To his right stand cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and defensive end Derrick Burgess. On offense, he sees running back Darren McFadden and quarterback JaMarcus Russell.
Strong safety Gibril Wilson goes on and on about the virtues of his new teammates. At some point, he always comes back to one question: why?
Why can't the Raiders get it together, string together some victories, make the playoffs and realize their vast potential?
"I told these guys before, we have more talent on this team than I had with New York,"
said Wilson, referring to the Giants team for which he played the past four seasons. "We have absolutely more talent than we had over there. It's just the fact that, I don't know. I really don't know what the difference is between here and there. We have to somehow figure it out."
The Raiders are 2-6, seemingly on the way to a sixth consecutive double-digit-losses season and in search of the answer to Wilson's questions. Yet, Wilson said, that doesn't mean things can't change for the better in the second half of the season.
The Giants lost their first two games last season and faced many of the same things the Raiders have faced to this point.
Giants Coach Tom Coughlin's qualifications were questioned. The media had a field day with the team's bumbling ways. Players wondered what went wrong.
Suddenly, the Giants ripped off six consecutive victories and transformed themselves from laughingstock into playoff contender. They entered the playoffs as a wild card and in a span of 28 days, they defeated division-winners Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay, then the 18-0 New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
"What turned it around for us back there was that guys just wanted to win,"
Wilson said. "We were in a position where we hadn't won in two weeks. We got on a roll and we started playing better and better. Next thing you know, we started getting four or five wins and the sky was the limit for us."
Wilson, a former Oak Grove High star, shakes his head when he thinks about how his new team got to this point. Is it the losing culture that permeates the building? Is it a lack of direction? Does it bother everyone else as much as it eats at him every day?
Fullback Justin Griffith, who played for the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC championship game in the 2004 season, also said the Raiders can turn things around.
Griffith said talent isn't an issue. The effort is there. Sometimes teams just need a reason to believe, a break, such as an unexpected victory today against the playoff-bound Carolina Panthers.
"You get something like that happening for this team, I promise you, you have enough talent to go to the playoffs and make noise,"
Griffith said. "This team has more talent than anybody in the league. You just have to have a boost right now. That's what you're looking for."
Griffith added that part of the problem stems from the Raiders relying so much on young, inexperienced players such as Russell, McFadden and tight end Zach Miller. They need time to mature, learn what it takes to succeed in the NFL.
Raiders Coach Tom Cable has seen encouraging signs.
"We are learning in a lot of ways how to be a team,"
Cable said. "We have proven a number of times now that we can compete. We proved it when we do it right with great focus and great effort, that we are capable of winning."
"It¹s just really getting them through that part of it, getting that faith, that belief and confidence in them to expect to go out and win games. "
... Changing that mentality is the one thing I feel good about as we're starting to head in the right direction. "... That's just the process you go through as you learn how to win."
