Silver and Black Report

The Oakland Raiders (1-0) will take on the Chicago Bears (0-1) in historic Soldier Field on Saturday. Both clubs last met in the pre-season in 1991, when the Silver & Black defeated the visiting Bears 13-10. Chicago lost 25-10 against the San Diego Chargers in their pre-season opener. Optimizing is high for both clubs in the summer, as Oakland is trying to snap out of their doldrums since the end of the 2002 season and the Bears are looking to head into the playoffs after a three-year post-season drought.

OAKLAND RAIDERS

On Offense:

Charlie Frye, who was the incumbent as the third quarterback in the depth chart had season-ending surgery on his right wrist. Now, the door opens for Colt Brennan and Kyle Boller. Bruce Gradkowski is still not ready for action, so head coach Tom Cable stated that after Jason Campbell reaches his quota of snaps, Boller would come in and Brennan will have mop up duty.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Boller said. “Each day, each week, I feel more and more comfortable, getting to know the guys, getting to know the offense. It’s gone really well.”

Darren McFadden will not play on Saturday. “He is much, much improved,” Cable said, “and he is pretty close to being ready to go but, again, I am probably going to lean toward being more protective now.”

The Raiders inked tight end Eric Butler to take Frye’s spot on the roster.

On Defense:

Against the Cowboys, a couple of the young Raider linemen displayed their pass rushing ability. But what John Marshall wants is continued improvements in run discipline. Matt Shaughnessy and Lamarr Houston will be a integral part of the defense. But their growth as complete ends as the season approaches is vital.

“They had a really good start,” Richard Seymour said. “We definitely need them to carry that over into the season. Anytime you can start fast, as a young guy it definitely builds your confidence.”

As for the former Patriot, expect him to be cemented in the interior in 2010. “I’m still moving around but I’ve played primarily inside this camp,” he said. “We still have some packages where I move outside. So, we do a lot of different things defensively. It’s still training camp. We’re still in that mode.”

CHICAGO BEARS

On Offense:

This season, all eyes are on Jay Cutler and how he works with Mike Martz. But not just how he handles the Xs and Os, but how he grows into being a leader for the Bears.

“You could see he was a leader last year, but he wasn’t asserting himself as much as he is now. Right now, there’s no question, just in terms of speaking up and taking control of the offense. Before, he was just running the offense. Now, it’s his huddle, it’s his offense. All eyes are on him. And everybody knows who to look to,” said veteran tight end Desmond Clark.

Cutler is itching to play more this week after the cameo versus the Chargers, but any outcomes seen on the field in the summer won’t sway the strong-armed passer either way.

“We’re doing certain things. We’re mixing some stuff in there,” Cutler stated. “But, like I said before, preseason games don’t count. Once we get in that first week, the record is clean again and that really starts to count and the bullets are for real.”

On Defense:

”I think this will be a big rebound for our team,” Brian Urlacher says. ”We’re talented, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t win a bunch of games.”

The Bears ranked 17^th last season on defense, without the services of their leader (Urlacher) and without the presence of prized free agent and five-time pro-bowler Julius Peppers.

And how important is Urlacher? “He is the defense,” three-time Pro Bowl tackle Tommie Harris commented. ”He’s the heart and soul of the defense.”

With Rod Marinelli serving as defensive coordinator, the Bears can boast having some of the best minds aiding head coach Lovie Smith.

GAME NOTES

• The Raiders are not anticipating Chaz Schilens or Darrius Heyward-Bey to be available for the contest. Tony Stewart (ankle), Sam Williams (concussion), Chris Johnson (hamstring) and Paul Hubbard (hamstring) have already been ruled out.
• Bears QB Matt Gutierrez, signed on Wednesday after back up Caleb Hanie was injured, could be on the field on Saturday.
• Like the Raiders, the Bears WR unit has been in question all summer. They have a tight end that is productive (Greg Olsen) like Zach Miller, but more pop will be needed to fulfill Martz’s vision of his offense with Cutler. “I think that our receiver corps will be the strength of this team. You can put that in granite. There’s not very many things I would say are un-retractable, but that one is pretty strong,” Martz said in May.

GAME INFO

When: Saturday, August 21 – 8:30 pm ET

Where: Soldier Field, Chicago, IL

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

Oakland, CA –- Monday night football, season & home opener, and against a hated division rival who in all accounts should be a beatable team this year…

All the ingredients needed to take that next step forward into a season of respectability. Instead, what happened to the Raiders was a do-it-yourself clinic on how to beat yourself with mental mistakes, penalties, and an unwillingness to change things up on defense.

First, let’s look at the mental mistakes. The Raiders looked to unleash it’s formidable running game on a Denver Broncos team that was one of the worst teams at stopping the run last year; and run is exactly what the Raiders did. On their opening offensive drive, Oakland got a kick-start with a 57-yard kick off return by Johnnie Lee Higgins. It was a steady diet of hand offs to running backs Darren McFadden and Justin Fargas. The Raiders even converted on a 4th down to keep the drive alive. All that hard work of driving down the field came crashing down when quarterback JaMarcus Russell fumbled (slipped out of his hand), while reaching back to make a pass.

That wouldn’t be the only costly error on offense for Oakland. In the second quarter, wide receiver Ronald Curry drops an easy pass with no one around him for what would have been major yardage. The pass hit Curry in both hands before it dropped harmlessly to the ground. The Raiders would be forced to punt.

On its next offensive drive, Higgins would badly muff a reverse hand off as Denver would scoop it up to claim the fumbled ball. Higgins later in the game would also blow it when on another reverse handoff, instead of getting outside the tackles and throwing the ball away when the defense read and reacted to the play, he opted to run to the sidelines 15-yards deep in his backfield leaving the Raiders to climb out of a 2nd and 25 hole.

The defensive mistakes were two-fold. Newly acquired cornerback DeAngelo Hall was picked apart all night long by rookie wide receiver Eddie Royal. Hall would give the receiver a 10-yard cushion the entire night as he accumulated 149 yards (mostly on Hall) and a touchdown, (when it looked like Hall had broke off his coverage and released Royal). Hall would compound the mistakes by committing two personal fouls in three plays.

But where the biggest defensive mistake came from was the sideline. The Raiders stayed in man coverage the entire night. There was no mixing up coverages and there were no blitzes all night long, thus allowing Broncos quarterback, Jay Cutler, the luxury to sit back and throw to any receiver he wanted to at will. The four Raiders down lineman did not get any pressure on Cutler the entire night as the defense gave away 441 total yards to its divisional foe.

The Broncos would score often throughout the game as they amassed 41 points and ushered the Raiders out of their own stadium as scores of faithful fans walked out to their cars with 10 minutes remaining in the game. So much was promised, so much was said to be different, to be better when in fact, fans were treated to it’s home team that showed it was not yet ready to turn that corner and looked as if some of the coaching staff was inept or unable to scout, game plan, or compete against a divisional rival that for the most part out-coaches this staff in his sleep.