He wants to win two more Super Bowls and then maybe think about retiring.
He resembles the evil emperor from Star Wars more and more with every appearance, which I guess is fitting considering he lords over a stadium field with Darth Vader costumes eight Sundays out of the year.
He is the thorn in every Raiders fan side. He is Al Davis, and he just fired his fourth coach in five years. He said the statement written at the outset of this column at the press conference after the firing and subsequent promotion of Tom Cable, previously the team’s offensive line coach, to the position.
Look on the bright side Raider fans, Davis is 79 years old and aspires to live around the same age as his mom, 101, so you may finally have a chance to watch a winning team around 2030.
Godspeed Raider fans, Godspeed.
But before we get into this week’s stuff, here are my thoughts for the week:
1. Brett Favre finally found some familiarity with the Jet offensive playbook. Evidently this came about when Eric Mangini, and almost to a lesser extent the Arizona Cardinals defense, allowed him to just chuck it down the field at will. Got to admit, it was fun to watch Favre fire off all those touchdown passes en route to a personal best, six, for a single game.
2. What happened with the Cowboys? They played two games they cared about against Green Bay and Philly, and then played a nonthreatening team at home. In short they let their guard down. It can be clearly seen in the fact that they only really played three offensive series, the first of each half and the last.
And now the main event, this week’s top three waiver wire adds and the matchups to keep an eye on.
Waiver Wire Adds:
Le’Ron McClain (RB – Baltimore): This fullback has been outshining rookie Ray Rice and even starter Willis McGahee all season. Things can only get better this week as he will be shouldering more of the load with McGahee hobbled with a rib injury.
Mewelde Moore (RB – Pittsburgh): The Steelers are officially the Seattle Seahawks of the running back world. A week after losing Willie Parker for a couple weeks, newly minted starter Rashard Mendenhall went down for the season. Also in that game, fullback Carey Davis injured his ankle. After the carnage was over, Moore turned in a good performance and he could turn into trade bait for Mendenhall or even Parker owners.
Deuce McAllister (RB – New Orleans): Only one word to describe his performance Sunday – finally. Many owners drafted him thinking he would be good to go when the season opened and were baffled at his absence of carries. Sean Payton finally let his former starter carry the ball against San Francisco, 20 times to be exact, yielding 73 yards and a touchdown. Now is the time to pick him up from the owner that dropped him a week or two prematurely.
Week 5 Matchups:
Seattle Seahawks at New York Giants: The Seahawks are restocked and healthy for the first time this season going into their game with Giants. The Giants are coming off of a bye week and look primed for an upset at the hands of Matt Hasselbeck and Julius Jones. Plaxico Burress is the guy that makes the Giants offense tick and without him New York will struggle. Hasselbeck should finally bounce back with his full compliment of wide receivers expected to be back on the field for the first time this season. Julius Jones is also a solid starter this week.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Denver Broncos: These two teams meet up coming off very different games. The Bucs came up big by upsetting the Packers in part by picking off Aaron Rodgers three times and sending him out of the game. Meanwhile, the previously unbeaten Broncos were humiliated by the previously winless Chiefs. Denver’s offense has been prolific so far but will face its stiffest test yet defensively in Tampa Bay. Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall are surefire starters every week, but be wary of the rest of the players in this game.
Cincinnati Bengals at Dallas Cowboys: What better way could there be to get over a loss than to get a working bye week. The “Bungals” are back and were in full futility in the battle of Ohio. Playing anybody that’s not a Cowboy is a risk in this game, but Dallas showed it can still be vulnerable to a big play wide receiver so T.J. Houshmandzadeh could have a good day.