The last time a Bay Area football fan had something to cheer about was in 2002. That is the last time the Oakland Raiders or San Francisco 49ers went to the playoffs. Since then they have a combined 83 wins and 173 losses. This has been eight years of abysmal football.
There is hope though. The Raiders have a renewed confidence after finishing 8-8 and sweeping the AFC west, while the 49ers have a brand new coach who hopefully can help make Alex Smith into something besides an enigma.
On offense it all starts with the quarterback. Both teams have their starter named but neither is a bona fide star.
Smith has been horrible in his seven years at the helm of the 49ers offense, and has been given one final chance to prove he has been worth the trouble. Don’t be surprised if rookie Colin Kaepernick is starting by week six, though.
In the East Bay, Jason Campbell is also a seventh year quarterback but going the other direction with his career. In his seven years he has never had two consecutive years in the same system until this year. Expect Campbell to put up career high numbers with speedy receivers on the outside.
Hue Jackson, the Raiders first year head coach, had this to say in a press conference about Campbell, “The guy won some very important games. The guy played hurt. The guy got to know his teammates, rallied his team, and finished very strong.”
Both teams have great running backs to support their not so great quarterbacks, but shaky receiving corps. Michael Crabtree is a great weapon for the 49ers but he is the only one. The newly signed Braylon Edwards is a big name but won’t live up to expectations. He is to injury prone and drops too many balls.
The Raiders, on the other hand, have many decent receivers but no greats. They have an enormous amount of speed, but still need time to develop. It’s very promising for the future but won’t look great this year.
On defense the Raiders took a huge hit when the lost free agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, but have many good defensive backs in a secondary that ranked second in passing yards against.
The biggest question for them is up the middle. Rolando McClain is the obvious starting middle linebacker but the other linebacking spots are there for the taking. Speculation is that someone could be brought in to fill those spots such as Lofa Tatupu.
The 49ers had built their team around defense and were expecting it to carry them to the playoffs last year. Instead they had the 24th worst passing defense and the 13th worst total defense. This was mainly due to poor pass rushing skills which has been aided by drafting Aldon Smith.
Finally, both teams have new first time head coaches. Jackson in Oakland has brought a new philosophy to the team since taking over for Tom Cable. “I want to get a little more physical, tougher, meaner,” Jackson said in a pre-draft press conference. “There’s going to be one way to do business, and that’s the Raider way. We’re not expecting to win two years from now [or] three years from now we are expecting to win now.
The 49ers hired former Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh to take over for Mike Singletary. This will be a little tougher in a lockout shortened year since none of his players know his schemes. He is bringing new ideas to a city that needs them, while still holding on to the basics. “I want to see them [players] go out and play hard – play like they like football,” Harbaugh told Kevin Lynch of the San Francisco Chronicle. “If they make a mistake, just do it 100 percent, do it full speed and full throttle.”
Both teams are having good training camps and fans all over the Bay Area have high hopes. Both teams could go either way this season and have either breakout years or bust years. I expect the 49ers to get off to a slow start because of the shortened offseason but an easy schedule should help them finish 8-8, second in the NFC West. The Raiders have the talent to win a lot of games but play in a tougher division and should finish at 9-7, second in the AFC West.
