Fantasy Football Notes: Oakland Raiders

After finishing the 2006 season with a dismal 2-14 record, the Oakland Raiders have made strides, improving their win-loss record from both 2006 to 2007 and 2007 to 2008. The problem is that even in doing so, the Raiders still had just 5 wins last season. In fact, the team hasn’t surpassed the 5-win mark since 2002.

So, what part of their game was lacking in 2008? How about all of it? On the defensive side of the ball, Oakland gave up the 9th most points per game (24.2) and the 6th most yards per game (360.9) in the league. Perhaps a team with any semblance of an offense could have weathered that storm, but an offensive dynamo, the Raiders were not.

Quarterback, JaMarcus Russell, who played in 15 games during his sophomore campaign, amassed just 2,423 passing yards, 13 TDs, and 8 INTs. While the TD to INT ratio isn’t that bad, the rest of the numbers are, and they are a big reason the team ranked dead last in passing in the NFL last season.

The ground game fared a bit better with Justin Fargas, Darren McFadden, and Michael Bush combining for 1,773 rushing yards, helping the Raiders finish in the top 10 in rushing yards in 2008. However, the team did tie with the Kansas City Chiefs for the 4th fewest rushing TDs on the year with nine.

If things keep going this way, Oakland may be better off suiting up some of the members of the infamous “black hole” than the guys that they currently trot out onto the field week in and week out.