Seraph24
The Healer
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With all the possible cursing and bad vibes that can come from this game,, I figured it would be best to start off with some positive stuff.
Ok Enjoy the game people.
Raiders 9 Chuffs 3.
Raiders defense doing all it can Click here to find out more!
By Jerry McDonald
Special to NFL.com
(Dec. 21, 2006) -- Close your eyes and walk into the Oakland Raiders locker room during the lunch hour and it wouldn't be hard to tell the difference.
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On one side there's chatter, laughter and the sound of people enjoying what they do.
On the other the tones are hushed, with jocularity strangled by guilt.
The Raiders are half a team with a fast, aggressive, young defense unable to carry the weight of the NFL's 32nd-ranked offense.
"They've been dominant all year," quarterback Aaron Brooks said, nodding toward the defensive side of the locker room. "Those guys are really proud of what they're doing out there, and we're proud of them … we've got to find a way to help those guys."
Too late.
The victims of three shutout losses, most recently a 20-0 defeat against the St. Louis Rams, the Raiders are at a low point in the Al Davis era (1963-present) with a 2-12 record heading into Saturday night's game against the Kansas City Chiefs at McAfee Coliseum.
The Raiders can't run, ranked No. 28 in rushing offense with 94.8 yards per game, 3.8 yards per carry and five rushing touchdowns.
The Raiders can't pass, ranked No. 31 in passing offense with 150.8 yards per game with seven touchdown passes, 21 interceptions and having surrendered a league-high 66 sacks.
Put it together and the Raiders are at the bottom of the NFL with 244.8 yards per game and 12 offensive touchdowns in 14 games.
Their offense is so poor it has cast a shadow over a defense that carries with it whatever hope the Raiders have of regaining their respect in the near future.
"The defense is going to set the tone for the rest of the team and how we're going to be set up for the next several years," free safety Stuart Schweigert said. "You need to start somewhere, and we've started on the defensive side of the ball. Now it just takes a couple of guys here and there on offense to step up, or a couple of free agents. Then you'll see what happens."
Schweigert's claim is more than false bravado.
The defense's best game came against Pittsburgh with four INTs, two returned for scores.
The defense's best game came against Pittsburgh with four INTs, two returned for scores.
Despite an offense that has trouble maintaining possession of the ball and is constantly putting it in bad positions, the Raiders are ranked No. 4 defensively, giving up 285.6 yards per game. Oakland trails only Baltimore, Jacksonville and Miami, and is in front of Chicago and New England.
The last time the Raiders finished a season giving up fewer yards per game was 1974, allowing 247.5 when they were 11-3 and lost in the AFC Championship Game to Pittsburgh. The last time the Raiders were under 300 yards per game was 1990, when they were 12-4 and lost the AFC Championship Game to Buffalo.
"We've got work to do, but our defense, I think, is on the verge of being something special," coach Art Shell said.
While Oakland's training-camp vision of a throwback offense featuring power running and vertical passing has been a disaster, the Raiders have successfully reached into their past defensively.
The classic Raiders defensive model, as favored by Davis, relies on tight man-to-man pass coverage combined with natural pressure from the front four without a heavy reliance on blitzing.
Coordinator Rob Ryan has built a defense that adheres to that prototype and blended it with the aggressiveness of his father Buddy Ryan's famed "46 defense" with the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles.
They key, defensive tackle Warren Sapp believes, is constant repetition.
"You become what you repeatedly do," Sapp said. "If you repeatedly watch TV, you're going to memorize the TV Guide. If you do something over and over again, it becomes like chewing gum or waking up and brushing your teeth in the morning. It's just what you do."
Nnamdi Asomugha, a rangy 6-foot-2, 210-pound corner, has blossomed in his fourth season with seven interceptions and exceptional play. Second-year man Fabian Washington has four interceptions and is ahead of where Asomugha was as a second-year player. Both are former first-round draft picks.
Derrick Burgess is averaging a sack every 3.8 times he wraps someone up.
Derrick Burgess is averaging a sack every 3.8 times he wraps someone up.
Derrick Burgess, the Pro Bowl-bound defensive end, had 16 sacks last season and has 11 this season in 30 games as a Raider since signing as a free agent. Sapp has eight sacks, his highest total since 2000 when he had 16½ for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Second-year linebacker Kirk Morrison leads the team in tackles for the second straight year, and Davis himself identified rookie weakside linebacker Thomas Howard as a future star in the locker room after the Rams game.
Sapp, reserve cornerback Tyrone Poole and nickel defensive end Lance Johnstone (now on injured reserve), are the only players over the age of 27 who have seen considerable playing time.
The Raiders have 17 interceptions one year after setting an all-time NFL low with five picks over a full season. Oakland is giving up a league-low 151.6 yards per game passing, in one game holding Houston's David Carr to a minus-5 yards passing when sacks were factored in.
Oakland has four defensive scores, only one less than it has running the ball on offense.
It's not perfect. With Oakland unable to score offensively, teams have been persistent with the run and occasionally have worn the Raiders down. Opponents have run the ball 467 times, the highest figure in the league, and some of the NFL's best backs have broken through.
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In the last five games, the Raiders gave up 127 yards on 31 carries last week to Steven Jackson of St. Louis, 117 yards on 30 carries to Rudi Johnson of Cincinnati, 109 yards on 19 carries to LaDainian Tomlinson of San Diego and 154 yards on 31 carries to Saturday night's opponent, Larry Johnson, of Kansas City.
They're giving up 134.1 yards per game and understand they must do better.
Through it all, there has seldom been heard a disparaging word directed at the offense.
"We're not going to come apart," Schweigert said. "We know they feel bad about it. We look at it as if it's on us to win."
As rough as the Raiders have made things on opposing offenses, it hasn't been nearly enough.
"We're two and whatever, man," Burgess said. "When I step on the field, the only thing on my mind is to get a 'W' and go home. I go into the game with the mentality to not let anybody score. That's how we could win every game. We haven't shut anybody out yet."
Ok Enjoy the game people.
Raiders 9 Chuffs 3.
