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Triple Trouble

One of my favorite memories from my playing days was the Raiders victory against the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome on November 19th, 2000. Adam Treu

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One of my favorite memories from my playing days was the Raiders victory against the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome on November 19th, 2000.  Although we beat the Saints 31-22, it ranks as one of my preferred memories because it wasn’t an easy victory.  Future Raider Aaron Brooks took over for an injured Jeff Blake and didn’t miss a beat. 

Looking back at my old notes for that week, our offensive unit was working protections against their Nickel blitzes--4 strong/4 weak, the swarm, crazy A’s, and three-way with wrap dog.  We needed to give Gannon some time so the receivers could gash the Saints’ DBs who had been beaten badly for big gains in the past. 

It must’ve worked because Rich completed two TD passes to Rison and Brown with Zack Crockett running in two more.  Ironically, one of my least favorite memories also came from this weekend.

Two nights prior to this victory, a group of us headed to Bourbon Street to get our grub on.   We ate that night as if the state of Louisiana was going to stop serving fried food, effective immediately. Back at our hotel, we all started to wish we had opted for the salad. My roommate (for privacy reasons I won’t mention his name.  I’ll just mention he loved gravy more than anyone) and I spent the rest of that night into the early morning really getting to know the Hyatt bathroom.

Commiserating on the bus ride to the Superdome for our walk thru, we concluded while our 300-pound frames (well, 355 if you were Mo Collins) could handle many things, fried alligator was not one of them.  And that sick stomach returned this past Sunday while watching the Saints soundly spank the Raiders 34-3.  It was tough to watch Drew Brees connect on basically every kind of pass he decided to throw. Brees’ was triple trouble attempting 30 passes for 320 yards and 3 touchdowns.  His performance made JaMarcus look like he might be in over his head.  Is he? I guess only time will tell if he is or if Sunday was just the culmination of a night of bad Bourbon Street food.

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Patrick Craig
Oct 14, 2008
10:40 AM

Great story Adam, maybe JaMarcus should find out what Bree's had to eat ?

Billy
Oct 14, 2008
03:53 PM

I remember the days when the Raiders took the field you knew we were going to win. Now its a complete joke. Im nothing more than a arm chair football fan but common sense tells me if you open the playbook your going to see close games become a blowout. "The fire that burns the brightest is the will to win" Oh no Al! That was Drew setting our D on fire cause Rob Ryan SUCKS!!!! HELLO MR DAVIS DO YOU UNDERSTAND?? KIF WASNT THE PROBLEM!! IT WAS THE COACH WHO HAS FAILED TO STOP THE RUN OR PASS AGAIN THIS YEAR. It wouldnt surprize me to see Al trade the top 5 draft pick to Dallas for Pacman.

Steve
Oct 14, 2008
05:05 PM

Well done as always Adam. This is the worst JaMarcus has looked this year but remember he looked horrendous in Jacksonville last year and rebounded with a very solid game at home against the Chargers. He seems to respond pretty well to adversity, so let's see what happens.

Reading your account of that 2000 game, I'm remembering visions of Brown and Rison getting WIDE OPEN and making big catches. Say what you will about Russell but you rarely see this year's Raider WRs getting wide open. Definitely makes the young QB's job harder.

Keep up the good work!

Bad Mood Guy
Oct 14, 2008
06:06 PM

It appeared to me that the O-Line did a decent job in pass protection this week. Maybe they were just the only unit that was really putting in extra effort for Cable. In my view, Russell and the WRs can share the blame on not getting anything going. It seemed like Russell misses an open receiver one play and a receiver drops a ball the next, repeated over and over.

Adam Treu
Oct 14, 2008
08:20 PM
Adam Treu

You're right about the open receivers and dropped balls. Didn't Cable say they had 8 dropped balls?

Alex
Oct 15, 2008
11:55 AM

Not to mention the 3 or 4 dropped balls by the Saints DB's!! There were a lot of "almost interceptions" that no one is mentioning.

Mr.Murder
Oct 15, 2008
12:25 PM

Those passing completion numbers look good for a pinch hitter.

Oops.

Wrong sport.

DoubleJ
Oct 17, 2008
12:47 PM

Nice memories there Adam, well at least half of them, ha ha! I get that sick feeling every time J-Russ drops back to pass. J-Russ might need some time with the QB Guru, the man who played at San Jose State, I forget his name. Brees, Brady, Manning, Claussen (ND), Flacco, Ryan... these guys have really improved after sessions with the guru. Thoughts Adam??

okrdrfan
Oct 19, 2008
10:47 AM

How about them Huskers ???

Adam Treu
Oct 19, 2008
03:43 PM

Yeah, nice win yesterday. Go Big Red.

Ellis "Red" Redding
Oct 22, 2008
01:55 PM

Ah the memories... The Raiders DE's took out a lot of starting QBs that year. Could've used Regan Upshaw or Lance Johnstone in this game....

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