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by Os Davis




So much for optimism. With eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, a
bedecked Oakland Raiders fan lofted the year’s first “Lane Kiffin must
go” sign; barring a miracle, it probably won’t be the last. The boos
from the Raider Nation itself – arguably the best, most loyal, most
heart-wrenchingly devoted fans out there south of Wisconsin and most
likely anywhere, to hell with what ESPN says – started before the gun
had fired on the first half.

This may not be college football, but elimination from contention based
on a Week 1 loss hasn’t looked this compelling in years. Did anything go
right for Oakland on Monday? Said a certain RF365 writer last Thursday:
“Expecting Oakland to stagnate at 4-12 despite its own improvements is
shortsighted and unimaginative, considering the nice moves the Raiders
have made in the past couple of seasons.”

Said nice personnel moves were hardly in evidence against the Broncos,
however. Hope of the future Darren McFadden whipped off an early 10-yard
run, but other than that averaged a scant 4.0 yards per carry against a
seemingly weak run defense (Denver finished 30th in ground yardage
allowed in 2007). Javon Walker didn’t even play. Zach Miller turned in
one of the Raiders plays of the game – a nice 21-yard reception to put
the silver and black in the red zone – when all was mostly irrelevant
with just over two minutes left in the game. And JaMarcus Russell again
looked great in flashes (albeit very brief flashes), but still possesses
the single least-convincing play-action fake in the NFL.

On the defense, that shock-and-awe secondary of Nnamdi Asomugha,
DeAngelo Hall, Gibril Wilson and Michael Huff was easily solved by Mike
Shanahan, instantly providing a blueprint for Raider opponents in 2008.
Don’t want Asomugha to pick it off? Don’t throw it his way. Want to burn
Hall? He apparently can’t play underneath, and is susceptible to blowing
his cool in piling up an early lead on the year’s personal-foul leaders
table. Even without Brandon Marshall, Denver threw at will. Is Jay
Cutler really that good? And how will the Oakland ‘D’ fare against, say,
Phillip Rivers in Week 4? Or Drew Brees in Week 6? Or Brett Favre in Week 7?

Meanwhile, the zone-blocking schemes which were supposed to have
solidified by now after a long session of practice to work out the kinks
– some folks called it the 2007 season – showed nothing against the
Broncos once Russell tried

As for a “fan pulse,” if there was a virtual space packed with more
depressed football fans than Patriots.com this football weekend, it was
the Raider Nation’s territory on NFL Fanhouse. By 11:15 p.m. ET, Raider
fans had begun muting the television commentary (yet Mike Ditka hadn’t
even started going off in describing various degrees of badness while
repeatedly dissing Al Davis). A post-game police escort off the field
for the Raider players was predicted by the start of the fourth quarter,
viewers openly wished that they were hammered (if they weren’t already).
By 1 a.m. ET, chat had turned into “the first-ever FanHouse group
therapy session” with the Raiders down 34-7.

This writer has to admit to the Raider Nation that my confidence is
shattered. What say you, Raider backers? Can your team pull out of this
graveyard spiral? If so, how? A single optimistic thought on the
remainder of the 2008 season after that debacle should serve as final
proof that The Worldwide Leader in [American] Sports need rework its
silly fan power poll; after all, such a loss would crush a weaker bunch
of fans.