08-19-12 4:20 am pac
                  
Photo / Gett Images                                                                                RB Darren McFadden



DMC AND THE ZBS

So goes Darren McFadden so go the Raiders. Injuries have plagued him and thats the excuse given by returning OC Greg Knapp. He said even though McFadden struggled in his Zone Blocking Scheme last time Knapp coached it here, McFadden was inexperienced.

Now hes matured and grown he can play in any system.

Thats true. But it doesn't mean it will be a success.

DMC's break out season was derailed by a serious Lis Franc injury last year but with Oaklands new emphasis on pulls, traps and straight line, traditional power blocking he dominated and led the Leauge in rushing until his injury.

Judging by his limited appearances this off season our conclusion is the ZBS fucking sucks.

DMC looks bad running in it.
On the one more traditional pull and trap blocking scheme we saw him run he broke it for 17 yds thanks to a great block by 2nd yr TE David Ausberry.

DMC is more about straight line speed than he is about quick twitch reaction, stop / start and change of direction.

The good news is 2nd yr man Taiwan Jones is and could excel in the ZBS.

The bad news is hes injured almost as much as McFadden.

His back up Mike Goodson fumbles like its going out of style and is dealing iwth a neck injury.

Oakland bragged up the notion of being a run first team this off season and then ditched half of the best RB Combo in the League.

Again, its early but we said it then, we'll say it now. Oakland will  miss the well rounded, under rated talents of RB Michael Bush.


UNSTABLE CABLE

Our problem with the ZBS when Cable ran it, when Knapp ran it, is that its deceptive.

It chews up yds between the 20s and looks good in the stat column but stalls out in short yds and most importantly on the goal line.

Watching McFadden get stone walled on the 1 yd line twice in a row against Arizona brought back chilling memories of Justin Fargas.

Again, OL Stefan Wisniewski was out for this game but he's been injury prone already and needs those reps if the 2nd yr man is to make the massive leap from LG to quarterbacking the O line at Center.

Especially with Knapp and the Raiders scraping the system he work in and was drafted for last year.

Another massive and stupid mistake was moving veteran Cooper Carlisle to LG. He is a traditional ZBS guy but, for all 13 yrs of his career hes played RG and for two years running was Oaklands best lineman.

Now they shuffle him to a postion hes never played.

The reason for the move was the acquisition of G Mike Briesel from Knapp's former team the Texans. The 2006 undrafted Briesel was working his way into a full time starter job... until he broke his leg. He played on it anyway but you have to question where his cardio is after an off season of down time to heal up.

So far, he looks listless and worse, at times disinterested.

For all their bluster and bullshit, proponents of the ZBS secretly know their run scheme is truncated in the red zone where defenders get compacted closer to the line. That means their QB, TE and WRs need to be able to score those TDs.

We'll talk about whats wrong with that idea next time.

And again, lots of variables and its early.

No need to panic...yet.

Have no f'ing illusions Mr. Davis was just as guilty *Marcus* cough, cough but for completely differnet reasons.

Petty power trippin' bullshit.

The man was a genius. He was a Legend and he resented the success fo the very League that betrayed him. It wasn't about hurt feelers because after being named AFL Commisioner he did his job TOO well so they stabbed him by merging the Leagues behind his back.

It wasn't about that. It wasn't betrayal. It wasn't the loss of face. Well, maybe a little but what it was really about for Davis is that he had those smug MFL bastards by the throat and was denied his kill. HIS kill.

Not stereotypin' nobody but you should know better than to mess with a kid from Uttica Ave Brooklyn New York Capice'? Again *Marcus* cough cough.

IN fact, despite his genius he wasn't above being what some saw as petty but actually was more rooted in a sort of twisted honor. Davis had these strange notions of honor of dignity and as he got older he failed to recognize these things began to matter less and less to far too many athletes who played the game not for love but for love of money.

His inability to recognize this cost him $100s of millions and the franchise a decade long tail spin. *JAMarcus* cough f'ing wretch