Aaron Brooks...

[Angry Pope]

CAM INMAN

Just a start to a lot of pressure

Brooks was under duress but he still has to show he's a leader
Aaron Lafette Brooks, what are we going to do with you?

Block for you? Nah, apparently too impossible with these Raiders linemen. Bench you this week? No, you're tabbed for a second chance, almost by default.

Should we believe you, that Monday night's opener was just one of 16 games in a season you promise will get better?

So much for thinking this place wouldn't be as harrowing as last year's swan song with the San Antonio, er, New Orleans Saints.

"Last year deserves a place of its own. This year is a new year," Brooks said after Monday night's 27-0 season-opening loss to the San Diego Chargers. "That one game (Monday night) needs to be in its own slot itself, and don't go back to it."

Brooks patiently and politely stood at his locker as question after question came at him like the swarm of Chargers defenders who sacked him seven times. He took the pounding, from the reporters as well as Chargers pass rushing fiend Shawn Merriman.

"There were times he set up, as soon as he planted, somebody was in his face," Raiders coach Art Shell said after the game.

Brooks had better get used to it. Not the seven sacks. The pass rush. It's coming.

So start thinking of the ball as a hot potato, not a piece of cornbread to nibble on all night. Defenders aren't calling out, "One alligator, two alligator, three alligator."

Plead for your coaches to slide the pocket around, call short slant routes and roll you out to find Randy Moss down field. Aren't those plays in the Raiders' little black book?

"No comment," Brooks said with a helpless look on his face. "If they were in, they weren't called."

One of his knees may be battered, but he insists his confidence isn't shaken, not after an ugly Raiders debut that came on the heels of a 2005 campaign featuring more interceptions (17) than touchdowns (13) for the first time in his career.

"It doesn't affect me," Brooks said of his sour streak. "A loss is a loss as a win is a win."

He certainly didn't expect to lose like this, however.

"Not at all. Not in the season opener on 'Monday Night (Football),'" Brooks added. "It'll be tough to swallow, but we'll put it behind us."

So what was his best-case scenario?

"I thought we'd put points on the board, it'd be a close game and it'd be hard fought because of their defense," Brooks replied, "and I thought it would come down to the end of the fourth quarter, the last down."

Brooks watched the ending from the Raiders sideline. He got pulled five minutes into the fourth quarter in favor of second-year quarterback Andrew Walter, who received a standing ovation from the crowd. Problem was Walter wasn't standing long, as he got sacked twice and also had to scramble for survival.

Brooks, meanwhile, got lumped into a category with other veteran quarterbacks who struggled in their season openers. He joined an A-list of yesteryear's stars: the Dallas Cowboys' Drew Bledsoe, the Green Bay Packers' Brett Favre, the Miami Dolphins' Daunte Culpepper, the Denver Broncos' Jake Plummer and the Tennessee Titans' Kerry Collins, Brooks' predecessor with the Raiders.

Brooks, an eighth-year vet, stacks up last among all 32 starting quarterbacks with his 42.9 completion percentage. He completed a league-low six passes on a league-low 14 attempts for a league-low 68 yards. A low blow? Yes, considering his protection. But he had passes sail high and low, so he's not blameless.

He had never before passed for under 100 yards in a game, but he endured seven-sack games three times with the Saints, even winning two of those.

He deserved more sympathy than blame Monday.

Wait until Brooks sees which defense he faces next -- the Baltimore Ravens', fresh off their own 27-0 rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brooks has never played against Ray Lewis, the Ravens' still-ticking, still-hitting linebacker.

Brooks had better hope their first encounter goes better than the meet-and-greet he had with Merriman & Co.



START ME UP?

Here's how Aaron Brooks' debut Monday night compared with those of other Raiders starting quarterbacks (excluding starts by career backups):

Player Date Opp. Comp.-Att. Yards TDs Ints. Rtg. Result

Aaron Brooks Monday Chargers 6-14 68 0 0 58.0 L, 27-0

Kerry Collins 10-3-04 Texans 21-38 237 0 3 41.2 L, 30-17

Rich Gannon 9-12-99 Packers 16-31 227 0 1 62.1 L, 28-24

Jeff George 8-31-97 Titans 21-37 298 3 0 109.9 L, 24-21

Jeff Hostetler 9-5-93 Vikings 23-27 225 1 1 98.3 W, 24-7

Todd Marinovich 9-20-92 Browns 33-59 395 1 3 86.4 L, 28-16

Jay Schroeder 9-26-88 Broncos 13-35 242 2 1 68.9 W, 30-27

Rusty Hilger 9-13-87 Packers 2-7 12 0 0 39.5 W, 20-0

Marc Wilson 10-18-81 Bucs 17-34 176 0 3 28.5 W, 18-16

Jim Plunkett 10-12-80 Chargers 11-14 164 1 0 139.2 W, 38-34

Dan Pastorini 9-7-80 Chiefs 19-37 317 2 0 98.6 W, 27-14

Ken Stabler 10-17-71 Eagles 11-15 99 0 1 62.9 W, 34-10

 

[Angry Pope]

Block watch is on after Raiders' loss
Coach Art Shell says the offensive line 'didn't meet the challenge.'

By Jason Jones

ALAMEDA -- Longtime NFL coach and current ESPN analyst Dick Vermeil was on the elevator leaving the press box following the Raiders' 27-0 loss to San Diego on Monday night.

What he saw didn't make him miss coaching.

"I'm glad I don't have to watch that film," Vermeil said.

Raiders coach Art Shell watched that film and witnessed again what a national television audience saw.

The Raiders have blocking issues.

The offensive line took a step backward in its development, often being pushed on top of quarterback Aaron Brooks, who was the victim for seven of the Chargers' nine sacks.

"Most of the time if you have one, maybe two, you can do some things right away to take care of it," Shell said Tuesday. "If you've got breakdowns up and down the line of scrimmage, then you got problems."

There's a lot to be fixed before the Raiders play at Baltimore on Sunday, largely the absent mean streak up front.

"We didn't meet the challenge that was there," Shell said. "We didn't understand that, for whatever reason, it's not just a game. It's bigger than that. You have to come out prepared to play -- the intensity of it, the speed, the tempo, it's so much higher than it is in the preseason and during practice."

If the Raiders' blocking doesn't improve soon, Brooks won't last long. He ran three times for 27 yards but often ran into defenders while trying to evade the pass rush.

"The depth of the pocket is created by the center and the two guards," Shell said. "The width of the pocket is created by the tackles. The tackles can't allow the corner to be squeezed. When they squeeze, then the quarterback has to step up, and there's nothing to step up to and it becomes a big problem for you."

San Diego's Shawne Merriman (three sacks) and his teammates had fun with sack dances while the Raiders could only watch as the linebacker and his teammates mocked them and their fans.

"Again, until you do something about it physically, and be mentally tough to do that, teams are going to continue to do those types of things," Shell said. "We'll get to the point where we can meet things and challenge it. I know we will. I believe we will."

Shell said the coaching staff would change blocking schemes and look at keeping tight ends and running backs in to block or chip outside pass rushers.

Shell added that the Raiders did not run the ball enough.

LaMont Jordan had 10 carries for 20 yards, in part because the run-blocking wasn't much better than the pass-blocking.

"There were at least three shots there where he could've really broken a long one," Shell said of Jordan. "One of them, it was early in the game, and we missed the strong safety. ... We have to finish the blocks, we have to finish the job. It's not just getting in there and touching the guy and saying, 'OK, I'm done.' You've got to finish the blocks. It's an attitude. You got to have that. You've got to be mentally tough to play this game, and you've got to be physical to play this game."

Jordan said after the game he hadn't given up on his offensive line.

"The front line is capable," Jordan said. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't think it."

 

[Angry Pope]

Fixing offensive line Job 1 for Shell

By Bill Soliday


ALAMEDA — There were signs during the preseason, even when things were working rather well, that there might be blocking issues for quarterback Aaron Brooks.

Against Detroit, Brooks fired up two touchdowns to Randy Moss and passed for 187 yards in a half. There was only one sack, but at times it appeared Brooks was surrounded, throwing out of a phone booth, as they say.

Monday night Brooks (7) and Andrew Walter (2) went down nine times between them and the phone booth had collapsed. Fixing it will be Job 1 for the Raiders going into Sunday's game in Baltimore against the blitz happy Ravens.

And there wasn't a soul on the line who even played a game that could be termed "average." It was a major meltdown.

"We had some individual breakdowns," coach Art Shell said. "Most of the time if you have one, maybe two, you can do some things right away to take care of it. If you've got breakdowns up and down the line of scrimmage, then you've got problems. We have to go back and see what we can do scheme-wise to make sure we take care of some of those things."

A major element of scheme is changing things up.

"What you can't do is lock into doing the same thing," Shell said. "You can't do the same thing over and over again. We did some of that (Monday) but there was always a breakdown here and there.

"The installation is there. Now you've got to tweak it a little .. to help the group."

The problem comes in trying to get it done in a short period of time.

When asked, Shell did not rule out the possibility of position shuffling on the offensive line if things didn't get better.

"You have to do what you think is best for your team to be successful, and I'm not averse to doing that," he said. "That's why I said it's not etched in stone that a guy is going to stay where he is or stay in the starting lineup."

SODAS WITH RANDY: With the hubbub over what Moss said or did not say last week about fish still ongoing, it turns out Shell did have a sit-down meeting with the wide receiver over the weekend.

The outcome, according to Shell, was that in his opinion, Moss' comments were virtually benign.

"I told him ... if I had a problem with anything he had to say then I would call (him) in and we'd sit down man to man and talk," Shell said. "But I had no problem with what he had to say. If you look at what he said on ESPN (Sunday) ... listened to the whole thing, I think you would get an understanding of what he was saying a lot better than the small versions you hear. It gets all taken out of context."

Shell said listening to what Moss was trying to say, after his ESPN Sunday conversation, he had no problem with Moss' statements.


TAUNTING EXPLANATION: While on the subject of Moss, Shell said the officials were correct in assessing a taunting penalty.

"When Randy tossed the ball to the (San Diego) player, if that player had kept the ball in his hands or just dropped it, probably nothing would have happened," Shell said. "But he flipped it back (and) therefore, from the official's standpoint, Randy started something (that) could have evolved into something much more than just the tossing of the ball."

Shell said through his involvement in the league office and within the competition committee he had come to understand the intent of the rule.

THE DAILY PORTER: Will Jerry Porter's inactive status end in Baltimore?

"I don't know," Shell said. "There's always that chance. We have five receivers, and we put up four guys."

What must he do to get back on the field?

"He has to continue to work, just like he's been doing," Shell said. "... just like everybody else on this team. There's nothing etched in stone about the guys that started (starting) for the rest of the year. There's nothing etched in stone for anybody."

SACK THIS: The in-your-face sack dances performed by the chorus line of Chargers linemen was insulting but it didn't get Shell peeved.

He has a simple solution.

"You don't like those things to happen, but until you do something about it physically, teams are going to continue to do those types of things," he said.

HALFTIME CHALLENGE: When the Raider defense exhibited improvement in the second half, it was not a case of a change in strategy, although Shell acknowledged the play of nosetackle Terdell Sands was a factor.

Instead it was a full frontal challenge by the coach.

"I challenged them at halftime, because I thought it was embarrassing the way we played," Shell said. "We had all those fans out there rooting for us, and we didn't play good football.

"But the defense came out and played a whole lot better than they did in the first half. Offensively, we did not. We did not meet the challenge. Defense got us good field position at least three or four times. We didn't take advantage of it."

 

[Angry Pope]

Brooks needs protection to have chance to succeed

JOSH DUBOW

ALAMEDA, Calif. - The Oakland Raiders watched film of Baltimore's season-opening shutout win and saw the dominating performance they've come to expect from the Ravens defense.

They figure that when the Ravens watched the Raiders get shutout themselves, they were probably salivating at the opportunity in this week's matchup.

"I don't think a shutout by them was a surprise," center Jake Grove said Wednesday. "They're a great defense. We have to come to play. I'm sure they'll watch this film and will like what they see. We have to make sure a different team shows up this week."

The performance in the season-opening 27-0 loss to San Diego on Monday night was one of the worst in recent memory for the Raiders.

In just their second home shutout ever, the Raiders were sacked nine times and had only 67 total yards until a game-ending drive against mostly backups raised the total to 129.

Next up, Ray Lewis and the Ravens, who are coming off a 27-0 victory at Tampa Bay.

"It's always a challenge when you've got two of the highest-rated defenses in the league back-to-back," quarterback Aaron Brooks said. "Our biggest challenge this week is being able to make some plays.

"So I think that's going to be the key. I'm sure that we're going to do better in the pass protection. ... If they're going to pressure as much as they do, then we have to be able to take our chances."

Seven of San Diego's nine sacks came against Brooks, who was replaced in the fourth quarter by Andrew Walter because coach Art Shell was worried about the beating Brooks was taking.

Brooks bruised his knee in the game and underwent an MRI on Tuesday but said he felt much better Wednesday and was probable for Sunday's game.

"He was under duress last week, and our guys are upset about it," coach Art Shell said. "They don't like what happened last week. They'll bounce back. I believe they'll bounce back. They have a lot of pride. They know it was not a good outing for us."

Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis warned against putting too much stock in the way the Raiders struggled against San Diego.

"You can't deal with them based on what you saw somebody else do with them because it won't be the same the next week," he said. "It's not as if they're playing the same game. Their mentality is going to change. We're going to prepare like it's the Oakland Raiders with all the talent that they have over there. "

For that to happen, the Raiders will need to do a better job of blocking. They might need to do it without starting left tackle Robert Gallery, who left practice Wednesday with a strained calf muscle. His status for the game is uncertain.

Chad Slaughter is the backup at tackle, but if Gallery can't play, Shell could also shift other players on the line.

The Raiders revamped the offensive line in the offseason, moving Gallery from right tackle to left tackle, Barry Sims from left tackle to left guard, Walker from right guard to right tackle and inserting rookie Paul McQuistan - a tackle in college - in at right guard.

Only Grove is playing at the same position he played last year, a problem only worsened by preseason injuries to Grove and Sims which limited the time the new group had to play together.

"Look at all of the good offensive lines in the league all they have all played together a lot," Grove said. "We moved around in the offseason. We had five games under our belt together in the preseason. It has to happen fast. We don't have time to learn and grow anymore."

 

[Crossbones]

This says it all...

 

[Rupert]

It certainly does, doesn't it.