Silver and Black Report

January 19, 2003… the last time the Oakland Raiders participated in a conference championship game.

The Silver & Black advanced to the Super Bowl with a 41-24 home win versus the Tennessee Titans.

That was a daylong celebration for the Raider Nation. It began with the early tailgating, which then erupted onto a Network Coliseum parking lot concert featuring Metallica.

Yes, with Bob Rock on bass, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich played Fuel, Master of Puppets, Sad, But True, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Seek & Destroy and Battery – as if the Raider faithful needed more adrenaline prior to the contest. (Yup, click on any of those songs to watch the performance on youTube)

League MVP Rich Gannon was 29-41 for 286-yards, three scores and no interceptions. His 2-yard scamper for a score early in the 4^th quarter ignited a crowd that was at a fever pitch all afternoon, but Zack Crockett’s 7-yard run with 3:25 remaining was the final nail in the Titans coffin.

“It’s amazing what you remember at funny times,” said Tim Brown after the game. “It’s just a great feeling to know that after watching this for 14-years, watching people play this game, to actually be on your way, it’s pushing a dream boat.”

Brown, 36 at the time, had nine catches for 73-yards.

Oakland only ran the ball 17-times that afternoon – a norm for that team, who were carried by an epic year-round performance from Gannon.

Tennessee ranked second in the league that year versus the run, but 25^th against the pass. Unfortunately for them, the Silver & Black were the leagues best passing club.

“Tennessee’s got a great defensive line, a good set of linebackers, but their defensive backs are kind of suspect,” stated starting left guard Frank Middleton. “We knew that going in. You have to take advantage of that.”

The attendance: 62,544. Not one person in that building will forget the on-field celebration, Bill Callahan hoisting the Lamar Hunt trophy and the melodic chants of “RAAAAAIDERS,” that rung loudly at the house of thrills.

Veterans like Brown and Gannon joined Bill Romanowski, Jerry Rice, Rod Woodson, Charlie Garner and Lincoln Kennedy on the field stage to celebrate their Super Bowl berth.

On that Sunday nine-years ago, Oakland felt right at home… as AFC champions.

GAME NOTES

• Anthony Dorsett, who played for the Titans on their 1999 Super Bowl team, recovered a fumble that eventually led to a score that gave the Raiders a 21-17 lead.
• The Titans fought hard that weekend. Steve McNair played a tough contest and with Joe Nedney declared out at halftime, it curtailed Jeff Fisher’s strategy throughout the game. A 50-yard field goal attempt was nixed, and when Craig Hentrich attempted a punt at a crucial spot in the contest, the Raiders special teams, featuring Crocket, Tim Johnson, Eric Johnson and Clarence Love tackled the punter at the Titans 16-yard line. A few plays later, Sebastian Janikowski booted a field goal to make it 27-17 with 4:29 left in the 3^rd quarter.
• Oakland ran only one running play over the first three quarters.
• “We were making a lot of dumb mistakes out there,” starting linebacker Eric Barton said. “Fortunately, we sucked it up and stopped it. That shows the character of this team.” The Raiders compiled 14 penalties for 127 yards, as they landed some vicious hits on McNair and battered the Eddie George, who ran the ball for 67-yards on 15-carries. “McNair played like a true warrior today,” said Callahan. “He had no quit in him, no die in him.”
• “We fought all year long,” Rice said after his 5-catches for 79-yards. “When we lost four straight games, this team stuck together and now we’re going to the Super Bowl.”
• Doug Jolley had 3-catches for 13-yards and a score. Jerry Porter had 4-receptions for 52-yards and a touchdown. Garner tallied 7-receptions for 55-yards and one touchdown.

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It’s December, which means its put-up or shut-up time in the NFL. This is when the contenders make their move and the pretenders fall to the wayside. SBReport.net will take another look at the playoff contenders and pretenders in the AFC, until we hit the post-season.

LOCKED-IN

New England Patriots (9-3)

Only injuries could derail their run for a first-round bye. But, as I stated a few weeks ago, Bill Belichick’s defense may be too leaky to move on during the post-season.

Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3)

In late November, I stated that this could be the most dangerous team in the AFC, regardless of venue and opponent they face. Mike Tomlin, Ben Roethlisberger and a gritty defense could beat anyone, anywhere.

Baltimore Ravens (9-3)

Their schedule is weak enough to help them end the season strong. If Pittsburgh slips a tad, John Harbaugh’s crew could take the division.

ON THE RISE

Denver Broncos (7-5)

Tim Tebow is the talk of the NFL. The Broncos lead the league in rushing, have taken the top spot in the AFC West and are in the midst of a five-game winning streak since the polarizing passer got under center.

QUIET THREAT

New York Jets (7-5)

They’ve won two in a row; have a home matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs this week, and appear to strike again late in the season. Rex Ryan’s team has a knack of making late season runs to sneak into the playoffs. Will it happen again?

OVERRATED

Houston Texans (9-3)

In my first installment of this playoff outlook, I believed the Texans were overrated. Andre Johnson still isn’t 100% and their quarterback situation did not get any better since. Gary Kubiak has done a nice job keeping this team together and should be considered for coach of the year, but I have little faith this team can make noise in January.

FLOUNDERING

Oakland Raiders (7-5)

Face Green Bay tomorrow, then the Detroit Lions in Ndamukong Suh’s return, before facing two rivals as the season winds down. If they win the West and make the playoffs, it would be hard earned. They need Darren McFadden and their receivers to get healthy as soon as possible.

Tennessee Titans (7-5)

Chris Johnson is starting to heat up, but it’s too little too late for a team that has been surprisingly competitive all campaign.

Cincinnati Bengals (7-5)

A victim of being in a tough AFC North, the Bengals have set themselves up for the future nicely. Seven wins was unexpected with a rookie passer – a playoff spot is just the cherry on top of the sundae.

Seedings if the playoffs were to begin today:

1. Pats; 2. Steelers; 3. Texans; 4. Broncos; 5. Ravens; 6. Bengals.

Here was my playoff outlook prior to week-12:

AFC Playoff picture heading into Week-12

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Prior to the Oakland Raiders (7-7) game versus the Indianapolis Colts (8-6), the Silver & Black could know if their post-season hopes are still alive, or dead.

The Kansas City Chiefs (9-5) will face the Tennessee Titans (6-8) in the early set of games, and if they win, it will eliminate the Raiders.

Yes, the same Titan team that beat up on Oakland in the season opener, 38-13, could help the Silver & Black. The Titans are 3-3 on the road this season, notching wins away from home against the Giants, Cowboys and Jaguars. But those were early in the campaign and since, have lost three-straight road games.

Kansas City is perfect at Arrowhead and will look to snatch their first division title since 2003. If they win and San Diego falls to Cincinnati, the next stop will be the playoffs. But the team has shied away from looking past the Titans. “That word is officially banned,” coach Todd Haley said of any talk about the playoffs.

Oakland’s one hope lies on the shoulders of Chris Johnson. Last time the Titans faced the Chiefs, the speedy rusher compiled 168-yards on the ground, as Tennessee improved to 6-0 by defeating a one-win Kansas City club, 34-10, at Arrowhead in 2008.

That Chiefs squad was completely different, allowing two rushers to tally over 100-yards rushing in the same game for the first time since 1977 [LenDale White ran for 149] and starting Brodie Croyle, who was injured, replaced by Damon Huard, who gave away to Tyler Thigpen after injuring his thumb.

This Tennessee team went 14-straight quarters without an offensive touchdown. But the last two-weeks, they’ve hit paydirt eight times. “Our backs are against the wall and the window is closing extremely fast,” receiver Justin Gage said. “We all know that, so as an offense we have to keep doing what we’ve done the last two weeks.”

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

The Oakland Raiders were apologetic after their 38-13 dismantling at the hands of the Tennessee Titans.

Strong safety Tyvon Branch stated on twitter: “I personally apologize to the raider nation!”

His defensive mate Quentin Groves replied, “I’m here with ya bra!!! Me and the rest of the whole defense!!!”

For Raider fans, sympathetic postings on the internet are not enough, especially since the team has posted a 29-84 record since their Super Bowl appearance at the end of the 2002 campaign.

At this point, its about showing the millions that follow that this team is different. That drubbings on opening day are old stories – not Monday’s headlines.

That they can show up next week and give back to the fans a solid performance against a team that is prognosticated to be one of the worst in the league.

Rookie Lamarr Houston stated, “It’s just game 1…15 more weeks just got to #WorkHarder,” on his twitter page.

Well, the proof has to be in the pudding. Working harder and getting more wins is something that Raider teams in the past have failed to do. And for this fan-base, it is easy to say, “Well, here we go again…,” because they’ve seen this story unfold too many times – just with other players.

So is this team any different?

One week from today, we’ll see if there is a real change. If this team is really different, or  are we seeing another double digit losing season for a team that has had a defeated culture and black cloud over their head the last seven campaigns.

INJURY AFTERMATH

Six players did not finish the contest for the Silver & Black. Robert Gallery (hamstring), Yamon Figurs (stinger), Hiram Eugene (lower leg), Michael Huff (knee) and Richard Seymour (hamstring) will be further evaluated on Monday and details of their availability for the next contest will begin to surface on Wednesday.

OL MISERY

The offensive line was dreadful on Sunday, and Jason Campbell was one of the victims of the disarray.

Jared Veldheer’s debut – becoming the tallest center to start a NFL contest – had troubling results. He had an errant snap early over Campbell’s head and struggled inside when the Titans applied pressure.

“It was a new experience, obviously,” Veldheer said. “I definitely got better at some things. There’s some opportunities to keep working at things, keep getting better at things . . . there were challenges at times, which I knew there would be.”

Mario Henderson was horrific and at this point, there is no denying that this unit could be Hue Jackson’s Achilles heel.

RUN D – NOTHINGS CHANGE

Seymour stated, “Things just kind of snowballed on us. I don’t think the game started out that bad. Once they got momentum, we never seemed to get it back. It will be a good film to watch because we have a lot of things to work on.”

Oakland allowed 205 yards on the ground, but surprisingly contained Chris Johnson early in the game.

But the facts are; this ground defense is still a major question mark until they begin to consistently play four quarters of stout gap control and powerful football in the trenches.

The Titans ran 39-times, which never put Vince Young in tough predicaments. And it showed with his 13-of-17 for 154-yards and 2 touchdowns. Tennessee will get solid play out of their quarterback all season if they win and he only has to drop back to pass 17-times a game.

SPECIAL TEAMS…

Yamon Figurs almost coughed up the ball in the opening quarter. It’s only one game so Oakland is not about to revamp their thinking at all positions, but this will be one spot that could see tinkering quickly because of all the viable options they have.

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

The Oakland Raiders were thrashed in Nashville 38-13. Many of their players apologized to fans via twitter for the effort put forth and the outcome versus the Tennessee Titans. One player that will not draw the ire of Silver & Black followers will be Darren McFadden.

On Sunday, he was the multi-dimensional threat that the Raiders expected him to be when they drafted him out of Arkansas.

“Catching the ball, running with the football, blocking, he was able to convert some plays,” head coach Tom Cable said. “That’s the kind of player we envisioned him being. As I have said all along, if he is healthy, that’s what he’s capable of.”

McFadden was stellar; effort and production.

The 18-carries and 95-yards were a solid start to what could be a make-or-break season. Starting and shouldering the bulk due to the injury to Michael Bush, McFadden added a team high 6-receptions to his stat sheet for 55-yards and the lone Raider touchdown.

“I just feel like I did the best job that I could out there as far as how the coaches use me. You want to go out there and play hard and I feel like I did that today,” said the rusher.

After the game, McFadden even summarized what occurred on the field.

Said McFadden of the Tennessee defense against his unit: “They came out and they wanted it more than us. They came out here fighting hard and when they were swinging, we didn’t swing back.’’

It was a TKO for the Titans defense. But McFadden went down swinging, unlike his teammates.

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

Oakland Raiders running back Michael Bush will be inactive for Sunday’s match-up versus the Tennessee Titans.

Darren McFadden will get the start in his place.

Chaz Schilens also will sit the contest out along with Walter McFadden, Travis Goethel, Bruce Campbell, Nick Miller and Desmond Bryant.

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

At this point, Michael Bush is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game versus the Tennessee Titans. As stated a few days earlier on SBReport, Chaz Schilens, Walter McFadden and Travis Goethel will sit the contest out.

Bush and defensive lineman Desmond Bryant will be re-evaluated on Sunday morning. I can’t imagine Bush playing if there is any hint of him not being able to secure the ball or be used as a threat out of the backfield. It would hinder the Raiders offense and give an advantage to the Titans defense, knowing they’ll have a limited and impaired player to defend.

Michael Bennett would be the better alternative, with his speed, shiftiness and pass catching ability.

The weather for the game appears California-like. Tennessee has elected to go with their road white jerseys, which will force the Raiders to go with their home black threads.

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

The Oakland Raiders open up their 2010 campaign on the road against the Tennessee Titans. It has been a off-season of great change for the Silver & Black, solid personnel decisions and a new found optimizing. A new quarterback, a coach working with no safety net and no contract for next season and a young defense pieced together aimed to make some noise around the league are some of the headlines for this edition of the Raiders.

OAKLAND RAIDERS

On Offense:

Michael Bush practiced on Friday and Tom Cable has hinted all week that ruling him out for Sunday would be premature. If there is any question Bush can’t perform with a faulty thumb, Oakland should not risk playing him and suffer a possible crucial turnover on the road, or worse.

Jason Campbell is primed for his first game in Silver & Black. “Every year, the first game is always different, this year especially because I am with a new team,” he stated. “There’s a lot of new faces on this team, and a lot of guys trying to establish what we’re going to be for the year.”

A key for the first year Raider passer is how he will work with rookie center Jared Veldheer. “I told him, ‘ Don’t stand up too high. I gotta be able to see over you.’”

The mammoth Veldheer is under the gun at center to start the 2010 season.

What to Expect:

If Bush can’t go, Michael Bennett will surely be used as a primary ball carrier, sprinkled in with Hue Jackson’s plan for Darren McFadden. Oakland feels confident with their running back depth, so the important thing after that will be whether or not the offensive line can assert themselves and push around the Titans front-seven. If they can, Campbell will be able to play action and connect with his wide receivers on deeper routes.

On Defense:

Rookie Rolando McClain is the new quarterback for the defense. And he is feeling comfortable with that label.

“It’s just me; it’s just my demeanor,” he said. “I’m the quarterback of the defense. I can’t really get too high or too low about a lot of things. I’ve got to keep my composure,” he said.

“There are 10 other guys out there waiting on me to be calm, because there’s a lot of things that go on out there, different shifts, a lot of motions, and I have to do my part of taking care of that and getting everybody else lined up, so I’ve just got to be composed.”

Many other Raiders are making their debut on defense. Quentin Groves, Kamerion Wimbley, Lamarr Houston are just some of the new vital components to this grouping.

What to Expect:

Pressure, pressure and more pressure…

This Raiders defense will play aggressive and can be very good if they can generate heat consistently and let their talented defensive backfield make plays forced on quarterback’s mistakes. Oh, and if they can’t stop the run, nothing will matter. This team has not been able to slow down opponents ground attacks since 2003. First test: Chris Johnson.

TENNESSEE TITANS

On Offense:

The Titans woke up after Vince Young was inserted into the line-up last season. This year, he gets the nod from kickoff weekend and renewed enthusiasm for a more successful year.

If they make a playoff push in 2010, it will be on the back of rusher Chris Johnson. And personal goals are high for the explosive ball carrier…

“It gives me something to look forward to[compiling over 2,500 yards]” he said. “People might be like, ‘Oh you run for 2,000 yards so he’s content or whatever like that.’ I haven’t broken the record, so I still have something on my shoulder and something to work hard for.”

“He’s probably the best there is in this league,” Cable said. “He has tremendous guys blocking for him … he’ll be a heck of a test.”

What to Expect:

A heavy dosage of Johnson until the Raiders can corral him. If not, then that opens up all the easy throws for Young and his targets.

On Defense:

The Titans have entertained bringing back defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. And unless you are a Tennessee fan, you probably can’t name more than a few players on this defense.

Jason Jones stated in the summer: “A lot of people here are trying to make a name for ourselves.”

Their front seven was given a spark this past draft with the addition of defensive end Derrick Morgan.

And the secondary is airtight with stud Cortland Finnegan.

What to Expect:

The Titans like to play tough and physical – as they take on the personality of coach Jeff Fisher. And against the Raiders, they’ll pound away at their offensive line and try to be physical with a young corps of wide receivers that may not be ready for prime time.

GAME NOTES

• Yamon Figurs will be handling punt and kickoff return duties for the Raiders.
• “You have to slow him down by keeping the edges and everyone swarming to the ball,” John Henderson said. “Just get after him. He really doesn’t like it when big linemen are coming down and hitting on him. That’s why he uses his speed to get outside and get away from us. That’s a big advantage he has.” Henderson will be playing his first game as a Raider.
• Oakland has posted a 29-83 record since their Super Bowl appearance in 2002.

PREDICTION

Raiders 17 – Titans 14

GAME INFO

Sunday, September 12, 2010 1:00 p.m. ET | LP Field, Nashville, TN

Road Team: Oakland Raiders (0-0) Home: 0-0 Road: 0-0

Home Team: Tennessee Titans (0-0) Home: 0-0 Road: 0-0

Titans are a favored (-6) per Sportsbook.com

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

The status of Oakland Raiders running back Michael Bush is up in the air right now. Whether or not he plays against the Tennessee Titans is a mystery at this point, but one thing’s for sure, the Silver & Black may not declare his ability to play completely until game time.

“He did some individual work, caught the ball, ran some routs, carried it a little bit,” Cable said after practice on Monday. “Limited.”

Stanford Routt will start at left cornerback after beating out the incumbent Chris Johnson in the summer. His mindset is right and the athletic defensive back appears ready to take on a new challenge in his career: “I think my mind is maybe a little more clear, not so much BS going on mentally,” Routt said. “But I really can’t put a finger on what you’re asking. Everything stayed the same. I’m still the same guy. I still study the same. I eat the same foods. I’m the same.”

The Raiders will take Tuesday off before returning to work on Wednesday, when coaches implement the game plan for the Titans.

Wide receiver Chaz Schilens and linebacker Travis Goethel were not on the practice field on Monday and will probably be locks to be on the inactive list come Sunday.

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

SBReport.net presents more images of the Oakland Raiders cheerleading squad. As an added bonus, we’ll give you a few images captured at road games, with the lenses on the cheerleaders for the Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers.

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist