Interview With Raiders Radar

The Kansas City Chiefs head to Oakland Sunday to take on the Raiders as they look for their second win of the season.  To get the low down on the Raiders, I sat down with Stu Rosenberg.  Stu is the Raiders correspondent for Fanball and give you everything you need to know about the Silver and Black at Raiders Radar.

Ryan Jones: Sunday’s game will be the Raiders 4th blackout of the season after only have 6 in the three previous season combined.  Is it just because the team has been losing, the economy or something else entirely?

Stu Rosenberg: The economy is a factor, but more than anything, I think it’s the quality, or lack thereof, on the field that has turned people off.  This team has had trouble selling out games since it returned to Oakland 14 years ago.  Even during the Gannon-Gruden years, sellouts were never a given.  To see this once-proud franchise fall on such hard times, people simply have decided they have better things to do with their time and money.

RJ: The Oakland passing game hasn’t been able to get off the ground this season, what impact — if any — will the return of Chaz Schilens have?

SR: Schilens has the potential to be special, but it’s been a long time since we’ve seen him out on the field.  And his arrival doesn’t necessarily mean that Russell will suddenly stop locking in on receivers at the line, stop throwing off his back foot and putting the ball on the ground whenever defensive lineman so much as breathe on him.

RJ: What is the state of the Raiders offensive line?

SR: Gallery will make a big difference.  They probably missed him more than McFadden and Schilens, just because he’s become such a stabilizing force up front … words we wouldn’t have been uttering three or four years ago.

RJ: Is there anything we’ll see Sunday from the Raiders that we didn’t see Week 2?

SR: I think we’ll see Russell throw.  That could be good and bad.  If they are going anywhere, though, and if this is the guy to take them there, they have to turn him loose, for better or worse.  With a full complement of players, he has no more excuses.

RJ: What’s your best guess on the final score?  Player of the game?

SR: I see the Raiders winning 24 to 20.  I think Russell’s confidence, if he has any left, will be up, which should elevate his game as well.  To turn in another 7 for 25 job with 112 yards would officially place him in the Marc Wilson/Rusty Hilger/Donald Hollas pantheon of quarterbacking mistakes.

Tags: Chaz Schilens, JaMarcus Russell, Oakland Raiders, Robert Gallery