RAIDERS vs. CHIEFS
- Thread starter fRESH88
- Start date
Kiffin Mentions starting JaMarcus
ALAMEDA — The Raiders' present only can be judged by comparing it with the past. If they are not where they hope to be, they also are not where they used to be.
A Monday of confession and explanation at Raiderville, with rookie coach Lane Kiffin telling us how poorly his team performed at San Diego and also telling us he'll do anything to improve that performance.
Including playing rookie quarterback JaMarcus Russell.
"When that time comes," was Kiffin's caveat, "he can help us win."
A reminder about the Oakland Raiders. They were 2-14 last year. Another reminder. They haven't had a winning record since the season of'02.
Where these unavoidable facts fall is into the category of "Rome and Super Bowl winners weren't built in a day," even when you have a kid with the very Romanesque name of JaMarcus.
The Chargers on Sunday whipped the Raiders 28-14. Sounds good, compared with some recent Charger-Raider mismatches. Looked bad to Kiffin.
"We really didn't deserve to be in that game" said Kiffin, speaking in afigurative sense.
This led the curious among the journalistic crew to ask if perhaps Russell, No.1 pick in last April's draft, deserved literally to be in that game.
Until now Kiffin never had to deal with weekly media conferences, previously always working as an assistant, but he has grasped quickly the mercurial nature of the folk with laptop computers and microphones.
Some wondered if the result Sunday was about
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what it should have been, the Chargers a year ago going 14-2, as compared with the Raiders, who had those numbers flopped. Kiffin had a ready answer.
"(Sunday), yes, they were better," he said. "Are they a better team than us? I don't know. When they lost three in a row and we won two in a row, somebody might have called us the better team. It depends on what day you play somebody."
The day the Raiders played the Chargers, Oakland quarterback Daunte Culpepper threw two interceptions and had two fumbles, one when he couldn't get off a pass near the San Diego goal near the end of the first half and cost Oakland at the least a field goal.
Thus did JaMarcus' name enter the equation. But Culpepper didn't permit LaDainian Tomlinson to rush for 198 yards and four touchdowns.
"The quarterback," Kiffin said, reiterating a line used maybe 50,000 times, "is always going to get more credit and blame. Daunte was AFC Player of the Week against Miami because we won. Then he gets blamed because we lost. You guys thought we had a bunch of answers because we won two in a row."
What nobody has an answer for is how good the Raiders are or will be.
The thinking was after a two-win season, this year they might get to five wins. Or six. Then they open 2-2, and the optimism is unleashed. Then they get stomped by the Chargers, as always, and the pessimists take hold.
Kiffin's attitude and uninhibited play-calling — you have to love a guy who goes for it on fourth-and-12, even when it's the opponents' 31 — will make a difference. He doesn't want excuses. He wants production.
"We can't change what happened," Kiffin said. "But you can learn from it. We have a 24-hour rule, to move on after the game.
"But you should hurt a little bit to play like we did. If you slept normal, didn't wake up, didn't have a bad feeling, you shouldn't be on our team, because you're not the type of guy we're looking for."
What the Raiders are looking for are defenders who don't give up the big play. Tomlinson destroys Oakland. You recall the game a couple of years back when he ran for a touchdown, caught a pass for a touchdown and threw a pass for a touchdown.
"What we talk about all the time," Kiffin insisted, "was that you lose games on offense on turnovers and lose games on defense by giving up explosive plays. That's what happened. This wasn't a gradual thing of them handing the ball off for seven yards at a time."
It was a thing of Tomlinson running for 27 and 13 and 41.
"In the NFL you're going to lose games," Kiffin said, "but one of the biggest parts of my job is to make sure it's not OK to lose around here."
That's a concept not to be taken lightly.
________________________________________________
Don't think it'll be this week or next week but I think JaMarcus could be startin as early as Week 9-10. I hope Culpepper starts at least 2-3 more games but if he looks as bad as the SD game hes going to get pulled.
ALAMEDA — The Raiders' present only can be judged by comparing it with the past. If they are not where they hope to be, they also are not where they used to be.
A Monday of confession and explanation at Raiderville, with rookie coach Lane Kiffin telling us how poorly his team performed at San Diego and also telling us he'll do anything to improve that performance.
Including playing rookie quarterback JaMarcus Russell.
"When that time comes," was Kiffin's caveat, "he can help us win."
A reminder about the Oakland Raiders. They were 2-14 last year. Another reminder. They haven't had a winning record since the season of'02.
Where these unavoidable facts fall is into the category of "Rome and Super Bowl winners weren't built in a day," even when you have a kid with the very Romanesque name of JaMarcus.
The Chargers on Sunday whipped the Raiders 28-14. Sounds good, compared with some recent Charger-Raider mismatches. Looked bad to Kiffin.
"We really didn't deserve to be in that game" said Kiffin, speaking in afigurative sense.
This led the curious among the journalistic crew to ask if perhaps Russell, No.1 pick in last April's draft, deserved literally to be in that game.
Until now Kiffin never had to deal with weekly media conferences, previously always working as an assistant, but he has grasped quickly the mercurial nature of the folk with laptop computers and microphones.
Some wondered if the result Sunday was about
Advertisement
what it should have been, the Chargers a year ago going 14-2, as compared with the Raiders, who had those numbers flopped. Kiffin had a ready answer.
"(Sunday), yes, they were better," he said. "Are they a better team than us? I don't know. When they lost three in a row and we won two in a row, somebody might have called us the better team. It depends on what day you play somebody."
The day the Raiders played the Chargers, Oakland quarterback Daunte Culpepper threw two interceptions and had two fumbles, one when he couldn't get off a pass near the San Diego goal near the end of the first half and cost Oakland at the least a field goal.
Thus did JaMarcus' name enter the equation. But Culpepper didn't permit LaDainian Tomlinson to rush for 198 yards and four touchdowns.
"The quarterback," Kiffin said, reiterating a line used maybe 50,000 times, "is always going to get more credit and blame. Daunte was AFC Player of the Week against Miami because we won. Then he gets blamed because we lost. You guys thought we had a bunch of answers because we won two in a row."
What nobody has an answer for is how good the Raiders are or will be.
The thinking was after a two-win season, this year they might get to five wins. Or six. Then they open 2-2, and the optimism is unleashed. Then they get stomped by the Chargers, as always, and the pessimists take hold.
Kiffin's attitude and uninhibited play-calling — you have to love a guy who goes for it on fourth-and-12, even when it's the opponents' 31 — will make a difference. He doesn't want excuses. He wants production.
"We can't change what happened," Kiffin said. "But you can learn from it. We have a 24-hour rule, to move on after the game.
"But you should hurt a little bit to play like we did. If you slept normal, didn't wake up, didn't have a bad feeling, you shouldn't be on our team, because you're not the type of guy we're looking for."
What the Raiders are looking for are defenders who don't give up the big play. Tomlinson destroys Oakland. You recall the game a couple of years back when he ran for a touchdown, caught a pass for a touchdown and threw a pass for a touchdown.
"What we talk about all the time," Kiffin insisted, "was that you lose games on offense on turnovers and lose games on defense by giving up explosive plays. That's what happened. This wasn't a gradual thing of them handing the ball off for seven yards at a time."
It was a thing of Tomlinson running for 27 and 13 and 41.
"In the NFL you're going to lose games," Kiffin said, "but one of the biggest parts of my job is to make sure it's not OK to lose around here."
That's a concept not to be taken lightly.
________________________________________________
Don't think it'll be this week or next week but I think JaMarcus could be startin as early as Week 9-10. I hope Culpepper starts at least 2-3 more games but if he looks as bad as the SD game hes going to get pulled.
If culpepper can connect the raiders will win, plain and simple, the raiders defense is no joke, and the running game is obvious, but jordan cant be pushed the way hed need to be to be the soul of that offense (few humans could, lol) culpepper needs to manage the ball, and connect with porter, if he does that OAK 21 KC 17
I have lived in Kansas City for all but 5 years of the 35 years of my life and the hatred for the Raiders isn't what it once was among younger folks because the Chiefs have owned the Raiders since the 80's. If LJ doesn't pout and whine and cry then I expect him to have a good game, I also expect Jared Allen to have 3 sacks.
