Oakland Raiders breathe sigh of relief
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The Oakland Raiders can breathe a collective sigh of relief, QB Jason Campbell returned to practice. According to MercuryNews.com, Campbell participated in a light workout as the Raiders practiced without pads and half speed. Oakland Raiders head coach Tom Cable told reporters, “He threw the ball. He did everything we need (him) to do in practice”.
Cable also declined comment on Michael Bush and whether or not he did have surgery on his fractured thumb. “We are going to adhere to the in-season injury policy and we’re not going to talk about injuries, or where anyone’s at, or what’s going on with them”.
The Raiders made their first roster moves as teams head to the first round of roster cuts. Oakland released TE Tony Stewart (who will be returning to the NASCAR circuit), WR Paul Hubbard, OG Allen Smith and FB Chane Moline
Will Gradkowski be starting the season for the Raiders?
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With RB Michael Bush nursing a knee injury, it’s now revealed that Oakland Raiders QB Jason Campbell has a right wrist injury, does his injury open the door for Bruce Gradkowski to start in the season opener for the Raiders. Campbell has already had a MRI and X-rays on his wrist, though it was believed that Campbell only suffered a shoulder stinger this past weekend after being slammed to the ground in a blindside tackle against the San Francisco 49ers.
Gradkowski came on in relief for Campbell in his first action of the preseason and looked impressive. He was 14-22 for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns and basically ended all speculation as to who the backup quarterback for the Oakland Raiders would be this season. Raiders head coach Tom Cable told reporters after the loss to the 49ers, “He (Gradkowski) definitely showed himself well and strengthened out football team at the quarterback position”.
I was poised to watch the Raiders start the regular season with Jason Campbell under center, but based on Gradkowski’s performance this past weekend, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he did start September 12th against the Tennessee Titans. After all, anything is an upgrade over JaMarcus Russell at quarterback and Gradkowski did show some spark last season.
Raiders Bush suffers injury
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The Oakland Raiders running game suffered a setback on Saturday night as Michael Bush has broken his thumb. It will not be determined how much time Bush will miss until later in the weekend when he is reported to see a hand specialist.
In related Oakland Raiders injury news, QB Jason Campbell was carted off the field after getting a deveistating blindside sack administered to him. Campbell laid on the field for several minutes and he eventually rode off the field in the passenger seat of the trainer’s cart.
Campbell’s injury was described as a stinger and Raiders head coach Tom Cabel believes Campbell will be fine for the season opener.
On the good news front for the Raiders, QB Bruce Gradkowski finally returned to the field after recovery from his injury and looked sharp. Gradkowski was 14-22 for 202 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with Louis Murphy for a 74 yard strike, and later hooked up with TE Zack Miller for a 27 yard score.
Raiders fans watching the game last night had to have been having flashbacks to the 2009 season as the San Fracisco 49ers ran the ball at will on the Raiders. The Niners posted 165 rushing yards and left the game with a 5.0 yard per carry average. And for the first time this preseason, the Raiders failed to record a sack on defense.
Oakland Raiders almost last in the league
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The Oakland Raiders dominated the NFL for years, but the misfortunes of the past few years have taken a toll in the franchise’s net worth. According to Forbes.com, the Raiders are ranked as the 31st most valuable NFL franchise. The magazine ranks the Raiders worth at 758 million dollars.Second lowest in the league, but still a nice return for Al Davis who bought the team in 1966 for 180,000 dollars.
The Raiders were one of 20 teams which saw their worth drop from the previous season, a sign of the economic situation facing the Nation right now. The Raiders team lost 5% of the valuation.
The Raiders spent a total of 156 million on players expenses last season and recorded a 2.2 million dollar operating income. What I did find odd though in the article was the fact that the Oakland Raiders rank dead last in the league for their television market ranking. The average price of a Raiders ticket was 62.00 last season, not bad considering the average price of a ticket in Dallas is 160.00
The Dallas Cowboys were the most valuable team, coming in at 1.805 billion dollars and the Cowboys saw the largest increase in valuation, 9%, due in part to their new stadium.
The team which finished below the Raiders? The Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars were reportedly worth 725 million, less than half of the value of the Cowboys and they lost 16% of their value from last season.
Cooley tosses Raiders Campbell under the bus
The Oakland Raiders new starting quarterback, Jason Campbell played with the Washington Redskins last season and it sure didn’t take long for a former teammate to throw Campbell under the bus now that the Redskins have Donovan McNabb as a quarterback. Campbell has unjustly been a scapegoat for the ineffectiveness of the Redskins offense during his time with the Redskins. Campbell went through a constant coaching carousel and nearly every year was presented with a new offensive coordinator.
The Washington Redskin TE appeared on ESPN 980 in Washington this afternoon and spoke about the Redskins upcoming season, Donovan McNabb and Jason Campbell. You can listen to the entire interview right here.
Cooley went on and on about how much of an upgrade McNabb was over Campbell and that the two are getting their timing down. They most likely should, because the Redskins are in a worse position at the wide receiver position than the Raiders are but it was Cooley’s answer to the question about Campbell which was just over the top against Campbell. Campbell not only had to deal with a seemingly constant coaching change, but a lack of talent or injuries, Chris Cooley included.
Cooley told the radio hosts that Campbell lacked confidence and he wasn’t figured into the game plan enough.
Cooley:
“It was both. I think there was a confidence. Donovan has a confidence level that he is going to put the ball exactly where it needs to be and his receiver is going to make a play. He has made a career out of that and he has always done that and he is bringing it here.”
