I am getting a little tired of Kiffin and his complaining. I watched the game again last night on my tape recorder and came away with a different feeling than I had when I saw the game the first time. There were many more bright spots than my first impression gave me. I am sick about losing O’ Neal, indifferent about losing Carter. I am a firm believer that receivers can be found anywhere and not convinced that a very good replacement is not already on the team.
I will defend Kiffin in that he almost purposely lost the game and made it clear he didn’t care if they won or lost, that is fine with me. He told the Cardinals what he was going to do, he didn’t try any run play other than into the line, so a loss was almost inevitable.
My advice to Kiffin, just shut up, and coach this team. There are enough pieces to win barring catastrophic injuries.

it is not like they need a top flight player, a QB, CB or something like that. We just need a guy who can stick his nose in there and block somebody. Griffith will have to play most of the time which is OK. I just thought O’Neal brought a lot to the team.

I am glad that he telegraphed his game plan to Arizona and that they responded by double teaming Zach Miller. They played the passing game well and put our passing offense under pressure. Kiffin’s decision to go for it on two different 4th down situations, where he probably would have opted to punt or kick a field goal was good for Russell and the offense. While the results were disappointing, who cares! It’s pre-season and its the Cardinals.
The glaring issues regardig offensive depth is a serious one espeicially considering our receivers. Perhaps with O’Neal’s injury Bush takes on a larger role as a blocking full back who offers yet more options for the offense with increased playing time.
I don’t mind Kiffin’s “whining” because he is after the same thing we all are, just winning. He is not going to telegraph instructions to the Broncos in a couple of weeks and as long as the players support him AND WIN, Lord Al will be content.

I’m looking around and I can’t really see what you’re so up in arms about. This?

"We weren’t very good. Our pass protection was not very good," Kiffin said., "It looked like Kwame (Harris) struggled a lot, I’ll see on film. We missed probably at least four blitzes. Guys bounced off guys and came free or we just got beat on them. I was very discouraged. It just kind of reminded me of who we are."

I don’t see whats wrong with saying you weren’t happy with a performance. They lost 24-0, what do you want him to say? And thats with Leinart throwing 3 picks.

As far as the passing game goes, it sounds like he was experimenting. Last time I checked, we were still in the preseason, and thats what the preseason is for.

"Unfortunately I think that I saw what I already knew," Kiffin said. "If we try to just throw the ball around you are going to get penalties, you are going to get your quarterback hit, he is going to start running around a lot, he will be in trouble."

"The thing about the running game is it’s not the type of running game you can just run a couple times and things are going to break," Kiffin said. "It’s a running game that wears on people. Looking at our stats from last year we continued to improve as the games went along. We weren’t very good in the first quarter. That’s the system. You’ve got to wear them down, get them on the ground, get them tired. When you are throwing it around you are not getting that. You are not getting the defensive line tired. We have to go back to the way we were before."

Bolded that last line to bring it to your attention. He tried something new. It didn’t work, so he plans to stick was what works. Why is this a bad thing?

What did Russell think of the game plan?

"It was just what coach wanted," Russell said. "No matter what the down and distance was, we was out there throwing the ball, and it was pretty fun. But at the same time, the running game will help out."

Sounds like he was on board with the whole thing, and it sounds like he’s on the same page as his coach. They both will look to the running game in the future, but for this one preseason game it was a nice change of pace.

The defense has made the Niners offense, which is lighting up the League, look like peons, made Vince Young look like Tito Jackson and cost Matt Leinart his job. That is pretty darn solid.

Seriously? Besting the niners offense, Vince Young, and Matt Leinart is impressive to you? I really should have just stopped right there, but this whole “lets rip on Lane Kiffin because Al is untouchable” theme is really annoying.

Al Davis has armed Lane with a potential #1 defense and all Lane can do is complain about how he doesn’t have enough bodies

Beyond the fact that the Raiders don’t have anywhere close to a #1 defense, the issue with backups is a real problem. Look at the depth Lane has now with the two injuries from the Cardinals game. Marcel Reese was his back up fullback, although this was addressed. His slot reciever? Johnie Lee Higgins? Thats not NFL quality. This isn’t Madden, this is the NFL, and depth is important. The starters on this team aren’t incredibly talented at most positions, and the depth behind that is non existent.

Even if you’re excited about our first team it’s just a house of cards. Look at this article here and do the math. 3 players cut, 3 players placed on IR, for a total of 6 players lost. A journeyman fullback was added and a no name, undrafted, rookie DB from San Diego State were added. Thats 6 out 2 in, of course Lane has reason to complain.

I have been reading this web sight sense last year, I feel this is one of the best out there, where i can get the real story and very little BS, But this is the best back inforth discussion i have read in a very long time, the knowledge that everyone seams to have is great, it’s going to be a great season!!

They used your article on realfootball365.

http://www.realfootball365.com/index.php/articles/raiders/12467