Posted by Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer on Sunday at 10:39 pm
News, notes and observations from the Raiders' 21-14 loss to the Indianapolis Colts Sunday at McAfee Coliseum:
– You wanted
JaMarcus Russell? You got him.
An epic 20-play, 99-yard drive erased Russell's second-quarter entry, so Lane Kiffin inserted him on the first series of the third quarter with Oakland trailing 10-7. The rookie played three series and generated one first down _ a 7-yard run by Dominic Rhodes on second-and-6 on Russell's first drive.
It didn't help that Chris McFoy dropped a first down pass on third-and-10, forcing a
Shane Lechler punt.
Then it was three-and-out, three-and-out, with the Raiders falling behind 13-7.
When Josh McCown returned, he took the Raiders on a 60-yard, 13-play drive for a touchdown and a 14-13 lead.
Which begs the fair question . . . should Russell have played at all?
Kiffin said yes, and he's right. If McCown had produced points on his last two possessions of the first half, maybe it's a different story. Kiffin has shown himself to be stubborn when it comes to sticking to a plan, and this was no different.
"We had made such a commitment that we were going to play him and develop him and give him some snaps," Kiffin said. "Did that cost us from winning the game? I don't know that. I won't be able to answer that question for you. It was something that we decided to do and
regardless we were going to make sure that we played him. Last time (against Denver), it helped, it created energy. This time it didn't."
– And no, Kiffin has no plans to go all JaMarcus, all the time in the last two games to get a running start at 2008.
"This organization and this team needs to win and it needs to play well," Kiffin said. "We're not just going to go in and start playing solely based on the future because this team needs to learn how to win and it needs to understand how to be competitive.
"This is not a locker room that has won a lot of games. The more we can do to be in these games like this and keeping them close like this and winning them like we did two and three weeks ago. It's very valuable to this team."
– No one is publicly begrudging Russell getting his snaps and everyone understands the realities of the future, but there was this observation from left tackle Barry Sims:
"It’s good that he got in there, and got some playing time," Sims said. "But as you can see, when Josh was in there, we were able to be a little more efficient. It just shows there’s a learning process, and that’s why he hasn’t been starting all year. It’s a tough game to learn, especially at that position."
– Lechler went 573 punts without having one returned for a touchdown before Will Blackmon took one 57 yards last week. Three punts later, it happened again, with T.J. Rushing going 90 yards for the Colts' first touchown.
After a season-low 28.6 net last week, Lechler was at 26.8 against Indianapolis.
– Tim Dwight was listed as probable last Friday even though he seemed to be having trouble even getting loose before practice. By Saturday, the club had activated McFoy from the practice squad and finally put
Jarrod Cooper on the disabled list.
It was a measure of how little they think of third-round pick
Johnnie Lee Higgins that McFoy was on the field as much or more than Higgins, who has been on the 53-man roster all year. McFoy dropped a third-down pass from Russell on the first possession of the third quarter.
– Tired of hearing about how bad the Raiders' run defense and the parade of 100-yard rushers?
It was terrific against the Colts, who gained just 58 yards on 20 carries. Joseph Addai had just 44 yards on 15 attempts, 2.9 yards per attempt. Addai's two worst games in terms of yards per carry have come in the last two weeks against Baltimore (2.5) and the Raiders.
– Early reports varied greatly regarding the right knee injury to
Justin Fargas, who had 86 yard-earned yards on 29 carries, had some key first downs and a 2-yard touchdown run _ apparently on that knee injury.
Kiffin referred to it early as an "ACL" while Jordan was walking under his own power afterward, although a bit stiffly, and said it was an MCL sprain which would not need surgery.
Either way, his status for Jacksonville and San Diego is open to question. Fargas broke 1,000 yards rushing on the last play of the third quarter and has 222 carries for 1,009 yards despite being a starter for only the past seven games.
– Dominic Rhodes got his most work of the season gaining 41 yards on seven carries including a 24-yard run on the Raiders' final ill-fated drive, which ended on a fourth-and-9 slant from McCown to Jerry Porter.
Rhodes said afterwards he should have scored. If Fargas is out, Rhodes could be the lead back, with Jordan backing up, or vice versa, depending on how Kiffin views Jordan at the moment.
– Colts right tackle Charlie Johnson, subbing for injured starter Ryan Diem, found himself overmatched by
Derrick Burgess, who had his sixth sack of the season and forced an interception by hitting Peyton Manning as he threw. The benficiary was
Thomas Howard, his sixth pick of the season.
– Manning has been better, but he hit key passes when he needed to and is a master at running a game.
Manning got his team to the line and had the ball snapped on a key third-and-3 when it was possible the Raiders could have cahllenged a completion to Reggie Wayne for a 19-yard gain.
On the Colts' last possession, Manning ran the clock beautifully, orchestrating it to the point where on the game's final play, on fourth-and-4, he took the snap, stepped back and flung one skyward out of bounds as the clock ticked to zero.
– Maybe those late huddles aren't such a good idea. Just as he did in Week 1 against the Lions after the Raiders had scored three consecutive touchdowns and taken a 21-20 lead, Kiffin called the entire team together after Fargas' 2-yard run put Oakland up 14-13 with 4:49 to go.
The Colts drove 91 yards for a touchdown in 10 plays (the big one being the Manning completeion to Wayne), and Addai ran in the two-point conversion.
"I just told them this is where they wanted to be, this is what we talked about all week, the defending Super Bowl champs coming in and playing great. If you guys watched Sunday night they were up by 30 points (against Baltimore) with 13 minutes to go in the second quarter," Kiffin said. " It's a really good team and this is where you want to be. It's the fourth quarter and you're beating them. Now it's time for us to take that step from who we've been to who we want to be."
– Manning zeroed in on Raiders cornerback Fabian Washington, completing seven passes to his man _ six of them to Anthony Gonzalez _ for 95 yards and the game-winning touchdown.
– What's the difference between a football player and a cornerback who runs fast?
On the last play of the first quarter, Manning, who is not a strong runner, got outside to the right and cut up toward the end zone. Stanford Routt had a clear shot at Manning, hit him wtih an arm tackle and Manning got past it, eventually landing in the end zone.
A replay challenge put Manning at the 1, and the Raiders forced on incompletion to Ben Utecht which preceeded their 95-yard drive.
During that Raiders' 99-yard drive, McCown, who is a good runner, got loose on a 10-yard scramble, where he was crushed with a head-on shot by Kelvin Hayden. McCown got back up and the Raiders finished off the touchdown drive, but Hayden properly displayed how a quarterback who gets out of the pocket should be treated.
– Read why the Colts' game, considering the caliber of opposition and the way some Raiders teams have played late in the season in past years, represents progress in my Raiders Web Exclusive column.
– Al Davis deserves a more dignified Coliseum entry than the one that has transpired the past two home games. As security guards and Alameda County sherriffs make a path through the crowd, with Davis following behind on his walker, a Raiders fan in a
JaMarcus Russell jersey, beverage in hand, screams over and over, "King Al!, King Al! King Al! The Godfather is coming through!"
A helmeted sheriff moves the fan on his way, and he ought to consider advising the fan to let the man through without such a spectacle.
– Was on my way to the Toys for Tots bin with a new tin of "Lincoln Logs" when a I came upon a veteran colleague who cracked, "What, are you building a new team?"
– Strange site in the parking lot on the way in. A fan in what looked to be a crisp, new Raiders jersey with the No. 36 and the name "Gibson" stitched on the back.
Either the guy's last name is Gibson, or he got the jersey from Derrick Gibson. Can't imagine going to the sporting good store, pulling out a hundred bucks and and asking, "Got any Gibsons?"
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