On Monday, the Raiders floated an excuse for sending

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On Friday Reggie Nelson Jersey , the Raiders took the highly unusual step of clearing the building of most scouts, telling them to stay home until after the draft. employees home with pay.According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Raiders may be planning a”surprise” pick with the fourth overall selection, necessitating complete and total secrecy.That’s fine (actually, it’s won’t be fine if they opt for a “surprise” who becomes a bust), but a normally functioning football operation can achieve and maintain the necessary level of secrecy without sending people home. Most NFL front offices operate on a strictly need-to-know basis, with scouts who aren’t involved in setting the draft board knowing nothing about its contents. It’s a simple and easy application of the Patriots’ “do your job” mantra, where if it’s not critical to an employee’s job to know what the organization will do during the draft, the employee never knows that information.In New England, the area scouts who have no need to know the manner in which coach Bill Belichick ranks the players are (wait for it) instead working on other things that are central to their jobs, whether it’s gathering information about next year’s prospects or being available to answer specific questions or to handle specific projects relating to the work they’ve done for the current draft. The Raiders have consciously surrendered the benefit of these employees’ efforts, due to a vague and perhaps irrational fear that one of them will spill the beans about something that they shouldn’t even know in the first place.And here’s a fair question, given the manner in which a football operation should normally operate: Are the Raiders protecting coach Jon Gruden from himself? Specifically, is Gruden so impulsive and insecure that he can’t be trusted to refrain from bouncing his ideas about potential first-round picks off of scouts who in turn can’t be trusted to keep their own mouths shut?Trust. It’s amazing to think that the Raiders suddenly can’t trust scouts that they necessarily have trusted for months. Trusted to do good work. Trusted to be discreet regarding anything they hear regarding the team’s plans. Trusted to show full loyalty to the entity who pays their salaries.Either the Raiders suddenly decided that they can’t trust the scouts or they never trusted them in the first place, but did nothing about it until now. Neither explanation is satisfactory Kolton Miller Jersey , and both make the Raiders look bad.Indeed, the Raiders are hardly the first football operation to have a secret that they didn’t want to be compromised. But they are the first (at least in recent years) to pay people to not show up for work due to fears that someone who doesn’t need to know the secret may find out about it, and may blab.It’s up to the leaders of the organization to ensure that people who aren’t trustworthy not be trusted with sensitive information. Which brings me back to the notion that the Raiders are essentially protecting Gruden from himself, by ensuring that Gruden doesn’t disclose the plans that Gruden and G.M. Mike Mayock are putting together for their three first-round picks, in an effort to feel more confident as Gruden embarks on a draft that will be critical to the manner in which his second stint with the Raiders ultimately goes. This week the Raiders wrap up what has been a brutal stretch of five consecutive road games. The good news is with a win on Sunday they could end that span with a 3-2 record, many would consider that a great accomplishment.It won’t be easy, however. The Houston Texans, who have been inconsistent at times, have proved they can go toe to toe with some of the better teams in the league. In week one, they lost a hard-fought game 30-28 to the New Orleans Saints, and just two weeks ago, they beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead.As the playoff picture currently stands, the Texans hold the final wildcard spot. The Raiders are in the seventh position so that this game could play a major role in the development of the playoff race down the road.For the Raiders to pull off the upset victory in Houston, they are going to have to win the key matchups in the game.Let’s take a look at this week’s three key matchups.Raiders edge rushers against Texans right tackleThe Texans have issues at right tackle. Rookie first-round pick, Tytus Howard will miss his third consecutive game with a slightly torn MCL. His backup swing tackle, Roderick Johnson is dealing with a neck injury he suffered last week. Johnson is listed as questionable.If Johnson is ruled out P.J. Hall Jersey , the next man up is newly signed, Dan Skipper. Skipper was signed off the Patriots practice squad and has been with the Texans a little over a week.If there were ever a week for the Raiders pass rush to heat up the quarterback, this would be the week. The Texans offensive line is improved with Laremy Tunsil holding down the left tackle spot, but the line ranks ninth in most sacks allowed with 21.Raiders run defense against Carlos Hyde and Duke JohnsonFor Bill O’Brien and the Texans offense, it all starts with the run game. Much like Jon Gruden, O’Brien has an old school philosophy of wanting to establish a physical tone with the run game.It will be a matchup of strengths, the Raiders run defense ranks fifth in the league (86.7 yds/game), and the Texans run game ranks eighth averaging 134.1 yards per game. Carlos Hyde has 461 yards and three touchdowns on the season.Raiders secondary against Texans secondaryThis may not be ahead to head matchup, but the secondary for each team will play a crucial role in the game. Both secondaries have been poor to put it nicely. The Raiders give up 290 yards a game through the air, and the Texans allow 276.The Texans have three members of their back end listed as questionable: cornerback’s Bradley Roby, Johnathan Joesph, and safety Tashaun Gipson Jr. To make things even more interesting this week, the Raiders and Texans completed a trade sending Gareon Conley to the Texans. Conley is expected to step in immediately and play meaningful snaps this week against his former team.The talk out of Raider headquarters is that it will be rookie second-round pick, Trayvon Mullin, who gets the first crack at the starting job opposite of Daryl Worley. Expect the Texans to test Mullin early and often as the rookie makes his first start in the NFL.Follow @Egroat5