a good portion of it has been by me. It occurs to me that, it could be Al Davis' restrictions on the "D"coordinator that might be the problem. Al considers himself a defense guy and is more involved in that aspect of the team than any other. He likes the Raiders to play a 4-3 man to man and get pressure with a four man rush and dominate the opposition physically and blitz very rarely. Which is exactly what we are running now. I know at various times in the past we have run other defenses and formations, but this "D" we have now is Al's preference and it ain't quite working.
Marshall came from Seattle with a reputation for living and dying with the blitz and all sorts of exotic formations. Now he's as vanilla as it gets and we're all calling for his head. I'm just not so sure that it's entirely his fault.

ESPN's Michael Smith reported Tuesday night, via Twitter, that two league sources told him that the Oakland Raiders are targeting Idaho OG Mike Iupati with their top selection.

It's not clear whether or not Oakland would seek a move down in order to select Iupati, though it's certainly possible. Considered one of the safest bets in the draft, Iupati could be had somewhere in the teens. Knowing the unpredictability of Al Davis, however, it's entirely plausible (and by that, we mean plausible only for him) that Iupati will be Oakland's selection at No. 8 overall. Raiders coach Tom Cable has been pining for better line play, and Iupati would get them started in that.

I watched the Cable press conference from 4/15 and Jerry Mac and Corkeran were asking questions and kind of trying to wrangle Cable into an actual answer about the 1st pick.
He didn’t give an exact answer but he did say some interesting things.
1. O Line is first priority,
2. They want a guy who can start right away,
3. They won’t trade forward but might trade back,
4. They’ve received offers for the 8 pick and if the right deal came by they’ll go for it,
5. The guy doesn’t have to be a tackle, he could be an interior guy.
Am I nuts for thinking it sounds like my favorite pick Mike Iupati. Might he be the guy the Raiders are interested in for the 1st pick.
It could be that Cable is just blowing smoke, but I’m hoping for a little sanity for once.
OPINIONS???