The 2006 Raiders football team will have the same head coach in Art Shell that they had from 1989-94. The team's changes from a year ago start at quarterback, where they dumped Kerry Collins in the hopes that Aaron Brooks can step up and provide a spark for the passing game. The team also upgraded defensively with the signings of cornerbacks Tyrone Poole and Duane Starks out of New England and Lance Johnston from Minnesota. These three should all get playing time and will need to step up if the Raiders are going to forget injury-riddled Charles Woodson and Renaldo Hill. The team added some nice defensive options via the draft when they took Michael Huff out of Texas, Darnell Bing from USC, and Thomas Howard out of UTEP. These three will push the veterans for playing time and start a youth movement for the future.

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Look for the 2006 Raiders football team to have more balance than they did under Norv Turner. Last year the team ranked 10th in the NFL in passing yards but slipped all the way down to 29th in rushing offense. The quarterback position is once again a question mark for the club with inconsistent Brooks taking the reigns. For some reason the team passed on Leinart and Cutler in the draft thinking that Brooks is the now and Andrew Walter can be the future. Probably not a wise choice but time will tell. At running back the team has LaMont Jordan, who last season had his first year carrying a full-time load but averaged only 3.8 yards per carry. This could be the best tandem of receivers in the league if Randy Moss can get healthy and Jerry Porter can step it up.

Defensively it all starts with Derrick Burgess, who lead the NFL with 16 sacks last season. This year's team may have some problems up front though with the departures of Ted Washington and Ed Jasper along with Warren Sapp being injured. The 2006 Raiders football line backers are one of the worst groups in the league. The team tried to fill this hole with the draft, but the group is going to be young and inexperienced. The secondary is obviously going to be a question mark without Woodson and Hill, but there is hope. Fabian Washington got some serious time in due to Woodson's injuries and Michael Huff is a solid addition, or at least he better be so Raiders fans won't be griping about his high draft selection.

This 2006 Raiders football team could get off to a good start and gain momentum as the second Art Shell era begins, but the AFC West is tough and the team is not all that talented. The bad boys of football are going to be in the cellar of the division once again and a playoff berth is very unlikely. Take the under 6.5 win total.