Deep Preseason Thoughts

If I had the time to play fantasy football this year, I would just make sure to load up on as many running backs that will play against the Raiders this season as possible. They have no run D. They're vulnerable against power sweeps around the edge; they get burnt on gap blocks up the middle. They gave up over 250 yards against Frank Gore and a bunch of scrubs.

I like #7 pick Darrius Heyward-Bey a little more than most of the analysts; he's blazing fast, has a good attitude, and seems to genuinely care about working on his hands. He's going to draw double coverage in opposing secondaries every time he's on the field. Compare and contrast with #10 pick Michael Crabtree, who is still holding out for #7 money (seriously), and who, when he finally does end his holdout/tantrum, will join a 49er team coached by a, let's say, fairly intense Mike Singletary. (Yes, I know Tom Cable beats up his assistants, but compared to Singletary, the Cable Guy is a freakin' teddy bear.)

Best case scenario, DHB will have an average of 3-5 receptions per game, and only a few of those will be actual game-changers. And the pass defense looks solid, though those safeties are going to get burnt at least once or twice a game.

But the most gaping hole on the team -- the run defense -- went completely unaddressed in the offseason. Of the line rotation of Tommy Kelly, Terdell Sands, and Gerard Warren, only Warren plays notably well, but is too old to be an every-down run stopper. Kelly is way overpaid and gets a lot of offside penalties, and Sands, at 6'7" and 300 lbs., routinely gets beaten by smaller o-linemen because he's useless and doesn't understand the principle of leverage. Sands must have pictures of Cable and/or Al Davis with a dead girl or a live farm animal, because there's no other reason to keep him, especially after he punched punter Shane Lechler -- by far the team's most consistent player during their six years of suck -- on the plane ride back from a victory in Denver last season.

The Raiders have two more preseason games to get their shit dialed in, because so far, LaDainian Thompson and Darren Sproles are just licking their chops at the prospect of September 14th. Even with all those rushing yards, the Niners only won by one point because they're still trying to figure out who's going to be their quarterback (and Alex Smith deserves credit for two excellent tackles, one of which saved an interception return from becoming a touchdown). The Chargers don't have that problem. It could get ugly early.