Whatup Nation!!!!
From what I gather, it seems like there’s some heavy damn hitting going on between the Offense and Defense during the OTA’s (organized team activity access period)
All fight for improvement, body progression and the numero uno starting spot. No position is safe, including one of the most important;
Quarterback.
Maybe some have it better than others..
It seems that recently, Josh McCown has been turning heads by adapting well to the offense by getting out of hairy pass rushes, throwing very accurate passes and getting a better grasp of Kiffen’s new “Hybrid”" offense more so than the others..
“He really is a tremendous athlete, and has great ability to escape pressure, as you saw today a couple times,” Kiffin said. “He’s even quicker when you go from drills to when all of a sudden we’re in team (sessions) and he even looks quicker.”
So I believe we are now witnessing out future starting QB in week 1.
May God and the force help us all…(I guess the O-Line can use some of that help too..)

Everyone pay for their Season Tickets yet? I sure as hell did! I keep getting Raider marketing e-mails about how I can trade, sell and receive single game tickets before anyone else.
Yeah, that’s all sweet as candy, but to be completely honest, I’m not really concerned/impressed about all of these new options open to Season Ticket holders. We all know now that the higher ups are only trying to get us to buy more tickets.
Wake me when you tell me I’ve won a trip to Hawaii or an away game for being a Season ticket holder ever since the Raiders came back in ‘ 95.
Sure, my name is still on the wall near the Coliseum, but I’m thinking it’s about time for me and the other Die hards to receive something more…
let’s all pray for rings…platinum!

I leave ya’ll with some past Stewie Schweigert blogs..PEACE! -DR

By Stuart Schweigert
Raiders free safety
What’s up Raider faithful, this is Stuart Schweigert and I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend and got a chance to sit back and relax. This past Monday was great, everyone got the day off. I was very pleased to be able to sleep in to a late 9:00 a.m. The past four weeks the alarm has been kickin’ my butt with a 6:30 sharp wake up call so the extra couple hours were greatly appreciated.
OTAs continued for us this week. We were right back into things and we are really starting to click. Head Coach Lane Kiffin has also added a new wrinkle to practice. He lets a coach from the offense and a coach from the defense be the play coordinator and call the plays. It is best out of three and whatever side wins gets the bigger, nicer, more comfortable meeting room. The defense won that period Tuesday and Wednesday Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan suggested that the defense just bring in our pictures and hang them up because that room is as good as ours!
I am going to be helping out FB Zack Crockett in Florida for his annual youth football camp. I wish everyone a wonderful rest of the week and I will talk to you next week right here on Raiders.com. Thanks again for reading and GO RAIDERS!

May 24, 2007
Hello to the best Nation in the world, the Raider Nation. Well, another OTA week has come and gone and a ton of players have improved. Every passing week we get better and with every day on the field we continue on that path to success.
Looks like I wasn’t the only one struggling in a dentist’s chair lately. Our number one pick, Mr. Russell was sidelined on Tuesday because he had his wisdom teeth removed. I remember way back when mine were removed and it was not something I enjoyed. I think it was the summer before my freshman year of high school and I had to eat jello and soft serve ice cream for the first two days. I was just glad I didn’t end up looking like the fourth chipmunk brother in “Alvin and The Chipmunks.”
The practices this week were fast. We worked on game situations which included 3rd down, red zone, goal line, 2-minute and 4-minute. Third down is pretty critical for both the offense and defense because if you do not get a first down, or stop them from getting a first down every play before that does not matter. A team with a very high conversion rate on 3rd down increases their chances of winning immensely.

The red zone is the area from the 20-yard line to the goal line. The starting yardage varies from team to team but the Raiders defense starts the red zone from the 50-yard line in. This is the area where the term “bend but don’t break defense” comes from because a team can move the ball 99 yards and if we stop them on the 1-yard line, the other 99 yards don’t mean jack.

Goal line is the area from the 5-yard line to the end zone. This is when you see all the big boys come strolling in like Terdell Sands, Tommy Kelly, Warren Sapp, Anttaj Hawthorne and you see the little speedy guys like Fabian Washington and Chris “Fast Car” Carr head to the sideline for some water. The offense usually only has one receiver in the game and every QB thinks he’s Vick and can run for it.
Two-minute is also when you hear the the term “hurry-up offense.” Defensively you want to keep the ball carrier in bounds, because if they go out of bounds the clock stops. The biggest thing that ruins a two-minute drill is a QB sack, and with a guy like Derrick Burgess on my team I know the odds of us winning that drill is pretty good.
The contrast to a 2-minute drill is a 4-minute drill. This is when the offense is ahead and are trying their best to run as much time off the clock as possible to end the game. Defensively you don’t want to just stop them you want to get a turnover. Now the the ball carriers are trying their best to stay in bounds because they want that clock to keep moving.
I wish everyone a wonderful and safe holiday weekend. Thanks again for reading and GO RAIDERS!