My Bold predictions for the Raiders 2012 season

After a disappointing 2011 campaign the Raiders finished on 8-8 again and for the 9th year in a row missed out on the playoffs. During the off-season Oakland has been very quiet with little cap space or draft picks to play with but they have been very effective with what they have done. The Raiders now have a new man leading the show in Reggie McKenzie and 'his guy' Dennis Allen and the Raider nation should expect big things out of the Raiders this year. These are my 5 Bold predictions for the 2012 season.

1) Darren McFadden rushes for 1800 yards, leading the league in rush yards - This one is not even that bold, the key for McFadden is staying healthy if he can this will be easy. The news from camp is that he is looking as fast as ever so expect Run DMC to be on top of his game come September.

2) Rookie WR Juron Criner shows he is not just a camp star by catching 10 TDS - If you haven't seen the highlight reel for this kid then you should probably check it out, Im expecting great things from Juron, a steal in the 5th round.

3) Darrius Heyward-Bey will have a pro-bowl season and finally surpasses 1000 yards receiving - He got close to the 1000 yard mark last year and has been drastically improving every year, it is only a matter of time before he finally shows the league he was worthy of that top 10 draft pick and I think he will do it this year

4) Ron Bartell proves to be the bargain of free agency coming up big with 5 INTs - This guy was overlooked in free agency because of neck injury that ruled him out for the entire 2011 season but under Dennis Allen who was the secondary coach for the superbowl winning Saints in 2009 Ron Bartell will shock many people around the NFL.

5) HC Dennis Allen and DC Jason Tarver turn the 29th ranked Raiders defense in 2011 to a top ten defense in 2012 - Allen worked wonders with the Denver defense last year and the Raiders do have talent on defense. I think the rookie LB Miles Burris starts at LB after a couple of weeks and the heavy hitting Raiders defense of old will be back in a big way in 2012.

These are BOLD statements so don't take them too seriously but on the other hand don't sleep on the Raiders in 2012 and I wouldn't be at all surprised if two or three of these turn out to be true!