The Athenaeum Forum

“Humbling.” That’s how CJ Anderson describes 2018. A Super Bowl hero for the Broncos in 2015 and coming off a 1000-yard season in 2017 only to find himself cut last April. He quickly signed with the Carolina Panthers Brandon LaFell Jersey , but with the emergence of Christian McCaffrey, Anderson again found himself unemployed. This time it was a lot harder to catch on again.“I got to Oakland and I’m excited,” Anderson said in an ESPN interview last week. “I’m back home with my mom. Two O-linemen go down. Gruden brought me in and strictly said ‘We gotta bring a guy back we released in earlier in the year.’”Anderson had been signed in case Doug Martin was unable to play that week. Martin played, so Anderson was rendered inactive. Then he was released without ever having suited up in a Raiders uniform. “I thought it was over there. I thought I was done,” Anderson continued. The 27-year-old said he was close to retiring. Then a week later he got the call by the Rams, for the same reason the Raiders had signed him — as an insurance policy. An opportunity you could say he may not have gotten had the Raiders not turned to him for the same reason weeks earlier.Only this time, Anderson suited up. And he exploded onto the scene. The Cal product had 167 yards in his first game with the Rams and put up three-straight 100-yard games. Then he did it again, running for 123 yards and two touchdowns in the Rams’ Divisional round win over the Cowboys.So, you have Anderson who was out of work in December of the season, having been released twice already. The Raiders come calling, signing him to the team, reminding the league that Anderson is out there as a viable option. Even without playing a snap for the Raiders, a week later, he is in a Rams uniform and was a major factor in helping them to the Super Bowl. And the experience he had is also playing a role in how he attacks defenders.“I’m trying to make you feel my story Frostee Rucker Jersey ,” Anderson added. “You didn’t go through some of the things I just went through in the past eight months of 2018, so I’m just trying to let you feel that.”The Vallejo native reps the Bay Area wherever he goes. Like Marshawn Lynch and Doug Martin, even though Anderson wasn’t able to suit up for his hometown team officially. Also just like them, he carries his experience trying to keep his NFL career alive every time he carries the rock. He will carry it in the Super Bowl this Sunday.Follow @LeviDamien You really have to squint in order to find an area of the 2018 Raiders that wasn’t really bad. They had basically one complete game all season. All the others showcased glaring problems on multiple different fronts. That’s what Pro Football Focus saw as well.Let’s start on the defense with the front seven. Where the Raiders were rotating players like crazy attempting to find something — anything — that worked. Whether it was defensive tackle, defensive end, or linebacker, a strength was hard to find. And ultimately, PFF ranked them as the worst front seven in the league.From there, we move to the secondary, where late in the season a couple players began to stand out in a positive way, but which ultimately still landed second to last in the league in PFF’s ranking, ahead of only the 49ers. Just as they did with the front seven, PFF ranks them one thing, then says ‘cheer up Derek Carrier Jersey , grey skies are gonna clear up!’ in the breakdown.Then we hop back over to the offensive side of the ball, and the raggedy bunch on the offensive line. The interior trio is supposed to carry the load here, but injuries threw a wrench in that. And as we know, the rookie tackles were a travesty. They were ranked fifth from worst in the league by PFF.They didn’t do rankings for the receiving corps but had they, it wouldn’t have been pretty either.About the best thing they had to say about the Raiders was Derek Carr, who they ranked 19th among starting quarterbacks. So, below average. That is unless he is pressured, which was a LOT last season (see the offensive line rank for that). Under pressure, he was among the worst in the league — 25th among starting QB’s. He ranked 17th when not under pressure.Carr’s 19th rank is just ahead of Joe Flacco (20) who was benched for rookie Lamar Jackson and the Ravens immediately began winning, even though Jackson himself wasn’t great. The rest of the QB’s below that is a who’s who of UGH. Among those ranked ahead of Carr include the likes of Dak Prescott (18), Kirk Cousins (14), Andy Dalton (12), and Baker Mayfield (9).Follow @LeviDamien