on offense to win it.  Marshall, who has now been arrested three times, will be suspended for three games for violating the leagues conduct policy.  It could turn into two games if he gets counseling during the suspension.

McCown number 1

Josh McCown is listed as the Dolphins number one starter, for now.  We're going to have to wait until the end of training camp to see if this holds true, but it's a pretty safe bet that his experience from last season and the lack of experience of his competition is going to keep him in that spot.