Silver and Black Report

The Oakland Raiders on Tuesday waived safety Stevie Brown.

The rookie was a key contributor to their victory against the Rams on Sunday with solid efforts on special teams. The club also announced that they parted ways with Jonathan Holland.

It is likely that the Silver & Black will retain Brown for their practice squad if he does clear waivers.

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

QUARTERBACK: C

JaMarcus Russell bounced back from his benching last week with a conservative and safe effort against the Chargers. When Oakland drafted him, they hoped that at this point of his career he’d be using his big arm to go vertical and deep. Today, the majority of his passes were short and non-threatening to the San Diego secondary. He opened the game with a quick 5-yard toss to Zach Miller for 5-yards. His second pass was off a play fake in which Russell overthrew Miller, who was covered by multiple defenders, and was intercepted by Antonio Cromartie. On Oakland’s second possession, he overthrew a wide-open Miller again on a 3^rd and 4, displaying poor footwork; as he never set his feet to get off a strong throw. He did the same thing in the 3^rd quarter, floating a pass to Louis Murphy – who was in double coverage – as he moved backward when releasing the football. His best pass was late in the 4^th quarter, facing a 4^th and 7, avoiding the rush in the pocket and finding Miller for 10-yards. He ended 14-of-22 for 109 yards at a measly 5.0 yards per completion. It’s agonizing watching this passing attack struggling for every yard they can tally and not being able to present a threat to opposing defensive backfields.

RUNNING BACKS & FULLBACKS: B

Justin Fargas again demonstrated great determination and fought hard to pick up every one of those 59-yards compiled this afternoon. He was able to tie the game at seven in the 2^nd quarter with a 3yard touchdown run – his first score of the season. Fargas added 3 receptions for 20-yards. Michael Bush got 7-carries for 27-yards. Early in the game it looked like he could romp through the Charger defense, but the offensive line could not sustain their blocks throughout the game and Bush’s production waned as the game went on. Luke Lawton blocked well in stints.

WIDE RECEIVERS & TIGHT ENDS: F

On 2^nd and 28 in the 4^th quarter, the Raiders receiver woes were highlighted when Johnnie Lee Higgins and Louis Murphy ran into each other at the start of the play, taking themselves out and collapsing to the turf erasing any chance of Russell having them as targets. On that play, Shawne Merriman recorded a sack. Higgins’ only catch of the game came on a 3^rd and 5 in the 3^rd quarter in which he gained 6-yards. Darrius Heyward-Bey finished with one reception for 10-yards, which came at the end of the 2^nd quarter right before they scored on a field goal to make it 21-10 Chargers. Higgins was futile in his attempt to volley a pass from Russell to Heyward-Bey on 4^th and 20 at the end of the contest – attempting a lateral before completing a catch. Murphy had a drive-killing false start on 3^rd and 8 at the start of the final quarter. Zach Miller compiled 5-receptions for 52-yards, but struggled blocking allowing Steve Gregory to blow past him for a sack on a 3^rd and 10 and was ineffective aiding the line on running downs. Brandon Myers recorded his first two receptions in the NFL.

OFFENSIVE LINE: D

Khalif Barnes was horrendous. He was flagged for a false start in the first quarter, and late in the game, and was consistently beat by an attacking Charger front-seven. Cooper Carlisle struggled inside getting any push, was infracted for a false start as well and Mario Henderson was victimized by Merriman and Shaun Phillips for a few sacks. This group looked nothing like the dominant unit that knocked around the Chargers during their first match-up.

DEFENSIVE LINE: C

The 100-rushing yards allowed were not crippling. The front-seven was able to contain LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles, but most of the day, they could not get any pressure on Philip Rivers. Matt Shaughnessy was the best performer on the defense tallying 5 tackles (most of them around or behind the line of scrimmage versus the run) and his first career sack.

LINEBACKERS: B

Jon Alston has his most active game this year with 5-tackles and solid play versus the Charger ground game. Kirk Morrison ran freely and Thomas Howard got good depth in coverage versus Antonio Gates. Their one-mix up when in zone coverage came when Morrison released Gates into the back-end of the secondary with no help for a gain of 30-yards on a 3^rd and 4.

SECONDARY: D

Rivers orchestrated a solid passing attack and finished with 249 passing yards. Vincent Jackson tortured Chris Johnson and Stanford Routt, as he tallied 103 yards and a score on 8 receptions. Malcolm Floyd out jumped Michael Huff on San Diego’s first play, a pass that gained 53-yards and set Tomlinson up for a 6-yard touchdown scamper on the next play. Floyd tormented Johnson, as he drew a flag in the first half on the Raider defensive back for illegal contact. Johnson’s second interception of the season came off a bobbled Rivers pass. That turnover helped the Silver & Black tie the game at 7. Tyvon Branch was very good at times covering Gates and helping in run support. But Jackson consistently beat the Raiders; gaining 20-yards on a 3^rd and 7, 14-yards on a 3^rd and 9 and scoring on a 3^rd and 4. Rivers challenged Nnamdi Asomugha once, as he completed a difficult 3^rd and 10 pass to Chris Chambers for 20-yards with the receiver looking into the sun and blanketed by the All-Pro cornerback.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A

Jonathan Holland had his best game returning this season. He compiled 145 yards on kickoffs, but none were more important than the 60-yards he acquired to set-up the Oakland offense at the San Diego 37-yard line before the end of the half.  Branch was stellar containing Sproles on punt returns. Sebastian Janikowski was 3-for-3, nailing field goals from 48, 41 and 28-yards. Sam Williams got penetration when attacking a punt, just barely grazed the football, but was not able to affect the flight of the punt enough to help Oakland. Sproles had a 39-yard return and was chased down from behind by rookie Mike Mitchell.

COACHING: C

Tom Cable is trying to ease Russell through his tough times. He has simplified the offense a lot, but at this point there is no scary aspect to this passing attack nor is there any chance of this team coming back when they are down in games or have to go the length of the field in a short time. When Oakland started their drive at the 4:38 mark of the 4^th quarter down by 8, you just got the feeling that there was no way they could move the chains down the field 74-yards for a chance at the upset. A few times on 3^rd downs, Oakland elected to run the ball with Fargas instead of letting their pricey passer find a way to get a first down. Unlike Russell, Rivers and the Chargers can get big chunks of yardage and find a way to convert when they are facing long down and distances. John Marshall’s secondary was torched and Norv Turner’s play calling at times had Oakland off-balance.

GAME NOTES

• Tomlinson scored twice, increasing his total to 25 against the Raiders. The Hall of Fame bound rusher has scored three touchdowns against the Silver & Black and none against any other opponent this season.
• Russell was sacked five times, twice by Shaun Phillips who increased his career total against the Raiders to 11.5. Merriman tallied his first two sacks of the campaign.
• Oakland has lost 13 straight games to San Diego.

Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

QUARTERBACKS: F

The loudest cheers during this lowly contest were of fans happy to see Bruce Gradkowski in at quarterback for the ineffective JaMarcus Russell. Oakland pulled their pricey young passer after he went 6-for-11 for 61 yards with 2 interceptions and a lost fumble. Russell had three turnovers in four possessions and after the fifth drive, the coaching staff and crowd had seen enough. The former number one overall pick was sacked on the opening play of the game and lost the football, giving the Jets a start at the Oakland 4-yard line. Russell again showed poor pocket presence, was oblivious to the incoming pressure, locked down the field to his target and victimized the offense with his lack of awareness. On a 2^nd and 8 a few drives later, he was blitzed, panicked and lofted a pass into Jim Leonhard’s hands that was returned 44-yards to the Oakland 4-yard line. Russell has accounted for 13 turnovers and completed only 46% of his passes. Gradkowski finished 10-of-19 for 97 yards. He attempted to go long on his first pass to Louis Murphy, but Darrelle Revis broke up the toss. In his first drive of the second half, Gradkowski eluded blitzing defenders and ran for a 20-yard gain. But a few plays later Calvin Pace stripped him while scrambling on 3^rd and 5.

RUNNING BACKS & FULLBACKS: B

This grade is solely based on Justin Fargas’ constant professionalism. He ran 8 times for 67-yards and added 3 receptions for 23-yards. Fargas was one of the few Raiders who showed up ready to play and did not give up when the game was out of reach. Michael Bush had another non-eventful performance, carrying the football 8 times for 25-yards. After a solid outing last week, Gary Russell was silent as a ball carriers and pass catcher.

WIDE RECEIVERS & TIGHT ENDS: F

Louis Murphy had 4 grabs for 58-yards, but most of those stats were compiled during garbage time. The rookie out of Florida hurt the Raiders on offense on their second drive, dropping a catch able pass on 3^rd and 3. He tried to take out a Jets defender at the end of Tony Stewart’s 19-yard reception on a 3^rd and 10 in the first quarter, but got shook up after the huge impact. Darrius Heyward-Bey had 2 receptions for 28-yards, but again was a non-threat. His 24-yard grab in the first quarter was probably the best executed pass play of the afternoon, as the Jets blitzed and Russell was able to sit in the pocket and fire a dart to the rookie. Heyward-Bey had his hands on a fade pattern late in the 4^th quarter that he should have come down with in the end zone. Zach Miller had only 2 receptions and Todd Watkins again had drops, and was no help to Russell on a pass that Revis made a spectacular play on to haul in the interception.

OFFENSIVE LINE: F

The Jets came into the game allowing 148 rushing yards per during their three-game slide. And with no Kris Jenkins, the Raiders offensive line was not able to establish themselves for any sustained drives. They allowed 3 sacks and were confused at times when Rex Ryan attacked with his blitzing 3-4 fronts. The Jets also played without Shaun Ellis, who left the game in the 1^st quarter with an ankle injury.

DEFENSIVE LINE: F

Oakland let the Jets run wild for 316 yards on the ground. Thomas Jones followed up his career outing last week with 121 yards and a score. Rookie Shonn Greene tallied his first 2 touchdowns of his career and 144 yards rushing. Greene came on when New York’s multi-dimensional rusher Leon Washington was lost with a broken leg earlier in the contest. The Jets’ offensive line dominated from the start. Richard Seymour was flagged for a personal foul on a 3^rd and 5 after the Raiders held and forced an incompletion out of Mark Sanchez.

LINEBACKERS: F

This group missed tackles, was out of position and when John Marshall sold out to stop the run with this corps, it just put them in bad configurations all afternoon. Kirk Morrison almost got an interception in the 4^th quarter; one of the few times he dropped back into zone and the front-four applied pressure. It seemed like every time the Raiders run blitzed, the Jets took advantage of missing defenders on the second level.

SECONDARY: D

Chris Johnson was bad again. David Clowney torched him on the 35-yard touchdown reception and on a 19-yard grab on 3^rd and 6. The Jets were hurt at wide receiver this week, playing without Jerricho Cotchery and Brad Smith. In the 2^nd quarter, Stanford Routt was flagged for defensive holding on a 3^rd and 5 that was not converted. Michael Huff saved a few big plays as the last line of defender on many runs. Unfortunately for Oakland, many of those times, the Jets already had ripped through the defense for big chunks.

SPECIAL TEAMS: F

The Jets toyed with the Raiders punt coverage team in the first quarter with a fake punt. Steven Weatherford ran for 16-yards before Isaiah Ekejiuba could make the stop, with the majority of the coverage team with their backs to the punter. Jonathan Holland has been futile on kickoff returns. He puts no fear on opposing coverage teams and the blocking on kickoffs has been dreadful.

COACHING: F

With a second home game after a solid performance last week in front of the ‘Black Hole’, Tom Cable’s bunch missed a great opportunity to send a message to their fan base and the rest of the NFL that they were in fact turning the corner. The Raiders came out flat, were not inspired and played a horrendous game at home against a team that had a struggling rookie passer, many of their best players inactive, a first year coach trying to steer his team away from a fourth straight loss while traveling across country for their lone west coast visit. Cable takes a big hit for this performance. Now he has to play psychologist in dealing with Russell and his benching.

GAME NOTES

• Former Raiders head coach Bill Callahan – who was at the helm during Oakland’s last winning season in 2002 – now the assistant head coach/offensive line coach for the Jets, was showered after the game with a Gatorade bath. Callahan’s team in 2002 led the NFL in passing and set new team records for total offensive yards (6,237), first downs (366), first downs passing (226), passes attempted (619), passes completed (418), passing yards (4,689) and highest completion percentage (67.5).
• TV cameras caught Mark Sanchez eating a hot dog on the sidelines. “I want to apologize for that,” he said. “I wasn’t feeling very good and didn’t eat much before the game, so I was feeling a little queasy. Toward the end of the game, I probably should have eaten one of those bars or something, but someone offered [a hot dog], so I grabbed it and tried to be discreet about it, but obviously not discreet enough. So I shouldn’t have done that, and it won’t happen again.”
• Seymour, who talked earlier in the week about the Raiders making the playoffs stated after the loss, “I don’t think we could have beaten an Oakland high school team today.”
• Cable stated about his quarterback situation, “I thought [Russell] was really out of sorts early in the game. I just did not feel like at that point he gave us the best chance to have the success we needed to have offensively and made the move. JaMarcus will continue to be our starter. There is no issue there.”

Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – On the first play of the second quarter, Eli Manning connected with Mario Manningham for a 30-yard score to cap a 5-play 94-yard drive. The Giants led 21-0 at that point and dominated the box score with 249-total yards of offense as oppose to the Raiders 18-total yards.

Oakland fell deeper into a black hole on their next drive when Terrell Thomas blitzed, sacking JaMarcus Russell and forcing a fumble that was recovered by Justin Tuck at the Raiders 13-yard line. Three plays later, Manning hit Hakeem Nicks on a 9-yard toss to give the Giants a dominating 28-0 lead. Manning at that point was 8-of-10 for 173 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Raiders were three and out again on their next drive. Russell scrambled on 3^rd and 3 but fell inched short of the 1^st down marker.

Oakland stopped the Giants from hitting paydirt on the ensuing drive. Brandon Jacobs bulldozed for 12-yards on the first play of the drive but was shutdown after that forcing the first punt of the game by Jeff Feagles.

Oakland then mounted their best drive when Russell hit Zach Miller for 21-yards to start. A few plays later, Michael Bush runs for 8-yards. On 3^rd and 2, Bush ran for no yards, Samson Satele was called for a hold, but the Giants opted to decline and force a 4^th down. The Raiders then went for it and converted the 4^th and 2 on a Russell 3-yard scamper. The drive ended near midfield when Russell was blindsided by Michael Johnson for a 6-yard sack on 3^rd and 6.

The Raiders were fortunate when Sinorice Moss muffed the ensuing punt and Jonathan Holland recovered the loose ball at the Giants 15-yard line. After a 9-yard pass interference penalty on CC Brown gave the ball near the goal line, Bush rumbled into the end zone from 5-yards out to put Oakland on the board, down 28-7.

Manning departed on the Giants next drive, giving away to back-up David Carr with a huge-lead and unscathed after a week where there was doubt whether or not he would play due to a foot injury.

Carr completed his first pass to Manningham for 6-yards. Ahmad Bradshaw then ripped a 19-yard run before Carr connected with Steve Smith for 19-yards. They would eventually punt after getting to midfield.

The Raiders started their possession with 0:43 left in the half. Russell and Luke Lawton connected for 14-yards, but on the next play, Justin Tuck sacked Oakland’s passer and Osi Umenyiora recovered at the 25-yard line.

Carr then hit Darcy Johnson for 10-yards and with 0:06 remianing, Lawrence Tynes hit a 25-yard field goal to extend the Giants lead to 31-7.

SCORE: Giants 31 – Raiders 7

First Half Stats:

First Downs: NY 18 – OAK 5

Total Yards: NY 340 – OAK 68

Passing Yards: NY 211 – OAK 25

Rushing Yards: NY 129 – OAK 43

Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report.net Columnist

In my column ‘Countdown to Paydirt’ last week, I commented, “will the real Raider rush defense please stand-up….”

Well, we got our answer this weekend and over the course of the last two games, as the Oakland Raiders have allowed 388 yards rushing versus the Chiefs and Broncos. This after their impressive effort in week-one against the Chargers when John Marshall’s group held Darren Sproles and LaDainian Tomlinson to 21 first half yards and 77 the entire game.

They are allowing 155 ground yards per game (28^th in the NFL), and after an off-season of talking about being disciplined, staying in gaps and the acquisition of Richard Seymour, the Raiders look like the same team that cannot stop the bleeding against the run.

“We were not able to stop them from running the football,” said Tom Cable after the game.

And the disappointment of not being able to hold their own in the trenches boiled over, especially when Richard Seymour got flagged for a personal foul in the 2^nd half. “I think there is a lot of stuff that goes on in the line of scrimmage. He could have been. His frustration probably was more on the fact we weren’t getting of the field and we are getting the ball run on us,” Cable continued.

Oakland now faces a stretch where they will face Houston, who has struggled to run the football, but feature a capable Steve Slaton (38 car. 127 yards), New York (the 8^th ranked rushing offense in the league averaging 142.0 per contest), Philadelphia (ranked 12^th in rushing) and the New York Jets (12^th ranked rush attack), before facing San Diego again.

WALKER; IS HE IN, OR OUT?

The Raiders need to make a decision on Javon Walker. The former Bronco receiver who was inactive yesterday said after the game that he was ready to play, stating, “I’m more than healthy enough.”

If that is the case, why is he not on the field?

JaMarcus Russell is struggling, partly because of the inexperience at wide receiver and the lack of talent on that unit. So why not play a veteran who claims to be healthy and that you have paid a lot of money to? It seems like Oakland is fine with Walker collecting a check and not contributing to this club. And that is a bad message especially since Walker is saying all the right things and claiming he is ready to go.

With the offense ranking 30^th in points scored per game, last in passing yards per contest and struggling mightily, why is he inactive then?

“I watch those guys make plays on the opposite side of the ball. It’s kind of weird because every time they made a catch, they would look at me because they know that, they know my mentality playing football. I was in Denver with all those guys.”

Walker continued, “They know my aggressiveness when it comes to attacking balls and making plays. That has not changed here.”

Chaz Schilens may come back this week, but that won’t suddenly make this offense more potent. Schilens has 15-career receptions and is a project himself, even though he may be recognized by the staff as their best receiver.

“I’m just going with the flow,” commented Walker.

I guess I would too if I already banked $12 million in my first year as a Raider and have close to $4 million coming to me this season.

NOTES:

Mike Mitchell, exciting the crowd prior to a thumb injury

• Prior to the game yesterday, Oakland activated Jonathan Holland from the practice squad and waived running back Louis Rankin.
• John Bowie had an MCL injury, Michael Huff could not finish the game with quad and rib injuries and Mike Mitchell sustained a thumb injury.

Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

QUARTERBACK: F

JaMarcus Russell continues to look lost, overwhelmed and his passing woes carried over this week again, which directly led to the ineptitude of the Oakland Raiders’ offense for a second straight contest. He was 12-of-21 for 61 yards and 2 interceptions. The 2.9 yards per completion was embarrassing. Oakland attempted to shorten routes, limit his attempts to dump offs and screens to his best players on offense – the running backs – and that still could not get the big-armed passer going. His interceptions led to ten Denver points. At the start of Oakland’s second drive, Russell was not able to hit his fullback on a short pass in the flat that Champ Bailey almost picked off. A play later, he went deep to Darrius Heyward-Bey, a poor decision due to the double coverage presented, being backed into your own end-zone and needing to be more of a game manager, playing smarter football in keeping your team in the game early, as the ball was intercepted by Renaldo Hill. His next throw was another overthrow to his speedy rookie receiver which fell into the hands of Andre’ Goodman. His best toss of the game was in the 2^nd quarter; an 18-yard rocket to Louis Murphy on 3^rd and 4 that hit his target in stride. Before the half, he appeared to hit his tight end for a gain of 29-yards, but a booth review determined that Zach Miller was not able to stay in bounds. Russell is not getting better. His confidence looks shot. And through this, Oakland is trying to run basic plays to get him out of the funk.

RUNNING BACKS: F

Darren McFadden looked fragile this afternoon. Denver rocked him a few times, which led to him going down easily on a few plays and coughing up the football in critical spots. On the second play of the game, a poorly executed screen pass, McFadden lost handle of the football. On 2^nd and 11 in the 2^nd quarter, he had the ball ripped out of his hands by Mario Haggan (a play that almost took them out of FG range) and in the 3^rd quarter, he fumbled away the possession in the red-zone during Oakland’s only realistic threat to hit paydirt. He ended with 12 carries for 45 yards. Michael Bush did not perform any better, tallying 20-yards on 6 carries. Justin Fargas recorded his first touches of the season in mop up duty. Luke Lawton made a cameo early in the game.

WIDE RECEIVERS & TIGHT ENDS: F

Again, Louis Murphy was the lone receiver to record some touches, ending with 2 grabs for 25-yards. Bush led the team in receptions with 4 for 20-yards, but most of them were off broken plays, short dump offs that were ineffective, as opponents are not afraid of the Raiders vertical attack. Defenses are collapsing on the Raiders, which is causing a lot of traffic around the line of scrimmage. Heyward-Bey is not ready to handle a starting role in this league, and it is showing week-to-week. Javon Walker was inactive. Oakland is pinning their hopes on Chaz Schilens’ return; a receiver with only 15 career catches to ignite a dormant aerial attack. Zach Miller had 2 receptions; his 12-yard gainer on a 3^rd and 16 helped the Raiders set-up their lone scoring opportunity.

OFFENSIVE LINE: F

This unit has gotten progressively worse since the 1^st half of the Charger game. They are not playing with any fire; they cannot push around anyone and are passive during run plays. Tom Cable’s favorite group is beaten at the point of attack consistently and it has a serious impact on their inability to run the football. They managed only 38-yards rushing at the half and 95 for the game. Robert Gallery’s presence was missing. Cornell Green would have added to his resume of penalties this week with another hold, but Denver had mercy on the Raiders and decline it to force a 3^rd and 10. Erik Pears had a false start infraction late in the game and looked mediocre at best in his first start as a Raider. The line allowed three-sacks and was out of sync for the majority of the game. Chris Morris was flagged for a holding penalty, negating a Raider first down and putting them in a 2^nd and 13 trap. Any success Oakland had running the ball came from rushing behind RG Cooper Carlisle.

DEFENSIVE LINE: F

Well, after three-games, we can establish that not much has changed concerning the run defense. The Raiders are allowing 155 rushing yards per game, as they allowed a season high 215 yards against Denver on Sunday. Correll Buckhalter ran for 108 yards and the rookie Knowshon Moreno added another 90. From the start of the contest, Denver gashed the Oakland front-seven, attacking Greg Ellis on edge runs and pushing aside Gerard Warren and Tommy Kelly in the interior. Richard Seymour was flagged for a personal foul on the opening drive of the 2^nd half. That 15-yard infraction gave Denver the ball on the Oakland 15-yard line, and two plays later, the Broncos hit paydirt to take a commanding 20-3 lead. The Raiders did not record a sack, nor did they even come close to Kyle Orton all afternoon. That lack of pressure let the Denver passer sit in the pocket comfortably and make solid decisions all afternoon. Oakland mustered up courage on Denver’s opening drive, stuffing 5 straight rushing plays before getting them off the field on 4^th down. Trevor Scott appeared out of position at times, as Denver took advantage of Oakland’s aggressiveness up the field.

LINEBACKERS: F

We observed poor tackling and an uneventful afternoon for starters Ricky Brown, Kirk Morrison and Thomas Howard. Morrison was torched early by Brandon Marshall; not being able to stay with the explosive receiver on gains of 14 and 11 yards on Denver’s opening drive, and on 3^rd and goal on Denver’s first touchdown, a 2-yard pass on the Broncos’ second drive. John Marshall did not adjust early to Denver’s game plan, isolating the linebackers underneath with shallow routes and causing favorable man-to-man match-ups with some of their elusive targets.

SECONDARY: D

They only allowed 157 passing yards, but only because Denver played a conservative game at and Orton was able to go to shorter routes to get his team down the field. Nnamdi Asomugha tried to help in run support, but to no avail. He even got beat late surprisingly, as Orton connected wit Marshall on a very good pitch and catch for 17-yards. Stanford Routt was beaten a few times by Jabar Gaffney, once on a 15-yard gain to set up a 1^st and goal. On 3^rd and 11 in the 3^rd quarter, Gaffney drew a pass interference flag on Chris Johnson and a few plays later, the Raider defense looked lost on Daniel Graham’s 24-yard reception on 2^nd and 15. Rookie Mike Mitchell recovered a fumble and was in on the Raiders only stout series at the end of Denver’s opening drive that ended at the goal line. Michael Huff almost came up with another interception on one of the few plays Oakland actually got pressure on Orton. On a 3^rd and goal, the Raiders blitzed and Huff jumped in front of Orton’s dump off option. That play at the time saved a touchdown and held the Broncos to a 13-3 lead.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D

Jonathan Holland will not make anyone forget about Justin Miller. Holland was not very good, nor did he put any fear into the Denver coverage unit. Sebastian Janikowski nailed his 48-yard field goal attempt and Shane Lechler punted four-times for an average of 47.5.

COACHING: F

Tom Cable’s team was not ready for this game. Was that Josh McDaniels on the sideline or Mike Shanahan toying with the Raiders’ defense? Oakland was out of position, off-balance on defense and it took them far too long to adjust to Denver’s schemes. McDaniels is off to a 3-0 start with a quarterback that plays it safe, can manage a game and that puts his team in winning situations. Denver jumped out on the Raiders with a quick 7-0 lead. They opened the 2^nd half with an 8-play 80-yard drive to take a 20-3 lead and the Broncos did not punt till the game was already in hand during the 4^th quarter. John Marshall’s defense was pushed around and since the 1^st half versus the Chargers, they have looked like the same unit from 2008 with major flaws and schematic deficiencies. Cable will now have to play the role of psychologist to get his quarterback right, his defense back biting instead of barking and his overall team believing that they can avoid another miserable year before this type of play lingers and they reach a tough stretch in their schedule.

DENVER’S DEFENSE SETTING THE TONE

After three-games, Denver’s defense has allowed one touchdown, 16-points and opponents are averaging 78.3 rushing yards per game. They have tallied 5 interceptions this season, 10-sacks and have recovered three-fumbles to start the campaign.

Elvis Dumervil has six-sacks this season.

INEPT OFFENSE

Oakland for a second straight week could not tally more than 200 yards of total offense. It was just the third time since 1993 that the Raiders achieved such ineptness in back-to-back weeks.

The crowd let Russell know how they felt in the 2^nd half with constant ‘boos’ and chants that were unfavorable to the former number one overall pick.

Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

The Oakland Raiders (1-3) ended their pre-season with a 23-16 defeat last night versus the Seattle Seahawks in a game that featured mainly back-ups, as head coach Lane Kiffin’s goal was to avoid any more major injuries.

“Very successful on the first thing: nobody got hurt,” he stated after the game.

JaMarcus Russell was in uniform, but stood on the sidelines as Andrew Walter started, going 16/24 for 162 yards, solidifying his position as the 1^st overall picks back-up.

Oakland’s lone touchdown came in the final quarter when Marques Tuiasosopo connected with Marcel Reece for 25-yards. “(Reece) is very explosive with the ball, and he made a great play on the touchdown there,” Kiffin stated.

Darren McFadden was impressive once again in game action. The rookie played very little, but demonstrated his big play potential with his 4 carries for 50 yards. On one 23-yard gain, he was one shoestring tackle away from busting a big play.

Walter commented on McFadden’s explosiveness after the contest, stating, “Absolutely. You see it every day in practice, but when you see it out there in the game … he looked great.”

Oakland finally got some work in with Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler on field goal attempts, but not without showing some rust after being inactive earlier in the pre-season. Lechler botched an errant snap by center Jon Condo on a 21-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter, which he then tried to toss away but was intercepted by CJ Wallace and returned for 41 yards.

Janikowski nailed three field goals from distances of 40, 50 and 37 yards.

The Raiders eventually ended the pre-season the way they started it, running the football effectively, amassing 157 yards on 28 carries, led by Michael Bush’s 12 attempts.

Receiver Jonathan Holland, who has struggled throughout camp and has had his difficulties on offense when on the practice field, made his presence felt on kick returns, compiling 71-yards on 2 attempts last night.

• Wide receiver Jonathan Holland continued with his woes, dropping another toss his way. The bullet sideline pass came straight at him and he even got both hands up to make the catch. The ball somehow passed through both hands and hit him squarely in the facemask hard enough to hear the impact from across the field.

Read more…

As the first pre-season NFL game nears, the Oakland Raiders depth chart is beginning to take shape. With that, players who see themselves on “the bubble” begin to prepare for what might be their last dress rehearsal.

Here are some of the highlights of Tuesday’s practice:

• Wide receiver Jonathan Holland hauled in an intermediate pass for a completion. This would normally not be a note-worthy reference, but the fact is that Holland has been dropping several sure-handed attempts since camp began.
• Wide receiver Drisan James caught a well thrown play-action touchdown pass in between two defenders from quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo.
• Cornerback Chris Johnson dropped an easy interception in the end zone that slipped past his hands and bounced off his chest then fell harmlessly to the ground. Teammate DeAngelo Hall ran from the back of the end zone, where he was observing the play to slap Johnson on the helmet yelling, “We just talked about that!”, in order to get Johnson to concentrate on completing the interception.
• Wide receiver Javon Walker practiced with the team. He didn’t look extraordinary, but managed to make a reception.
• JaMarcus Russell’s arm looks to be in fine shape. After practice, Russell confirmed that he will be fine and will be ready to go this Friday.
• Nnamdi Asougha was still out while suffering from what head coach Lane Kiffin called a “bug” and that it also seems to be spreading amongst the players.
• Jarrod Cooper also is listed as out with a (flu) “bug”.
• Wide receiver Drew Carter is getting a veterans break. No injury suffered. Coach Kiffin wanted Carter to get some rest to keep him from getting tired/fatigued.
• Safety Gibril Wilson sat out today’s practice with what coach Kiffin called and “aggravated knee.”
• Former Kansas City Chief safety Greg Wesley did not work out today.
• Tackles Tommy Kelly, Terdell Sands, and Gerard Warren practiced today.

Training Camp Notes (7/27/08)

• The offensive tackles have improved slightly since yesterday. However, there were till a couple of false starts. Paul McQuistan and Mario Henderson were penalized with laps for their mistakes.
• Wide receiver Jonathan Holland executed a beautiful diving catch on a deep route with a defender on his hip.
• Stanford Routt jumped wide receiver Drew Carter’s route and got a diving interception.
• On a deep sideline pass, defender Chris Johnson and wide receiver Drew Carter both jumped high to snag the ball. Both players came down with each holding on to the ball for dear life, not wanting the other to claim a catch or interception. The two stayed on the ground writhing and trying to wrestle the ball from each others grasps. One player 50+ yards up field could be heard yelling, “Lock your elbows…lock your elbows!” Carter could be heard telling Johnson, “You know, tie goes to the offense!” An obvious attempt to get Johnson to let go and give up. Still locked up on the ground for approximately 2 minutes, Carter was able to get the ball away from Johnson. DeAngelo Hall was already running over to help his fellow defensive mate when Carter stood up holding the ball in the air. Hall tried to swipe the ball from Carter’s hand, but couldn’t manage to dislodge it as Carter brought the ball back down for an emphatic spike as if he had made a touchdown.
• Quarterback Jeff Otis was a bit off his game today. A usual good training camp passer, Otis fumbled a snap and managed to regain it to throw the ball out of bounds. Defensive back Jarrod Cooper could be hear yelling at Otis from the far side of the field, “Take a lap Otis! You fumbled that snap! Take a lap!” The obvious punishment of the day was to take a lap for making errors. Tight end Tony Steward also took a lap for a false start.