The Oakland Raiders have looked uneven in the preseason so far through two weeks and with a 1-1 record they will face off against the Chicago Bears on Friday night in the Bay Area and the team will get the chance to show any improvements over the past week with new starting quarterback Matt Flynn.
The Raiders went just 4-12 last season and have made a number of changes to the roster, including adding Charles Woodson, Mike Jenkins, Tracy Porter, Rashad Jennings, Kevin Burnett and Nick Roach and Reggie McKenzie also added a number of new players in the draft. The team has high expectations for DJ Hayden as well as Menelik Watson and the team also added Nick Kasa, Mychal Rivera, Latavius Murray and Brice Butler on the offensive side. Woodson has looked good in camp and the team is also expecting big things from the wide receivers.
The Raiders are hoping Denarius Moore steps up into the number one receiver position and with Rod Streater and Jacoby Ford as well as Josh Cribbs, the team could have some solid weapons for Matt Flynn. Brandon Myers is gone, but Kasa and Rivera are both very athletic and could be matchup nightmares.
The Oakland Raiders play the Chicago Bears on Friday night at 10 PM, while they will play the Seahawks in Week 4 at 10 PM.
Arizona Cardinals looking to improve at quarterback:
The Arizona Cardinals are heading into the 2013 with fairly high expectations after going just 5-11 last season while rotating three awful quarterbacks in John Skelton, Kevin Kolb and Ryan Lindley and now that they have Carson Palmer in the fold, head coach Bruce Arians expects more improvement.
The team is ready to get Carson Palmer into great passing situations after trying to overhaul a running game that was nonexistent last season and one player that is thrilled to have a new quarterback is wideout Larry Fitzgerald. The star wide receiver put up some of the lowest numbers of his career last season while dealing with the poor quarterback play and he is glad to have an experienced player in the fold.
Arians drafted Andre Ellington and Stepfan Taylor in the NFL draft in April and the team is hoping that the duo can join with Rashard Mendenhall to have a more consistent rushing attack after dealing with numerous injuries last season. The Cardinals went through an awful stretch over the final two months of the season and they are hoping that the addition of Palmer will help with the development of young receiver Michael Floyd as well. The team is getting an overhaul on defense as well after signing John Abraham and drafting Tyrann Mathieu and the roster already has one of the top young players in the league in Patrick Peterson.
Last season Peterson showed that is far and away one of the most explosive players in football and this season he is expected to do even more, possibly starring on offense. Arians said that Peterson has some of the best speed in the NFL and after using him on special teams, Arians has placed the corner into sets on offense during camp practices and that could translate and carry over into the regular season. Andre Roberts was second on the team behind Fitzgerald with 64 catches for 759 yards and five touchdowns and he also may benefit from having Palmer in the fold.
Fitzgerald is one of the best receivers in the game and after making 71 catches for just 798 yards and four touchdowns, he is primed for a huge season in the new offense. Arians helped lead the Colts to 11-wins last season and gave Andrew Luck a solid offense to work in and Palmer is thrilled about getting the ball down field, which is something that Arians likes to do. Lasts season the Cardinals ranked 28th in the league in passing yards per game with 187 per game and 32nd in rushing and that needs to improve. The only good unit was the fifth ranked passing defense that allowed just 200 yards per game and the rush defense allowed the 28th most rushing yards per game with over 130 per contest.