With the NFL pre-season in full gear, it’s time that we as fans step back for a brief moment and take a deep breath. As pre-season games are played it seems in the best interest of fans everywhere and fans of all teams need to see the pre-season for what it is time for coaches to evaluate their second and third tier players.

I’ve already read numerous comments on the good and bad of the game against San Francisco. The fact is some of these players aren’t even on the bubble, much...

HITMAN

As my esteemed colleague alluded to last week, we’ve had some schedule conflicts, but hopefully as the season nears, we will have our thoughts posted in a timely manner. Here is my assessment of the defense:

Defensively the Raiders have addressed some areas that will make them better, however in this fans opinion the critical area that seemed to be neglected was the defensive line, again that is only my opinion, but I believe many fans feel the same way:

DL: This unit...

HITMAN

Now that JaMarcus Russell is finally signed, sealed and delivered to Oakland, my first thoughts were, “Great, now I can see fans wanting him to play as soon as possible.” By and large most fans seem to grasp the concept that playing JaMarcus Russell this season would neither benefit him nor help the Raiders.

We’ve seen to often the end result when a player, particularly a quarterback is thrust into playing before he’s truly ready to make that start.

I’m reminded of...

HITMAN

So here we are another NFL season about to begin, with so many unanswered questions about this team still looming.

How will the new wunderkind coach Lane Kiffin do? Will top draft pick JaMarcus Russell be the next Peyton Manning or the next Ryan Leaf? Will the Raiders ever stop the run and improve on their #3 defensive ranking? Can the offensive line stop being so offensive? These are just a few thoughts running through my mind as the season begins.

These are questions...

HITMAN