Oakland still owns No. 1 seed in AFC

[BK]

RAIDERS NOTEBOOK
Oakland still owns No. 1 seed in AFC

[i:1959302fad]David Bush Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - sfgate.com [/i:1959302fad]

No AFC team has clinched a playoff spot, but the Raiders are the top seed in the conference despite their loss to the Dolphins on Sunday.

According the NFL office, which figured all the tie-breaking scenarios, Tennessee's victory over New England shoved Miami into the third seed behind the Raiders and Titans. Don't ask why.

Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and Denver complete the top six. With two weeks left, the seedings can, and probably will, change.

The Raiders can clinch their third straight AFC West title Sunday, but they need help: an Oakland victory over the Broncos coupled with a San Diego loss or tie in Kansas City.

COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS: During Sunday's loss to the Dolphins, the Raiders had trouble with the communications system between offensive coordinator Marc Trestman and quarterback Rich Gannon. Coach Bill Callahan said it even led to the costly delay-of-game penalty in the first quarter, when the Raiders were deep in Dolphins' territory.

"That was really weird," Callahan said. "At the start of the game, we had a mike going in and out, off and on and Trest had a difficult time communicating with Rich. It was a scramble on the sideline.

"Our phone guy who has been with us many years was doing the best he could, but it was a real tough scenario because some of the communication didn't get transferred to Rich and it was costly in that respect.

"The delay of game right down there near the goal line after (Eric) Barton's turnover caused some confusion because they took the time to measure (for a first down) and Rich came over and was trying to get the call. He went into the huddle and got it and the clock wound down quickly. I thought it should have been a reset but it wasn't.

"Unfortunately, Rich didn't see the clock at the time when he was at the line of scrimmage and the clock was winding down and we got a delay of game, which was very uncharacteristic of us."

Gannon said the trouble persisted much of the afternoon.

"We had problems on about half the plays," Gannon said. "I had to run over to the sideline. I had to read Marc's lips and we called a couple of plays on our own. We have so much volume on offense, so much verbiage, especially in a critical situation."

BRIEFLY: Defensive back Darrien Gordon, signed on Friday as insurance for a thin secondary, was active on Sunday but did not play. Callahan said he could help this weekend, both in the secondary and on punt returns . . . The Raiders were able to run only 48 offensive plays on Sunday to 68 for the Dolphins, and only 12 of those Oakland plays were rushes. Callahan said the intention was to run more often (isn't it always?) but the fact the Raiders were behind at halftime led them "to try to keep pushing the ball through the air."

[Bleed]

Who came up with the term seed and or seedings? Here's something new and different! LOL! Let the QB calls his own plays...they used too. Rich has to have some idea of the playbook. He has the option to change any play...whats the difference. To my way of thinking it keeps a 'body' employed...Trestman or any OC. Now a days you have a coach for every player, its a damn good thing i'm not in charge, because i would put the football player back in the game of pro football. They wouldn't have time for this 'off field crap' and these idiot indorsements.

[daraydaz]

We're the #1 seed in the conference as we have a better conference record than Miami and the same with Tenn but since we beat Tenn, we own the tie-breaker. However, if Tenn loses another game and Miami and Oakland win out, Miami would be the #1 seed because of the head-to-head record.