Going into last offseason, the Raiders wide receiving corps was supposed to be an area of need. They addressed it in the draft, and there has been virtually no improvement over the 2008 edition. The two rookies have struggled. The two rising stars from last year have not contributed. Four catches a game from the wide out position is not going to win many games in the modern NFL.
Ball sails off DHB's hands to become a game clinching pick
(AP Photo/ Paul Sakuma)
The leading wide reciver from last season, Johnnie Lee Higgins has been all but invisible since receiving a big hit during the season opener. He closed 2008 looking ready to break out and become a potential highlight reel with every catch. Chaz Schilens was impressive late last season, but missed the first eight games due to injury. No one else has been able to step up, and the Raiders offense has struggled because of it.
Rookie Louis Murphy started the season strong, but fell off the table, wilst first round pick Darrius Heyward-Bey has been nothing short of an epic disappointment. Todd Watkins was inconsequential in his limited time, and Javon Walker seems to be in the doghouse after his mysterious offseason knee surgery. Camp sensation undrafted free agent Nick Miller has been injured with a broken bone in his shin and taking up roster space for the first nine games.
With the wide receiver position combining for only 36 catches in nine games, the Raider Nation has been clamoring for change. 36 catches would tie the combined Raiders wide receivers with Joseph Addai and Derrick Mason for 39th in the NFL in catches. There are 25 individual wide receivers, 10 tight ends, and four running backs who have more catches than the entire Raider wide receiving corps. That would be a clarion call that there is a real problem. However, with week ten approaching the options for change are few.
In his Monday press conference, Coach Cable was asked about bringing in a veteran wide receiver. "We have who we have on our roster. If there was a veteran that got involved, certainly it would probably be Javon Walker but he's already here." Which means that he is going to ride with the young players. Walker has been languishing on the inactive list for much of the season, and until the return of Chaz Schilens it has been the same three receivers trotted out there every week with the same results.
Darrius Heyward-Bey has earned the nickname "Drops Hella Balls" because he does just that. He was the seventh overall pick in the 2009 draft, and the knock on him coming out of college was that he has issues holding on to the ball which have held true into the pros. It was a selection that was widely mocked, and at least through his rookie season it appears to have been justified. He has started nine games and has six catches for 94 yards and no touchdowns.
Louis Murphy was a fourth round pick in the 2009 draft and has outplayed DHB. Murphy leads Raider receivers in catches, but he has also had his own issues holding on to the ball. Murphy has started eight of the nine games, with Schilens taking his spot upon his return. Murphy has 16 catches for 232 yards and one touchdown.
Johnnie Lee Higgins finished 2008 looking like he was ready to explode. Instead he has imploded. He got hurt when he took a big hit in the opener, and he has played tentatively ever since. He has only six catches for a paltry 49 yards.
Todd Watkins is primarily a special teams player, who got time at receiver because of Higgins's injury and ineffectiveness. He has been a non-factor with five catches for 59 yards and no touchdowns.
Chaz Schilens finally returned from his preseason injury in Sunday's game. Over the offseason, he looked like he was set to be JaMarcus's go to guy. In his one game, he had three catches for 27 yards and no touchdowns.
Javon Walker is on the roster. He has spent most of the season on the inactive list, despite being healthy. He has zero catches, and very few plays. There was one pass thrown his way and it was impossible to catch.
This is not a receiving corps that is going to strike fear into the hearts of the opponents. It hasn't helped their numbers that JaMarcus Russell is extremely inaccurate, however, they also have trouble catching the balls when they are on target.
You can also find Patrick Patterson on Thoughts from the Dark Side.
Comments
Ummm, okay....what to say? We should have Chaz, Murphy, and Walker starting...while Heyward-Bey coming in on occassions. Where is Walker, he has HANDS! Jamarcus is horrible, I'm done with him...I tried, believe me my wife would tell me he sucks, and my reply was always "Nah...he needs time". I want a SMART quarterback, forget the arm...honestly I'd trade him for Brady Quinn.
Giovanni, the smart quarterback you want is already on the team by the name of Charlie Frye. I wish they'd give him a chance to play!
Chaz,Murphy and Walker sounds good to me also. After watching DHB drop those passes last week I was like oh man. I used to coach 8 and 9 years olds to catch the ball with their hands. DHB is letting the ball come into his body. Why isn't the receivers coach being held accountable? Oh well I'm in Laughlin Nevada right now. Heading to the bay area to go see my Raiders play the Bengals on Sunday.
Go Raiders!!!!
'Just win baby' What does that mean? I'll tell what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean giving DHB the starting job from day one. He was not and is not ready to be a starter. He clearly needs alot of work and needs to be brought along slowly. Forcing him into the starting role is only wishful thinking that he will become an impact player overnight. Starting positions need to be earned and playing the best players will help this team win. Punishing Walker is not helping us win, it only satisfies Davis' ego. Murphy, Schielns and Walker are three viable recievers. Find a way to use them all with Grad this week and we may start seeing some progress. With Russell and DHB, it's a lose-lose situation. Russell can't hit a reciever and when he actually does, the reciever drops the ball. You really need a sense of humor to watch them. We will not win ANY games that way. We need to move foward and try to find something to build on.
On Fyre - I loved him in college but his NFL career did not start out so well. I have no problem at all with him getting a shot at the starting QB spot. Maybe the time off will have helped him take the next step and become a solid QB in the future. Right now Grad is the #2 and hopfully becomes the #1 this week. Frye will just have to wait his turn. I can only hope that Russell is done. I do not see anything to like about him other than a strong arm. To be polite, he does not have any of the intangables that a QB needs. Enough said. If Frye comes in at some point and wins the job, I will be very happy and it will be one less position I will have to look at this off-season.
Frye is the right choice let us not forget Gannon rode the pine with just a few starts until his tenth season in the league. He was also a gym rat. Grad has talent but is not ready to lead a team.
It does not make a difference who plays WR if your QB is as sporadic as Jbustcus has been. You can claim all you want about the low amount of catches by the WR position being unacceptable and you would be correct except that the problem of cause is not all on the WR. More than half of all balls thrown to to DHB for example were nowhere close to being catchable. This holds true to the other players also. We know for a fact that Zach Miller is a good TE and his catches are way down. I have played the WR position and I know when your QB continually fails to get the ball to you accurately or on time you can not maintain any consistency. This does not in anyway mean that DHB does not have some issues on hanging onto the ball. Cliff Branch in his first three years was horrid. He was booed unmercifully and he has said during this time he hated to play in Oakland. He turned out to be pretty good. The QB position is far and above the largest issue on this team.
The Chiefs game was lost by the wide receiver position, plain and simple.
j.russell sucks a fat one....put GRADKOWSKI in.....
Hey Giovanni, I guess you haven't watched your boy Quinn lately huh? He was just on Monday night against the Crows/Ravens... Quinn has been benched before as has Ja' BUSTle. Quinn's stats aren't any better than Ja' PORKuss so what would be so different?
Smarts? Well Quinn's so called smarts isn't quite getting it done in Cleavland either is it...
At this point I'd like to see Frye or Grad, and in that order... Make Ja' can't hit the side of a barn BUSTle the damn water boy wearing a retards helmet...
-Gone-
We have options. We have Javon Walker!!!!
Supposedly he is looking the best he has looked since 2004. I don't know if this is true or not, as I have barely seen him on the field. Why not put him in and rotate the rookies a little if you want so bad to play them. At least you will have one veteran on the field.
The fact that we won't make use of our options does not mean we don't have them.
When is Nick Miller's leg going to be better - that kid was incredible in preseason - he could definitly help in the WR corp.
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