Dominic Rhodes and fast improving Oakland Raiders

by James on March 11th, 2007

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Dominic runs past the Bears on his way to Oakland

Dominic Rhodes (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, file) He is gone. The one two punch is gone. Dominic Rhodes has left the Indianapolis Colts, the Super Bowl Champs, to go play for the lowly Raiders.

The Raiders have sat back with the first pick in the draft and kind of watched the Free Agents wander all over. Finally they made their move.

As part of an overall facelift on offense, the Oakland signed Rhodes away from the Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts!

The Raiders waited out the initial wave of free agent signings and landed a Super Bowl player to help their 29th-ranked rushing attack.

Dominic Rhodes, a 16-game starter for the world champion Colts in 2006, agreed early Friday morning to a two-year contract worth $7.5 million. The deal includes a $1 million signing bonus and a $1.5 base salary for 2007. source

Dominic Rhodes was the leading rusher in the post season with 306 yards.

NFL Football Dominic Russell factoid Dominic took Abilene Cooper high school to the Texas 5A Championship game, only to lose to Drew Brees of Austin Westlake.

Oakland thinks Offense

Most experts have the Raiders taking JaMarcus Russell with the first pick in the draft. Most likely he would not start right away.

The Raiders also signed fullback Justin Griffith from the Falcons.

Griffith has rushed for 378 yards and caught 87 passes for 621 yards in his career. He had 23 catches for 168 yards and three touchdowns last season and averaged 5.6 yards on his 19 carries. source

Just to keep new coach Lane Kiffen excited the Raiders added a few more to the offensive side of the roster.

The Raiders also signed a pair of free agent tight ends on Saturday, getting Fred Wakefield from Arizona and Tony Stewart from Cincinnati.

A Team on the Rise

Few teams have made as much improvement as the Raiders in this off season.

New running back.
New fullback.
New coach.
New tight ends.
Most likely a new quarterback.

hmm, all offense. Well, no wonder. Oakland was dead last in total yards per game on offense during the regular season. Worse than such notable non-powerhouses as Cleveland and Buffalo.

They were so bad that Randy Moss quit trying even on plays where his number was called.

What most of us don’t realize is that Oakland was 3rd in defense for total yards per game allowed. They were even ahead of the Bears!

Just think what will happen if Moss gets interested?

NFL Football Fan Question Sitting in the AFC West below Denver, Kansas City, and San Diego, can Oakland become a contender?

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

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