Post Game Thoughts..

[Raidermania12]

Lane Kiffin- You're a ballsy Lil' Bastard. When we get you more players, we'll be tough to stop.

Justin Fargas- Who lit that fire under your ass? You ran harder than you ever did the first two games here. Good work.

Josh McCown-Please go away.

Culpepper- Made some plays and suffered from some tough drops by his WR's, especially Mikewilliams

Mike williams- You fucking embarrassed yourself. Quit Football or get your shit together.

Defense- You guys did better than the score said and I hope the offense and special Teams catch up soon.

Huff- Getting better every Game imo. Did much better in thepasing game but still has a ways to go.

Lamont Jordan-You've earned my respect back. When LJ is focused he is a totally different RB. Lamont and Rhodes will be a great combo.

Rob Ryan- Dude you gotta work a better strategy in a last drive scenario. You seemed unsure in your calls, but overall you did well imo.

[poptart]

This game could/should have been a blowout Raider victory by halftime.
For that reason, this win is hollow.
Too many sloppy mistakes, and too many mental errors, period.

The defense had it's moments, but I don't think any of us felt comfortable with them being on the field at the end of the game like that.
Hey, someHOW, some WAY, we have GOT to get some heat on the QB.

Culpepper looked alright, and I think he'll get better.
He needs more help from his receivers.
Mike Williams???

Schweig was soft as always.
Glad to see R. Gallery get back in the game.

Hey, a W's a W, and we're right in the thick of it in our division.
I would have felt a LOT better about the day though, if we had won it .... like 34-13, or something, like we should have.

On to Miami.
Another big game.
Let's get into the bye week 2-2 and go from there.


GO RAIDERS!!!!!!

[Jokerman]

Three plays that almost made the difference.

Failure on 1st and goal from the one. (lost 4 pts)

Kick off return for TD. (gave up 7 points)

LJ's fumble at end of first half. (gave up 3 points)

14 points lost on these three plays.

[007]

The good:

1) Lamont Jordan. Playing like a top 10 running back, and nobody takes him down on the first hit. I like it. 150+ total yards again...

2) The OL. A couple sacks to a top tier edge rusher, but as a whole, they were solid. Much improved unit, but Cornell needs to stop jumping early...

3) Jano. 4-4 and a few booming kickoffs. We needed that.

The bad:

1) No pressure. At all.

2) Mike Huff. I don't care what people are saying about improvemenrt, Huff still gave up plenty of catches, and Winslow had damn near a hundred yards...Not good.

3) Mike Williams. Catch a ball, clown.

The ugly:

1) Rob Ryan's game plan. All game and especially late. Bring a linebacker. Send a safety, change it up...Jeezus.

2) Stuart Schweigert. Missed tackles and blown coverage. Par for the course.

3) Red zone offence, or lack thereof. C'mon man, lets run some bootlegs, playactions, runs..Whatever.

All in all, it was a pretty underwhelming performance, but it was a WIN. Time to build on it...

[Limee]

Certainly lots to learn from.

I was pretty happy with the defense for the majority of the game considering they were not getting much pressure. At times they showed the odd flash of last season. There was a breakdown here or there in coverage but generally solid and the law firm of Thomas and Howard turned the Browns over and set us up for what should have been 2 TDs but ended up as 6 points. I never like playing that soft especially when you have been succesful for the majority of the game playing tighter coverage.

I like the running game and want to give credit to Cable who has got the line playing much quicker than I would have thought possible after last years disaster. I also have to give credit to Jordan who has run well the last 2 weeks. Kiffin made some gutsy play calls and learned from the end to last weeks game. Culpepper missed a very similar throw to the one that got away from McCown last week, but it didn't cost us. He also didn't turn the ball over.

The win certainly could have been a lot clearer, but we had to find a way to notch a win and who knows the fact that it came in close game may be a good thing. We have one in the win coloumn and head to Miami to face the winless Dolphins.

Is every game going to be that close this season?

[Madturk]

We cut the wrong wide out IMO. Williams just killed us today.

Good to see Pep finally get our TE's into the game. He may not have been spectacular but he didn't cough the ball up.

Can someone please put out an APB out for Johnnie Lee Higgins?

Kudos to the OL today, especially Grove for "manning" up with Big Ted. Can't say the same about Cornell Green. Gallery and the rest of the OL were nails today.

Same ole same ole ST coverage. Just when we seem to have put the dagger in the opposition's heart, the ST lays a big egg.

Another strong game by LJ, aside from that fumble. Love the fact that Kiff has committed to the running game and stuck with it. Ballsy calls again today. The kid has got some chutzpah.

Howard and Morrison kicked ass today. I really expect these guys to be pro bowlers. Huff had another solid game. Kelly had his best game today but Sapp and Terd need to step up.

I don't know if I can stomach a whole season of this prevent soft zone that RR has been throwing out there. Kiff your dad's contract is up after this season right?

Congrats to Kiff on the first one. I like this kid.

[massraider]

Is every game going to be that close this season?

I ain't expecting any blowouts. Some of the impatience has surprised me. We has an all-time bad team last year. Like, 1976 Bucs bad. The fact that we have been in every game till the end is very encouraging to me.

The fact is this team had a lot of things to fix after last season. It still has some to fix. But a bunch of them have been fixed already.

[GRIM]

To the Raiders...

It was too close. Get better, and you'll go far this season. Start Culpepper from here on out.

Curry is better than Porter.

Porter ain't bad, just needs to step up.

Defense, why didn't we rush on that last play before the first Cleveland end of the 4th Q Kick attempt? No one rushed!

Nice win. I thought we were supposed to lose because Cleveland scored so many points against Cincy last week...

Jordan is the man!

Fargas, nice game!

Williams, hit the road! I could have caught those two perfeclty thrown balls!

Culpepper is better than McCown for the team.

Start Pep in week 4 VS Miami or lose.

We're in second place in the AFC Western division! CELEBRATE!

I'm off to celebrate!

Hi HB, GO WARRIORS!

[GRIM]

Three plays that almost made the difference.

Failure on 1st and goal from the one. (lost 4 pts)

Kick off return for TD. (gave up 7 points)

LJ's fumble at end of first half. (gave up 3 points)

14 points lost on these three plays.

Excellent points. We did leave a lot of points on the field.

[GRIM]

Oh, and props to Jano for hitting all those attainable FG's!

[Abelardo]

Strange way to win a game, but the Raiders were the best team on the field despite the many errors.

McClown is a turnover machine. That's the difference with Culpepper. Yeah, he missed an easy shot on Fargas, but at that time, McClownie could have 2 INTS. First thing is to keep the phreakin ball safe.

The defence is playing much better, except for the lack of pressure. But this thing has been endemic in the org. Except for the Burgess numbers, we really suck at chasing the QB.

Schweigert is a liability. Everybody can see that.

The offensive playcalling, though more or less effective has a long way to get well. Any good defence would put us on our knees.

Mike Williams is a phuckin cancer sonofabitch mphucker.

Pass protection is bad, run blocking looks very good at some moments.

The "STUPID and DUMB" tag begins to blur.

IN the end, for bad teams it's all about errors. Cut them down, you get better.

[Madturk]

I wish Andrea Kremer would die I want to punch her in her fugginface with that stupid lisp

[gst8]

Damn nice to win one even if I did have to miss the game.

Outside the stats, how did Culpepper compare to McCown?

[Madturk]

Pep was nails according to So Cal

[Abelardo]

Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT
D. Culpepper 8/14 118 0 0
J. McCown 6/12 108 1 0

[SoCalRaider]

Pep was nails according to So Cal

:confused:

Didn't watch the game... except for the last drive when DC converted that 20 yard pass to Porter on 3rd and 9. I like the fact that DC can make those kinds of plays on 3rd down.

Other than that, the only distinguishing stat that jumps out is 2 more sacks and fumbles for McGown... 9 sacks and 7 fumbles in 10 quarters of football. So much for Kiffin's mistake-free QB man crush.

[hawaiianboy]

* I'm curious to see if Culpepper is the starter next week in his return to Miami... He did some nice things, but more often than not we rode the legs of Lamont Jordan when he was in there... Missing Fargas on that wheel route for what would have been a TD is understandable, but taking a sack out of the tackle box isn't a mistake that is acceptable for an experienced player of his caliber... I agree with what Byron said, for whatever reasons, Pepper made me nervous every time he dropped back to pass today... Hopefully, we give him most of the first team snaps to help everyone get on the same page... Pepper also owes Curry dinner for setting him up to get blown up like that...

* I think Kiff is still wary of our pass protection and it shows in his playcalling... We're taking the air out of the ball no matter which QB is taking snaps.... I'd like to see us attack the post more with the TE's much the way the Giants were trying to do today against the Skins...

* The O-line is playing a lot better than I expected this early in the season, but these false starts at critical times at the end of games is killing me...

* Rob Ryan is easily the most disappointing Raider this year IMO... Weak game plans... We faced two inexperienced QB's in back to back weeks and we sit primarily in our base defense instead of going after them?... Going with a prevent defense when you have them backed up at their own ten yard line, at home with loud crowd noise with no time outs?... To top it off, we go into some limp dick 11 man coverage on that last completion to Jurevicius... I'd rather go down agressively than the death by papercut that was last drive...

For a guy that sucked at the tit of two of the most agressive defensive coaches in NFL history in Buddy Ryan and Bill Belichick, Ryan's about as aggressive as a whipped puppy this year... Hate to say this, but if you're looking for a coach with Al's puppet strings attached to him, his name isn't Lane Kiffin... That no blitz, we can beat them up front with our front 4 is an Al-ism if there ever was one... I like Rob, but he needs to seriously pick up his game....


* Game balls to LaMont Jordan and Kirk Morrison...


We're still making a bunch of mistakes, but we're definitely on the right track... After the most unwatchable Raider football in history last year, I now have a football team that I look forward to seeing play every week... So much for our fan base having tempered expectations though, eh?... Funny that we could have just as easily been 3-0 as we could be 0-3 at this point.... I expect most games this year will come down to the end much like they did under Gru early... We're good enough to be competitive, but not good enough to overcome mistakes and inexperience with staff/offensive scheme/players... I think as we become more versed with what we want to do offensively, more of the close game will swing our way...

[donovan]

• We're getting a much more well-rounded view of what this team looks like.

• "A win?!?? A win?!?!!?!? THEY WON!!?!?!!?" Those were basically the words out of my mouth after I had my eyes closed for the final kick, laying in the wrapper-littered trash of carpet beneath my chair.

• I like Kiffin a heck of a lot. His playcalling, formations, substitutions, resolve. The only thing was almost McCown, but hey, it worked out today. And obviously he's learning fast, thanks to the Rat. Justice is served.

• LaMont Jordan? Thank you. Keep it up and the Darren McFaddens of the world will not even enter the mind. I am absolutely jazzed to see what this guy can do with Dominic Rhodes complementing him, not to mention Bush being in the wings. This running game is sick right now, and it didn't even have the help of "don't call me Juice" today.

• Rob Ryan needs to send the heat. Because especially without Burgess, that front four is just not getting any pressure at all. I'm talking NONE. Send Williams because Morrison and Howard are apparently so invaluable, and I mean INVALUABLE covering the pass. I hate to send too many people, but anyone can see that you can't just give a guy up to 10 seconds like they were today. This was Derek Anderson today. Do that with a somewhat proven NFL starter and you will be 6 feet under.

• I don't know if Kirk Morrison will make the Pro Bowl but if he keeps playing like this he would certainly deserve to.

• I say we cut one of the DBs instead of Walter. McCown reminds me of that Pharcyde line, "Your mama's got a peg leg, with a kick stand." And I'm not up for seeing J-Rock be the backup necessarily yet. This is still a team that has shown it can compete and be in ball games. Let's try to win some right now. Keep Walter around for safe measure.

• McCown has a lot of heart and moxie, but you could see when he was saying "I'm fine!" to the sidelines that he was clearly putting himself and his own career before the team. He's a competitor, and I understand his desire there, but he was hurting the team. He had to come out. Even the loyalist Kiffin saw that. Thank goodness. Dude could hardly walk. Enough already. It sure couldn't have inspired much confidence to come back to the huddle and stare into the eyes of a guy grimacing and wincing like he was DYING. Pretty shitty on the part of some fans who cheered when he got Siragusa'd, though, I have to say. I was cheering for Daunte to come in but not when a person gets hurt.

• Looked pretty vanilla for Daunte. Who's on the schedule for next week? Oh yeah... Miami. And there is a trip to Minnesota on the itinerary as well.

• Ronald Curry is soooooo good that I am taking him for granted, almost. He caught that pass from McCown with his hands facing UP as the ball was coming down.

• HUGE catch by Porter today.

• Michael Huff is an idiot. He is supremely talented, but he must be one of the most clueless DBs I have ever seen. It is unreal. There were several times all day where his assignment would look clear as day. Just him and Braylon Edwards in space, near a sideline, and he'd be just loitering around doing nothing. Sure as clockwork, Derek Anderson would fire it to Edwards and you'd have a first down. Joe Jurevicious could have had a billion-yard touchdown if Anderson hadn't missed him, because Huff left him brutally open at one point. Huff plays the run exceptionally well for a DB, but again... he needs to pull his head out.

• As of right now I'm still saying Janikowski can be a goner and I wouldn't care; I'm not losing sight of that, but... no gripes this week. You never know with that dude.

• What has happened to Nnamdi Asomugha? He just looks like another guy.

• Brayton got a lot of PT today. I'm okay with that, but what exactly is Terdell Sands' future and role with this team? Can he really only give us that few snaps?

• Jon Alston got in a ST tackle today.

• Chris Morris looked solid in there for Gallery.

• I might put Madsen in there at WR more. Stewart never sees the field; get him out there and utilize one of the truly better pass-catching downfield options this team has. Dare I say, make a taller Shannon Sharpe out of him.

• I want to see more of the rookies; I think they could actually help this team out right now (Johnnie Lee Higgins on offense, John Bowie, Mario Henderson–did those yanks in preseason just doom him for the whole season?)

• I believe it was Gruden when he was here who said, "We have the most boring kick return, in the history of this great league." Kiffin might want to steal that line right now and he'd be perfectly justified.

• Josh Cribbs is good, but no awareness on ST coverage with him. He had a huge return on us last year, and yet he still was a huge factor today.

• Mike Williams is another Randal Williams at this point; a puffed-up receiver with bricks for hands.

• This team could easily be 3-0 right now and can very conceivably be .500 next week. Denver and San Diego lost and this team is a factor again, at least. Long overdue, even if it is a fleeting feeling.

[Madturk]

Actually Pep played solid yet unspectacular. Kiff has a decision to make this weekend. It's nice that we have a running game

[BigTron]

The Good

Lamont Jordan - Playing like a grown ass man. Im eating crow for talking smack on you, happily.

Kirk Morrison and Thomas Howard - Two of the best young LB's in the game. Locked up for the long haul. Great games. For guys who made alot of tackles last year, they are making alot of turnovers this season. Pro Bowl candidates!

Jerry Porter - Way to make a big catch and give your team the win. You are voted back on the island for me.

Lil Huggy- Fargas - I am not a huge fan of J.Fargas. He was nails today and helped get us a W. Great day sir!


The Run Game - Tom Cable you rock. We can run the ball. They are playing with confidence.

Lane Kiffin - Congrats on your first win of many. Coach Kiffin has turned this franchise around and we have been in every game this season. I love what this guy is doing with the team.

Getting the Win - All that counts is the win right? We dominated most of the game even tho we played like losers when it was on the line. We got robbed last week and we stole one this week. Blocking a game winner is a HUGE PLAY, way to go ST's... after giving up a horrible kick off TD, and screwing us the first two weeks.

The Bad

Cornell Green - You fucking almost lost the game for us tonight. False starts are the worst penalty and O-Lineman can get. You have played better than anyone expected but dont crumble in crunch time.

Mike Williams - Shit. For a guy who is known for his "great hands" you must of had a nervous breakdown tonight. This guy hasnt played in a meaningful football game in 4 years. I could tell. He got the seperation people said he was too slow to get, he ran great routes, BUT he dropped crucial passes that hit his hands. I havent given up on BMW yet, but he owe's the RaiderNation a big game. In his defense, he would of scored on that false start play, and that hit he dropped the TD pass on WAS nasty.

J.McCown - You dont protect the football, and your arm is weak... DC should be our starter from his point out. A very nice back-up you are...

Special Teams We have missed way too many FG's this season. That TD we gave up to Cribbs almost killed us today. J.L.Higgins hasnt gotten and INCH to return punts on. Our kick coverage blows. That punt down inside the ten and the FG block make up for the first two weeks. Show something form here on out.

THE UGLY

Rob Ryan Buddy Ryan...BROUGHT THE HEAT. Rex Ryan... BRINGS THE HEAT What the fuck are you doing? We dont blitz shit... no pressure. I dont know what stinks worse our secondary or your miserable pass rush. Our D is very talented. They get by this season by individual performance. Your scheming is terrible. Our sack total is garbage. You are not ready to be a HC. The Browns moved the ball 70+ yards in less than a minute with no timeouts? They called a play with ten seconds to go, despite being in FG range THEN completed a pass for ten yards to a wide open reciever who got out of bounds WHILE YOU DROPPED 11 MEN BACK INTO COVERAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YOU HAVE TO pressure Qb's like Kitna, and young Qb's like Cutler, and PLEASE explain why you dont pressure BUMS like D.ANDERSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you Rob Ryan but fuck you this season so far.

Stu Swag Worst starter at safety in the NFL? Obvious weakest link of any starter on this team. Very nice guy, horrible football player. This guy is a ST guy/ back-up safety. He is KILLING us. We need to start BJ Ward at SS and move Huff to FS. If not we need to draft a 2nd round saftey and bench Stu next year.. he sucks, please dont defend him.

P.S. As usual, i am shitfaced : > sorry for the bad grammar i gradulated HS only...

[donovan]

This game could/should have been a blowout Raider victory by halftime.
For that reason, this win is hollow.

I respectfully disagree.

This is ususally a game they would lose. They won it. That's all that matters.

I was at the Browns game last year when they blew a huge lead and didn't show a pulse at all. The way they came back from giving up the 17 unanswered points was huge, and then Kiffin with the timeout and Machine Gun Kelly with the block?

That kind of stuff gives you confidence for tough situations later in the year.

Therefore it's not hollow...

[donovan]

LaMont on the postgame show:

"I have four games to keep my job and I think I'm doing a pretty good job so far..."

Seems to be saying that Rhodes will only come in when he needs a breather.

[TheNextStep]

LaMont Jordan - Remember how a lot of people wanted to see Jordan cut before the season started? No, I'm not calling anybody out because before we signed Rhodes, I was right at the front of the Adrian Peterson bandwagon. I bring it up because this cat has been lights out this year. Remember how we were all worried about how we're in a division with elite running backs and we didn't have a run game that could remotely stack up? Well, three weeks in (and, yes, I do realize that it is only three weeks in) this is what it looks like in the AFC West:

Today's results
LaMont Jordan: 29 carries, 121 rushing yards, 1 touchdown
Travis Henry: 11 carries, 35 yards, 1 touchdown
LaDanian Tomlinson: 22 carries, 62 yards
Larry Johnson: 24 carries, 42 yards

On the season
LaMont Jordan: 69 carries, 350 yards, 2 touchdowns
Travis Henry: 60 carries, 302 yards, 1 touchdown
LaDanian Tomlinson: 79 carries, 192 yards, 1 touchdown
Larry Johnson: 74 carries, 182 yards, 0 touchdowns

Do you realize that at the pace he's going, he'll eclipse last year's leading rusher's end of year total by the 6th game? Like I said, the guy has been nothing short of amazing. Hell, 3 weeks in, he's already broken 4 runs for 20+ yards.

[donovan]

If I'm not mistaken, next home game, the baseball diamond will be gone. GOOD.

[hawaiianboy]

On the season
LaMont Jordan: 69 carries, 350 yards, 2 touchdowns
Travis Henry: 60 carries, 302 yards, 1 touchdown
LaDanian Tomlinson: 79 carries, 192 yards, 1 touchdown
Larry Johnson: 74 carries, 182 yards, 0 touchdowns


Wow.,, I don't know what's more amazing, Jordan leading the pack or Tomlinson not leading the pack... LT sure was pissed with Rivers today :D


I have no idea what the breakdown would be, but it seems like Jordan gets a good portion of his yards cutting off Cornell Green's block...

[CrossBones]

I'll eat my crow sandwich. Nice to see Jordan coming on.

Cable did something very good with our OL. Sure we''re still struggling a little in pass pro but the entire OL has confidence that they can block in the running game. Jordan has come up huge and it's clear he feels he has something to prove. Sweet. Just Run, Baby!

So I give Green props the other day and he fudges it up today. I give BMW props today and he proceeds to drop pass after pass immediately thereafter. So, LaMont, if you're reading this -- skip over my posts. OK?

[BigTron]

Sam Williams = Invisible

The last defensive play made me throw up in my mouth... Watch the replay if you dare. Our secondary, which was all 11, backed up 30 yards and stood still as the play happned. The more i watch, the more i dont understand?

Michael Huff VERY nice open field tackle on third to get the D off the field. A huge play.

[Raidermania12]

I agree with what Byron said, for whatever reasons, Pepper made me nervous every time he dropped back to pass today...
Nervous? Weird I felt oddly surprised and comfortable eventually.

Here's the reality. Cullpepper has a Brett Favre force the ball rocket arm tendency. He took the sack because if he threw it, he'd try to make a play when he shouldn't much like Brett Favre and all other gunslingers can't help. I can live with that. Kiff has him on a pretty good leash so far. But getting back to the nervous feeling. I've been feeling that for 2 1/2 games watching McCown in action. welcome to my world I guess. Atleast I know what to think or expect of Culpepper. McCown is so inconsistent, you dont know what you're gonna get outside of him trying to play in a wheelchair to keep anyone else from getting on the field(competitive but bad for the team). I give Kiff credit for finally pulling him out. And I give McCown credit for toughing it out. But if you take out Mike williams for coughing the ball up, its only fair that McCown shoulda been taken out.


One other feeling i had was relieved to actually see deep balls hit the receivers in stride on all occasions except that overthrow to fargas where he released the pass too early. And felt even better to see a pass to Porter that he actually had a legit chance at snatching out of the air rather wondering why the ball looked like it was meant for dre bly.

[raiderfreak7]

The good? Cleveland TOP: 23:43 Oakland TOP: 36:17

[poptart]

Therefore it's not hollow...

Can you imagine what this board would look like right now if T. Kelly hadn't gotten his big paw in the way of that kick?

I'm stoked for the win, but realistically, the game should have been a blowout.

I like Kiffin, I like the direction of the team, and I see more wins down the road.

That was one sloppy win today, however.

We play give-away like that again in Miami, we rightfully lose, and this board is bitchin' up a storm.

[donovan]

Can you imagine what this board would look like right now if T. Kelly hadn't gotten his big paw in the way of that kick?

I'm stoked for the win, but realistically, the game should have been a blowout.

I like Kiffin, I like the direction of the team, and I see more wins down the road.

That was one sloppy win today, however.

We play give-away like that again in Miami, we rightfully lose, and this board is bitchin' up a storm.

But he did block it.

Just win, baby. :)

[raiderfreak7]

If anyone can find a picture of our 11 man prevent defense I'd love to put that as an avatar with a signature of "Where's the pass rush?"

[raiderfreak7]

But he did block it.

Just win, baby. :)

Hell yeah!

[hawaiianboy]

Here's the reality. Cullpepper has a Brett Favre force the ball rocket arm tendency. He took the sack because if he threw it, he'd try to make a play when he shouldn't much like Brett Favre and all other gunslingers can't help.


I don't get it... You're driving the ball steadily up the field and sitting 15 yards out of field goal range, the last thing you want to do is take a sack and put yourself in a 2nd and 22 position... He's out of the tackle box, he doesn't have to do anything but waste the down by spiking the ball or throwing it into the stands... Maybe it doesn't look so bad now because we converted a 3 and 20 something on that screen to Jordan, but a vet with as many starts as Daunte has just shouldn't make that kind of mental error IMO, and let's face it, McCown would have been fried by many had he done the same thing...

* I'm just glad Daunte got his feet wet and a chance to shake off some of the rust at home, because playing at Miami and at SD the next two games is pretty rough... That's assuming he remains the starter of course, which IMO he should... Hopefully Kiff deciedes on it early because I think we can put in a more diverse playbook for Daunte, especially with teams now having to play Jordan honest...


* KC plays at San Diego and Denver is at Indy next week... If we can take care of business in Miami, we should be sitting there at 2-2 with Denver and San Diego heading into the bye week...

[GRIM]

BEAT MIAMI!!! 2-2 sounds good to me heading into the bye week.

[Limee]

I ain't expecting any blowouts. Some of the impatience has surprised me. We has an all-time bad team last year. Like, 1976 Bucs bad. The fact that we have been in every game till the end is very encouraging to me.

The fact is this team had a lot of things to fix after last season. It still has some to fix. But a bunch of them have been fixed already.

It is certainly an improvement on some of the walking dead performances we saw last year. I am not complaining it is just that I feel like a heavyweight boxer who only has a certain number of 15 round epic fights in me. If we keep this up then I will end up looking like Bones by the end of the year.

[Limee]

Interesting comments from Jordan on the official site in which he admits that he didn't like the offense and the new blocking scheme. He said he didn't think going sideways suited his game, but Cable kept talking to him and he now likes the scheme.

[Madturk]

I'm still scratching my head over that 11 man prevent. The FG was going to be nearly 50 yards and we basically let them gain an additional 7 yards uncontested:confused: I don't think I've ever seen anything like that.

[poptart]

It was just plain st00pid, that's what it was.

Along the same lines, if you go back to the first two plays of the last drive, Oakland was OUT of a prevent defense, and they brought heat, forcing Cleveland into two hurried INC's.
Then on third down, Oakland went to the prevent -- :extreme rolleyes:

Guess what?
Long Cleveland completion.

I had NO confidence that the Raiders would stop Cleveland on that drive, and that is very disturbing.
I would have understood if Kiffin had decided to go for that 4th and a long 1 near the 50 on the previous Raider drive.
Ice the game and keep the defense off the field.
But damn, you just really can't take the chance and potentially give Cleveland the ball at midfield in that situation.

On another side note, it's my opinion that W. Sapp lost too much weight.
My naked eye tells me that he's getting pushed around far too much in the middle of the line.
Sapp was never a massive beast to begin with, and he looks downright SMALL right now in there.

Hey, Oakland better find a way to bring some heat on the opposing QBs or we're never really going to have confidence that this defense can step up and stop someone when they need to.

[jatfly]

This is about what I figured would happen. We would either win or lose last minute. TAKE THAT RAT FACE...
Kiffin was doing a good job coaching...

I think the defence played well even with out a pass-rush, Hope Burgess is back next week. G. Warren is a stud glad we got him. He is making big plays every week. Was Sapp hurt did anyone hear anything?
Richardson, Clemons and Sands didn't do anything to bad or to good.
Kelly got alot of Praise from Sapp in last weeks issue of "Silver and Black" and this week steps up to show Sapp isn't far off. (just so you know Sapp said last week that Tommy Kelly will be better then me when his career is over") BOLD EFFIN STATEMENT but I like it.

Huff and Stu both could have played better but they also weren't that bad either. I wish Huff didn't allow as many catches to Winslow but he can only hope to contain him......Stu I thought played OK made some nice tackles but also blew a few. I still like them both and will give them a few more weeks.

I think we have two great LB and one good on in Sam. Howard and Morrison are making bid for Defensive MVP for the team and Morrison is Moving towards the Pro-bowl...

Gallery has found a home and is a monster there. Sims got beat a few times. LT will have to be a off season priority AGAIN. Hopefully a Free agent not a Draft pick.....Oh yeah and Green sux and will also have to be replaced. So both Tackle spots next year unless my man Mario gets in there which I predicted will happen SOONER THEN LATER....

BMW is a moron. He has a huge chance here but is too effin stupid for his own good. He can be a good reciever in the NFL if he could learn how to catch and hold on to the ball. Damn I hope he turns it around I like his size even know he is slow....Porter seems to be either covered or just not there?? Someone help me how we can only look at him 3 times a game? Higgins may be moved to 3rd on the depth chart soon....

Routt started for Washington? I think they both played ok. I think Carr is a ok Nickle back maybe I missed something but he seem to play ok. Aso got beat on that TD but other then that he was solid LOCK HIM UP SOON AL.

Fargas has a place on this team, why everyone keep saying Bush can take his place is crazy. That is until Rhoades gets back next week then we can cut Fargas for all I care. Just because he has had like 4 good games in 4 years....Time to move on. Unless he plays like that against Miami...What have you done for me lately.

McCown played well.....So Did Culpepper. I still think we only have about 3 more games before we see J-Russ.....Yeah you heard it here first.......

[Madturk]

1 sack the entire game from G Warren and it came early. I just think the front four collectively has gotten no push whatsoever. Anderson had pretty much all day to throw yesterday. When Ryan realizes that we don't have the front four of the Chicago Bears, then maybe he'll start blitzing our backers a little more. Ryan schemed that last Cle drive exactly like Bres used to do.

This game should have been put away earlier and not even come down to a FG try but it would have been nice to see the "D" finish strong.

[massraider]

Pass rush is the biggest worry for me, because I don't see a quick fix on the horizen. If we get no push from the interior, we are in trouble.

Sapp, Kelly, Brayton, Clemons, Burgess. not really excited by any of them right now. Cripes, Warren has been the best pass rusher.

[R4Life]

I don't love the "drop 11 into coverage" concept, because it smacks of overthinking - the sin of which I think Ryan is most guilty. With no timeouts, they would have had to score a TD if they didn't throw to the sidelines. He couldn't just wait all day either, because time would have ran out, so they knew he was going to have to make an 8-10 second play ot the sidelines, so they defended that play alone - and failed. Good idea, but that's just not what these guys do. It took everyone out of the game, including the O line and halfback - they didn't know what to do. We had eleven dudes trying to stop 5 dudes in patterns and still couldn't. That's the sad part. Too much thinking. I'd rather see him blitz.

[Jack's sore libido]

I don't love the "drop 11 into coverage" concept, because it smacks of overthinking - the sin of which I think Ryan is most guilty. With no timeouts, they would have had to score a TD if they didn't throw to the sidelines. He couldn't just wait all day either, because time would have ran out, so they knew he was going to have to make an 8-10 second play ot the sidelines, so they defended that play alone - and failed. Good idea, but that's just not what these guys do. It took everyone out of the game, including the O line and halfback - they didn't know what to do. We had eleven dudes trying to stop 5 dudes in patterns and still couldn't. That's the sad part. Too much thinking. I'd rather see him blitz.

I couldn't believe it when I saw it.

I thought Anderson would just take off running, escorted by six guys toward the sideline.

[R4Life]

Yeah, but they were confused. It's not like Anderson said, "if nobody rushes, then lets just take-off," in the huddle.

[Limee]

Apparently it is called the victory defense.

In reality, the Raiders played footsie with their own continuing frustration. The Browns were at the Raiders 35 with a third-and-10 and 10 seconds left when Oakland defensive coordinator Rob Ryan called for the team to go into its "Victory" defense.

For the uninitiated, The Victory Defense is the most extreme version of the prevent defense known to mankind. Only different. Boiled down, it was not a nickel (4-2-5) or a dime (4-1-6) or a quarter (4-0-7).

The Victory defense amounted to something that might be called the $100 gold coin. It was, for all intents and purposes, an 0-0-11. No pass rush. Everybody back into coverage, including defensive linemen. Make them throw into the middle of the field.

Tackle Warren Sapp had the medium middle of the field.

"He (Anderson) has no place to throw the ball," Sapp said. "If he runs, he gets 5 yards but burns seven or eight seconds."

Brutal truth: It didn't work. Anderson scrambled right. Chris Carr came up out of coverage, leaving a receiver open on the sideline for a 12-yard completion that turned the 52-yard field-goal attempt into a much more friendly 40-yarder.


rest of article from Marin Independent (http://www.marinij.com/raiders/ci_6983010)

[hawaiianboy]

Victory!

That defense is a first for me... Maybe I can understand using it in a Hail Mary situation, but when a team is just trying to get 10 quick yards?... meh


I gotta say, I enjoy really enjoy Kiff's interviews... To hear Kiff, Daunte, and Lamont click here: http://www.raiders.com/home/

Interesting fashion sense shown by Daunte... Straight from the Hugh Hefner line... Very good attitudes by both Daunte and Lamont....

[Limee]

It was nice to see our players and coach talking after a win.

[S and B Executioner]

The 0-0-11 Defense needs to die a quick, painful death right f'n NOW!!!!

That just tells me that The Son of Buddy isn't really the Son of Buddy afterall, rather, he was adopted from the Bresnahan family!!

Bring on the Sticks Defense and color cards!!!!