The days of a stringent man-to-man, rarely-blitz 4-3 defense in Oakland seem to be coming to an end. As well as the era of recruiting simply the biggest and fastest athletes around.So said new Raiders linebacker Philip Wheeler."I actually heard some of the coaches saying, 'We're not just big and fast anymore,'" Wheeler said Monday in a conference call with Bay Area reporters. "We're going to be big, fast and we're going to work harder and have good football players."RELATED: Former teammate may help Raiders shut down Peyton
And get this, Wheeler knows all about the Raiders and their players from a familiar name, but a just as unlikely source."I played Madden a lot," he said, referring to the popular game. "I know a lot of players on the team because I play with the Raiders. They always had the fastest team. I always put Terrelle Pryor in the game and I run around with him on Madden. He's probably my favorite player on the team. Nobody knows that yet. I play with him on Madden so I feel like I know everything about the team."They were always bigger, faster and stronger than everybody. But the awareness of the game, some of it was down or whatever. I feel like Mr. (Reggie) McKenzie brought in a lot of players who actually know how to play the game and aren't just faster than everybody. We have actual football players here now."
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