The Los Angeles Clippers and Arizona Cardinals have been bumped down the list of professional sports most dysfunctional organizations. The top spot now belongs to the Philadelphia Eagles opponent for this week — the Oakland Raiders.
In the last year, owner Al Davis fired one coach he accused of being a liar and replaced him with one who is under investigation for knocking out one of his assistant coaches. Tom Cable also faces sanctions from the NFL if he is found guilty of assaulting defensive coach Randy Hanson.
On the field, the Raiders aren’t much better and the Eagles should set the tone for a banner Philly sports day that will culminate with a Phillies win over the Dodgers on Sunday night (weather permitting).
Brian Westbrook will look to help the Eagles run past the Raiders on Sunday.
Quarterback — Edge: Eagles. Raiders QB JaBustus Russell is averaging 121 yards passing per game with an impressive 4:1 touchdown-and-interception ratio. Oh, yeah, four is the number of interceptions he’s thrown. He actually has thrown twice as many picks as Lord Favre. That’s pretty bad. By comparison, Eagles signal caller Donovan McNabb has thrown five touchdowns and one interception in two games this year.
Running Back — Edge: Eagles. Darren McFadden, the Raiders version of Reggie Bush, is out with an injury. Justin Fargas and Michael Bush are left to carry the load. Bush is an underrated, bruising back. However, with no passing game to speak of, the Raiders run game will go nowhere. Brian Westbrook and Shady McCoy should each get a touchdown this weekend.
Wide Receiver — Edge: Eagles. Javon Walker is a has been who doesn’t even appear on the team’s official depth chart. Darrius Heyward-Bey is a never will be. Heyward-Bey, Oakland’s first round pick this year, has two more receptions this year than his grandmom. The raiders top producing wideout is Louis Murphy, who has ten more receptions than Heyward-Bey. For the Eagles, rookie Jeremy Maclin had his coming out party last week, and teams with DeSean Jackson to give opposing defenders nightmares due to the wideouts’ speed. Jason Avant is an underrated slot receiver.
Tight End — Edge: Push. For the Raiders, Zach Miller is a solid, young receiver. Put him in an Eagles uniform with McNabb and Kolb throwing to him, and he’d probably be as productive as Brent Celek. The Eagles young gun is clearly have the better year. However, this is about production this week, and the Eagles linebackers have not stopped a tight end all season.
Offensive Line — Edge: Push. OK, it’s not really a push, but your Daily Philadelphian started feeling sorry for the Raiders. Give the Eagles the edge here, too. Robert Gallery is out for the Raiders. He is their most noteworthy lineman.
Defensive Line — Edge:Push. The Raiders line up two ancient, walker-dependent cagey veterans at defensive end in Richard Seymour and Greg Ellis. The two have combined for six sacks so far this season. Eagles starting defensive ends Trent Cole and Victor Abiamiri have combined for 4.5 sacks. The run stopping ability of each club is comparable.
Linebacker — Edge: Push. This is more of an indictment on the Eagles inability to cover a tight end than it is an attempt to give the Raiders any props.
Secondary — Edge: Eagles. Nnamdi Asomugha is a very good corner back, but he doesn’t get much publicity because he plays in a Black Hole for a team that has been lost for years. The usual suspects of Samuel, Brown and Mikell are clearly a step above the Raiders secondary.
Special Teams –Edge: Eagles. DeSean Jackson is always the x-factor. Plus, we’ll take David Akers over Seabass these days.
Wildcat — Edge: Raiders. They don’t run the gimmick offensive formation as much as the Eagles.
PREDICTION: Eagles 37, Raiders 16. The game is only this close because Andy Reid will call off the dogs by the start of the fourth quarter.
A week after missing the predicted score by one point, I certainly botched this prediction and preview.