June Rivera-Flicker & Photopin Creative Commons
There is plenty of talk about the QB competition, leading up to training camp. What annoys me is that there are other hot topics that deserve to be highlighted but pundits only seem to care about the signal caller in Oakland. There is an epic competition around the bend and it’s still on the Offensive side of the ball. There are two explosive RBs on the roster with plenty of star-power. But who’s going to be the main guy, come the start of the season, Maurice Jones-Drew or Darren McFadden?
The Oakland Raiders now have an extremely talented backfield, with the addition of former Jacksonville Jaguar, MJD during the Off-Season. However, with that said, they also have an extremely rare problem. Neither McFadden nor MJD signed to be part of a timeshare backfield and each see themselves as the starter of this team. Both have experience as starters and both have thrived at the position. However “Pocket Hercules” has managed to stay slightly healthier than the injury prone “Run DMC”, who has a reserved spot on IR (injured reserve). McFadden has not played a full season since his arrival in Oakland. He only played 10 games in 2013 and 12 in 2012. How can one consider this guy a “bell-cow” for the team, when he cannot stay healthy? MJD on the other hand has had a pretty healthy track record for the most part.
The UCLA product has only missed 14 games in his eight-year career and 10 of those 14 came in 2012 when he went down with a foot injury. This should be the guy they look to upon the start of the season. He has the experience with 1,804 carries for 8,071 yards and 68 TDs and that’s not even including his receiving stats 335/2,873/11.
Point blank, if the Raiders ever plan on turning this team in the right direction, they will need to succeed in the run-game. They are obviously on the right track as teammate, LT Donald Penn told Sirius XM that the Raiders plan to
“Run the ball, run the ball, then run it again until the defense stops us.”
With that type of game-plan, it appears that both MJD and DMC will see plenty of carries; however it just makes more sense to make Jones-Drew the two-down back and let McFadden handle third and long situations. This way McFadden stays healthy; they still get the explosion they need out of him and they can use MJD like the workhorse that he is. Maybe this is the plan in Oakland. I guess we’ll all find out on 24 July when Training Camp begins. Football is almost here RaiderNation. Get that black hole ready!
Jermaine Lockett is a Writer and CEO for Couch Rider Report. Follow us on Facebook or twitter.