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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Las Vegas Raiders · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:25
Speaker 1: Welcome to opposition territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:28
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:31
Speaker 1: in the world, twelve years strong. We got a great
0:34
Speaker 1: discussion coming your way this week. We have a great guest,
0:37
Speaker 1: always talking to him on an annual basis. He is
0:41
Speaker 1: from a great sp nation site, Silver and Black Pride.
0:45
Speaker 1: He also does some work over at Bleacher Report as well.
0:48
Speaker 1: With regard to the NFL Draft, We've got our good
0:50
Speaker 1: friend Matt Holder.
0:51
Speaker 2: How you doing, Buddy Good? How are you doing, Jeff?
0:54
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me back on again.
0:55
Speaker 1: You got it, buddy. I'm doing all right, man. I'm
0:57
Speaker 1: really excited for the start of this NFL season. I
1:00
Speaker 1: excited to see what's gonna happen in the AFC West,
1:02
Speaker 1: in particular with the Las Vegas Raiders, and we're gonna
1:07
Speaker 1: be diving into this team right here on our show. Here.
1:10
Speaker 1: Look this Raiders team, in my opinion, they've had a
1:13
Speaker 1: very interesting offseason. Brand new quarterback in Geno Smith. They
1:17
Speaker 1: extended Max Crosby, safety Jeremy Chin. He got a two
1:22
Speaker 1: year deal. Pete Carroll's hired as the new head coach,
1:24
Speaker 1: Chip Kelly coming in as the new offensive coordinator, lots
1:28
Speaker 1: of moves happening with this team and organization that has
1:31
Speaker 1: been I guess you would say rather stagnant over the years. Yeah, So,
1:37
Speaker 1: how should NFL NFL fans really be looking at viewing
1:43
Speaker 1: the Las Vegas Raiders offseason at this point? And what
1:45
Speaker 1: great would you actually give the Raiders front office on
1:48
Speaker 1: what they did during this offseason and why? Yeah?
1:51
Speaker 2: So, I think the Raiders team, I think they do
1:53
Speaker 2: have a chance to kind of surprise a lot of people.
1:54
Speaker 2: Will be one of those slept on teams that not
1:56
Speaker 2: a lot of people are considering this season. I don't
1:59
Speaker 2: I am bring expectations a little bit. I kind of
2:01
Speaker 2: expect them to be in that that seven to nine
2:04
Speaker 2: win range where they're you know, flirting with the playoffs
2:06
Speaker 2: but maybe not quite getting there. Playing in the AFC
2:09
Speaker 2: West is tough. I mean that division sent three teams
2:11
Speaker 2: to the playoffs last year, and I think it's reasonable
2:13
Speaker 2: to expect that all three teams could easily be back
2:15
Speaker 2: this year. And hopefully the Raiders are in that mix.
2:17
Speaker 2: But again, it's a tough division where you have three
2:20
Speaker 2: quarterbacks who are very good and on our three quarterbacks
2:23
Speaker 2: who are on opposing teams that were very good and
2:25
Speaker 2: then mixed throwing Gino Smith in the mix. Like it's
2:28
Speaker 2: probably the best, probably the best quarterback division in the league.
2:31
Speaker 2: You know, if you can find them one that's that's
2:32
Speaker 2: much better. I know the NFC East guys have some
2:34
Speaker 2: good ones too. The Giants are just kind of picking
2:37
Speaker 2: up the caboost there that may holding you guys down
2:39
Speaker 2: back down. But with the Raiders, I think, you know,
2:42
Speaker 2: I think you touched on it, like adding Gino Smith
2:44
Speaker 2: gives them the best quarterback that they've had since they
2:46
Speaker 2: moved on from Derek Carr what was that almost four
2:48
Speaker 2: years ago now? So I think that can definitely be
2:51
Speaker 2: competitive this this upcoming season where they might surprise some
2:55
Speaker 2: people people beat some teams that aren't expecting them to
2:59
Speaker 2: you're not expecting them to beat and stuff like that.
3:01
Speaker 2: I do think it will take a little bit too
3:03
Speaker 2: for everyone to jail. Like you mentioned new head coach,
3:06
Speaker 2: new offensive coordinator and Chip Kelly, who Eagles fans know, Well, yes,
3:10
Speaker 2: at least I'll say this, at least it's not the
3:12
Speaker 2: head coach in the GM. That's always my always my
3:15
Speaker 2: I thought was undoing out in Philly. But you know,
3:18
Speaker 2: just with all the moving parts they're gonna be it's
3:20
Speaker 2: gonna be tough, Gael, and I think especially in the
3:22
Speaker 2: beginning of the season, uh they might have some bumps,
3:25
Speaker 2: bumps and bruises and growing pains and stuff like that,
3:28
Speaker 2: but I can really see this team kind of starting
3:30
Speaker 2: to take off in that second half of the season
3:31
Speaker 2: once they get a little more familiarity with each other.
3:34
Speaker 2: And as far as like what great I'd give the
3:36
Speaker 2: front office, I've said all along, probably the B B
3:39
Speaker 2: two B minus team UH range, So you know, I think, yeah,
3:44
Speaker 2: like I said, I think getting Gino is a big
3:46
Speaker 2: part of that to a big part of what keeps
3:47
Speaker 2: them above the uh the C range because that was
3:50
Speaker 2: huge and like I said, the best quarterback they've had
3:52
Speaker 2: in the in the last few years. And I do
3:54
Speaker 2: think Gino is a is one of the more underrated
3:56
Speaker 2: guys in the league and kind of fits in with
3:59
Speaker 2: what the Raiders mind that has been throughout their entire history,
4:02
Speaker 2: especially going into this season. And then on top of it,
4:06
Speaker 2: I liked what new GM John Spytech did and that
4:09
Speaker 2: he wasn't going to overpay for players. Well on the
4:12
Speaker 2: first one that comes to mind is Travon Merrek, who
4:13
Speaker 2: was the starting safety of the last four years for
4:16
Speaker 2: the Raiders. I love Trevon Merrek. I don't know if
4:19
Speaker 2: i'd give him seventeen million dollars a year. That was
4:22
Speaker 2: a pretty happy contract a lot. Yeah, Yeah. But on
4:25
Speaker 2: the other end of that is they did sacrifice talent.
4:28
Speaker 2: You know, Roberts Wayne is another guy that that ended
4:31
Speaker 2: up leaving that they kind of replaced. They're trying to
4:33
Speaker 2: replace in the aggregate if you will, if you're anybody's
4:35
Speaker 2: moneyball fan, with just bringing in a bunch of different
4:38
Speaker 2: other linebackers to replicate his production. Divine Diablo was the
4:42
Speaker 2: other starting linebacker last year. I don't think he was
4:45
Speaker 2: a huge loss, but hey, that's another starter that's gone.
4:47
Speaker 2: Nate Hobbs of manning the slot for them for a
4:49
Speaker 2: few years, he's gone too. So they're replacing quite a
4:52
Speaker 2: bit on the defensive side of the ball. And like
4:55
Speaker 2: I said, the barking hunting is great, except when you
4:57
Speaker 2: look at the talent that's left on the roster, and
4:59
Speaker 2: I think the that you look at this defense, there
5:01
Speaker 2: are a lot of question marks on that side of
5:03
Speaker 2: the ball. As starting quarterbacks are open for or out
5:06
Speaker 2: for the takings during training camp. The nickel spot is
5:11
Speaker 2: a is another question mark. I'm gonna great breaking in
5:14
Speaker 2: two new safeties this past year, Marcus EP's former Eagles,
5:16
Speaker 2: another guy that left the free agency. Two new starting linebackers.
5:20
Speaker 2: Christian Wilkins right now, we're not sure exactly what his
5:23
Speaker 2: health status is. And then Malcolm Koonska is the second
5:26
Speaker 2: defensive end behind Max Crosby, who who's coming off of
5:29
Speaker 2: torny a cl and this to all of last season. Yeah,
5:31
Speaker 2: that makes me a little bit cautious. That's kind of
5:32
Speaker 2: where I go where Again, I think they can be competitive,
5:36
Speaker 2: but there's so many moving parts that it's hard for
5:37
Speaker 2: me to be like, yeah, this team's going to be
5:39
Speaker 2: going to be a playoff team or anything like that.
5:41
Speaker 2: They're going to going to be winning double digit games.
5:43
Speaker 2: That's That's kind of where I'm at this season.
5:45
Speaker 1: I think, Matt, when I'm looking at this Raiders team
5:47
Speaker 1: as somebody on the outside of you know, of course
5:49
Speaker 1: I love you know, NFL follow just about every team
5:52
Speaker 1: and what they're doing, but it seems like now more
5:55
Speaker 1: than ever, there is a bit of quote vision from
5:58
Speaker 1: the Raiders front offen like I'm getting that vibe that
6:01
Speaker 1: there is some sort of vision for where they want
6:03
Speaker 1: to go in the future. Yes, Gino Smith may not
6:06
Speaker 1: be the franchise quarterback that leads them to a Super
6:09
Speaker 1: Bowl perhaps at some point down the road, but there
6:11
Speaker 1: is a vision I think when it comes to what
6:13
Speaker 1: the offense could be, what the defense, where they could
6:16
Speaker 1: go into the future. And I think it's one of
6:18
Speaker 1: the first times in many many years that we have
6:20
Speaker 1: seen a quote vision coming from the Raiders front office.
6:24
Speaker 1: That's how I see it.
6:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I can definitely agree with that. I think
6:27
Speaker 2: you know, you look at the moves that they made.
6:29
Speaker 2: It's there's definitely been a clear lineage of they what
6:32
Speaker 2: they want to do. And Pee Carroll comes in, he
6:34
Speaker 2: definitely wants to win right away. He's going to be
6:35
Speaker 2: seventy four by the time October. Girls around it right
6:38
Speaker 2: mid September, I should say, right, so he doesn't have
6:40
Speaker 2: too much time to be wasting. But I think you
6:43
Speaker 2: can definitely see, like again like there's a clear directive
6:46
Speaker 2: and I think John Spytech the new GM is a
6:48
Speaker 2: big part of that too.
6:49
Speaker 1: Yeah. I want to get into Gino Smith a little
6:51
Speaker 1: bit more with you, because I think it's safe to
6:53
Speaker 1: say that Gino Smith is definitely, you know, while we're
6:55
Speaker 1: talking about it here, of course an upgrade at quarterback
6:58
Speaker 1: given what we've seen from the Raiders quarterbacks over the
6:59
Speaker 1: past few years. And while he had that bit of
7:03
Speaker 1: resurgence in Seattle, you know, definitely again being that upgrade.
7:08
Speaker 1: I'm just wondering what his ceiling is at this point
7:11
Speaker 1: during his career, Matt, Like, what do you expect Gino
7:14
Speaker 1: Smith to give this offense that it didn't have before
7:18
Speaker 1: and to potentially get them to another level, to that
7:20
Speaker 1: competitive level that Pete Karra wants to get them to.
7:23
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here?
7:24
Speaker 2: I mean, I think the biggest thing with Gino Smith
7:26
Speaker 2: that he brings that they haven't had in a few
7:28
Speaker 2: years is the deep ball. I think the last look
7:30
Speaker 2: at their quarterbacks that they've brought in since car Jimmy
7:32
Speaker 2: Garoppolo never known for his arm strength, Cardner Minshew definitely
7:36
Speaker 2: not known for his arm strength. Even Adan O'Connell who
7:38
Speaker 2: they drafted a couple of years ago, doesn't have the
7:40
Speaker 2: strongest arm of the world, and that really hurt their
7:42
Speaker 2: offense and especially their passing game, and it impacts the
7:45
Speaker 2: running game too because teams could just play with an
7:47
Speaker 2: extra safety in the box and have that extra defender
7:50
Speaker 2: to account for the running game. So I think gino
7:53
Speaker 2: him him being able to push the wall down the
7:55
Speaker 2: field and being pretty darn good at it, like just
7:57
Speaker 2: even as down years, that's kind of one always been
8:00
Speaker 2: one of his biggest strengths ever since he kind of
8:02
Speaker 2: had that career resurgence with Seattle. Even last season which
8:05
Speaker 2: was one of his down years, you know, he was
8:07
Speaker 2: still pushing the ball down the field and uh and
8:10
Speaker 2: being pretty accurate won't doing so, and like there's you know,
8:13
Speaker 2: with when I look at this receiving corps and we
8:15
Speaker 2: look at the Raiders offense, that's something that's been lacking
8:17
Speaker 2: this past year. And I think, you know, we talked
8:19
Speaker 2: look at a guy like like Brock Bowers. One of
8:22
Speaker 2: brock bowers and strengths is that he can kind of
8:24
Speaker 2: move like a wide receiver, and I think if you
8:25
Speaker 2: can open up the passing game, that's just gonna make
8:27
Speaker 2: him even better. They have a receiver that probably a
8:29
Speaker 2: lot of people don't know about named Trey Tucker, who
8:32
Speaker 2: is a great deep threat. Yeah, and he uh, he's
8:35
Speaker 2: It's funny, there's a He's a great deep threat, and
8:38
Speaker 2: he had twenty targets last year and only five catches,
8:41
Speaker 2: and a big part of that was because so many
8:42
Speaker 2: balls were uncatchable. There was a stat that we get
8:45
Speaker 2: who was floating around. Wish I could give them credit,
8:47
Speaker 2: but Trey Tucker had the fourth most uncatchable targets last season.
8:51
Speaker 2: So I think you give him a guy that our quarterback,
8:55
Speaker 2: like Gino Smith, who perfectly fits his skill set. I
8:58
Speaker 2: think he can be a lot like with Tyler Lockett
9:00
Speaker 2: and Gino were a few years ago, because they're Trett.
9:03
Speaker 2: Tucker and Lockett are a level a lot of the
9:05
Speaker 2: same skill sets, the same size and that kind of stuff.
9:07
Speaker 2: So I'm definitely optimistic about what Gino can bring as
9:11
Speaker 2: far as his ceiling. You know, year one again, jelling
9:14
Speaker 2: with a lot of new part moving, moving pieces, playing
9:17
Speaker 2: in a new offense, new offensive line, and then of
9:21
Speaker 2: course new receivers. Maybe not get to this level right away,
9:24
Speaker 2: but I think he kind of can eat ceilings capped
9:26
Speaker 2: at being like a pro bowler, which he's been in
9:28
Speaker 2: the past, and then you know, as far as the
9:30
Speaker 2: floor goes, that could be a be up up for
9:32
Speaker 2: debate as well. We've seen seeing Geno flame out of
9:35
Speaker 2: flame out in the past, but yeah, I definitely think
9:37
Speaker 2: he can at least play at a Pro Bowl level.
9:39
Speaker 2: It's just a matter of how quickly can can those
9:42
Speaker 2: guys build some chemistry together.
9:43
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, you talk about the gelling of what is
9:46
Speaker 1: going to happen with regard to this of offense, Gino Smith,
9:49
Speaker 1: he needs to get to the ball, the ball into
9:51
Speaker 1: the hands of these weapons on offense. And when we
9:55
Speaker 1: look at the receivers on this Raiders team, you know,
9:58
Speaker 1: including the tight end group high, I do wonder if
10:00
Speaker 1: Gino Smith is going to have that chemistry with guys
10:04
Speaker 1: like Jacobi Meyers, Trey Tucker you just mentioned, you know,
10:07
Speaker 1: Dante Thornton, brock Bowers is definitely the star receiver you
10:11
Speaker 1: know on this team. Where do you see Geno and
10:14
Speaker 1: these receivers on this team really trying to take that
10:17
Speaker 1: chemistry that everybody is going to look for. How do
10:19
Speaker 1: we know if it's going to be I mean, aside
10:21
Speaker 1: from completions yards things like that, in terms of the chemistry,
10:25
Speaker 1: how are we going to see all that manifesting itself.
10:27
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts?
10:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think one of the biggest things that with
10:30
Speaker 2: the Raiders offense is they have a good amount of
10:32
Speaker 2: guys who are pretty consistent after the catch, brock Bowers
10:37
Speaker 2: being one of them. Brock powers as unique again as
10:39
Speaker 2: a tight end where he can he almost is better
10:41
Speaker 2: with the ball in his hands. Remember at Georgia they
10:42
Speaker 2: get him involved in a running game, right right, He's
10:45
Speaker 2: taking like seventy seventy yard jet sweeps to the house
10:48
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. And I think where I look
10:50
Speaker 2: at chemistry with a lot of like a lot of
10:53
Speaker 2: quarterbacks and their weapons is it's the ball coming out
10:55
Speaker 2: in time and hitting the receiver and stride and that's
10:58
Speaker 2: what kind of leads to the to the yak and
10:59
Speaker 2: stuff like that. So I think that's one of the
11:01
Speaker 2: big indication indicators of how well these guys are gelling
11:04
Speaker 2: and how well they're kind of on the same page,
11:06
Speaker 2: because I think that's going to be a huge factor
11:08
Speaker 2: in this offense as a whole. Uh. And then on
11:11
Speaker 2: top of it, you know how productive these receivers can be,
11:13
Speaker 2: so hopefully they can they can figure that out and
11:16
Speaker 2: get that all the squared away and training camp and
11:17
Speaker 2: hit the ground running realistically, probably looking at more like
11:20
Speaker 2: October for that offense to really start taking off and
11:23
Speaker 2: maybe even maybe even into November, which it's unfortunate because
11:26
Speaker 2: that's half the season. But yeah, that's just just the
11:30
Speaker 2: way it goes when you bring in a new quarterback,
11:32
Speaker 2: and you are bringing in one a new one every year.
11:34
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's the nature of football, especially in the NFL.
11:38
Speaker 1: And again, folks, we are talking to Matt Holder. You
11:41
Speaker 1: can check out all of his content over at Silver
11:44
Speaker 1: and Blackpride dot com. They're doing some great things over there.
11:48
Speaker 1: And also if you are new to watching us here
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Speaker 1: on YouTube at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show. If
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Speaker 1: are social media sites for viewers. On YouTube, we are
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12:03
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12:07
Speaker 1: Sky you can search out my co hosts and myself
12:11
Speaker 1: there as well as the show. We you know, we're
12:14
Speaker 1: gonna be taking a quick break here to pay some bills.
12:16
Speaker 1: We're gonna be back in just a bit with more
12:19
Speaker 1: raiders talk for you. All right, we are back here
12:23
Speaker 1: with our good friend from Silver and Black Pride dot com.
12:26
Speaker 1: Mat holder great, great discussion so far, and we're gonna
12:30
Speaker 1: be getting into some more Raiders talk here and specifically
12:33
Speaker 1: as we're continuing at the discussion with the offense here,
12:36
Speaker 1: I gotta get into Ashton Genty, the third round pick
12:42
Speaker 1: in this past NFL drivet. I cannot wait to see
12:44
Speaker 1: what he is going to do on the field and
12:46
Speaker 1: how he's going to help to alter the rushing attack
12:50
Speaker 1: for this Raiders team. I mean, so dominant in college,
12:54
Speaker 1: but you know, some have wondered if some of those
12:55
Speaker 1: skills are really going to transfer over immediately to the
12:59
Speaker 1: pro football level here. What are your thoughts on what
13:01
Speaker 1: we're going to be seeing from Gent this coming season
13:05
Speaker 1: as a rookie.
13:05
Speaker 2: Mat Yeah, I think Genty's got a pretty high ceiling
13:09
Speaker 2: this coming year. I think, first and foremost, he's going
13:11
Speaker 2: to be the lead back in the backfield. Part of
13:14
Speaker 2: the reason why they took him sixth overall was they
13:17
Speaker 2: didn't really have many other options where he mosers the
13:19
Speaker 2: running back number two right now and Moses I think
13:21
Speaker 2: thirty three turn at thirty four years old and kind
13:24
Speaker 2: of pass well passes Brian, So I think Gent he's
13:26
Speaker 2: definitely gonna get plenty of touches this past year. As
13:29
Speaker 2: far as his transition in the NFL, I'm honestly not
13:32
Speaker 2: that worried about it. You know, I go back and
13:33
Speaker 2: watch some of his games last year. He played really
13:36
Speaker 2: well against Oregon where I broke off a few runs
13:40
Speaker 2: that and made a bunch of guys miss. And I
13:42
Speaker 2: mean that Oregon defense had off the top of my head,
13:45
Speaker 2: five to five guys that got drafted in the NFL
13:47
Speaker 2: last year, and he was making some of them look silly.
13:50
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, his ability to make guys
13:53
Speaker 2: miss will translate. And the other part of it, too,
13:55
Speaker 2: is he has really good vision, which I think when
13:57
Speaker 2: you think of the smaller school running backs sometimes when
13:59
Speaker 2: those guys don't transition well, is just because they could
14:02
Speaker 2: just hit a hole and kind of beast faster and
14:05
Speaker 2: shift and everyone else Whereas you look at what Gent
14:07
Speaker 2: did last year at Boise State, there were a lot
14:09
Speaker 2: of guys in the backfield right away. That offensive line
14:11
Speaker 2: was not very good for him last year, especially against
14:14
Speaker 2: those higher competition. Yeah, and he still went went out
14:16
Speaker 2: and produced. You know, I know, I'm sure some of
14:19
Speaker 2: you guys remember the Penn State game, and I know
14:21
Speaker 2: that kind of gets knocked on all. Oh yeah, you know,
14:24
Speaker 2: it's funny. You look at his stats and I mean
14:26
Speaker 2: he still almost had like one hundred yards in that game,
14:28
Speaker 2: and I know he had his lowest yards per carry,
14:30
Speaker 2: but that was legitimately like the best example I could
14:33
Speaker 2: have could have given of there were literally just guys
14:35
Speaker 2: in his face from the snap, from the time he
14:38
Speaker 2: touched the ball. He was having a guys miss and
14:41
Speaker 2: I went I remember going back and watching the film
14:43
Speaker 2: on that there were plays where Penn State was just
14:45
Speaker 2: pullting eight nine guys in the box and basically saying,
14:48
Speaker 2: beat us with someone else, which was a great strategy.
14:51
Speaker 2: Obviously it ended up working. But kind of the point
14:54
Speaker 2: where I'm going there is if you actually go back
14:56
Speaker 2: and look on PFF, that was one of Gent's like
14:58
Speaker 2: most mistackles force in a game, and it was pretty
15:01
Speaker 2: impressive the fact that he was able to get the
15:03
Speaker 2: numbers you did. My biggest question from that game, though,
15:06
Speaker 2: are the fumbles. I think that's going to be his
15:08
Speaker 2: biggest issue going into the NFL. He had nine in
15:11
Speaker 2: the last two years and then ten in his entire
15:13
Speaker 2: time at Boise State in three seasons. Obviously, that's got
15:16
Speaker 2: to get cleaned up. And if you start giving up
15:18
Speaker 2: the rock and as a rookie, it doesn't matter where
15:21
Speaker 2: you're attracted from that they're going to be moving down
15:23
Speaker 2: in the depth chart. So that's the one thing I
15:25
Speaker 2: really want to see him get cleaned up this season,
15:27
Speaker 2: and then from there it's just kind of expanding what
15:29
Speaker 2: he can do in the passing game. But yeah, I'm
15:32
Speaker 2: optimistic about Jenty and I honestly I don't have as
15:35
Speaker 2: much worry about him hesitation about him making the transition
15:38
Speaker 2: to the NFL as a rusher. It's just the biggest
15:41
Speaker 2: thing is Canny hold onto the ball and figure out
15:43
Speaker 2: how to get more involved in the passing game.
15:45
Speaker 1: We're going to see a lot more power coming from
15:48
Speaker 1: this Raiders offense for sure, folks. But I want to
15:51
Speaker 1: move over to the defense now here with you, Matt,
15:54
Speaker 1: because this Raiders team is in a division with the
15:57
Speaker 1: likes of the Chiefs, the Chargers, the Broncos. All three
16:00
Speaker 1: of those teams are likely going to be playing some
16:04
Speaker 1: pretty good football from an offensive point you know this
16:06
Speaker 1: coming season. You mentioned it right at the top of
16:08
Speaker 1: the discussion as well. I mean, I'm wondering, how do
16:12
Speaker 1: you think this Raiders defense is going to stand up
16:15
Speaker 1: in terms of these teams in the AFC West. I
16:18
Speaker 1: know you kind of kind of touched on it a
16:20
Speaker 1: little bit earlier, but if you can get into it
16:22
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit more detail. I mean, is it
16:24
Speaker 1: going to be something we're going to see with this
16:27
Speaker 1: Raiders team where they actually can be competitive from a
16:29
Speaker 1: defensive standpoint? What are your what are your thoughts here?
16:32
Speaker 2: That's I think one of the things that's going to
16:34
Speaker 2: really hold them back. Like I was talking about in
16:35
Speaker 2: the intro, they're replacing you know, several starters, probably about
16:38
Speaker 2: half defense. If I had to go back and look
16:41
Speaker 2: at and like tally it up, I mean basically the
16:44
Speaker 2: entire second half or the second third levels are brand
16:46
Speaker 2: new starters if you compare the Week one Week one rosters.
16:49
Speaker 2: So I'm definitely concerned about that. And then on top
16:52
Speaker 2: of it, you have Christian Wilkins who suffered a set back.
16:56
Speaker 2: Yet Christian Wilkins broke his foot out of Jones fractor
16:58
Speaker 2: and had surgery on it and in Week five last season,
17:01
Speaker 2: which obviously impacted their defense. He was the big free
17:03
Speaker 2: agent signing a couple of years ago, and he only
17:06
Speaker 2: played in four and a half games last season. Then
17:09
Speaker 2: came to OTAs and it came out that he suffered setback.
17:12
Speaker 2: Either the screw that they put in there broke or
17:15
Speaker 2: he rebroke the bone. Now they're hoping he's going to
17:17
Speaker 2: be able to come back for the start of the
17:19
Speaker 2: regular season, but he had to have surgery again, missed
17:22
Speaker 2: all of the springs. So if he's not back, I
17:25
Speaker 2: get even less confidence in that defense because that he
17:27
Speaker 2: factors to be a big, big part of it as
17:29
Speaker 2: as I'm sure you can imagine. I mean, he's excellent
17:32
Speaker 2: against the run last year, and it was a really
17:34
Speaker 2: good interior pass rasher who helped set things up for
17:37
Speaker 2: guys like if you go back and look at at
17:39
Speaker 2: Max Crosby stats game by game, like I think he
17:41
Speaker 2: came out of the gates with like four sacks or
17:43
Speaker 2: something like that in the first few games, and then
17:45
Speaker 2: after Wilkins got hurt, his production went way down because
17:47
Speaker 2: teams could just focus on him, especially without having Malcolm
17:50
Speaker 2: Kons on that other side. Yeah, and that's kind of
17:52
Speaker 2: another big injury question. Is Coon's two years ago was
17:56
Speaker 2: really good. He finished with I believe it was nine sacks,
17:58
Speaker 2: had eight sacks, and like the last like nine games
18:00
Speaker 2: for the Raiders and looked like he was going into
18:02
Speaker 2: going to be an as sending player and going to
18:04
Speaker 2: be going into a contract year where he can make
18:06
Speaker 2: a ton of money. He tears an acl about a
18:09
Speaker 2: week after training camp last season and missed the entire year,
18:12
Speaker 2: So I'm hopeful that he could kind of come back,
18:14
Speaker 2: but obviously coming off a major injury, there's a lot
18:17
Speaker 2: of question marks about what he can do. And outside
18:20
Speaker 2: of that second half of twenty twenty three, he's kind
18:23
Speaker 2: of hasn't done much throughout his career. So there's a
18:25
Speaker 2: lot of question marks where depends on kind of how
18:28
Speaker 2: it get gets answered this upcoming season and who kind
18:32
Speaker 2: of steps up and replaces the missing starters, and who
18:35
Speaker 2: can recover from injury and who's just healthy at the
18:38
Speaker 2: end of the day. So it's definitely a big mark.
18:40
Speaker 2: And I think if we go back and look at
18:42
Speaker 2: the Raiders team at the end of the season, if
18:45
Speaker 2: they aren't meeting expectations, I would be willing to bet
18:47
Speaker 2: that it's because they had too many question marks on
18:50
Speaker 2: on the defensive side of the ball, and we're probably
18:52
Speaker 2: giving up too many points this past season that even
18:54
Speaker 2: with all the moving parts on offense, I think they
18:56
Speaker 2: have a little few more answers on that offensively than
18:59
Speaker 2: they do defensive going into the season because, like I said,
19:02
Speaker 2: the Nickels spot right right now, we one know what
19:04
Speaker 2: it's ever anyone's guests, who's gonna who's gonna start there
19:06
Speaker 2: after Nate Hobbs is gone.
19:07
Speaker 1: So gonna be interesting to follow for sure. Again, folks
19:10
Speaker 1: talking to Mat Holder from Silver and Black Pride dot Com. Uh, Matt,
19:15
Speaker 1: can you tell everybody out there where they can find
19:17
Speaker 1: you and the work that you're doing in case I'm
19:19
Speaker 1: gonna follow you on the interwebs out there.
19:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm up on Twitter at I'm holding ninety
19:23
Speaker 2: five post all my stuff over there. Like I said,
19:26
Speaker 2: do a lot of NFL draft stuff with Pleacher Report.
19:29
Speaker 2: Have a YouTube channel too where we do some Raider
19:31
Speaker 2: film breakdowns. Once we get into uh the draft season
19:34
Speaker 2: and free agency and stuff like that, focus a little
19:36
Speaker 2: bit more on the draft, a little bit more all
19:38
Speaker 2: encompassing and uh and whatnot. But yeah, will definitely be
19:41
Speaker 2: uh looking forward to the season, and guys, guys, give
19:44
Speaker 2: me a follow, check out what I have over on
19:46
Speaker 2: Twitter and go go from there.
19:48
Speaker 1: That's a great follow folks, and uh to close us
19:51
Speaker 1: out here, Matt. You know, we were talking on the
19:54
Speaker 1: Table Talk interview show this past week about how the
19:57
Speaker 1: Raiders could very well be one of those NFL teams
20:00
Speaker 1: that really surprises the masses this coming season. I think
20:04
Speaker 1: that's a very real possibility. Quite frankly, that could be
20:07
Speaker 1: the most improved team when the season is all said
20:09
Speaker 1: and done, at least in my opinion, what is a
20:12
Speaker 1: sneaky under the radar storyline that we should really be
20:15
Speaker 1: keeping our eyes on as the season is right around
20:18
Speaker 1: the corner With this Raiders.
20:19
Speaker 2: Team, I think one of the biggest ones is Chip
20:23
Speaker 2: Kelly's in his what is this I guess third chance
20:26
Speaker 2: in the NFL since he had that little little sent
20:27
Speaker 2: with the Niners. Yeah, yeah, I think kind of seeing
20:30
Speaker 2: how his offense migrates and how he's adapted that. You know,
20:33
Speaker 2: when he was with Philly, one of the big problems
20:35
Speaker 2: was was the innovative offense. The going the hurry up
20:40
Speaker 2: was caught people by surprise at first, and then once
20:42
Speaker 2: everyone kind of caught up, it just became too simple.
20:45
Speaker 2: And I think one of the things that I like
20:46
Speaker 2: about Chip is He's very adaptable. He's not one of
20:49
Speaker 2: these coaches that's stuck in his scheme. If you compare
20:51
Speaker 2: what he was running at Oregon to what he was
20:53
Speaker 2: running at UCLA and Ohio States this last year, it's
20:56
Speaker 2: it's similar, but there are a lot of different concepts
20:58
Speaker 2: involved in his offense, and I think he's become a
21:01
Speaker 2: more innovative offensive couidnator. I think his time in the
21:03
Speaker 2: NFL humbled him a little bit. I think he kind
21:05
Speaker 2: of got a little too arrogant, especially in those last
21:08
Speaker 2: few years in Philly.
21:09
Speaker 1: Yep.
21:09
Speaker 2: But I think that's kind of one something that I'm
21:12
Speaker 2: interested in seeing is how he kind of makes that
21:13
Speaker 2: shift and how innovative he can be offensively and kind
21:18
Speaker 2: of make it work because he's he's a very different coach,
21:21
Speaker 2: I will say than this first stint with the Eagles,
21:23
Speaker 2: because I'm an Oregon fan also, so I've always loved
21:25
Speaker 2: Chip Kelly and loved those offenses in the early twenty
21:29
Speaker 2: tens that he was right. So be interesting to see
21:31
Speaker 2: with this past season.
21:32
Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, Absolutely, it's gonna be great. It's gonna be
21:35
Speaker 1: so interesting to see where the Raiders go and folks
21:38
Speaker 1: the NFL season is almost upon us. Here again, he
21:41
Speaker 1: is Matt Holder. Matt Buddy, thank you so much for
21:43
Speaker 1: taking the time to jump on. You're so good to
21:45
Speaker 1: jump on the show at least once or twice a year.
21:47
Speaker 1: I'd love to talk to you at some point down
21:49
Speaker 1: the road, my friend.
21:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, well, appreciate you for having me on. Become
21:53
Speaker 2: an annual tradition at this point.
21:55
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
21:58
Speaker 1: Territory this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
22:01
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22:04
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22:11
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22:15
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22:29
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