tombonneau

I think we should all be thankful that Oakland does not have the horses on offense to take advantage of the transition pains that this now legitimately (with Seau & Colvin) "Old & Slow" defense will experience trying to make plays in space. That Branch play looked like a college offense vs. a high school defense. Embarrassing.

Hopefully Raiders coaches aren't smart enough to try to dump the ball off to McFadden and get him into space ...

SVN

i think this will be a harder matchup if wilfork warren or both are out. the one thing the raiders do is run the ball
and one receiver they complete the passes to is the TE miller. We always struggle against TE.

MassPats38

The thought I had with Cassel was the difference between his long throws and Brady's long throws last year. He threw one that just had no arc and flew right over Moss. Not as much a criticism of Cassel as it is an appreciation of the throws Brady made last year that almost looked like bloop passes that Moss was able to catch up with for big gains. Those throws looked like Brady just heaving the ball but the timing and touch have to be perfect.

Some of that can be learned as Brady had issues hitting deep receivers in 2002 and figured it out in the end.

Cassel had his hits and misses during the game, so I would say his performance was respectable, not great. He was clutch down the stretch when the plays counted, so he earns points for the comeback win.

The defense did look better in the second half, so I am interested in seeing what shows up against the Faders.

tombonneau

True, Miller will probably have a 6/75 type of game on Sunday. He's a very athletic TE and is the focal point of their passing offense. Hopefully the Pats can get up early forcing the Raiders to throw, because if they are able to keep it close and work their ground game, it will be a tough game.

I'll definitely be picking Oakland +7 in my picks pool ...