Wednesday 11/8-Raider News

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Stanny

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Jordan faults Walsh for some woes
By Steve Corkran, MEDIANEWS STAFF
Article Last Updated:11/08/2006 02:37:27 AM PST


ALAMEDA — Three offensive coordinators have been fired or demoted by the halfway mark of the NFL season. Meanwhile, Raiders offensive coordinator Tom Walsh goes about his job with impunity from his superiors despite overseeing the league's worst offense in terms of yards per game and points.
At some point, though, Walsh has to take some of the blame, running back LaMont Jordan said after the Raiders 16-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night.

"We need to open things up," Jordan said. "We need to figure out what we're going to commit ourselves to. As players, we need to step up. But people always say schemes don't make that much difference. Schemes do make a difference."

The Raiders offense has failed to score a touchdown in five of its eight games. Quarterbacks Aaron Brooks and Andrew Walter have been sacked 44 times. The Raiders are at or near the bottom of the league in average time of possession, third-down conversion percentage and turnovers.

The offense has averaged a paltry 141.5 yards the past two games and netted two field goals.

Walsh isn't responsible for the inconsistent blocking by the line, the myriad dropped passes and turnovers, coach Art Shell said Monday.

"There's so much involved in why the offense doesn't work," Shell said. "There's so much involved that people can't see or people don't understand."

Shell said he sees other teams running the same pass routes the Raiders use and their quarterbacks doing Still, Jordan said, Walsh isn't immune from blame.

"I don't want to seem like I'm coming down hard on the offensive coordinator," Jordan said. "I'm just saying, he's also responsible for the lack of points and the lack of consistency we have on offense."

ESPN analyst Joe Theismann sided with Jordan. At one point during Monday night's game, Theismann said: "This is on the offensive coordinator. You have to move (Walter) out of the pocket. You cannot continue to drop him back 7 yards, five steps, with this offensive line attempting to block for him."

Shell said he isn't bothered by the criticism of Walsh by Jordan or other Raiders so long as they are doing their part.

"You're going to have players saying that and those guys are the guys who need to take a look in the mirror and make sure they're doing what they're supposed to do," Shell said.
 
Stanny Great Job keep it up kid, MM,AP,SM would have been proud!!
 
Joke has been on Shell in his return

Column by Monte Poole
Article Last Updated:11/08/2006 06:52:23 AM PST


ALAMEDA — Art Shell's despondency is revealed in his joyless voice and his hollow words. His search for answers and solutions have been fruitless, and it seems the weight of this miserable season is settling upon his massive frame.
"When I came back, I knew this thing wasn't going to be easy. I knew that," the Raiders coach said Tuesday, one day after the Seattle Seahawks administered the latest beatdown of his team.

"I had a nice, comfortable job in the league office, wearing a tie every day. It was nice. But this team, this organization, needed something I felt I could come and give it. And I still believe I can do that."

No, what this team and organization needed was an exorcist, a miracle worker, a faith healer and a witch doctor. And a few players capable of reaching the level Shell reached in the 1970s, when he was arguably the NFL's best offensive lineman.

What it got was more of the same, following 13-35 over three seasons with 2-6 over the first half of 2006. Shell brought a plan he may have to blow up.This was supposed to be Shell's season of affirmation, supplying proof that he had been wronged by Raiders boss Al Davis, who in 1995 fired him despite a winning record, and by NFL owners, who hired dozens of head coaches over the next decade without giving him another chance.

Shell, 59, came back hoping to lift this franchise out of the quicksand, restore pride and have the Raiders conquering and laughing once again. Through the season, the joke, a cruel one at that, has been on Shell.
"I expected better," he said. "But I'm an eternal optimist. I believe whole-heartedly in people, and I believe in the people we have here. And I didn't expect to be sitting here at 2-6. No, I expected to be better. A better football team and a more competitive football team."

That the Raiders, for the most part, have not been competitive can be blamed mostly on an offense that has produced six touchdowns in eight games. The offense that may have been hampered by injury (quarterback Aaron Brooks) and internal dispute (wideout Jerry Porter), but often finds it impossible to put together a decent drive.

By defending offensive coordinator Tom Walsh, who has been roundly criticized by just about everyone with an opinion, Shell is paying the price for misguided loyalty. As Art's personal choice, Walsh likely will keep his job until his playbook is taken away by Davis.

In the meantime, Walsh calls the plays because he is the man Shell always said he'd hire if he ever got another chance to become a head coach. Well, this is Art's chance, and Walsh has been a disaster. Oakland's offense is a maddening mix of talent and mediocrity, and Walsh has not been creative enough to utilize the former or camouflage the latter.

Shell could only wish his problems began and ended with his buddy Tom.

There is the offensive line, establishing itself as one of the worst in league history, giving up nine more sacks Monday night, running the total through eight games to 44.

Insofar as Shell is a Hall of Fame offensive lineman, this surely eats into his spirit.

"It's tough. It's tough," he said. "Jackie Slater (one of the offensive line coaches) and I were talking Monday night about how tough it is, because we take a lot of pride. These guys, they want to do well. But they're just not getting it done."

Which goes back to draft choices. Tackles Robert Gallery and Langston Walker, along with center Jake Grove, were selected in the first two rounds of recent drafts, and none has established himself as a solid starter, much less one with Pro Bowl potential.

As for finding more effective replacements, well, good luck.

"Right now, there's none," Shell conceded. "We had one staff meeting, and we'll continue to talk through things. Right now, I don't see anything."

Then there is the quarterback matter. Brooks, the veteran hired in part because of his mobility, has missed the past six games and doesn't know when he'll return. So second-year man Andrew Walter gets to take the beating.

Rarely can Walter take advantage of his undeniably strong right arm because, for one, he's statuesque, a big target with feet of clay. And two, he holds the ball long enough to bake a cake.

And on many cases when Walter does decide to fire his cannon, the ball is dropped or treated like a plague-carrying rat. The Raiders have littered NFL fields with dropped passes. Even Randy Moss' once-reliable hands have turned to stone.

What we have seen in the first half of this season is an offense without a quick fix, without a deliberate fix, apparently beyond any fixing on the part of Shell, Walsh and everybody else with an idea.

"Who you have is what you have," Shell said. "And you've got to work with those players and make them as good as they can be. And that's what we're trying to do. This team was put together with the design that the players we have are the guys, of all the guys we had in camp, the guys we had to keep to make our team successful."

The first half was a failure of spectacular proportions, and the second-half begins Sunday in Oakland, against arch-rival Denver (6-2), followed by games at Kansas City (5-3) and San Diego (6-2). The Raiders were shut out by the Chargers in September and didn't get into the end zone against the Broncos last month.

Which is to say it could get worse before it gets better, if indeed "better" ever comes.


Monte Poole can be reached at (510) 208-6461 or by e-mail at [email protected].
 
Raiders' backs wondering where running game went

David White, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, November 8, 2006





LaMont Jordan, nine carries. Justin Fargas, one carry. Art Shell, one unhappy coach.

The Raiders ran the ball a season-low 13 times in Monday night's 16-0 loss at Seattle, and their running backs still have no idea why their jerseys stayed so clean, their legs so little-used.

They're not alone. Raiders coach Art Shell was just as puzzled. He's the one who boasted all offseason how he was returning smashmouth, downhill running to Oakland.

"We should have run the ball more," Shell said Tuesday. He blamed some of it on Seattle's run blitzes early in the game, but said that wasn't an excuse for a season-low six rushes in the first half.

"We got away from it and we shouldn't have. We should have ran the ball a lot more than we did. That was the game plan going in."

Shell isn't naming responsible parties, as is his norm, but only two people make such in-game decisions: offensive coordinator Tom Walsh in the booth, and quarterback Andrew Walter if he doesn't like what he sees at the line of scrimmage.

With all the crowd noise at Qwest Field, it wasn't as if Walter shouted out audibles left and right.

"Yeah, I was a little bit surprised," said Fargas, who had 41 carries the past two games but only one for -2 yards against the Seahawks.

"Just because I think that, even though we haven't been crushing people as far as our number rushing, I thought we were beginning to establish an attitude in that area, helping us win games."

Count this as the latest tell-tale sign the Raiders (2-6) still don't know what their offensive identity is in a season that's halfway done.

They have yet to do one thing well on a consistent basis, but at least they were running the ball (15th in the NFL) better than they were passing (32nd).

Yet, there they stood on the rain-drenched field - ideal conditions for running the ball - exposing Walter to prolonged abuse in the pocket.

Seattle's run game plugged away 39 times and, yes, Oakland players noticed.

"I don't know anything," Fargas said, "but if you stick to your attitude of running the ball ... in the first and second quarter, sometimes it's not going to be 15-, 30-yard gains. Sometimes it's going to be 3s and 4s, but that wears on a defense and eventually bigger runs will happen.

"So, that's what I would hope our game plan would be."

Jordan also questioned the play-calling after the game, and Shell admitted the Raiders can't function as a pass-happy team -- not when receivers drop balls upon contact or the anticipation of it, not when the pass protection crumbles to pieces and not when Walter misses way-open receivers when he actually has time.

So, feel free to anticipate a change in the run-pass ratio when the Raiders host Denver (Oakland ran 30 times in the first meeting) in the first of three straight games against AFC West opponents.

"There's no doubt about it, we need to do that," Shell said.

E-mail David White at [email protected].
 
Fargas agrees: Groundwork not there for offense

By Jason Jones - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 5:41 am PST Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C6

Print | E-Mail | Comments (2)

ALAMEDA-Now there are two running backs who don't know why the Raiders passed so much Monday night.

Backup tailback Justin Fargas echoed starter LaMont Jordan's sentiments that the Raiders need to establish an identity as running team.

The Raiders ran only 13 times in their 16-0 loss at Seattle.

"The numbers kind of stand out at you when they run the ball 39 times, we run the ball 13, you know what I mean?" Fargas said. "As far as time of possession and controlling the clock and game, we need to be able to do our part in the running game."

Raiders coach Art Shell said the Seahawks used run blitzes to negate the ground game, but added that didn't mean the Raiders should have abandoned the run.

"We should have run the ball a whole lot more than we did," Shell said. "That was the game plan going in."

Andrew Walter threw 35 passes and was sacked nine times.

Jordan said Monday night players and coaches needed to fix things, including maligned offensive coordinator Tom Walsh's play-calling.

"Players, they have a right to speak their mind," Shell said. "And if they feel like saying every player has to do this and the play-calling has to change, then so be it. But just don't be venomous about it. Voice your opinion -- that's fine, I can accept that."

Injury update -- Rookie starting strong safety Michael Huff left Monday night's game with a slight concussion. Shell said Huff is expected to play Sunday against Denver.

Backup linebacker and special teams contributor Isaiah Ekejiuba sprained his foot against the Seahawks and will be assessed later this week.

Starting left guard Barry Sims (abdomen) is questionable after missing Monday night's game.

Quarterback Aaron Brooks (strained right chest muscle), who began the season as the starter, will continue to practice after running scout team plays in his return to practice last week.
 
BRICKER: Davis' poor personnel decisions have been Raiders' downfall
Published November 8, 2006


After the Seattle Seahawks had rained down another nine sacks on the Raiders and vacated rainy Qwest Field with a 16-0 shutout, the ESPN studio talent dutifully began dissecting Oakland's wretched offense.

The consensus was that "something is wrong at the top," a conclusion unlikely to induce anyone to say, "Wow." It could have been provocative if they had identified owner Al Davis as the person most responsible for the debilitation of the Raiders.

Davis, 77 and physically weakened enough that he's no longer a daily presence on the practice field, still runs the club, poring over game tape and making all the personnel decisions.

Personnel decisions that have put a pastiche of mediocre players into his silver and black uniforms, including quarterbacks Aaron Brooks, who is injured, and 2005 third-round pick Andrew Walter, who has completed just 47 percent of his passes, thrown nine interceptions and been sacked 37 times.

The Raiders' defense? It's passable. But the offense, whew. It's averaging 4.0 yards per play (the league average is 5.1). It averages 27:10 of possession time.

It has generated only 28 second-half points in eight games, been shut out twice and held without a touchdown five times. The Raiders' turnover ratio is minus-9.

Against the Seahawks, they had 11 possessions, not counting a first-half kneel-down and time expiring in the fourth quarter, and punted 10 times. Early in the fourth quarter they reached the Seattle 39-yard line. They never got closer to the end zone.

They are leading the NFL, however, in one offensive category -- knees to the groin. Defensive end Tyler Brayton, another of Davis' uninspiring first-round picks (2003) was ejected near the end for assaulting tight end Jerramy Stevens.

No doubt it reminded Colorado University fans of the time in 2000 when Brayton was suspended during an August practice session for swinging his helmet at a teammate.
 
Ratings Slump With Raiders (2-6)

By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: November 8, 2006

The Oakland Raiders, with a 2-6 record, have brought their low-octane act to prime-time TV three times this season, with miserable results.



When Oakland lost, 13-3, to Denver on Oct. 15 on NBC, the game was seen by 12.3 million viewers, the fewest this season on the network.

Oakland will play in prime time once more, against the Chiefs on Saturday, Dec. 23 on the NFL Network.

For the season, NBC’s average Sunday night football viewership is up 11 percent to 17.8 million compared with “Monday Night” games on ABC last year.

This is ESPN’s first “Monday Night” season after 36 on ABC.

ESPN does not compare its “Monday Night” viewership with last year’s on ABC because it reaches 20 million fewer TV households. Instead, it compares its “Monday Night” results with its last season of Sunday night games last year. By that score, its average viewership is up 40 percent to 12.9 million.

ESPN also boasts that male viewers 18 or older are watching 71 minutes of the highly promoted “Monday Night” games, up 10 minutes from last year.

Seven of ESPN’s “Monday Night” games are in the top eight of the most-viewed programs in cable TV history. But 6 of its 10 games this season have ranked among the least viewed in “Monday Night” history.
 
Walter's sackability earns style points

By LOWELL COHN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT



SEATTLE - You’re probably wondering why Raiders quarterback Andrew Walter got sacked nine times and looked like a human yo-yo onMonday night. It’s an interesting question.

It’s like when you were in school and had to write an essay on the immediate causes of some big event, like how World War I started after they assassinated that archduke dude.

Here are the immediate causes for the sackability of Andrew Walter. He’s as slow as an armadillo. His offensive line can’t protect.

“Man, oh man, you’ve got to block people one-on-one and we didn’t do that and we lost the game,” coach Art Shell said of his offensive line.

More reasons for all those sacks. Raiders offensive coordinator Tom Walsh is locked into football as it was played decades ago. He believes in the outmoded vertical game and asks his receivers to run overly long routes.

The time it takes to run a long route gives defenders time to sack Walter. The long routes also mean Raiders offensive linemen have to hold their blocks longer than linemen on other teams. They obviously can’t.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I want to show I can be positive about the Raiders even if they can’t be positive about themselves.

Walter shows incredible technique and versatility in at least one area. He’s a genius at taking a sack. In honor of that, I plan to award him style points for performing this essential maneuver better than anyone else.

I give him a 9 for the typical sack — he had many of those against the Seahawks. A typical sack is when a defender blasts by an offensive lineman, making him look like a dope, grabs Walter and throws him on his back. That happened in the first quarter when Rocky Bernard planted Walter like a sack of manure.

But there were even better sacks.

Like the trifecta in the first quarter. That’s when Walter took one-two-three sacks all in a row. It’s rare when first, second and third down blow by in sacks, and for that you have to admire Walter the Sack Master.

He had other great moments.

Like when a defender barreled into center Jake Grove and caused him to roll into Walter’s legs, which caused Walter to fall down like someone playing a child’s game. Call it a 9.5 for style.

But the best of all took place in the second quarter when Walter had trouble spotting a receiver downfield. So he took off running, finally wandering out of bounds. Although no one ever hit Walter and although he had plenty of room to move up field, he chose to leave the playing field for precisely no gain.

His early exit was duly recorded as a sack. Which shows Walter is peerless in the sack-inventing department. His score on that play: 10.

Finally, I need to tell you about an awesome play by Walter that was not technically a sack. Forgive me for straying from the subject, but you’ll want to know about this one. It shows Walter excels in other areas and his skill is not limited to getting sacked, dumped, stomped and humiliated.

Late in the first half, Walter lined up in the shotgun. Nothing special in that. Unexpectedly, he started moving forward like a man in a trance.

Suddenly and for no accountable reason, the center snapped the ball. The sheer presence of the ball bearing down on him caught Walter by surprise. He watched in shock as it bounded past him — a play most football veterans never had seen before.

“It was the first time we’ve worked on the gun, including preseason,” Walter said.

The officials called it a false start on Walter. I call it sheer brilliance.

For pure originality of conception and flawless execution, I give Walter a 10-plus on that play, the only 10-plus ever awarded in football style points.

All of which shows, although the Raiders aren’t very good, they’re highly entertaining.

Walter is their No. 1 clown.
 
Sources: NFL to fine, not suspend Brayton, Stevens
Wed, 8 Nov 2006 07:19:02 PST

Tyler Brayton and Jerramy Stevens will both be fined but not suspended, league sources tell ESPN's Chris Mortensen



both stevens and brayton is getting fines not suspended
 
Moss vs. the P.D.

Randy Moss' relationship with the Bay Area press has been virtually nonexistent this season. As you blog-heads know, the local writers are mainly reduced to listening to Moss' interviews on FOX Sports Radio and scurrying around afterward to report on what he said.

Monday night, Moss went from aloof to asinine, and the object of his wrath was none other than Press Democrat columnist Lowell Cohn.

The story is spreading quickly in sports circles, so you might as well get the gist of what happened. A large cluster of reporters was gathered in the visitors' locker room at Qwest Field, waiting for quarterback Andrew Walter - whose locker happened to be near Moss'. The formerly dominant wide receiver came out of the shower area and announced to the cluster, "I'm not doing interviews." To which Lowell replied something along the lines of, "We're not interested in you, we're waiting for the quarterback."

This less-than-fawning reply apparently incensed Moss, who shot back, "Why do you have to make it personal? What's your name?"

Now, Lowell Cohn is one of the true nice guys among Bay Area sports scribes. But the guy is from Flatbush, for crying out loud, and he doesn't take crap from anyone -- not even 6-foot-4 receivers with mad hops. So Lowell's reply was: "I'm Lowell Cohn. And who are you?"

All of this was described to me by other writers. I had been around a corner in the locker room, talking to defensive players, so I missed it. I walked around the corner just in time to hear Moss cursing at Lowell and shouting, "I'm Moss! Eighteen! Moss, eighteen!"

At this point, a Raiders official entered the arena and tried to defuse the situation. It seemed to die away. But a few minutes later, while I was interviewing Robert Gallery, I heard Moss yelling behind me, "Hey, Bald Head! Where's Bald Head? That's Andrew Walter, Bald Head. Number 16." And so on.

In my opinion, it was a new low for the mercurial receiver. But at least he has a fresh excuse for never talking to us.

OK, I'm beating a dead horse, or at least a horse that has been knocked unconscious. But the Raiders need to practice a few screen passes. Every week, they throw one or two screens that look like they were designed by Borat. Or they look like a screen pass you might throw in the old electric football game, where vibrating players moved in curious directions and you had to flick the pass with that weird, giant plastic quarterback.

Andrew Walter is under constant assault from opposing pass rushers. Give the guy a break and work up some decent screens and flares to give those rushers something to think about.

How nonexistent is this aspect of the Raiders' offense? Last year, under Norv Turner, LaMont Jordan caught 70 passes for 563 yards. This year Jordan is on pace to catch 16 for 98 yards.

About eight days ago, I was ready to declare safety Michael Huff worthy of the No. 7 overall draft choice he commanded last April, and to announce that he had turned the corner toward stardom. He was excellent against the Steelers, filling gaps on seemingly every play and covering well, too.

OK, hold the fanfare. Before hurting himself in the third quarter, Huff had a miserable game in the Seattle rain. He completely whiffed on one tackle, allowing Maurice Morris to rumble for a 29-yard gain. He was beaten badly by wide receiver D.J. Hackett on a crossing route, and he missed the tackle on fullback Mack Strong that got him hurt.

"I expect more out of him, and he expects more out of himself," Art Shell said. "But young guys, (it's) going to happen. - You're going to have a week where you're very up, and the next week a team studies you, and so they try to put you in situations that you may not be able to handle. So, he had his share of downs yesterday. But he's a good kid. He's a good football player and he'll bounce back."

Tyler Brayton was appropriately hard on himself after he was shown kneeing Seattle tight end Jerramy Stevens in the family jewels on national TV. Not once did he mention that Stevens seemed to land the first cheap shot, though that is what longer replays seemed to show. If Brayton was unwilling to verbally defend himself, his teammates were ready to back him up.

"If that's what Tyler wanted to do, I mean, I'm behind him," safety Stuart Schweigert said Tuesday. "I mean, when a guy's doing that and he's being (a jerk) like that, Tyler made a decision to fight back. And of course, it's always gonna be the guy who retaliates second that's gonna be the one that's getting caught for it. But I knew there's an obvious reason for him to do that, and with Stevens it's no surprise."

Schweigert called Stevens a "dirty, dirty player."
 
Injuries Leave Broncos Wondering Who Will Play Oakland

Denver- Posted 11/7/06
Associated Press

Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan says he's not sure who will be able to play at Oakland this weekend.

The team suffered many injuries in Sunday's 31-20 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Shanahan says backup Sam Brandon will miss the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament after he was kicked in the right knee by defensive tackle Demetrin Veal.

Meanwhile, defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban has a strained thigh, and linebacker Ian Fold and backup defensive end Patrick Chukwurah have hamstring injuries.

Also, Receiver Rod Smith and cornerback Darrent Williams have slight shoulder separations.

Shanahan says that even though some of his players are beat up, they'll recover quickly.
 
Poor air quality: Broncos secondary was shredded past two games

The Broncos have seen the past two quarterbacks they've faced close in on reaching their pitch counts as they piled up a combined 778 passing yards and four touchdowns through the air. Darrent Williams feels he is up to the challenge. Darrent Williams, right, feels he is up to the challenge.

By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News
November 8, 2006
ENGLEWOOD - It's their touchdown story, and they're sticking to it.
The Broncos have seen the past two quarterbacks they've faced close in on reaching their pitch counts as they piled up a combined 778 passing yards and four touchdowns through the air.

The Broncos say they also see the bottom line through that haze of footballs.

"We didn't quite get it done against Indy, but I thought we had some big plays in Pittsburgh and we got some turnovers," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "And getting those turnovers, that's a sign of a team fighting for 60 minutes.

"Sure, we've got some things to clean up, but if you start at a point where you're fighting for 60 minutes out there, then you can do some things."

The Broncos certainly are in an odd statistical place. They own the league's top scoring defense, having surrendered 98 points in eight games - two fewer than the Chicago Bears - and yet the Broncos also have the league's 29th-ranked pass defense in net yards allowed a game (229.8).

And opponents have decided that's the way to go, with more of the same on deck. Much like last season, when teams threw an NFL-high 613 passes against them, the Broncos have reached the halfway point of the season having faced more pass attempts (298) than any team in the league.

Cornerback Darrent Williams knows what that means, too.

"It means teams can't always run the ball against us, and they are going to be looking at me with Champ (Bailey) on the other side," Williams said. "And playing on the other side from Champ, that puts some pressure out there. That's why I try hard to fly all over to make a play. I know everybody is always going to compare when you have Champ over there."

Also, with linebacker Ian Gold (right hamstring), defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban (thigh) and Williams (left shoulder) hurting, the Broncos have a starter at each level of their pass defense in question for Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders.

Couple that with the fact defensive tackle Gerard Warren (left big toe) is not full speed, and the Broncos know they need more pass rush to make quarterbacks uncomfortable so they can't pick away at a secondary that will have some adjustments.

The Broncos blitzed more against the Steelers than previously this season and might be in that situation again.

Safety Sam Brandon, a regular in some of the defense's situational work, is out for the season because of a torn right knee ligament, and linebacker Al Wilson and safeties Nick Ferguson and John Lynch left the game Sunday for a time because of concussions.

"We adjust," Wilson said. "That's all we can do. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us, send us a card or anything like that. We have to play, and we have to get it done."

The Raiders have the league's 32nd-ranked offense and 32nd-ranked passing attack. Raiders quarterbacks also have been sacked more times - 44 - than any team in the league. The Raiders are the league's only offense to have allowed 30 sacks or more this season.

Bailey, with five interceptions, is expected to see Randy Moss plenty Sunday, and that would leave Williams - or Domonique Foxworth, if the injury keeps Williams out - matched up in some way against Alvis Whitted, Ronald Curry or Jerry Porter.

Porter didn't play in the teams' first meeting this season because of a simmering feud with coach Art Shell but has been in uniform for the past two games and could stay out of the doghouse long enough to get significant playing time.
Two weeks ago, with the Broncos spending much of the day in zone coverage, the Colts kept much of the passing action to Williams' side of the field.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was a little less choosy, having completed at least four passes to each of seven receivers.

"I think sometimes you can't just pick on me," Williams said. "Indy, you know, they've got Peyton (Manning), he's zipping the ball all over. You don't play Peyton every week. I don't think I'm a bad corner at all. . . .

"It's just one those things. I'm still confident in what I can do, I still think I'm a pretty good corner. People can throw it over at me if they want; I just need to make them pay for it."
 
Raider-Bronco Connections

CONNECTIONS

RAIDERS: Defensive backs/squad development coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Willie Brown played for the Broncos from 1963-66 before being traded to the Raiders...Defensive line coach Keith Millard spent four seasons as an assistant with the Broncos...Defensive backs coach Chuck Pagano is a native of Boulder ...DB Tyrone Poole played for Denver in 2001...Both starting quarterbacks, Andrew Walter and Broncos Jake Plummer once played for Arizona State...WR Johnnie Morant and Broncos FB Kyle Johnson were teammates at Syracuse...WR Ronald Curry played with Broncos DE Ebenezer Ekuban at North Carolina...C Jake Grove and Broncos DE John Engelberger both played for Virginia Tech...T Chad Slaughter played at Alcorn State with Broncos LB Louis Green...SS Derrick Gibson and K Sebastian Janikowski were teammates with Broncos WR Javon Walker at Florida State...S Jarrod Cooper went to Kansas State with Broncos WR Quincy Morgan...DT Warren Sapp and teammate CB Duane Starks as well as Broncos LB Nate Webster and DE Kenard Lang all once played for Miami (Fla.)...QB Andrew Walter is a Grand Junction native...LB Tyler Brayton attended the University of Colorado.

BRONCOS: Head Coach Mike Shanahan was the head coach of the Raiders in 1988 and for four games in 1989...Quarterbacks coach Pat McPherson is a Santa Clara native who played at the University of Santa Clara...Defensive line coach Andre Patterson went to Harry Ells High in Richmond and played two years at Contra Costa Junior College. Patterson was also the head coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo from 1994-96...TE Nate Jackson was born in San Jose and attended Menlo College...S John Lynch attended Stanford...LB D.J. Williams attended De La Salle High School in Concord...Linebackers coach Kirk Doll coached Raiders LB Grant Irons at Notre Dame where he served as assistant and linebackers coach...Special teams assistant Thomas McCaughey coached Raiders CB Stanford Routt at the University of Houston in 2004 where he served as special teams coordinator and cornerbacks coach...Running backs coach Bobby Turner coached at Fresno State from 1983-88.
 
SI Rips Randy

SI's hate of the Raiders is well documented - but I agree with this piece.


Where have you gone Randy Moss?
Raiders receiver will likely never be a factor again

Posted: Wednesday November 8, 2006 2:30PM; Updated: Wednesday November 8, 2006 2:30PM

Randy Moss has 32 catches for 447 yards and three touchdowns this season.

Back when Randy Moss was a great receiver (remember those days?), he was also a colossal pain in the posterior a great deal of the time. If he wasn't trying to run over traffic cops in the street, he was pretending to pull down his pants and rub up against a goalpost in Green Bay. He was childish, irresponsible and crude, the embodiment of the modern-day spoiled athlete.

And we miss him.

OK, maybe we don't miss the flawed personality, but we miss the brilliant athleticism that seemed to come along with it. Moss doesn't make as much trouble these days, but he doesn't make nearly as many big plays, either, much to the dismay of his employers, the Oakland Raiders, and fans who appreciated his remarkable talent.

He's made a few minor off-the-field headlines in recent years, including his admission that he smokes marijuana "once in a blue moon," but for the most part it seems Moss can't be bothered to stir up much excitement on or off the field anymore. He is still an obscenely gifted receiver, but he no longer seems interested in showing off those gifts. Instead he drifts through Raiders games, running passionless pass patterns, making half-hearted efforts at tough catches, and often dropping easy ones.

It's sad, really, watching a great athlete who no longer plays like one. But this isn't Willie Mays with the Mets or some over-the-hill fighter still climbing into the ring. Moss is only 29, as capable of great things as he ever was. He is a has-been by choice.

Make no mistake about it, Moss is finished as a great receiver. His passion isn't coming back. Pedestrian performances like last Monday night against Seattle, when he caught caught six passes for 76 yards and dropped several others, are the norm for him now. It's hard to believe that he's the same receiver who effortlessly outran and outjumped defensive backs when he was with the Minnesota Vikings, racking up six straight seasons of 1,200 yards or more. Moss has had only one game this season that measured up to his previous standards, a seven-catch, 129-yard day against the Arizona Cardinals. Other than that, he's produced nothing but mediocrity -- four catches, 47 yards against San Diego, two for 20 against Pittsburgh, five for 52 against the 49ers.

Raiders fans were thrilled by Moss' arrival in a trade before last season, but he has given them little to be excited about since. The No. 18 Moss jerseys that were so popular in the Bay Area a year ago are slowly disappearing as fans realize that the new Moss is not the same as the old Moss. The Raiders, meanwhile, sink deeper and deeper into the abyss, with an outdated, overmatched offense that could desperately use the kind of big-play threat Moss used to bring.

The most discouraging part is that Moss doesn't seem to care about his obvious decline. He doesn't seem to mind that he's no longer among the most feared players at his position, surpassed by players like Steve Smith and Chad Johnson. Moss throws out the occasional cryptic comment about the pathetic Raiders organization, but he doesn't really complain, because that would be too much trouble.

Maybe what he needs is a wide receiver intervention. Maybe Smith and Johnson and Terrell Owens need to show up on Moss's doorstep for a round of trash-talking and end-zone boogies to restore the old arrogance, the old rebelliousness, that Moss used to display. It probably wouldn't help, though. The fire, once gone, is almost impossible to re-light. Randy Moss doesn't care that he was once a great receiver, and soon, neither will anyone else.
 
Stanny said:
Randy Moss' relationship with the Bay Area press has been virtually nonexistent this season. As you blog-heads know, the local writers are mainly reduced to listening to Moss' interviews on FOX Sports Radio and scurrying around afterward to report on what he said.

Monday night, Moss went from aloof to asinine, and the object of his wrath was none other than Press Democrat columnist Lowell Cohn.

The story is spreading quickly in sports circles, so you might as well get the gist of what happened. A large cluster of reporters was gathered in the visitors' locker room at Qwest Field, waiting for quarterback Andrew Walter - whose locker happened to be near Moss'. The formerly dominant wide receiver came out of the shower area and announced to the cluster, "I'm not doing interviews." To which Lowell replied something along the lines of, "We're not interested in you, we're waiting for the quarterback."

This less-than-fawning reply apparently incensed Moss, who shot back, "Why do you have to make it personal? What's your name?"

Now, Lowell Cohn is one of the true nice guys among Bay Area sports scribes. But the guy is from Flatbush, for crying out loud, and he doesn't take crap from anyone -- not even 6-foot-4 receivers with mad hops. So Lowell's reply was: "I'm Lowell Cohn. And who are you?"

All of this was described to me by other writers. I had been around a corner in the locker room, talking to defensive players, so I missed it. I walked around the corner just in time to hear Moss cursing at Lowell and shouting, "I'm Moss! Eighteen! Moss, eighteen!"

At this point, a Raiders official entered the arena and tried to defuse the situation. It seemed to die away. But a few minutes later, while I was interviewing Robert Gallery, I heard Moss yelling behind me, "Hey, Bald Head! Where's Bald Head? That's Andrew Walter, Bald Head. Number 16." And so on.

In my opinion, it was a new low for the mercurial receiver. But at least he has a fresh excuse for never talking to us.

OK, I'm beating a dead horse, or at least a horse that has been knocked unconscious. But the Raiders need to practice a few screen passes. Every week, they throw one or two screens that look like they were designed by Borat. Or they look like a screen pass you might throw in the old electric football game, where vibrating players moved in curious directions and you had to flick the pass with that weird, giant plastic quarterback.

Andrew Walter is under constant assault from opposing pass rushers. Give the guy a break and work up some decent screens and flares to give those rushers something to think about.

How nonexistent is this aspect of the Raiders' offense? Last year, under Norv Turner, LaMont Jordan caught 70 passes for 563 yards. This year Jordan is on pace to catch 16 for 98 yards.

About eight days ago, I was ready to declare safety Michael Huff worthy of the No. 7 overall draft choice he commanded last April, and to announce that he had turned the corner toward stardom. He was excellent against the Steelers, filling gaps on seemingly every play and covering well, too.

OK, hold the fanfare. Before hurting himself in the third quarter, Huff had a miserable game in the Seattle rain. He completely whiffed on one tackle, allowing Maurice Morris to rumble for a 29-yard gain. He was beaten badly by wide receiver D.J. Hackett on a crossing route, and he missed the tackle on fullback Mack Strong that got him hurt.

"I expect more out of him, and he expects more out of himself," Art Shell said. "But young guys, (it's) going to happen. - You're going to have a week where you're very up, and the next week a team studies you, and so they try to put you in situations that you may not be able to handle. So, he had his share of downs yesterday. But he's a good kid. He's a good football player and he'll bounce back."

Tyler Brayton was appropriately hard on himself after he was shown kneeing Seattle tight end Jerramy Stevens in the family jewels on national TV. Not once did he mention that Stevens seemed to land the first cheap shot, though that is what longer replays seemed to show. If Brayton was unwilling to verbally defend himself, his teammates were ready to back him up.

"If that's what Tyler wanted to do, I mean, I'm behind him," safety Stuart Schweigert said Tuesday. "I mean, when a guy's doing that and he's being (a jerk) like that, Tyler made a decision to fight back. And of course, it's always gonna be the guy who retaliates second that's gonna be the one that's getting caught for it. But I knew there's an obvious reason for him to do that, and with Stevens it's no surprise."

Schweigert called Stevens a "dirty, dirty player."
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Moss is inundated with interview requests, I'm sure, so it isn't unreasonable for him to see a throng of reporters and say, "I'm not doing interviews." The fact is that this became an issue because a reporter decided to be a disrespectful smart ass.

So now we get another article about how rotten the Raiders are to the media. Lowell Cohn is a "good guy" amongst Bay Area Sportswriters... and he just so happened to have penned a piece a week or so ago about what a rotten person Al Davis is because he had the temerity to confront a writer about something that he'd written. Well, boo-fucking-hoo.

You happened to have posted Lowell Cohn's most recent article. It is the one about "Walter's sackability" and it happens to be a complete hatchet job. But, yeah... he's one of the "true nice guys" in the Bay Area.

Fuck Lowell Cohn and fuck his whiney ass friends who have no better story to write than "My friend was an asshole and it pissed Randy Moss off."
 
Thanks for taking the time Stanny...

It's a shame we have such lousy beat writers following this team. We all know the offense blows, and we all pretty much know why the offense blows... but for a real Raider fan, the story that's really worth following is what Rob Ryan has quietly done with this defense. Considering all the 3 and outs and the blatantly skewed TOP, this is one of the most impressive Raider defenses I've seen in a long time. Add to that they're doing this with just one All Pro (Burgess) and a bunch of young, role players... I'm pumped about what I'm seeing out there on defense. It's a damn shame we don't have a single beat writer that thinks this is worthy of a story.
 
SoCalRaider said:
Thanks for taking the time Stanny...

It's a shame we have such lousy beat writers following this team. We all know the offense blows, and we all pretty much know why the offense blows... but for a real Raider fan, the story that's really worth following is what Rob Ryan has quietly done with this defense. Considering all the 3 and outs and the blatantly skewed TOP, this is one of the most impressive Raider defenses I've seen in a long time. Add to that they're doing this with just one All Pro (Burgess) and a bunch of young, role players... I'm pumped about what I'm seeing out there on defense. It's a damn shame we don't have a single beat writer that thinks this is worthy of a story.
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I'm with you bud...trust me it sucks reading all the negativity about our team and I hate even posting it at times, but it is what it is. They only way to get these dead beat writers off our asses is to win. As you stated, Roby Ryan has done a great job and I can't wait to continue to see them grow. Shell needs to cut his ties with Walsh, bring in a TE's coach and start to rebuild this offense into a power house.
 
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