GRIM
OAKLAND CA.
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2007
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News, notes and observations from Thursday's media sessions:
– There will be no booing of Josh McCown in front of Bay Area television sets Sunday. The Raiders announced the game was not sold out in advance of the Thursday deadline and will be blacked out locally.
– DE Derrick Burgess sat out for the second straight day with a calf injury, and was not on the field with other teammates who were rehabbing from injury _ an indication he may not be ready to play Sunday against Cleveland.
– LaMont Jordan, out Wednesday with a back injury aggravated against Denver, returned to practice and left the field drenched in sweat _ an indication he should be able to face Cleveland.
Jordan has 260 yards in his two games as a Raider at McAfee Coliseum.
– Coach Lane Kiffin said it's possible Adimchinobe Echemandu could be active in case Jordan re-injures his back.
– Also not practicing and in doubt for Cleveland are LB Robert Thomas, C Jeremy Newberry and FB Oren O'Neil, all with hamstring pulls.
– Kiffin, adept at hiding all his cards until the hand is played, said all the injured players would probably be game-time decisions.
– Kiffin, not to mention legions of Raider fans, weren't the only ones complaining about the Raiders' shoddy tackling against the Broncos. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, made available to the media Wednesday, heard about it at home.
"Shoot, even my wife noticed that," Ryan said. "She don't know (bleep) about football, but she's like, `teach 'em to tackle.' So I taught 'em. I got tackled by (Kirk) Morrison today on that pad and I don't want to do that again.
"I know we've got to tackle. It's a serious business. You miss tackles, I don't care who you are, you don't have a defense worth a damn. We've been pointing it out and we've been correcting it. As fundamentals go, you've still got to have 'em, even in pro football. And if you don't, you're a pile of junk."
– Ryan characterizing his team's defensive play through two games: "Obviously disappointing. We're 0-2 and we haven't played very well. I think we're starting to come back around. I think the second half of Denver we started to play better, but we've got to play better on defense. Our guys are playing hard. We're better than that. We're better coaches than that, too, on defense."
– Ryan on if teams are better at game-planning a Raiders team which returned all 11 starters: "You get Mike Martz and Mike Shanahan, two smart guys. But it's more us than anything. We only worry about us. We're working hard. We're going to get better. We're putting in extra time to study and we're going to get better . . . you can't play great for 16 weeks. Obviously we know that and we found that out. But (bleep), we're going to be a great defense. We know that."
– Ryan on the lack of consistent pass rush: "You get max protect in that first game so everybody's doubled so it's tough to get there. Last game, we're getting some decent rush, the quarterback's giving some ground and then (he made) some quick throws. But our pass rush is coming and we know we're going to step it up . . . it's going to come together for us."
– After his session with the media, Ryan was called over for a chat by owner Al Davis.
– Rookie Johnnie Lee Higgins, an electrifying punt return specialist in the preseason, has just six yards total on three returns.
"It's a team situation," Kiffin said. "We have to block better for him. The first one we had in the Detroit game was really going to go for a touchdown. We were one guy away from loafing right there and finishing his block or he would have scored on that one."
– WR Jonathan Orr, who was on crutches Wednesday, was cut from the practice squad and Rich Parson was signed.
– There will be no booing of Josh McCown in front of Bay Area television sets Sunday. The Raiders announced the game was not sold out in advance of the Thursday deadline and will be blacked out locally.
– DE Derrick Burgess sat out for the second straight day with a calf injury, and was not on the field with other teammates who were rehabbing from injury _ an indication he may not be ready to play Sunday against Cleveland.
– LaMont Jordan, out Wednesday with a back injury aggravated against Denver, returned to practice and left the field drenched in sweat _ an indication he should be able to face Cleveland.
Jordan has 260 yards in his two games as a Raider at McAfee Coliseum.
– Coach Lane Kiffin said it's possible Adimchinobe Echemandu could be active in case Jordan re-injures his back.
– Also not practicing and in doubt for Cleveland are LB Robert Thomas, C Jeremy Newberry and FB Oren O'Neil, all with hamstring pulls.
– Kiffin, adept at hiding all his cards until the hand is played, said all the injured players would probably be game-time decisions.
– Kiffin, not to mention legions of Raider fans, weren't the only ones complaining about the Raiders' shoddy tackling against the Broncos. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, made available to the media Wednesday, heard about it at home.
"Shoot, even my wife noticed that," Ryan said. "She don't know (bleep) about football, but she's like, `teach 'em to tackle.' So I taught 'em. I got tackled by (Kirk) Morrison today on that pad and I don't want to do that again.
"I know we've got to tackle. It's a serious business. You miss tackles, I don't care who you are, you don't have a defense worth a damn. We've been pointing it out and we've been correcting it. As fundamentals go, you've still got to have 'em, even in pro football. And if you don't, you're a pile of junk."
– Ryan characterizing his team's defensive play through two games: "Obviously disappointing. We're 0-2 and we haven't played very well. I think we're starting to come back around. I think the second half of Denver we started to play better, but we've got to play better on defense. Our guys are playing hard. We're better than that. We're better coaches than that, too, on defense."
– Ryan on if teams are better at game-planning a Raiders team which returned all 11 starters: "You get Mike Martz and Mike Shanahan, two smart guys. But it's more us than anything. We only worry about us. We're working hard. We're going to get better. We're putting in extra time to study and we're going to get better . . . you can't play great for 16 weeks. Obviously we know that and we found that out. But (bleep), we're going to be a great defense. We know that."
– Ryan on the lack of consistent pass rush: "You get max protect in that first game so everybody's doubled so it's tough to get there. Last game, we're getting some decent rush, the quarterback's giving some ground and then (he made) some quick throws. But our pass rush is coming and we know we're going to step it up . . . it's going to come together for us."
– After his session with the media, Ryan was called over for a chat by owner Al Davis.
– Rookie Johnnie Lee Higgins, an electrifying punt return specialist in the preseason, has just six yards total on three returns.
"It's a team situation," Kiffin said. "We have to block better for him. The first one we had in the Detroit game was really going to go for a touchdown. We were one guy away from loafing right there and finishing his block or he would have scored on that one."
– WR Jonathan Orr, who was on crutches Wednesday, was cut from the practice squad and Rich Parson was signed.
