And they are off!!!!!!

Pre-season football kicked off this past week with a Hall of Fame game between Raiders and Eagles. It was really hard to judge how the teams will begin their season, but it was not hard to tell what the Raiders and Eagles need to work on. Although McNabb looked good in the opening drive, his back ups failed to score a TD for the rest of the game against a defense that suppose to be easy to pass against. On the other hand the report are that Brooks is looking good in camp and is getting comfortable with the offense and receivers. Eagles need much work on offense specially if McNabb gets injured, which as we all know due to his competitive nature is always a possibility. Garcia still looks short off the field and on the field. At one instance he had a receiver wide open about 20 yards down and chose to bounce the ball to him. Third string QB Timmy Chang had no chance to be impressive as one of the passes he threw was kindly fumbled back to the Raider’s defense by RB Bruce Perry.

One bright spot that I was happy about is a chance to see Justin Vargas play. I watch him at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks as he sliced and diced his way to many CIF records. I really liked the comment of the analyst made about so far disappointing NFL career of Justin Vargas who’s father was better known as Huggy Bear on the show Starsky & Hutch. He commented that this year Vargas should try to make a name for himself to be known for his playing ability rather then his kinship. I am really pulling for him to do well, but it seems that he needs to get his mind right and since his injury I can tell his is not hitting the holes as hard as he did in college.

Art Shell is an offensive Hall of Famer, but it looks like he surrounded himself with all his old coaching staffto work on defense.You can tell by the second quarter that Martinez’s coaching has improved LB’s. Oakland force numerous turnovers, including two key turnovers late in the game that lead to field goals.

Janikowski looked accurate and kicked two field goals over 50 yards which should not be a surprise since he is 6′-2″ 250 pounds. The punter looked pretty good , although in the second quarter he did shank a punt, but the roll helped,so Raiders did get a good defensive position.

Overall it was tough to tell what Raiders will show up, or how high the Eagles will fly this year. One good thing is that football is here and I am booked every Sunday through January.

Please post your comments and any additional information that I might have left out.

Sincerely,

Vinnie D.