Cheers and jeers after blowout

By Os Davis  |   Monday, November 03, 2008  |  Comments( 51 )

Oakland Raiders
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The less said about the Atlanta Falcons-Oakland Raiders debacle the better, but news is news and RealFootball365.com has a job to do. So let’s get right into a few cheers and jeers earned in the Raiders’ 24-0 Sunday loss.

First (and this one comes with personal sentiment as well) the biggest cheers are from fantasy owners of Matt Ryan. After seeing the steamroller effect of drive after drive in the first quarter, you needn’t consult the streamlined stat line (17 of 22 passing, 220 yards, two TDs, zero interceptions) to know what sort of fantasy football jackpot we Ryan holders scored. Tell you what, though: Together with the New York Giants' defense, these two put, ahem, one of my teams over the top going into Monday night.

Against a completely impotent secondary – the first pass on which the Raider secondary was able to answer Ryan came with one minute left in the first quarter. On a long strike, the QB well underthrew his intended receiver for DeAngelo Hall to slap away, making Ryan a mere seven of his first nine. By the time the turf had settled, Ryan had netted my guys 22 fantasy points, more than making up for the absence of – you guessed it – Darren McFadden.

(Cheers, too, from owners of Michael “The Burner” Turner and the six or seven dudes who started the Atlanta defense this weekend.)

Jeers from the Oakland defense itself. As lackadaisical as the Oakland ‘D’ has appeared at times this season, a primary problem for the unit is on the other side of the ball. Oakland’s inability to hold on to the ball was exaggerated in the Falcons game to the point of parody: Has any team ever registered as many three-and-outs as JaMarcus Russell & Co. (mis)managed to achieve on Sunday? Are Nnamdi Asomugha and his bunch actually confronting Russell and maybe Javon “The Incredible Shrinking Receiver” Walker to ask, “Why can’t you get us off the f***ing field?”

Come on, 14:45 possession time? One of nine on third down? Two offensive touchdowns in the past four games? Seriously, guys, why can’t you get the ‘D’ off the f***ing field?

Cheers from blogosphere writers and mainstream commentators on the Raiders; Oakland’s making these folks’ jobs easy. The Fox broadcast with J.C. Pearson and Matt Vasgersian sounded like softball batting practice. Negative stat followed negative facet as the Raiders nearly demonstrated the exact antithesis of how to play NFL ball.

“Only the Lions have struggled more on third down than the Raiders,” observed Vasgersian early in the game. After a Zach Miller reception in the first quarter: “No [Raider] wideout has more than eight receptions ... symbolic of dysfunctional passing game in Oakland.” After Ryan converted another third-and-short with a quarterback sneak: “The Oakland 'D' has allowed a league-worst 21 conversions in 23 attempts on third-and-short.”

It writes itself, really.

Cheers from John Abraham and John Abraham’s agent. The DE’s career day of three sacks and a forced fumble will look great while negotiating his next contract, and it will all be thanks to the likes of Cornell Green and Kwame Harris. The Raiders’ five up front again put the offensive into “offensive line” with its cheesecloth-like performance demonstrating again that there just isn’t enough size or reactive speed on the line to deal with Abraham-caliber players. Let’s see, who’s in the draft class for 2009 ...?

Jeers for Russell from just about everyone except the Raider Haters. Yes, yes, you're supposed to be patient with this guy, the effects of a long holdout caused by stubborn and/or disorganized Raiders management, blah blah blah. Meanwhile, through 12 games in which he’s seen action, aside from a few flashes of brilliance along the way, the best thing that can be said of Russell thus far is that he has no more TD passes (eight) than interceptions (eight) – for the record, his career QB rating is now 65.94 and his record as a starter is 2-7.

Empirically it’s clear that the man has skills, yet every step forward is at least a step back if not a full moonwalk like the Atlanta game. Russell’s accuracy in this one may be cause to test his very depth perception, and The Stat Line That Shall Not Be Named looked straight out of 1933 or so, except he might have contributed 110 yards or so rushing.

So what to do about Russell, then? Yank him and give up? Nah, even though this season may as well already be in the books. Get him more support on the line, in the receiving corps? Certainly. Travel back in time and get his John Hancock on the contract before preseason 2007? Excellent idea!

Finally, cheers for the Raider Nation. Yes, the boos came at McAfee Coliseum, at first barely cutting the eerie silence after a fourth consecutive Raider three-and-out, then louder for the Jason Elam field goal that made it 24-0 ... but what NFL fan in his/her right mind could blame them?

And the assembled Raider Nation representatives in Oakland should earn oodles of kudos for showing utmost class: When down by two dozen points with less than five minutes remaining in the third, the Raider ‘D’ finally managed to stuff Turner on fourth-and-1 opportunity in the red zone. From the Raider fans came a hearty cheer, giving what they had left in a clearly losing cause.

A hearty cheer for them and continued sympathies that Raider nation has to continue through this season. Oh, boy, it’s shaping up to be a bad one, isn’t it?
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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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