Raiders "Jeet Kune Do"
I have been a life-long fan of Bruce Lee and the Oakland Raiders. I have admired, been inspired, and thoroughly entertained by both Lee and Raider football for countless years. Bruce Lee was revolutionary in his philosophies and martial arts. I find it apropos to tie Jeet Kune Do, which was the brain-child of Lee, with the Raiders upcoming game vs. the Jets.
After many years of feeling restricted by the art of Kung Fu, Lee developed Jeet Kune Do. The essence of Jeet Kun Do is to adapt your combat fighting style to whatever works best against your opponent. It is the "style of not style". It's not "this" method or "that" method. It was Lee's hope to free his follower's minds from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds.
The Raiders played arguably their best overall defensive game since beating the Steelers in 2006. The Raider Nation is naturally fired up about blitzing McNabb to hell. Many fans are looking towards the blitz as the remedy to continue on this path. I believe that the blitz is a very important tool for an effective and dynamic defense. Sustaining QB pressure and running an unpredictable defensive scheme are the pillars to a modern NFL defense.
However, it is important to note that the Eagles were the perfect team to blitz with regularity. The Eagles do not rely on the running game on 1st and 2nd down. The Eagles OLine was beat up and missing starting LT Peters for most of the game.
Going into the Jets game, the Raiders defense needs to adapt their defensive approach to fit the opponent. Here are a few statistics that are relevant for our upcoming opponent:
N.Y. Jets
Rushing Attempts Per Game: 33.5 (#1 in NFL)
Rushing Yards: 978 (#1 in NFL)
Avg. Yards Per Carry: 4.9 (#3 in NFL)
Avg. Yards Per Game: 163 (#2 in NFL)
Oakland Raiders (Defense)
Avg. Yards Per game: 145.3 (#28 in NFL)
Last week the Jets rushed the ball for 318 yards. RB Thomas Jones ran the ball 22 times for 210 yards. The team had 40 carries for 7.9 yards per carry.
On 1st and 2nd down, the Raiders defense needs to put 8 in the box against the Jets, be stout at the point of attack, maintain their gap responsibilities, and have an excellent day in tackling. This will require team discipline and passionate, aggressive play.
If and when the Raiders D puts the Jets offense in 3rd and long situations, then it will be time to cut the dogs of war loose on rookie QB Sanchize.
posted by Calico Jack at 10:18 PM
11 Comments:
calico, you are lucky you are living in the LA area where you can choose from any one of bruce lee's original students to learn JKD from. if you are not taking jkd there you should be. i personally have 6 years experience in JKD. i learned under a guy who is under sifu ted wong. this one and only instructor is now living in... LA.
every now and then if i have time when i'm in the area, i'll stop by sifu richard bustillo's imb academy in your hometown of torrance (i believe) to say hello.
here in the bay area, there may be one guy in san jose that teaches JKD, but i lost track of his contact info. the next closest guy is up in sacramento - sifu richard's guy.
in my years learning jkd, i've had the priviledge of meeting most of bruce's original students. we've held bruce lee/jkd seminars and i've met his widow linda as well as his daughter and her husband. very, very nice people. i don't know how linda has dealt with all that tragedy in her life and with bruce still very much in the spotlight.
anyway, i could go on and on but i do envy you as you are in a jkd hotspot so to speak.
to quote bruce lee, "be like water my friend!" :o)
oops, sorry - meant to also say GO RAIDERS!
Good stuff Scorpio. I now live in the city of Gardena which borders Torrance.
I have not been a martial student like yourself. My admiration of Lee comes from my early fascination and continued love of martial arts movies.
Lee's imprint as a pop culture icon and martial artist continues to resonate 30+ years after his death.
The intention of this post was to try to highlight that some of Lee's philosophies in JKD apply to professional football ... do not be rigid, cling, or beholden to a certain style of fighting. Instead adapt your methods by what actually works while discarding the parts that don't.
In the case of the Raiders, the stict adherence to base 4 pressure and M2M D should only be a foundation but not the end all. Mixing and matching defensive schemes based on the opponent is similar to Lee adapting his combat style or form to beat his opponent.
calico,
eons ago when they "tried" to finish the movie game of death with that bruce li guy, i had always wondered what happened to the original game of death footage. as you know, bruce died and the movie was incomplete. they showed that footage at a seminar we had in vegas a few years back and it's now available to the public as a "documentary".
it's called "bruce lee, a warrior's journey". i have a copy on dvd and i'll be glad to send you a copy if you like... that would have been a very cool movie had he lived to finish it. lemme know.
as for the raiders, just to use a bruce lee theory, you can't be successful against your opponent using "technique 5 on page 7". we need to ADAPT because the enemy is constantly changing. we haven't adapted but rather, al sticks to that same "kata or technique".
anyway, i do hope they keep up the pressure on defense.
How old are you?
I was born in 1964, Year of the Dragon ... you can do the math.
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I completely understand laying off the blog for awhile. About all I have after the latest comedy is that Fargas is the man.
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Hey CJ, are you on hiatus out of disgust and frustration or did I miss a post saying you were taking a break..Hope all is well...come back soon please...we need you to help understand this disaster of a year
I completely agree with the article here on DHB. He will never be a true number 1 WR in the NFL. He lacks the natural ability to do this. I also blame the front office for drafting this kid. He should have never been the Raiders first pick. I just cannot believe the continuous blunders the Raiders make in the draft, especially with the number 1 picks.
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