Tuesday 11/7-Raider News

[Stanny]

Protecting the QB a lost art
Column by Carl Steward
Article Last Updated:11/07/2006 02:38:12 AM PST


SEATTLE — The NFL's 32nd-ranked offense lived down to its sorry standing once again Monday night. Another big fat donut, with no penetrations of the red zone, let alone the end zone.
But the Oakland Raiders not only didn't score in a 16-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at Qwest Field, they also added yet another dubious dimension to their mind-frying offensive ineptitude — the Andrew Walter Tackling Dummy Sideshow.

Actually, the Raiders already have been putting a serious chase on their own team record for sacks allowed in a season before Monday. But they may be primed to make a run at some all-time company after this latest feeble performance attempting to protect the quarterback.

Oakland's shaky blocking surrendered nine sacks against the Seahawks — seven in the first half — increasing the total of quarterback drops to a staggering 44 at the halfway point of the 2006 season. Walter has been the target for 37 of them, all by his battered self, but that development may be more bruising to the Hall of Fame offensive lineman doubling as the head coach than it is the quarterback, at least psychologically.

"Man, oh man, you've got to block people one-on-one, and we just don't do that," said an exasperated Art Shell after this latest collective breakdown. "We didn't do a good job of that at all. It wasn't just one person, either, it was across the board."

Without question, things appear to be getting worse despite the weekly back-to-basics call to arms by Shell. With guard Barry Sims out with anfrom Sports 1

abdominal strain, a weak unit merely showed itself even weaker against a Seattle team ranked 28th against the pass. Throw in a few penalties, the latest untimely Randy Moss drop and the usual limitations of Tom Walsh's offense and you had the recipe for another Oakland offensive disaster.

But this blocking issue is really getting worrisome. It's at the root of all the problems, even more so than Walsh's gameplans. Whatever possibilities for success there may be aren't being given a chance because of the breakdowns in protection.

To try and give Walter more time, the Raiders went to the shotgun a lot more than usual Monday night. They tried a few screens and several quick drops, particularly in the second half. But none of it worked. Seahawks poured in from everywhere, and at all angles. Six players took part in Seattle's nine-sack total, led by tackle Craig Terrill's three.

Goodness, Craig Terrill? Not exactly Shawne Merriman. And the Seahawks had the 28th-ranked pass defense in the league going in. Unfortunately, the Raiders never created enough time for Walter to pick it apart.

"Before you get started with anything, whether run or pass, you have to block," Shell said. "Inconsistency is the key thing that's driving me crazy, what we're doing individually that's creating the breakdown. In practice, you feel like you're making progress but when we start the game, it becomes a one-on-one battle and we lost."

Shell is right. It's not just one guy. It's not even just the line. LaMont Jordan missed one block that resulted in an easy Seattle sack, and it's not his first whiff of the year.

"Unfortunately, when one guy loses a battle, the whole play turns to (bleep)," tackle Langston Walker said.

Robert Gallery was even harder on the state of the blocking, both Monday night and in general.

"The front side just isn't getting it done," he said. "If I knew why, we'd fix it. We take pride in what we do, but you're not going to win many games playing like we're playing. It's pretty pathetic at this point."

Indeed, the Raiders may not be able to catch the 1986 Philadelphia Eagles, who gave up a mind-boggling 104 sacks, but they are ahead of the pace of the No. 2 and No. 3 clubs — Arizona with 78 in 1997 and Houston with 76 in 2002.

Walter is trying his best to keep his wits about him, encouraging the guys up front, but he's also chastising them at times. In this latest game, he said he offered a mixture of encouragement and criticism. A few times Walter may have held the ball a little too long, but for the most part, it was the line simply not giving him enough time.

There are no quick-fix cures, the coach said. He said what's happening would be ultra-frustrating even if he wasn't a former All-Pro lineman.

"These guys are what we've got, we've got to make it work with them," said Shell. "Every man needs to look at himself and see what he can do better."

Added Walker, "We can't fold it up. We can't give up. It may sound like a cliche, but the only way to improve is to keep going out there."

Now 2-6, they still have to go out there eight more times. It makes you cringe wondering how Walter is ever going to make it all the way through the way it's going.


Carl Steward can be reached at (510) 293-2451 or by e-mail at csteward@angnewspapers.com.

 

[Stanny]

From kings of MNF to kings of comedy

Gwen Knapp

Tuesday, November 7, 2006


PS...I always hate this chicks articles.



(11-07) 04:00 PST Seattle -- An NFL shutout generally looks painful, like a medley of freeway collisions, knockout punches and beer cans smashed into foreheads. Afterward, the prevailing memories should be of Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher sneering at the havoc they had wrought.

Snapshots of the Seahawks' 16-0 win over the Raiders on Monday night had none of that, despite the nine sacks by Seattle and Oakland's inability to breach its opponent's 40 yard line until the final, hopeless play of the game.

The first sack of the evening explained everything. Andrew Walter ducked as he sensed the rush coming from behind, and Seattle's Julian Peterson executed a tuck-and-roll over his back. The Soviet judge gave him a 5.8.

For the Raiders, this game was nothing new. They couldn't move the ball against Baltimore, San Diego or Denver. Their offense has now gone five games out of eight without scoring a touchdown.

The difference this time was the way their offense stalled. In the past, they were sad, exasperating, infuriating. Against Seattle, they were desperately, darkly, stunningly funny. "Monday Night Football," courtesy of the Raiders, moved to the Comedy Channel.

The center sacked his own quarterback. The ball sailed through the quarterback's legs when he bailed out of the shotgun formation without the center's knowledge.

"Being in the shotgun, in a loud stadium, sometimes your hand signals can be misconstrued,'' Walter said. This was the Raiders' first time in the shotgun, which explains the shaky exchange, if not how noise interferes with hand signals. "We put it in this week,'' Walter said, "so the fact that we made one mistake is really pretty good, if you ask me.''

The officials essentially gave the Raiders a do-over, calling an inexplicable false start on Walter and negating the fumble (they had a bad night, too).

The quarterback didn't do much better when he stayed vertical and safely fielded the snap. He overthrew his receivers so badly that they could only look wistfully into air as if they were watching a plane on a journey they wanted to take.

But the Raiders are going nowhere. We've known that for a while, at least since Cleveland pantsed the team in Oakland. But the two straight wins, plus the whiffs of respectability from the defense, suggested a pleasant detour from humiliation. Monday night put the train to ignominy back on course, with a Whoopie cushion under every seat.

The offense didn't do the gig in Seattle as a solo act. The defense, coaching staff and special teams all contributed their own gags, from exotic penalties to a punt with less arc than Kate Moss' hips.

Terdell Sands deserves special mention for the creative infraction that turned a 4th-and-24 for the Seahawks into a first down. On Seattle's field-goal attempt, he started barking out signals, apparently trying to pull the Seahawks offsides. The officials heard him and flagged him. Players rarely get caught making this mistake (as opposed to not mimicking the signals at all), but the Raiders apparently lack discretion as well as direction.

The penalty didn't cost all that much. The Seahawks couldn't reach the end zone afterward, and they ended up with the three points they probably would have scored before Sands got chatty. But the Seahawks had committed two penalties of their own before he was flagged, and the Raiders had to show a national audience that they couldn't watch another team's incompetence without matching it.

The Seahawks knew that this wasn't a grand victory. "I'm not going to take credit for it,'' head coach Mike Holmgren said of the defense, ostensibly trying to shift some glory. Nobody really deserved it.

Sack No. 6 was a perfect illustration. Jake Grove fell on Walter's ankle, tripping him, and the play went into the books as Craig Terrill's third sack of the night. Yes, he did push Grove backward, but he never touched the quarterback.

Then again, no one touched Walter on Sack No. 7, either. He allowed himself to be chased out of bounds for no gain, and he trotted the last few feet with a look of disgust on his face. As soon as he went out, he flipped the ball out of his hand.

That was not one of the funny moments, unless the joke was supposed to be on Raiders fans and whoever scheduled them for two night games in less than a month. They are unfit for prime time, even on the Comedy Channel.

By the end of the game, both teams looked bedraggled and ready to leave. On a late penalty, the players moved slowly back upfield, like a bunch of kids being sent to the principal's office after a prank gone bad. They all looked sheepish, even the winners. It was that kind of game.

E-mail Gwen Knapp at gknapp@sfchronicle.com.

 

[Stanny]

Pass-happy Walsh leads Raiders backwards

By Anthony Carroll on November 7, 2006 12:21 AM
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Two weeks ago, two unnamed opposing defenders of the Oakland Raiders referred to Tom Walsh's offensive game plan as "high school stuff."

Don't flatter the man.

Just a week after the Raiders netted 98 offensive yards in a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers , the team followed up with an equally dismal outing.

In Monday night's shutout loss to the Seattle Seahawks , Oakland's offense registered just 185 total yards, 44 of which came on the team's final drive with just 1:17 remaining. On the night, the Raiders' longest drive covered just 53 yards, while 10 of the team's 12 legitimate offensive drives accounted for less than 25 yards before punting.

Just prior to Monday night's embarrassment, quarterback Andrew Walter was asked to identify the team's problems on the offensive side of the ball.

"If I had to pinpoint it, I would say it's a lot of different areas," Walter said. "And, is that general? Yes, that's a very general answer, but it's the truth. It's not one person; it's not one area of the offense. We're talking about O-line, running backs, tight ends, quarterback and wide receivers. I'd say it's a lot of us."

Add one inept offensive coordinator into the mix and call it complete.

Walsh called just four designed running plays in the entire first half, opting to put the game on the shoulders of his inexperienced, struggling quarterback.

Other factors that Walsh ignored include: there was a torrential downpour and 20-plus mph winds; starting running back LaMont Jordan had returned from injury; the offensive line had allowed a league-high 35 sacks heading into the game; and the wide receivers have had trouble holding onto the ball all season.

The result of the pass-happy offensive scheme was zero points, 10 punts, nine sacks, a 45.7 completion percentage and a 20 percent third-down conversion rate.

Art Shell, on his last leg, tried to defend the decision-making of his longtime friend following the game.

"You get into a rhythm and then you try not to run all the time," he said. "You want to come in with the pass."

On the evening, the Raiders finished with just 13 rushes; however, the running game accounted for 64 of the offense's 185 total yards. Through the air, Walter averaged just 2.8 yards per pass on a whopping 35 attempts. On the ground, though, Jordan averaged seven yards per carry; however, he was allowed just nine attempts on the game -- just over two a quarter.

"I know there's a lot of factors that go into an offense, that go into a team," Walter said on Monday. "And I know it's never on one person."

With that in mind, Walsh isn't alone. The offensive line allowed nine sacks; the receivers couldn't hold onto the ball; and Walter consistently hesitated in the pocket.

Perhaps the most bewildering gaffe of Monday's 16-0 loss, however, was Walsh's play call on third-and-1 with just under nine minutes remaining in the third quarter. Following a 10-yard LaMont Jordan rush on second-and-11, the offense lined up deep in a shotgun formation on its own 42-yard line. Instead of calling a simple run, Walter attempted a short throw to Jordan. The pass fell incomplete and the Raiders punted for the seventh consecutive time.

Prior to the season, it was Walsh who so vehemently stated, "It's downhill running, it's power football. We're not lateral-stepping."

At this point, simply "lateral-stepping" would be a good start for the inept coordinator.

 

[Stanny]

Penalties

They were part of 60 yards in penalties.

Coach Art Shell said the call on the sideline came when defensive coordinator Rob Ryan disputed an official's call on the field.

"The official asked him to get back and then something was said," Shell said. "Then all of a sudden, the flag came out."

Then, near the end of the game, Raiders defensive end Tyler Brayton was flagged for unnecessary roughness and ejected from the game after kneeing Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens in the groin. Seattle center Robbie Tobeck also was flagged for a personal foul. The penalties were offsetting, but Brayton was still on his way to the locker room. He was contrite after the game but didn't offer details on the exchange.

Shell said he expected Brayton to be disciplined by the league.

 

[Stanny]

Brayton regrets losing cool

By Jason Jones - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 6:29 am PST Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C4

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SEATTLE-Tyler Brayton pulled off something amazing.

On a night when nearly all the attention was on the Raiders' awful offense, he stole some of it by putting himself in a negative light on national television.

The Raiders' starting defensive end kneed Seattle Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens in the groin with 1:54 left in Oakland's 16-0 loss Monday at Qwest Field.

Brayton was assessed a personal foul and ejected. Afterward, he was contrite.

"I made a mistake," Brayton said. "I let my emotions get the best of me. I put shame upon myself, my family and the Raiders organization. And for that, I apologize."

Brayton's action drew boos, followed by chants for the Seahawks to add a late touchdown to increase the Raiders' misery. There were more boos when the Seahawks eventually kicked a field goal.

Raiders coach Art Shell said he expects the NFL to punish Brayton.

Brayton isn't one to shy away from a practice scuffle, but he never had lost his cool during a game.

"There's a lot of frustration built up inside," Brayton said, "but I can't let that affect my actions on the field because there's no excuse for what I did."

 

[Stanny]

LaMont Jordan places some blame on coaches after the latest fiasco.

By Jason Jones - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 6:27 am PST Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C4

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SEATTLE -- The Raiders can't pass block, won't run and can't throw the ball consistently.

And running back LaMont Jordan says it's time for the coaching staff to take some of the blame following the Raiders' 16-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at rain-soaked Qwest Field.

"We do need to execute a little more, but at the same time I think playcalling has to come into effect," Jordan said. "I know they say schemes don't win games and things like that, but I'm a believer schemes do win."
The end of the Raiders' two-game win streak looked eerily similar to their other five losses. On a stage they once dominated, the offensively punchless Raiders (2-6) have been outscored 43-0 in two "Monday Night Football" appearances this season.

Raiders coach Art Shell has defended offensive coordinator Tom Walsh all season, even as the offense has ranked last in the NFL.

Jordan said he isn't putting all the blame on Walsh, but after the Raiders failed to score an offensive touchdown for the fifth time in eight games and were shut out for the second time this season, Jordan didn't bite his tongue.

"I'm pretty much jumping off a bridge right now by saying this, but I don't think I'm saying anything that's wrong," Jordan said. "I really don't think I'm lying in any way. I think I'm just in everything that I've said."

The Raiders haven't scored an offensive touchdown in 11 quarters and have given up 44 sacks in eight games.
The Raiders -- who managed 185 total yards -- are on pace for 88 sacks allowed, which would be the second most in NFL history.

Even though the Raiders struggled to pass protect, quarterback Andrew Walter threw 35 passes and the team ran the ball only 13 times, Jordan's main gripe about the Raiders' "pitiful" offensive showing.

"If you look at our two wins, we had a mind-set of running the ball," Jordan said.

Jordan wasn't the only frustrated player.

Randy Moss yelled obscenities at a reporter because the wide receiver didn't like the way the journalist talked to him.
Moss caught six passes for 76 yards but had trouble holding onto the ball. The Seahawks said they controlled Moss by being physical with him.

"He knew I was out there," Seahawks cornerback Ken Hamlin said. "You like to have that effect on a guy."

Shell finds the Raiders' pass protection especially troubling. The Seahawks blitzed on about half of their defensive plays, and the Raiders struggled to adjust.

"The inconsistencies are driving me crazy," he said.

Defensive tackle Warren Sapp said, "I wish I could help" the offense score and added it might be up to the defense.

"We've got to get some points," Sapp said. "If we've got to score them ourselves or put (the offense) right in scoring position, we've got to get something done."

Seattle scored early against the Raiders. Oakland cornerback Fabian Washington bit on a double move by receiver Deion Branch. That produced a 22-yard touchdown pass from former Cordova High School and Sacramento City College star Seneca Wallace to give the Seahawks a 7-0 lead with 10:39 left in the first quarter.

From there, Wallace managed the game well, passing for 176 yards and running for 49 yards on three carries. Maurice Morris ran for 138 yards on 30 carries for Seattle (5-3).

 

[Stanny]

Stat

The Raiders have now failed to score an offensive touchdown in five of their eight games, and they are scoreless in two Monday night appearances. But the first time was against the Chargers, a good defensive team. The Seahawks allowed an average of 32.2 points in their last five games. The loss to Cleveland remains the low point of the season, followed closely by the disaster at Candlestick. But this was certainly demoralizing in its own way, because it followed the two wins.