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Raiders travel to Jacksonville
By Stefani Rebekah Black December 20, 2007 |
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OAKLAND—The Oakland Raiders used to be a fierce competitor in the AFC West—a division ranked with the toughest teams in the American Football League and for decades in the NFL. Things change. The Raiders find themselves at 4-10 in an AFC West division that is struggling to effectively compete against the rest of the league. This Sunday, the Oakland Raiders travel to Jacksonville to take on the AFC South Jaguars (10-4) who are poised to clinch a playoff spot if they can dominate. The Jaguars have set a franchise record by gaining at least 400 yards in four consecutive games and scoring at least 24 points in eight straight. "This is a message to send to the rest of the league: we're for real," said quarterback David Garrard. "We've always said we can beat anybody. We don't want to be too bold and too brass, but we want to make sure we still have confidence and swagger going into the playoffs." The Oakland Raiders, clearly out of the play-off hunt, are still trying to find themselves and hopefully reestablish their “commitment to excellence.” Right now, reports from the RAIDERNATION indicate a questioning of the team’s goals. “The Raiders can win this game (against the Colts) but they aren’t attacking,” said Carla “Raider Red” Manning of San Leandro from Section 312 at the McAfee Coliseum in Oakland last Sunday. “They’re not taking every opportunity on that field and that is so disappointing.” Coach Lane Kiffin, hesitant to throw his red flag on a fake Peyton Manning touchdown, made some key coaching errors last week in the 21 to 14 loss to the Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts. One being the offensive game plan didn’t seek to take advantage of the Colts defensive line that was missing its starting core due to injury. Why not run more two-back sets with running backs Justin Fargas and Dominic Rhodes, a former Colt who physically fit but benched for comments about his playing time? Fargas ended up with a season-ending injury to his ACL, few blocks and the one-back mentality is to blame. The second and most painful was to watch the Raider offense give up a golden opportunity to score before the half. The Raiders had three timeouts with 1.25 minutes left on the clock, great field position (46 yard line), and only managed three short plays for seven yards and elected to punt the ball? No hurry up? Then, the Raiders offense ended up back on the field before the half with 15 seconds left and still didn’t throw down field. Simply, they stood down and didn’t attack. Why not try to score at that point as the Raiders were leading 14 to 13? Where was the traditional Raider “deep pass to the end zone”? Why not put in the rookie Jamarcus Russell to throw the deep pass since starting quarterback Josh McCown’s throwing hand is riddled with injury? And finally, the blatant unchallenged calls by the NFL officials against the Oakland Raiders in key scoring drives is frustrating to watch and it’s bad for the sport. The “officials” ignored two pass interference calls against Oakland Raider receiver Jerry Porter that would’ve put the Raiders in scoring position. Oakland’s defense worked hard the entire game and held the Colts without an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter last Sunday but the offense wouldn’t take advantage. The Raider defense had Manning on the run with pressure from Gerard Warren, Derrick Burgess, and Chris Clemons who sacked Manning a total of three times for a loss of 12 yards. Raider linebacker Thomas Howard got his 6th interception of the season against the NFL’s golden-boy. The Raiders have what it takes to win games but they must put all their talents to use and take this opportunity in Jacksonville to put together a complete game and attack the 10-4 Jaguars. Listen to Stefani Rebekah Black live on Tuesday nights at raiderfanradio.com and on KFSG 1690, Sacramento. |
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