by David Zizmor

NAPA–Head coach Dennis Allen of the Oakland Raiders gave a speech to his team this past week and while it was inspirational the team will have to go out there and perform rather than talk, the Raiders don’t have any injuries right now so there’s not much to talk about. So they talk about an inspirational speech by Allen and hey that’s wonderful and it’s good he can inspire his team and that’s a feather in his cap.

The bottom line is in the NFL he’s has to get some wins under his belt, the Raiders are a rebuilding mode they’ve had so many problems, they got short changed and moved around so many players. They didn’t have enough free agents to sign to cover some of the gaps last season so they were left to use inexperienced guys.

The situation for Allen was he was handed players that he couldn’t work with and that’s not Allen’s fault and the Raiders need to spend some money to go after some free agents and shore up some of their weak spots. The Raiders need to look for some new talent in the free agency market that can step in and contribute right away.

The fact of the matter is this is the first month and they’re going to see how guys perform in the exhibition games and their going to clean house. The Raiders last season hit bottom because they got rid of some of their talent and they need to get some players in that can finally help them. So Allen will have to take some of these players who are here and motivate them.

Last year the Raiders needed to show some kind of improvement something they struggled with all season long as they finished last season with a 4-12 record. The Raiders didn’t throw in the towel when they defeated the Houston Texans last season on November 17th in Houston 28-23 it resulted in the Texans entire coaching staff getting fired.

The Raiders didn’t give up after that game they did play hard the rest of the season and the foundation is there if you can play hard for the Raiders everyday things could get better. The results have to tangible it has to be that the team is really getting better. Can Allen get these players to play the kind of football that they should be playing, can he get them to be solid at all their positions, Allen can give the inspirational speeches but will that be enough?

The Raiders open their pre season on Friday August 8th in Minnesota and will open their home pre season at the Coliseum with Detroit on August 15th.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com