Season review — Raiders TEs

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After just four seasons, Zach Miller was starting to be compared to Raiders greats at tight end like Dave Casper and Todd Christensen, so valued and utilized was the tight end position in Oakland's offense. So after Miller left for Seattle and Kevin Boss signed, production wouldn't skip a beat, right? Wellthere's no doubt the Raiders' tight ends were not the weapon they were the previous three seasons, when Miller led Oakland in receiving. But their blocking did enable the Raiders to maintain a healthy rushing attack. Still, the lack of a constant checkdown threat down the middle of the field limited their offense, especially on third down. Grade: D

TIGHT ENDSKevin Boss -- He was supposed to be the big-ticket free agent acquisition that made losing Miller all the more palpable. And while Boss, who signed for four years and 16 million, had better stats than Miller -- Boss caught 28 passes for 363 yards and three TDs, compared to Miller's 25 receptions for 233 yards and no scores -- Boss was far from the integral part of the Raiders' offense that was Miller the previous three seasons, when he averaged 61 catches, 756 yards and three TDs before signing with Seattle for five years and 34 million. A knee injury in the exhibition season at San Francisco slowed Boss' integration into the offense and he missed the first two games. His 28 receptions were his fewest since his rookie season with the New York Giants, when he caught nine balls for 118 yards. A mysterious benching against Denver on Nov. 6 was followed by better production. Consider: he caught four passes from Jason Campbell and his highlight was the 35-yard catch-and-run touchdown he had on a fake punt from Shane Lechler against Cleveland. Concussions in Week 7 and in the season finale summed up Boss' first year in Silver and Black.Brandon Myers --More a special teams standout, Myers caught a career-high 16 passes for 151 yards in his third season. His blocking skills -- and not his penchant for being mistaken for QB Carson Palmer -- is what's given him staying power, even with Boss nicked up for stretches this season. Unfortunately for Myers, his most memorable play of the season never happened. Not officially, anyway. Myers had a sweet 36-yard forward flip-pass touchdown at Kansas City on Dec. 24 wiped out by penalty. The play clock had expired just before the ball was snapped. It was pretty, though.David Ausberry -- The seventh-round physical specimen was a receiver at USC who showed his receiving skills with an exhibition-game TD catch against Arizona but was not active until the Raiders' third game of the season. On the year, the rookie caught two passes for 14 yards. Ausberry's biggest contributions came on special teams, especially when he recovered an onside kick against Chicago on Nov. 27 to seal Oakland's victory.Richard Gordon --Perhaps the best blocker in the tight end group, the sixth-round draft pick actually found work as a fullback early on, starting there against New England in Week 4. But a broken hand suffered against the Patriots sidelined the rookie for two weeks. Gordon ended up catching one pass for two yards in that Patriots game.

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