Raiders shut out by Jets, 38-0

Just a week after a huge win over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Oakland Raiders laid an egg figuratively and literally in a 38-0 loss to the New York Jets.

Ironically, defense end Richard Seymour said after last week’s win that the Raiders would make the playoffs. I bet he would like to revise that statement.

Oakland was just absolutely pathetic on both sides of the ball.

The offense did nothing all day, and the team finally decided it was time to bench quarterback JaMarcus Russell in the second half.

Meanwhile, the defense gave up more than 100 yards rushing to both rookie running back Shonn Greene and veteran Thomas Jones.

Monday, October 26, 2009 at 5:54 pm by steve

All’s Right in Oakland? Uh… No.

With the Raiders’ upset of the Philadelphia Eagles last week, and news that head coach Tom Cable would avoid assault charges stemming from a training camp incident with defensive assistant Randy Hanson, everything seemed to be lollipops and rainbows for the Raiders this week.

Then, on Sunday, they had to play football, and they were immediately jettisoned from Cloud 9 back to reality.

The Jets came into Oakland on Sunday and hammered the Raiders, shutting them out at home for only the fifth time in franchise history. Four of those shutouts for the Raiders have come in the past four years, however; this was the most lopsided home loss in Raiders history.

Cable had no choice but to bench starting QB JaMarcus Russell, who finished the game six of 11 for 61 yards, with two interceptions and a fumble. Backup QB Bruce Gradkowski didn’t fare much better for the Raiders, as he lost a fumble during a rare red zone opportunity for the Raiders.

“I thought he was really out of sorts early in the game,” Cable said. “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.”

“I don’t think we could have beaten an Oakland high school team today,” said defensive lineman Richard Seymour. Seymour had made news last week as well – for suggesting that the Raiders would be making the playoffs. This season.

Richard? You might want to think twice about that. The Raiders dropped to 2-5 on the season with the loss, and managed to wipe out all feelings of good will towards the team in one fell swoop.

at 5:27 pm by bryan

Cable won’t face charges

Oakland Raiders head coach Tom Cable will not face charges for allegedly breaking the jaw of an assistant coach during a meeting.

The assistant coach claimed Cable shoved him in a meeting and threatened to kill him, and the result of the physical altercation broke his jaw.

Needless to say, the assistant coach is now out of a job and is concerned that he may be blackballed by other NFL teams. He certainly didn’t get any cooperation from fellow assistants with the Raiders, who were scared to speak out about the incident.

This now puts the NFL in a tough situation with deciding whether or not they should level some type of disciplinary action against Cable.

The NFL was waiting for the district attorney out in Oakland to move forward with the case, but now that it has been dropped, the league is in a tough spot.

at 5:12 pm by steve

ESPN Rips JaMarcus Russell

On Thursday, ESPN.com posted a scathing review of Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell, insinuating that the 2007 #1 overall pick may have signs of bust written all over him.

With one of the worst passer ratings in NFL history, ESPN’s Greg Garber examined the ultimate question facing the Raiders: “What’s wrong with JaMarcus Russell?”

“He’s not a quarterback,” said former Giants linebacker Carl Banks. “You could put any college kid in there right now and he’d do better.”

Matt Williamson of ESPN’s Scouts Inc. said, “Russell deserves an awful lot of the blame. He’s as physically gifted as any quarterback in the league — his arm might be No. 1 — but he’s clearly carrying too much weight, and his fundamentals are atrocious.”

And Trent Dilfer, a former Super Bowl winning QB as a part of the Baltimore Ravens in 2000, offered this suggestion: “My problem with JaMarcus Russell,” Dilfer said, “is that he’s not improving, not putting his best into the position to be successful. When you look at it closely, you can’t find any excuses for this guy.”

Regardless of who he’d ask, the ultimate problems with Russell seemed to boil down to questions about the quarterback’s motivation. While Russell’s college coach, Jimbo Fisher, denies that he ever noticed problems about Russell or his work ethic, the overwhelming consensus seems to be that the problem lies with Russell, not his offensive line or receivers.

“I have no problem going into a situation and helping a young guy out,” said Garcia, who served as the Raiders’ backup QB this spring/summer before being cut at the start of the season. “I just feel like it’s an unfortunate situation when the entire work ethic and the entire goal of a team is really put upon one guy’s shoulder who really isn’t maybe ready for that situation or ready to take on that sort of responsibility.

Friday, October 23, 2009 at 5:54 pm by bryan

Cable Avoids Charges in Assistant Altercation

On Thursday, Napa County district attorney Gary Lieberstein announced that no charges will be filed against Raiders coach Tom Cable regarding the potential incident between he and defensive assistant Randy Hanson.

“Our duty is to do the right thing for the right reasons,” Lieberstein said. “Under the facts and circumstances of this case, it would be a miscarriage of justice to pursue criminal charges and we will not ask our citizens to give up their valuable time for jury duty, nor will we allow our criminal justice system to be compromised.”

Cable has maintained his innocence in the case since the beginning. Lieberstein said that interviews with the three assistant coaches established that Cable did become angry with Hanson, but that another assistant coach stepped in between the two before Cable could physically harm Hanson.

Lieberstein suggested that Hanson’s initial reluctance to pursue the case did not allow the police to search the room where the alleged incident occurred, damaging his case.

“It should be further noted that within the past week and a half, Mr. Hanson showed up unannounced at the police department and made a statement to the effect that since the Raiders had not given him what he asked for, he would now fully cooperate with the prosecution,” Lieberstein said.

Ultimately, Lieberstein believed there was not enough evidence in the case to convict Cable in front of a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, and thus no charges were filed.

at 5:51 pm by bryan

Raiders stun Eagles, 13-9

The Oakland Raiders rebounded from an embarassing loss with a stunning, 13-9 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

It was a tremendous effort from the much-maligned Raiders defense, which had surrendered 44 points last week.

Tight end Zach Miller led the way with a huge day which included an 86-yard touchdown reception.

Quarterback JaMarcus Russell made a living down the stretch using the play-action pass to hit fullback Gary Russell in the flat for key first downs.

Those first downs kept the clock running and hurt Philadelphia’s chances to get the ball back with enough time to march down the field for the game-winning touchdown.

Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 6:34 pm by steve

No Announcement On Cable Yet

The Napa, Calif. District Attorney, Gary Lieberstein, said on Monday in a taped phone message on a media hotline that there would be no update on the case against Raiders coach Tom Cable until later this week, at the earliest.

Lieberstein said that the next update would be given either Wednesday or Thursday. Last week, Lieberstein promised an update on Monday, but said that his office will take the necessary time in deciding whether to file charges against the Raiders coach.

The incident reportedly occurred on Aug. 5, during the Raiders training camp. Raiders defensive assistant Randy Hanson alleges that Coach Cable assaulted Hanson, threatening to kill him, and that he broke his jaw sometime in the altercation.

Hanson originally was uncooperative with police, however; he quickly changed his stance and became fully cooperating with police soon thereafter. He has provided the Napa, Calif. police with an X-ray that shows his jaw being broken.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 8:52 pm by bryan

Raiders Pull Huge Upset Over Eagles

After being left for dead on the field during a 44-7 loss to the NY Giants last week, the Raiders apparently decided enough was enough, and pulled off the shock win of the season by upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, 13-9.

“We went out and threw a fight on somebody and said, ‘Enough. Let’s play,’” coach Tom Cable said. “That’s all you can say. There’s no magic words or anything like that.”

Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce compared playing the Raiders to playing in a practice, or playing a junior varsity team. Pierce should go down the road to Philadelphia to see what the Eagles think.

“That gave me extra fuel,” Murphy said. “You have to look yourself in the mirror and man up. His comments were true. We played flat. We didn’t play with any emotion. This game was totally different. We took those comments to heart.”

The Eagles could not get anything going offensively all day, as Richard Seymour and Trevor Scott each recorded two sacks (the Raiders D sacked Donovan McNabb six times in total). Eagles kicker David Akers also missed two field goals from around 45 yards out.

“I’m sure they watched the Giants game and thought we were sorry,” Scott said. “But all week coach Cable talked about persevering and forget the past and move forward so we can get to where we want to go.”

Embattled QB JaMarcus Russell started to look like the #1 draft pick that he was two years ago, going 17 of 28 for 224 yards, with two picks (one fluke off the hands of WR Louis Murphy), and an 86-yard TD to TE Zach Miller, the longest pass play in 25 years for the Raiders.

at 8:48 pm by bryan

Ellis Lashes Out About Raiders

Raiders defensive end Greg Ellis broke the silence from a Raiders team that appears to be spiraling out of control.

“The mood we’re going to be in or should be in, right now we’re kind of the laughingstock of the NFL,” Ellis said Thursday. “This isn’t anything new. Teams have been that way before. New England wasn’t always winning Super Bowls and Dallas wasn’t always the team they are. So, it goes in cycles. When you’re in that down cycle, you got to fight and claw to get back out of it and that’s what we’re doing here right now in Oakland.”

With the Raiders 1-4 and the Philadelphia Eagles coming to town this Sunday, this week might not be what the doctor ordered for this floundering team. After the Giants put on a football clinic against the Raiders last weekend in a 44-7 blowout, Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce told ESPN that the game felt like a practice or a scrimmage, and that the Raiders players clearly had no passion.

Whether that’s true or not, the Raiders took those words to heart. They posted Pierce’s comments all around their locker room.

JaMarcus Russell, the Raiders oft-criticized QB, is looking towards the fans to provide a support blanket for the team in this time of need.

“By being fans, you wish they could be more supportive,” Russell said. “We’re already down in the dumps and that doesn’t make it any better. The best thing for that is just have them come together with us. Who knows? I really don’t. It was crazy for me. I had never really been in that situation before you just have to pull out of it. A lot of people are fed up over the course of a year but the only thing we can do this week is make some plays and hopefully it will go the other way.”

The fans might cheer if you complete more than 50% of your passes, JaMarcus.

Friday, October 16, 2009 at 9:46 pm by bryan

Raiders embarassed by Giants, 44-7

Of all the ugly games Saturday, the Oakland Raider’s performance against the New York Giants takes the cake.

Oakland quarterback JaMarcus Russell fumbled three times, and his team lost possession each time.

They gave up more than 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns to New York’s backup running back.

They also gave up 44 points to a team that pulled its starting quarterback before halftime because the game was getting out of hand.

The only Oakland score came on a fumble that happened to be an incorrect call and should have been reversed.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 7:24 pm by steve