Jeckyll and Hyde Raiders strike again

By Os Davis  |   Monday, September 29, 2008  |  Comments( 55 )

Oakland Raiders
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You know that classic pregame cliché about “which team is going to show up for this matchup”? If nothing else and with damnable consistency, the 2008 Oakland Raiders appear to have this one answered: Both.

Talk about your tale of two halves. In a rerun. For the second straight week, into the virtual recycle bin went my notes on a long-awaited “game ball” column. For the second straight week, the Raiders’ studs (Johnnie Lee Higgins, Shane Lechler, Sebastian Janikowski, Gibril Wilson) and duds (not to name names here, but, ahem, Kwame Harris) were remarkably consistent. Then there are the cases of JaMarcus Russell and DeAngelo Hall: You can count on both of each showing up on Sunday.

The first half, see, those were the Raiders their fans wants Higgins starting things off properly with the nice return. Just as last week, Javon Walker got involved early to catch the Charger ‘D’ off guard. (Incidentally, who would’ve guessed, say, three years ago that throwing to Walker would ever be a surprise?) Unfortunately, Russell is hot and cold – hey, a nickname is born: JaMarcus “Hot And Cold” Russell – on the drive and the offensive line is adequate at best. Regardless, Supertoe Janikowski nails the field goal.

Later in the quarter, Lechler kills a punt to snuggle San Diego right up to the goal line and the seeming stated goal of this Raiders defense – blitz the s*** out of ‘em – earned a glorious safety. Wilson’s liberation of the ball to cause a fumble would have bagged him a prestigious RealFootball365 game ball, but alas.

When this defense is on, it can be awesome, smothering and run-stuffing. Just look at the blitzing on the highlight reel (from the first half, that is)! Slightly gimpy fantasy football sta LaDainian Tomlinson was restrained to just 6 yards on his first five carries and wasn’t a factor until well after the Raiders were deep into their terminal Mr. Hyde phase. And Darren Sproles? Please.

Throw in a Chris Johnson interception and the result was a sweet first-half shutout that had 25 minutes’ worth of game clock evaporate before the Chargers saw the 50-yard line.

You know that old sports cliché about how a good defense is a good offense? Well, the Raiders have flipped the expression around so that a bad offense is a bad defense. Or a good defense can be made bad by a bad offense. Or something like that. The point is that when this offense is off, it can be brutal, impossible to work with (ah, poor Lane Kiffin) and just plain ugly.

Of course, Sunday's defensive self-destruction cannot be entirely blamed on the main anti-Kiffin co-conspirator, Rob Ryan. His ‘D’ did its damnedest to bend but not break, to keep points off the board and L.T. on the turf. But what in Madden’s name can you do if the offense can’t manage more than an 8-yard drive? Leave the Chargers unit with the ball on the field for long enough, they’ll score.

Heck, even on the first San Diego scoring drive, it wasn’t all negative. The Chargers had to settle for a field goal after Kirk Morrison managed to make a couple of decent plays and Tomlinson most fortunately dropped an easy pass for a potential first down. (But hey, luck is a part of winning, right?) When is it good to allow a long drive? When you have a double-digit lead, you only give up the field goal, and nearly half the third quarter has been erased from the clock.

Unfortunately, that was essentially the last folks would see of the Raider team that Oakland wanted to see show up. Soon Hall was getting beaten underneath for a first down, followed by an illegal contact call against the man and why isn’t someone in the Raiders’ camp noting this pattern wherein Hall gets so easily flustered? Flustered, too, became Wilson on the TD: Burned by Antonio Gates as Philip Rivers nicely rolled right, Wilson immediately turned to blame Michael Huff for his glassy-eyed soft coverage. Not that Wilson was wrong or anything ...

Then the offense got up to its old – for 2008 – tricks. Harris was crushed for the fumble-inducing sack, and the mini-drive for the TD thereafter was a no-wonder. No wonder the defense is beat with an offensive line like that. No wonder Russell was so ineffective with an offensive line like that. Speaking of Harris, early in the fourth he continued with the gnarly play, notching a false start, prompting this writer to wonder if these Raiders are soft mentally or whether it’s merely endemic to old No. 77.

But before you can say, “Lemme guess, three and out,” things click late for Oakland. Michael Bush runs, Bush runs, Kiffin’s doing the opposite in running with his backup back after digging a hole on the scoreboard ... Hot And Cold scrambles for a first down and when he needs pass protection Harris actually provides. Higgins snags a nice catch or two and now it’s Antonio Cromartie’s turn to lose grip on his coolness with two penalties called. Zach Miller chokes on a nice opportunity, but at least Janikowski ties it up.

As it turns out, the Raiders’ special teams, so good this season to this point, also have a dark side. Sproles’ 67-yard return was the final beginning of the ultimate end in Sunday's 28-18 defeat. A little stat-padding and Luis Castillo’s posterization of Chris Morris on a devastating sack were mere formalities.

The wrong Raiders had shown up for the second half.

You know that old cliché, “There’s still a lot of football left to play.” Well, there’s still a lot of football left to play. Whether it’s enough to solidify this schizophrenic team that's 1-3 is the next unanswered question for the 2008 Raiders.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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CommentsComments: 55  |  Sign Up  View all comments
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No.1
The Franchise		01:46 AM
09/29/2008
this game was ours for the taking, and with the donks losing we were right back in the westn hen the bottom fell out, harris is a ...
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No.2
The Franchise		02:09 AM
09/29/2008
i may be a little too tough on the defense when i think about it further the offense seem to plain and the playbook seems to only ...
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No.3
RaiderCraig		02:54 AM
09/29/2008
I'll copy my last post from the old thread here, as Os posted his story as I was responding to the old thread. Raiderz, please ...
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