2020 review is in!

[F.I.B. Savior]

Good day to you all! I hope you and yours are safe and getting through these difficult times we live in today. With that said, I thought I would write a piece about the the 2020 season as a whole, and get your feedback and thoughts on the season as well.

First off, I'm really happy and thankful that we even had a season at all. Covid certainly tried to derail the NFL season, but some how and some way, we were able to get to the finish line. Covid certainly impacted the outcome of games this year, and also prevented the proper development of young players on every NFL team, even veterans changing teams in free agency. However, Covid certainly hit some teams harder than others. For example, the Seattle Seahawks had real no Covid issues during the 2020 season. This alone helped them significantly earn their 12-4 regular season record. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/s...virus-nfl.html

I haven't looked at every NFL team and how Covid impacted them throughout the coarse of the season, but I do think it would be safe to say that our Raiders were at or near the top in how Covid negatively affected football teams during the 2020 season. Look at the Tampa game as one of many examples. Not having our entire offensive line for the week leading up to the game, certainly didn't help our chances in beating the Bucs. The game has been said by many, should have been postponed and rescheduled.

Not only did several players get Covid, but many were deemed in close contact, and were forced to miss significant practice time and or games. Factor in Covid not allowing us to have an off-season this past year, certainly stunted the growth of many young players, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Not only from this years rookie class, but with the 2019 rookie class as well. Jonathan Abram played 1 game his rookie year because of injury, and then Covid came and he had no off-season with the club this past year. He also missed significant practice time and games because of Covid and injuries this year. Hard to properly evaluate Abram with this many negative variables going against him.

All in all, with Covid preventing the growth of our young and developing football team, we did see improvement. Even though we only improved by one win in the win column, we were a play away from sweeping the Chiefs, sweeping the Chargers, and beating the Dolphins. To be fair, we were also a play away from losing to the Jets, the Chargers the first time around, the Broncos in week 17, and even the Panthers in game 1 of the NFL season. How we can prevent these one play games moving forward, is improve the defense.

Carr, as many here had clamored for a trade or even a flat out release all last off-season, went out and had a career year in many statistical categories. All the trade rumors you were hearing the last couple of years were because teams were calling wanting Carr, not the Raiders shopping Carr. David Carr, Derek's brother, even confirmed what I had been saying all along. If a team were to offer a kings ransom, this would be the only scenario in trading Carr. Becuase every NFL player has his price. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/d...ck-per-report/

Carr is a top 10 QB in this league all day long, and I and many have said it before and we will say it again, get Derek Carr a legit defense, and he will go win us playoff games and Super Bowls!

I know many are disappointed in not making te playoffs this year and I am too. Covid had a negative impact on our football team, no doubt. And if you were to look around the league, I again would say the Raiders were at or near the top in Covid playing a major factor in the outcome of games throughout the entire NFL season.

Let's hope we can get the full off-season in this year, and get our young pieces properly developed in Gus Bradley's new defensive system. Heck, even veterans like Cory Littleton said not having the off-season last year, especially joining a new team, didn't allow him to go out and have the season he wanted to have.

Keep it in perspective y'all. Mike Mayock didn't forget how to evlaute talent, and Chucky didn't forget how to coach. Covid in more ways than one, probably was the number 1 reason why we missed the playoffs this year. Here's to beating the virus once and for all, and getting back to being a consistant playoff representative and Super contender, year after year after year!

Go Raiders!

[SuperRaider]

Been watching the raiders a long time;
The defense is really really bad....
Cannot remember when raiders defense
was ever this bad...hopefully Bradley
can fix this

[DonkeyHater]

I'm with you on DC. Totally admit I was wrong about him. This D sucks. Straight up....no other word or words to describe it. Whether it was the virus or some bad coaching (our D sucked balls BEFORE Guenther was here also) we need to fix it!!! that falls on the head Stooge. We're paying him 100 million bucks. Congrats to him on fixing the O but I hold him accountable for the D also. It's VERY frustrating to me to see other teams get better and OVERCOME things when the 3 stooges have us stuck in neutral.

[ILRaidersfan23]

D is freakin horrible. Hopefully it was Gunther. Guys always outof position and running in opposite direction of the ball. I watched us lose several games because guys didn't know where they were supposed to be in that stupid scheme. Abrams running the other way several times a game is painful to watch

[DonkeyHater]

D is freakin horrible. Hopefully it was Gunther. Guys always outof position and running in opposite direction of the ball. I watched us lose several games because guys didn't know where they were supposed to be in that stupid scheme. Abrams running the other way several times a game is painful to watch

Painful AND sickening. Watch Every Raider game but stopped looking forward to it. The D was THAT bad

[mstrbass2000]

i prefer to watch the games after they finish,the heartbreak of watching the defense blow a game with 18 sec is sickening,hell the defense costed us at least 3 wins with less then 2 minutes remaining,otherwise were 11-5 this yr and in the playoffs,just like last yr we should have finished 9-7

[Imasmashu]

Agree that hoping this team gets better this season starts with defense. Can Mayock & Gruden find a playmaker who shows immediate impact? It’s tiresome to keep hoping, but agree there are reasons to like the offense, along with excuses (eg Covid, injury)

Mayock / Gruden combo on the line this season and Bradley has to show immediate progress.

[xramfan]

Defense is scary bad

Gruden is full of excuses

Carr began well enough but didn't finish well IMO and fumbles way too often. He's good but far from great.

Defense can't get worse but I have my doubts it will get much better with Gus. Dolt fans didn't shed any tears losing him after multiple 4th quarter defensive meltdowns last season with better talent than the Raiders have.

Im sorry, I just don't have the confidence as some may have

[Ra1derfan53]

Defense is scary bad

Gruden is full of excuses

Carr began well enough but didn't finish well IMO and fumbles way too often. He's good but far from great.

Defense can't get worse but I have my doubts it will get much better with Gus. Dolt fans didn't shed any tears losing him after multiple 4th quarter defensive meltdowns last season with better talent than the Raiders have.

Im sorry, I just don't have the confidence as some may have

I don't have any feelings about Bradley one way or another. Not a terrible signing but not a great one. I think (or at least I hope) he's a better teacher than PG. We should be improved but this isn't going to magically be a top 16 defense. While PG gets all the blame (a lot of it rightfully so), I also believe that we just flat out don't have the talent on the defensive side of the ball. Crosby is ok at times, Ferrell is average but doesn't get to the QB, Kwit is solid. Abram sucks, he can't cover and until he can learn even basic coverage skills, he's a bust. Arnette could be ok but he was a rookie. Joyner should be gone. Littleton was overpaid and overrated on a good defense with great players around him in LA. Other than Hurst at times, our defensive tackles were no where to be seen all year.

We've missed on every FA signing on the defensive side of the ball except for Kwit, he's the only one who has been a solid contributer. Other than Crosby and Mullen (who were later round picks), we've missed on every defensive pick. Ferrell was over drafted. Had we drafted him at 15, then ok but he hasn't lived up to him being drafted at 4. Need more production out of him.

We need to hit on difference makers in this year's draft on the defensive side of the ball. If we don't, I don't have high hopes for the future of the team. We may make the playoffs (as a wildcard, we won't win the division)but we won't make any noise.

[xramfan]

I don't have any feelings about Bradley one way or another. Not a terrible signing but not a great one. I think (or at least I hope) he's a better teacher than PG. We should be improved but this isn't going to magically be a top 16 defense. While PG gets all the blame (a lot of it rightfully so), I also believe that we just flat out don't have the talent on the defensive side of the ball. Crosby is ok at times, Ferrell is average but doesn't get to the QB, Kwit is solid. Abram sucks, he can't cover and until he can learn even basic coverage skills, he's a bust. Arnette could be ok but he was a rookie. Joyner should be gone. Littleton was overpaid and overrated on a good defense with great players around him in LA. Other than Hurst at times, our defensive tackles were no where to be seen all year.

We've missed on every FA signing on the defensive side of the ball except for Kwit, he's the only one who has been a solid contributer. Other than Crosby and Mullen (who were later round picks), we've missed on every defensive pick. Ferrell was over drafted. Had we drafted him at 15, then ok but he hasn't lived up to him being drafted at 4. Need more production out of him.

We need to hit on difference makers in this year's draft on the defensive side of the ball. If we don't, I don't have high hopes for the future of the team. We may make the playoffs (as a wildcard, we won't win the division)but we won't make any noise.

Cant disagree at all. Someone did a write-up on all the teams draft picks last year and we ranked close to last. I know its too soon to judge completely but it was apples to apples comparisons and our rookies sucked. The OP and Gruden "don't use excuses but..." state we had bad luck with covid and injuries and no camps or OTA`s etc etc..... Well guess what? So did everybody else. The whole Raider organization leaves me weak from the top down and I still don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. I see us anywhere from 6-10 to 9-7.........maybe if lucky we eek out 10 wins but still won't get close to the dance.