I really do not know where to begin, so, I guess I'll start where the day ended for me.
It is a ritual that after every game some of the Black Hole members stand outside and greet the players as they leave to begin the ride home.
Yesterday was one of those days where the traffic caused many players to be in their cars for a good 20 minutes in the parking lot. This led to opportunities for us to let them all know how we felt.
It was so bad after the game that Al Davis left before half of the team and was sitting in the front seat of a Lincoln with clear windows and not his limo.
His face carried with it immense anger and he was so steamed that I'm sure you could have boiled an egg on his forehead.
This is the countenance one should carry after losing your opening game in such a sickening manner.
Yet, the only players who "wore" the loss were Daunte and Newberry. The others were smiling, including McCown and Kiffin. That really disgusted me.
When Lane came driving by, he stopped and signed some autographs and when he got to us we started chanting, "Daunte, Daunte, Daunte", that is when his face wore the look it should have, he then had the Al Davis look.
I guess I had the "Disgusted" look when I first saw Lane, because Raider Rob looked up at me, laughed and then pointed out to those around us that I had "The Look".
"The Look", is that look of four years of festering disgust that may look to some as placid disdain and to others like "I Can't Believe That Daunte Culpepper was on the bench while McCown turned the ball over three times". It is an intense look that can almost be mistaken for staring off into space if you have sunglasses on, but with no glasses on the intense fire beneath the cold stare is visible to all.
When Daunte's sleek Maserati came strolling by, Raider Rob, the spokes person for the Black Hole and the person who is credited with naming the Raider Family, "Raider Nation, went up to his window and told him that the Black Hole has his back and we hope he is in there soon. I told him that, "4,717 means something to me and so do 39 TDs and 11 INTs". That lit him up and A HUGE smile replaced "The Look" and he gave me a fist bump.
Daunte knows what he can do and watching McCown's choke job did not sit well with him...AT ALL.
Unfortunately, the news soon came from Raider Steph, who has a press pass, That Lane was IMPRESSED with Josh and his 70% completion rate and that he will start again next week.
Others that drove by and got booed, included Michael Huff who along with Hiram and "Schwag" was burnt all day long.
I will say this LOUD AND CLEAR, "SCHWAG IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR US TO BE AN ELITE DEFENSE!!!" There, I said it. Stu is terrible in the nickle scheme that Ryan loves. In fact, if Kitna would have keyed on "Schwag" on the play he threw the INT to Morrison it would have been an easy 6, as Stu was 5 yards behind his man on a crossing route.
AND HIRAM SHOULD BE ON SPECIAL TEAMS ONLY!!! He was 20 yards in front of his man on the back breaking 32 yard TD in the 4th. He is TERRIBLE!!!
BJ Ward needs to be in there. Period.
Back to McCown. You know what also really burned me after the game? It was his handshaking and back slapping with all of the Lions. There he was with an injured hand and instead of getting it looked at, he went up and hugged players and even posed for photos with Kitna!!!
What a joke!!! I am surprised that he didn't film a Disney World Commercial.
"So, Josh McCown, you just choked away a game to the Lions with a fumble and INT in crunch time, what are you going to do now?"
No wonder Al Davis looked so ticked!!!
Now, before the I continue with the BASHING, there was some good news to come out of the "Drive Byes". Jeremy Newberry let us know that it was a hammy tweak and not a knee issue and that sidelined him. That led to a collective exhale from the fans and we wished him a speedy recovery.
Now, here are some game notes:
1) Stuart "Scwag-Dirt" needs to be moved to special teams, period.
It was obvious that Detroit was working on the safeties in our zone coverage.
Our safeties inability to cover was exposed for all to see, and unless there is a change back there, Denver will just pour it on us next week.
2) The defense could not stop the Lions once we got the lead.
We needed a stop in order to win that game yesterday, and what we got was Hiram Eugene and "Schwag" teaming up to allow a wide open receiver to score the winning TD.
That was BLOWN coverage. Period. Someone needs to lose their spot for that one. You CANNOT allow a guy to be that wide open when you are trying to win a game.
3) The deep middle of the field was open all day long and we only went deep once. That is SAD play calling. And if it NOT sad play calling, then it was DUMB to start McCown against this team because you have to able to go deep against the Lions. That is their biggest weakness.
4) Daunte SHOULD HAVE STARTED!!!
4A) If there is any team in the NFL whose defense knows Josh McCown, which team would it be? That's right class, the Detroit Lions.
They know that he can't throw the deep ball, so they kept 8 in the box...ALL DAY LONG!!!
4B) Daunte IS healthy and can throw the DEEP BALL very well. He can also move much better than led foot McCown.
4C) How does a career back-up get the nod over a Pro-Bowler?
5)In all fairness to Jano, two of his kicks were blocked and he barely missed another long attempt. And besides, we should have been scoring TDs, not kicking 50+ yard field goals.
6) Lane Kiffin gets an F for play calling and scheming.
First of all, LaMont Jordan is NOT Reggie Bush. he is not going to cut on a dime and outrun the linebackers on those underneath screens and delays.
Secondly, it is INEXCUSABLE that the Raiders were shut OUT by the Lions in the first half. SHUT OUT!!! How do you NOT GO DEEP AGAINST THE LIONS????? Even weak armed Josh McCown was 1-1 on the deep ball!!!!
7) Here is a positive...Kirk Morrison. He played like a Pro-Bowler yesterday. He was in the backfield on running plays and came up with HUGE tackles and a key INT to keep the Lions off the board on 3rd and Goal from the 5.
8) Another positive was the play of Ronald Curry. Even when Josh was late getting him the ball and he was almost KILLED he held onto the ball and bounced right back up.
His Final Line was 10 receptions for 133 yards and a TD.
If we continue to get this kind of production from Curry then we will score plenty of TD's.
9)All in all, the offensive line played pretty well. Even though Jeremy Newberry was sidelined during the first drive of the game and his replacement didn't have a very good game. It was nice to see only 3 sacks and for the most part Josh had time to complete 30 passes (Although 29 of them were 5 yard tosses).
The penalties that the line did commit were HUGE drive stallers that negated 1st downs on 3rd down plays.
Green and Gallery need to work on those mistakes.
10) McCown's decision making is incredibly poor. He had receivers open all day long and as he hesitated on the down field throws it allowed the defenders to catch up to them.
His worst decision of the day was trying to run for a first down after on 3rd down after refusing to hit a wide open Griffith for a first.
I can go on and on, and will in the comment section, but for now, let me say, "Daunte needs to start in Denver and "Schwag" and/or Hiram need to be relieved by BJ Ward.
And hey on the bright side, we did score 1/4 as many offensive TDs yesterday than we did all of 2009!!!