Richard Seymour is a veteran, so there's no chance that he's motivated by the fact that every win he helps the Raiders earn will make the Patriots draft that much later in the first round next spring.
Still, that doesn't mean he doesn't enjoy it.
The 31-year-old Seymour has been a major part of the Raiders' resurgence in the past few weeks, picking up 16 tackles and three sacks in their three-game winning streak.
What looked to be a surefire top-five pick for the Patriots now looks to be more toward the middle of the first round. Obviously, Seymour isn't too broken up about hurting his former team's draft position.
When asked by the Contra Costa Times about how owner Al Davis feels about the development, Seymour laughed, adding, "Oh yean, I think he (whipped) the Patriots on that trade."
While some folks in New England believed Seymour's impact to be fading before he was shipped out, Raiders Pro Bowl cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha explained to Sports Illustrated the effect Seymour has on the team.
"When someone else comes in that's 'the guy,' that has won championships, you're like, 'OK, I've got to step my game up even more,'" Asomugha told SI. "It wasn't a thing of competition. It was: I have to do better than I was doing for him to trust me and respect me. I have to do more because of whom I'm surrounded by, a guy who is studying, a guy who really wants to be the best. Richard did that for me and didn't even know he was doing it. Anytime you're around greatness, you just want to be greater."
The Raiders may not win a Super Bowl this year, but there's no question they're a whole heck of a lot greater than they've been in quite some time.
