by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–The Oakland Raiders won’t have to worry about one thing having snowballs thrown at them at this time of the year as the Raiders get set to meet the New York Jets at Giants Stadium because in September it would be really freaky if it snowed there. Going back east is always tough for the west coast teams. It really makes your body clock go crazy, I don’t know the exact stat but I’ve heard it over the years the record of west coast teams flying to east coast teams for games is really bad.

It’s just a tough proposition to fly back east because of the time change it’s so drastic and the Raiders are used to starting at 1:00PM PDT. When they start in the east coast it would be 10:00AM PDT and it’s hard on their body. It just feels strange and it takes half of the game for them to really wake up and be ready to play like they normally would.

This makes the trip really difficult on the Raiders, now fortunately for the Raiders this is the first game of the season so they’re not as beat up or worn out, that makes the time change a little less drastic. The fact of the matter is a win or a loss on the field could make a difference because of the time change, it might make a little difference on the field because it really comes down to your performance.

Hopefully that time change doesn’t have too much of an impact but when it comes down to it, it’s the players and when you look at the Raiders and the Jets these are particlarily good teams that anyone would expect to make it to the Super Bowl. Most people would be surprised that anyone of them would make it to the playoffs let alone the Super Bowl.

San Francisco 49ers update: It’s hard to say how much of a distraction the Ray McDonald case will have and it can be handled by the 49ers in terms of replacing McDonald and Aldon Smith as the 49ers are capable of compensating and there are a lot of different distractions and for that the 49ers have a lot really good players. Once their on the field I don’t think they’ll think too much of the off the field stuff.

When it gets to the post game and guys are putting mics in their faces that kind of comes back some distractions but on the field the 49ers have been pretty good of not letting these things effect them. Everything that’s going on with Ray McDonald effects how they play and maybe it has some impact on how their preparing. The big question leading up to the game is is Ray McDonald going to play?

Head coach Jim Harbaugh said that until the particulars of the case have been established and if McDonald is proven to have commited domestic abuse then the Niners may look at discipline at that time. The 49ers are waiting for the charges and what kind of charges are going to be filed if any. Until that happens their going to let the justice process run it’s course.

The one thing the 49ers are going for their playing in Dallas against a Cowboy team that is not very good and to be honest that helps. The Cowboys might have the worst defense in all of football, the Cowboys didn’t get anyone in free agency so they got worse. That definitely gives the Niners a little advantage and the Niners will let their offense do the talking and their defense struggles a little bit with the losses of Smith and Navarro Bowman but they’ll still be able to hang in there.

49ers and Cowboys at 1:25PM PDT on Sunday

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