Talking Points: Another Raiders conspiracy

What’s the buzz from the world of sports? Here are some items that will have people talking:

1

Here is a little fun Monday Night Football research, courtesy of a Raiders fan. Most coaches will tell you that teams playing on MNF have a disadvantage the following week because of the one less day to prepare. The NFL must be listening because it seems like it tries to make it a bit easier for those teams.

Consider: With four teams playing on MNF in Week 1 and two for the next 15 weeks, that makes for 34 teams playing on Mondays this season. Of the 34, only eight play on the road in the next week. Of the eight, only two played on the road in the MNF game. The only one to have to travel from one coast to the other?

Yep, the Raiders.

Of the six home MNF teams to then have to hit the road the next week, only Tampa Bay will go the same distance as the Raiders just did. (To S.F. the next week.) But at least the Bucs will be home on Monday night. The Raiders had to fly back from Denver after Week 1, then prepare to play on the other side of the country on a short week.

It sure looks like the league tries to make it a bit easier for the teams that do play on MNF.

Well, except for one team. At least the league gave the Raiders back-to-back home games in Weeks 3 and 4: Against thet Jets and the Patriots.

Let the conspiracy theories begin.

2

Hey, we thought prevailing wisdom is that young quarterbacks need lots of practice in the offseason in order to play well in the NFL.

Cam Newton seems to be doing OK. Several other young QBs are putting up big numbers this season, too, and none of them had official workouts this offseason. So maybe, just maybe, the defenses were hurt more by the lockout.

In Week 1 this year, there was an average of 47 points a game. In Week 1 last year, the average was 36.5. Sunday’s Week 2 games this season maintained that 47-point average, going into the Monday game. Last year, the Week 2 average was 44.