By Paul Wexler
RaiderBeat.com Staff Writer
Nothing new happened in San Diego today. The Chargers beat the Raiders for the longest active wining streak of one team over another. The Raiders offense failed to gain 200 yards for the fourth time in last six games. Quarterback JaMarcus Russell threw for 109 yards and one interception, completing just two passes to wide receivers all day. Russell failed to throw a touchdown for the sixth time in eight games this season. He has not thrown a touchdown on the road this year. Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson turned back the clock one more time to have his best game this season rushing for 56 yards and two touchdowns. As usual, coach Tom Cable saw some positives.
“Terrific effort by our team,” Cable said. “We just didn’t play well I thought in two particular areas. One our pass coverage, just too soft, giving up too many conversions on third down and just kind of easy throws. Played the run fairly well, had a couple breakdowns in there where they hit a couple runs but for the most part pretty solid. We were able to run the ball with some consistency. Not for a ton of yards but that was the plan coming in here. And then I thought the other area where we really let down was in pass protection, particularly there at the end it showed up but a tremendous effort by our team. Certainly played very hard, very good that way but not good enough in a couple areas to win the game.”
Defensively the Chargers pass rush got back on track with Shawne Merriman getting his first two sacks since 2007. Both came easily, as Russell held on to the ball much too long and was unable to escape. Overall, the Chargers sacked Russell five times. It seemed as if anytime the Chargers knew that Russell had to throw, they got a sack. Shaun Phillips also had two sacks.
The Raiders enter the bye week 2-6, with more questions than answers. Cable, fresh from a legal victory in Napa, when he leaned that he would not be charged in the Randy Hanson incident, now has a much uglier problem to face. This morning ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” ran a story accusing Cable of a pattern of domestic violence. In the report, there is damning testimony from both a former wife and a former girlfriend. The link is available on RaiderBeat.com. Cable hinted that Hanson may have been behind the ESPN report.
“Yeah, who knows, maybe they’re tied together,” Cable said after the game. ”That’s really all I can say about it.”
Russell has proved beyond a reasonable doubt, to everyone except managing partner Al Davis, that he is the biggest bust since Ryan Leaf. Unfortunately, for the Raiders, the only vote that counts is Davis’, so the Raiders continue to trot out Russell each Sunday despite the fact that it leaves them with only a handful of running plays and a couple of check downs.
“Uh, I did a pretty good job,” Russell said, apparently using the Darrius Heyward-Bey measuring scale. ”When it all boils down to it, you had a chance at the end to try to win. Didn’t do too much damage with the interception. No matter what what happened, I think we came out and fought despite the score and just kept pushing and just came out on the short end.”
Russell must have blocked out the touchdown the Chargers scored two plays after the interception.
The defense has no identity. At or near the bottom in almost every statistical category they have no where to hang there hat. They can’t stop the run or the pass. Today game was a great example, as Chargers receiver Vincent Jackson lined up wherever cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha did not and had a field day, catching eight passes for 103 yards and a touchdown.
Asomugha was busy covering decoys and fullbacks most of the game. The Raiders rarely let Asomugha cover the hot receiver. It is just not their style. Cable was clear when he blamed most of last year’s problems on outgoing defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, but the numbers and the results look almost exactly the same.
Russell is not the only Raider that has not lived up to his billing. Heyward-Bey has fewer catches than fullback Gary Russell, fewer than Giants receiver Domenik Hixon. In other words, the Raiders are not getting the bang for the buck they expected when they signed him to a contract that guaranteed him at least $23.5 million.
Running back Darren McFadden is on his fourth injury in two years. His 146 yards and one touchdown rushing would make for a nice game, not a nice half of a season. Safety Mike Mitchell is the second-round draft pick that sent everyone scrambling to find out who he was. He hasn’t done much to show that the Raiders knew something that no one else did. Mitchell has trouble walking on and off the field without pulling a muscle. For a second-round pick, he has not produced much at all this season. He plays on special teams and in goal-line defenses that require an extra safety.
On the positive side, the kicking game continues to be perfect for the Raiders. Kicker Sebastian Janikowski was 3-for-3 today on field goals and is 12-for-12 this season, the longest streak of his career.
Loading ...
Same old song and dance for the Raiders. DHB is the worst, the numbers do not lie. Total bust, cannot catch the ball. The Raiders need to cut their losses in the offseason, try and buy out some contracts and get rid of about half this team. It will be the same thing, week in, and week out…
Fed up Raiders fan!!!
It’s sooooo much deeper than just Russell. Blaming it all on Russell is too easy. He’s stinking it up right now, but it’s not all on him.
One of the sacks on the last drive wasn’t his fault, wasn’t the lines fault… It was the 2 idiot receivers who looked like dumb and dumber knocking eachother down. Seriously, did I really watch 2 NFL receivers knock eachother down? Ridiculous.
How about a defense that hadn’t been on the field for more than 9 minutes plus a quarter break and gives up a 92 yard TD drive. Especially when they had them 3rd and 10 on the 8 and our best corner gives up a first down catch to Chambers who had been benched all game and was seeing his first action.
Russell is BAD, but so is this team and coaches. But get used to it cause Russell is playing the rest of the season so that they can decide whether or not to cut him this off-season when there are no salary cap concerns.
the owner,linebackers,rookies,then JR,in that order.does anyone know how much money will be available next year for the draft.are the owners wanting next year to be uncapped.right now we will be picking in the top five.would we release Seymour for dt-Ndamukong Suh or dt-Mount Cody?
is anybody keeping track of the coaches Win vs loss comparison! Coach Al Davis and the Raiders vs. Coach Lane Kiffen and Tenn. ?
I dont hear anything out of Coach Al Davis about the comparison between his pick of Heywood Bey vs. Crabtree?? Real quiet at that end @!!
i’m already thinking the offseason.cable stays on as the assistant head coach,marshall leaves.we’ll hire dwayne board as the d-coordinator and kevin gilbride as the head coach/offensive coordinator.all the coaches will be multiple-position coaches. we’ll draft a CB with our first pick,another CB with our second pick,a linebacker with our 3rd pick,a DE with the fourth pick,a QB with our 5th,another DE with the sixth,and finally a DT with our 7th.if we acquire any draft picks by moving up or down,they will be for guards or safeties.
alaska raiders,toronto raiders,calgary raiders,alberta raiders,vancouver raiders,sascathewan raiders,ontario raiders,montreal raiders,quebec raiders,mexico city raiders!
Tom Cable has beaten more women than different football teams.
Once they change Lord Al’s diapers and feed him some pudding, they will have to give him the news and he will be forced to hire another Head Coach.
What’s Bobby Brown doing these days?
“Davis Sucks. Davis Sucks. Davis Sucks.” That is the sign I have standing beside the TV as I watch these miserable bastards lose game after game, season after season.
This team is NOT “loaded with talent.” and if you think they are the it is YOU who are loaded. This team is a joke.
Other than Lechler, Janokowski, and Namdi, there is not ONE other player from the Raiders a team with a winning record would like to have on their team.
The Defensive line sucks. It is weak and it gets pushed all over hell and creation. The Linebackers are slow retarded low-lifes. Chris Johnson? Please. I am so SICK of seeing that creep inch-up to the line of scrimmage as though he was going to play bump and run and then he lets his man fly off the line without so much as a pop in the chest and then Johnson stars chasing him down the field. Chris Johnson personally invented the Bum and Run technique. Kids in Pop Warner have better technique.
The O-line is weak and comprised mainly of cast-off from other teams. Gallery is ok when healthy and Henderson does seem adequate. Other than that, they suck. BIG time.
Our receivers? R U F N kidding me? They are the WORST collection I have seen in over 50 years of watching football. They are a bunch of dopes with the dropsies. Fire them ALL. NOW.
JaMarcus is beyond watchable. He is the WORST QB in the NFL I have ever seen. He is flat out dumb as hell and everybody knows it. He is fat stupid lazy and has NO awareness of opponents and where they are as they are rushing him. That guy couldn’t look off Butter Bean.
Sure, we’ll have a Draft Pick in the top ten next year but EVERBODY knows Lord Al will blow-it. AGAIN.
Retire Lord Al.
its not heyward beys fault we drafted him so early so i dont blame him at all actually i think when we get a qb to throw we will get production out of our wrs heyward bey is young and raw we cant give up on his first year quit whinning about total bust he hasnt been in the league long enough everyone will eat there words when he comes out next year and lights it up jamarcus is uor problem hes got to go go raiders
growing pains everybody. Just Growing pains. We will get through this and we will strike back on the NFL. The Raiders will be ok. Russell is going through GROWING PAINS.
Growing pains? Growing pains? R U serious?
Bey is a dope with dropsy. Look at what Crabtree has done the last few weeks.
Look, EVER SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANET, except our I-am-smarter-tan-everyone-else owner, knew we should have drafted Crabtree.
Bey was not even a good receiver in College. He caught, what, 21 passes last year at Maryland? The same year, Madonna caught more STDs.
Bey is a bust and pretending he isn’t does nobody any good.
I have an idea for Lord Al - Draft players who have PROVEN IT ON THE FIELD IN MAJOR CONFERENCES.
Who gives a crap if Bey could run a 4.3 forty in shorts? That means NOTHING.
It is all such bullshit and everybody knows it except those whose Magical Thinking Motor is always running at full speed.
JaMarcus will NEVER be anything else than what he is and Bey is this generation’s James Jett.
Unless Lord Al retires, this WILL continue. Go ahead, google the Raiders Draft for the last ten years. It is a F N JOKE.
Growing pains? Hell, JaMarcus and Darius are full-grown busts. Denying reality gets you no where.
Raider Fan must tell Lord Al to cram it. STOP paying to see these losers. Don’t go to the games.
I can’t even look forward to the off-season.We overpay for free agents,and we are the worst team when it comes to drafting players.DHB is the worst reciever I have ever seen,this is pro football dude catch the ball with your hands.We need Chucky to come back with Bruce Allen in the most despirate way.JR is still the worst QB in the history of the leaugue.WOW you can throw it 60 yards from your knees but you can’t complete a 10 yard pass nice evaluation AL keep it up S.D loves the way you run your franchise 13-0 over the last 7 years what a fucking joke.
When you draft a player with the #1 overall pick you should not have to scale down the playbook after 2 years. Jamarcus Russell is only a bust because he was picked #1. If we would have listened to the scouts and everybody else he may have been picked in the 4th or 5th round where he should have went. Ryan Leaf was suppose to be good. Jamarcus Russell is who we thought he was.
The only thing good coming out of this season is my sress level is down on sunday’s. I no longer get exited and wound up for the game. I already know the outcome before the game even starts. Hell I could have just recorded one game and watched it over every sunday and it would look the same. The same shitty QB, the same shitty wide Receivers,the same shitty play calling over and over. If every average Joe watching the game can predict the play calling, Then the teams watching film and plays are in a scrimage games.JR are you kidding me? I cannot find the words to say how much I hate to see Jr come in the game. every down I hope somebody takes this fool out. How long will this go on?
The capless year is coming and I’d bet my life that we keep Jamarcus around in spite of the 20 million its going to cost the team. Put some pride aside and we can get out of this mess for a mere 3 million dollars. And, when you look at Brady Quinn’s failures, we end up not looking completely stupid. I mean, the other option was Quinn that year. How about Teebow? A real leader. A guy who would dedicate the time and effort nessesary to be be a real QB. I’m just sick of these guys who “can make all the throws” but have no leadership skills at all. Stabler and Gannon, probably our two best QB’s ever, didnt have the big arms but would send your unprepared ass out of his huddle.
And Poet, everything I’ve ever read had Jamarcus as the number 1 or 2 QB. he would have gone somewhere else for sure in the top 10. The Raiders were just not smart enough to see how not-smart or maybe just lazy he was.
The Chargers beat the Raiders like a Tom Cable wife or girlfriend.
Tebow is a beast. We have to get him. Talk about one player to turn your franchise around? Look no further, that guy wins. PERIOD!
Jamarcuss is his only fan, Uh I mean Duh. I think I did well. If that is doing well, he is even dumber than we thought. Cable says great effort by the team, that is loser talk. You lose there is no satisfaction.
Ever here Tom Coughlin say after a loss, I liked the effort, hell no.
I watched a bunch of college football Saturday amd saw more accurate passes by nobody college QB’s than Fatass.
Bench his huge ass already, he is a total bust.
You’d think after that BS Murphy call in game 1 would give them something to fight for, how they got screwed, always being mocked, no respect from any team, damn if i was Jamarcus i would be embarrased, apparently he played “well”. 109 yards you got to be kidding me, not saying i can do better but come on, 109 yards?!?!
Meanwhile The eagles enjoyed a scrimmage against Pierce and the giants
IT AMAZES ME TO LISTEN TO GUYS WHO FOOTBALL IQ MUST BE THAT OF A 2 YEAR OLD. CAN ANYONE SAY DEFENSE GET OFF THE FIELD OUR BEST DB GIVES UP A FIRST DOWN ON 3 AND 10 FROM THEIR 8 AND THEY JUST MARCH DOWN THE FIELD FOR A FIELD GOAL!! NO RECEIVERS AND THEY KNOW WE THROWING SACK WAITING TO HAPPEN!! WE HAVE TO KICK A FIELD GOAL ON 4TH AND 2 BECAUSE THE PLAY BEFORE THE WR HAS A FALSE START IF NOT ITS A FIRST DOWN INSTEAD OF A FIELDGOAL ATTEMPT!! RUSSELL THREW THE PICK BUT DANG THE NEXT PLAY WE GIVE UP A 53 YARD COMPELETION BUT WE COME BACK AND TIE THE GAME AT 7. BUT WE CANT STOP ANYONE EITHER SO WHAT DOES IT MATTER HOW MUCH OFFENSE WE HAVE FOR ONCE IT WAS A DECENT COMPLETION PERCENTAGE BUT NO YARDS
I just loved it when our two WR tripped over each other and ruined a play, don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. Just another example of how bad this team is and yet Cable says it was a great effort. LT and Merriman both can turn their games around so easily against us but JR still can’t throw for one single td. How can Davis truly believe that his draft picks are working out when DMAC is either hurt or fumbling, DHB is downright sad, JR is pathetic, Routt is the worst CB to ever suit up, and Mitchell appears to be a bust as well (would rather him play more than ST’s so I could see for myself though). If Davis continues to pick players for this organization I have no desire to watch them again. I mean they are in complete denial as if it will make everything better if they ignore it. Hire a GM and a real coach and step aside Davis. Holmgren for GM and Chuckie for coach would work for me.
AND THE SAD PART IS THIS WAS A BETTER GAME FOR RUSSELL 109 PASSING YARDS ARE YOU SERIOUS!!! WHERE ARE THE RECEIVERS THE RUNNING GAME WAS WORKING BUT WE SHOOT OURSELVES IN THE FOOT
just to show how terrible we are our best Db gives up a huge third down to a receiver who gets cut the next day!!! CLASSIC!!!
F Russell, this team sucks and Cable’s an ass. Another terrible performance and Cable praises it
RED ALERT RED AlERT!!!!!!!!! raidersa need to sign chris chambers just released from the chargers……….
There is a reason the Chargers cut him after he made the biggest catch of the game
sign chris chambers now !!!
Alright,I usually don’t weigh in on this because my name on this forum is DHBfan.A name I chose when those ESPN dumb shits were scrutinizing our #1 pick of the draft when he hadn’t even played a single down in the NFL…Now for those of you who think Schilens is going to come in and all of the sudden J-Bust is going to start connecting with all his WRs don’t now SHIT about football…Oh right,Russell finds DHB wide open like 5 times a game and he drops every single pass thrown his way doesn’t he?…Now you want to talk about a guy dropping passes your guys’ favorite rookie Murphy has dropped WAY more passes than any of our WRs.I’m not saying it’s his fault.It’s Russell’s,his timing is way off.Every single one of his passes are contested because he doesn’t throw the ball when the receivers come out of their breaks,the ball should be in the air by the time they turn to look for the ball.It’s thrown after the DB realizes his man is open and is already converging on the wide open Raider receiver,leaving our rookie WRs to contend for a pass against veteran DBs.The bright side of all this is by the time we get an actual NFL QB our WRs are going to be beasts.
hey real raider glad to read somebody that makes sense. Football is 3 phases,but everyone only focuses on the qb it seems. I would luv to see jr with time to throw for once,and someone other than Miller.
Also wex jr i far from a bust as was leaf,dont forget about couch also,he was an overall#1……pc
BTW Johnnie Lee Higgins has been awol all year………..pc
What do you mean awol PC?
Just read this on Yahoo
““Everybody’s making a big deal about that,” Murphy said. “I heard some of my teammates said they showed it on TV. Actually, I had an inside release, and Johnnie an outside release and we ran into each other. I mean, it happens. You can find anything to pick out at the end of the game.””
WTF designs a play with those releases ??? I feel like crying….
Dear JaBustus, Ernie72 BUMAYE, Ernie72 BUMAYE, Ernie72 BUMAYE