MVN: Most Valuable Network

This is finally a game week. The Raiders spent their day in camp getting ready for Friday night's tilt against the San Francisco 49ers. The wide receiver corps seems to be struggling, but a major factor in that could be the tandem of Nnamdi Asomugha and DeAngelo Hall. The Raiders were prominently featured in a video on unsportsmanlike conduct, as the officials briefed the Raiders on rule changes. Michael Bush seems to be stepping up. Brett Favre is still not a Raider.

Receivers are not getting open

Multiple reports have stated that the Raiders receiving corps is having trouble getting open. Javon Walker, by virtue of his enormous contract and retirement discussion, has been singled out the most as having trouble. Drew Carter, Ronald Curry, and Todd Watkins all started strong but seem to be fading. James Lofton has been working hard with them, to get them to improve. It would seem that their biggest obstacles to get open are DeAngelo Hall and Nnamdi Asomugha, the pro bowl corners who are covering them. Until there are results against another team, its hard to press the panic button. Aso and Hall are going to be giving a lot of receivers and quarterbacks fits all season.

Michael Bush ready for contact

Not much was said about Bush earlier in camp, but he seems to be coming into his own scoring a clean knock down of Gibril Wilson as he came on a safety blitz, and is running with his pad level lower. He looks like he will be blossoming into a Tyrone Wheatley type power runner, which will compliment Darren McFadden and Justin Fargas quite well.

Lane Kiffin wants to see more consistency from Bush, but is high on his progress. Bush is ready to have some game contact after missing nearly two years of playing time with his broken leg. It will be quite interesting to see how he responds come Friday Night.

When Raiders Attack

David White of the San Francisco Chronicle reports:

** NFL officials are here to explain new officiating rules for the 2008 season. They showed media and players a brief video explaining the changes.

For all those conspiracy lovers, three of the first six examples of unsportsmanlike behavior involved ... the Raiders. There was Warren Sapp and Derrick Burgess getting ejected for arguing with officials, Stuart Schweigert taunting after his biggest hit of the year and Jay Richardson appearing to talk trash.

FYI, the significant changes include: no more forceout rule, so the receiver must get both feet in unless he's physically carried out of bounds ... no incidental facemask penalty if the defender releases the mask without twisting or turning it ... muffed forward handoffs are now live fumbles instead of dead-ball illegal forward passes ... two designated defensive players can have radios in their helmet, but never more than one at a time.

Interesting that the officials would chose to use examples from the Raiders as to what not to do. Seems like its just par for the course.

Jake Grove center of attention

After hovering over the dreaded bust mark for the past year, Jake Grove seems poised to step up and take his place as the Raiders center. With Gallery finding a home at left guard, and Grove finally stepping into the role that he was drafted for, there may be some hope of salvaging the reputation of the Raiders 2004 draft.

Brett Favre a Jet

Al Davis didn't pull the trigger on a deal for Brett Favre, that would have sent ESPN into a full implosion with all their contradictions. Instead he was dealt to the Jets. The bad news- The Raiders have never beat Brett Favre, and the Raiders play the Jets this season.

Two days until game action, impatiently waiting here at TFDS.