SFGate: Raiders Silver and Black Blog : Raiders sign former Buc; minicamp update

Now I'm freaking satisfied!!! We finally found someone who will replace Clemons! I'm ******* ready to kick some donkey ass!

Max, aint Spires like 80 years old?

He's about 30, but he's a solid vet not like Edwards and the others we brought in. He's good against the run and he has a decent sack total 39

Even if we just put him in rotation & only bring him in in the 2nd half when players are getting winded, our defense is still better with him. 2008 is looking better all the time.

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I hope you guys are right. Cuz imo we just got another retread. We should be building for the future. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but there was a lot of good young defensive talent in this years draft. Now, we draft a guy who is in the twilight of his career. What does he have left; 2, maybe 3 years tops?

I know nothing of this player.

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He will not make up for the loss of Clemons as far as sacking the QB goes. That's what all the media keeps saying but it's just not true. Spires has had one season in his entire career where he reached 8 sacks. Clemons had 8 and a half last year alone. Clemons is still very young and they are both very different players. What I like about Spires is that he will be a huge upgrade in the run defense. We need that more than a pass ruch. A healthy Burgess, Kelly, Warren, Joseph, and Edwards will be a fine rotation to get to the QB. We now have a decent starting balance with Sands and Spires (run stuffers) to compare with Burgess and Kelly who are pass rushers. That was the plan last year with Sands and Kelly being the run stuffers and Sapp and Burgess being the pass rush. That all fell apart with injuries to Burgess and Kelly and Sapp finally hitting the old age wall. Plus Kelly was out of position at DE and Sands was an early disapointment. Things at least now look "together" on the defensive front. I think they now have the defense right where they want it so I wouldn't expect any June 1st cut signings on that side of the ball. Possibly if a talented O-linemen is realeased by some team after June 1st then the Raiders might make a play.

I agree Spires is better against the run. That is why I'm happy about the signing. He can and will control his man until our LB's get there to clean up the action. This was a good pickup.

True he only has a few years left, but the upside is... Richardson will not have to play every down and Spires can help richardson learn how to play the run better. Not that Richardson was bad against the run ( His weakness was the pass rush ).

One thing I think you'll hear alot from the color guy this year is "that was a coverage sack, you gotta give some cedit to the DBs on that sack". Im not too worried about the other teams QB going down & going down hard. If we can move our run D the middle of the pack or better its playoff time.

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Take 9 steps back and throw to the man closest to the endzone