Oakland Raiders - The Vertical Game

News Archive
July 1 - Sept. 27, 2007

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Media News Raiders beat writer Steve Corkran reports that the Raiders signed WR Drisan James to their practice squad. He played at Boise State and participated in the Chicago Bears' training camp this year. Former Boise State safety—now a corner with the Silver and Black—Chris Carr said of James, "He's better than most of the receivers in the league."

James is listed at 5-11 and 186 pounds. He makes three wideouts on the practice squad, while the active roster only has four.

In the "It's a small world" vein, James' high school coach at Westview HS in Phoenix was George Martinez, currently the Raiders assistant for quality control-defense.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

In his ANG Raiders blog today, Jerry McDonald debates whether defensive coordinator Rob Ryan should have called some blitzes or otherwise tried to pressure Cleveland QB Derek Anderson on the game's final drive. The Brownies marched down the field with absolutely alarming alacrity (like that turn of phrase?

) from their 9-yard line to the Oakland 22.

McDonald points out correctly that the generally prevailing NFL wisdom is to play a prevent defense and maximize the opportunities for the offense to make a mistake. He cites two examples of the hated Squaws beating the Raiders with big plays late in the game after Oakland left itself vulnerable with blitzes.

We have the utmost respect for McDonald and know we may appear foolish seeming to argue with him in his absence. But we will point out several differences between the examples McDonald cited and Sunday's situation against Cleveland. First, Kansas City is always well coached and well prepared to play the Raiders. No disrespect to Romeo Crennel, but Sh*tinhammer and Vermeil are outstanding coaches. Second, McDonald's examples involve Trent Green, a highly resourceful quarterback who was adept at finding ways to beat the Raiders. Derek Anderson in his wildest dreams couldn't match the skills of Trent Green on even an off day.

In Sunday's game, it wasn't just that Jurevicius was uncovered on the final play from scrimmage. It's that, as described by Papa and Flores over the airwaves, there was no one even in his area, i.e., there was an absolute breakdown in the coverage.

We would have blitzed Michael Huff, if anyone, leaving (as per McDonald's observation) Morrison and Howard in place.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Sac Bee beat writer Jason Jones included a concise summary of the most important contours of rookie QB JaMarcus Russell's six-year contract:

Friday, September 21, 2007

Late, late update: Here is an injury report using the categories with which we're familiar from years past:

OAKLAND: Out: LB Isaiah Ekejiuba (foot). Doubtful: RB Oren O'Neal (hamstring), LB Robert Thomas (hamstring). Questionable: DE Derrick Burgess (calf), C Jeremy Newberry (hamstring), CB Duane Starks (groin). Probable: RB LaMont Jordan (back), QB Josh McCown (foot).

CLEVELAND: Out: LB Willie McGinest (back). Doubtful: S Gary Baxter (knees), P Dave Zastudil (back). Questionable: S Mike Adams (wrist), CB Leigh Bodden (groin), S Brodney Pool (concussion), G Isaac Sowells (personal). Probable: LB Antwan Peek (foot).

Yet another heartbreaking story has appeared describing an NFL veteran facing the nightmare of astronomical injuries and medical bills overwhelming him and his spouse both financially and emotionally. We saw Dave Pear's name mentioned several days back in connection with the recent pleas by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA boss Gene Upshaw to Congress to consider allowing the union and the league more leeway in terms of what they can do to assist older veterans in need by approving more disability claims. Today we came upon a Jason Cole piece on the Yahoo! Sports site about Pear called "Pain and Regret." It is profoundly moving.

Pear, who played nose guard for the Raiders on the team that won Super Bowl XV, isn't the first Raider victim to have his plight held up to public scrutiny. Readers may recall that Curt Marsh was one of the group of former players who testified before a Congressional subcommittee a few months ago. Marsh has had a part of one lower leg amputated. And of course Raiders fans are only too familiar with the many close calls that "Mr. Raider," Jim Otto, has suffered. Otto has literally had a number of brushes with death, lives in constant pain, and lost his right leg earlier this year.

There really isn't any simple solution to the dilemma of veterans like Pear, who took early benefits in a decision he now profoundly regrets. There is enormous pressure on the ex-players—proud men who are used to having been paid well in comparison to the average wage earner while they could produce—once they are confronted with enormous bills for such procedures as joint replacements, long term medications, or long-term therapy. One can see how some might have made the ill advised decision to "cash in" their benefits early to pay creditors. Fortunately the union, acting in the players' best interest, took away the option to choose early benefits in 1993, but it still begs the question for those like Pear who made their decision prior to that date.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

WR Jonathan Orr, who was described as "on crutches Wednesday," was waived from the practice squad and WR Rich Parson was signed in his place.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Here's the midweek (preliminary) injury report. This season it's somewhat different from years past, in that rather than categorizing all players as probable, doubtful, etc., the format in many instances simply lists which players did not practice, or were limited in practice, on Wednesday. We're not sure if the same change will apply to the final Saturday report or not.

OAKLAND: Out: LB Isaiah Ekejiuba (foot). Did not practice: DE Derrick Burgess (calf), RB LaMont Jordan (back), C Jeremy Newberry (hamstring), RB Oren O'Neal (hamstring), LB Robert Thomas (hamstring). Limited: QB Josh McCown (foot). Full: CB Duane Starks (groin).

CLEVELAND: Did not practice: S Mike Adams (wrist), CB Leigh Bodden (groin), LB Willie McGinest (back), LB Antwan Peek (foot), S Brodney Pool (concussion). Limited: S Gary Baxter (knees), P Dave Zastudil (back).

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Arnie Stapleton, the Denver equivalent of our Josh Dubow—the AP beat writer covering the Donkeys—has written a fascinating article that appears today on the USA Today site. Here's the link:

The Raiders were mauled on Sunday, statistically speaking. Denver had 440 yards of offense to the Raiders' 250. Yet Oakland was right in the game, which goes to show that the team has to learn how to win. There's an art to winning games that goes beyond X's and O's and carrying out assignments. It has to do with teams that exert their will over their opponents. Some teams, like the Patsies and Indy, do it consistently. Pittsburgh is usually among the clubs that's also dominant in close situations. But it's been years since the Raiders took control of ball games and, once on top, didn't let the opponent get back up. The so-called killer instinct has been nowhere in evidence.

We'll see if Kiffin can teach that. He said the right things after this game, telling the team to capture the feelings that went with winning and losing and to remember the difference. Now he needs to keep harping on it. If he can, we'll re-assess our current, cautious opinion about the Raiders' young coach.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Saturday, September 8, 2007

We're saddened to read that Phil Barber, for a number of years the Raiders beat writer for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, has been re-assigned to other duties and will no longer spend weekdays during the season in Alameda. He will report on the Raiders games, but that is all.

It seems his paper, citing the same economic squeeze that's beset the entire newspaper print industry, will have him covering local sports—read: high school sports!—rather than keeping an ear to the ground around Raiders headquarters in Alameda.

Phil announced the news in a blog post three days ago. The re-shuffle at the Press Democrat naturally means the end of the "Inside Raiders" blog as well. Here's a link to the post:

Phil Barber was one of only a very few sportswriters who in our estimation treated the Raiders fairly without ducking expressing value judgments about them. That's to say he could have simply written bland stuff that wouldn't be likely to offend anyone (in the Steve Corkran style); but instead he gave readers what they deserve—the opinions of an experienced observer of the team, yet one who tried to be fair. In our opinion he and Jerry McDonald of the Argus Group stood out in this respect. We'll miss Barber's analysis, witty comments, and wry sense of humor.

An article by beat writer Jason Jones in today's Sac Bee provides a good deal of detail as to where the two sides stand in the continuing negotiations between the agents for top draft choice JaMarcus Russell and the Raiders. And it shows why we would never make good contract negotiators or agents and ought to restrain ourselves from the sorts of snap judgments we offered in this space on Sept. 3.

It's fair to say now, with more facts at hand, that when Sam Farmer wrote in the Los Angeles Times on Labor Day that the Russell camp was balking at the Raiders' offer of $31M in guaranteed money, without qualifying that at all, he was greatly oversimplifying things. It turns out that part of that money would be a bonus, and there is a genuine disagreement between the sides as to whether it's accurate to characterize it as guaranteed in the first place.

Rather than restate what is already clearly out there, we'll simply commend our readers' attention to an excellent bit of investigative sports journalism by Jones: "Russell talks heating up?"

Friday, September 7, 2007

Where Are They Now Dept.: TE James Adkisson was signed to Kansas City's practice squad. We're surprised that he still has eligibility for that status; it seemed to us that he spent the maximum permitted 2 years on the Raiders developmental squad. But that's for the union and/or Squaws management to figure out.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Ultra late update: Here's the 2007 regular season's first injury report, preliminary (aka Wednesday) version:

DETROIT: Chose to avoid using the normally required categories of likely, probable, out, etc. Instead they offered this: DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN PRACTICE: QB Dan Orlovsky (toe); LIMITED PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE: RB Jon Bradley (shoulder), RB Kevin Jones (foot), DT Shaun Rogers (knee).

Jersey number changes: Unlike first-round draft pick signings, these are not illusory—they're not reported until after they've happened.

Reserve C and long snapper Chris Morris surrendered No. 61 for 51, whereupon DT Gerard Warren changed his number from 92 to 61. RB Michael Bush exchanged No. 43 for 29. In other words, most likely Warren had a hankering for 61 and paid Morris to give it up; Bush, meanwhile, just didn't like 43.

Raiders fans will doubtless have picked up their ears at the comments by JaMarcus Russell's uncle Ray to USA Today that a deal with the Raiders is "almost done," but neither coach Lane Kiffin nor Russell's principal negotiator, agent Eric Metz, is jumping on board any bandwagons, and we're not going to expend a lot of energy rehashing the news accounts here. We do suggest you keep up, of course, and you'll see an informative article published today by MediaNews beat writer Steve Corkran on the Articles page.

The following conclusion by Corkran to his article puts things in a realistic perspective:

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Catching up on important news from while we were offline, let's explain the Gerard Warren trade for readers. That occurred on Aug. 20.

Warren is one of the group referred to for a season or two by the Denver media as the "Browncos." They were ex-Browns, former high draft picks who were felt to have underachieved in Cleveland. Romeo Crennel was happy to see them depart. Ratface signed four of them altogether—DT Mike Myers, DE Kenard Lang, DT Gerard Warren, and DE Ebenezer Ekuban—in an effort to bolster Denver's front four on defense. (A fifth Brownco, WR Quincy Morgan, isn't relevant for obvious reasons.)

Warren himself was a first-round draft pick, No. 3 overall, by the Brownies in 2001 and spent four years in Cleveland, then two years with the Donks. He was hobbled by toe problems in 2006 and during much of the 2007 off-season.

Oakland gave Denver a conditional fifth-round draft pick (in 2008) in return for Warren. The condition is Warren being on the active Raiders roster as of the start of the regular season. So unless Warren is cut between now and Sept. 9, Oakland owes the Donks a 5th-rounder next year.

Some have asked, e.g., in reader forums, why the Raiders gave up anything at all when the chances were good that Denver would have released Warren anyway. The answer is that by trading for him now the Raiders acquired him in mid-contract, locked into a pre-existing deal with which they're comfortable. It has three years to run, so if Warren plays well they've gotten a big-time presence in the interior of the defensive line without any need to bargain for or with him. Warren's salary this year? A piddly $595,000. That's chicken feed, at least relatively speaking. Anttaj Hawthorne, in his third season, would have cost the Raiders $435,000 and provided no presence to speak of. With Warren, if he can overcome the toe problems that slowed him last year and get into game condition, the upside is much higher than it ever would have been with Hawthorne.

Oops!! We took a guess yesterday—a well-founded one, we thought—and listed LB Kyle Shotwell as having made the Raiders practice squad. But he didn't.

Oakland has listed an eighth squad member today, and it's TE Daniel Fells, fresh from being waived by Atlanta Saturday. So now Shotwell, whom the Raiders did say they liked, and who has an impressive pedigree despite having gone undrafted, has to stay in tip-top shape and await the proverbial phone call . . .

We were able to dig up a little background on yesterday's names, some of which can be accessed from the links on our Personnel Changes page.

LB Jon Alston (left) spent 2006 on the Rams' active roster but was inactive for all but three games (one coming in St. Louis's 20-0 December shutout of the Raiders in Oakland). He had one tackle for the year. A Stanford alum, he actually hails from Shreveport, LA, and is smallish for a linebacker at 6 feet and 225 pounds. We'd venture to guess that given his size, he's probably an excellent special teams player.

WR Jonathan Orr (right) spent last season on the fringes of the Tennessee roster, actually being waived at one point and never getting on the field during the regular season after being drafted in the sixth round. He was waived by the Titans at some point in the off-season such that (if the MediaNews account of beat writer Steve Corkran is accurate) he was a free agent when he worked out for the Raiders on Aug. 31. Scout.com says he's run a 4.31 40-yard dash, so he has both good speed and decent size—he's variously listed at anywhere from 6-1 (Raiders.com) to 6-3 (ESPN).

Monday, September 3, 2007

Jerry McDonald reported yesterday that five of the players waived on Saturday had been named to the team's practice squad: C Jesse Boone, DT Josh Shaw, DE Dave Tollefson, WR Chris McFoy, and T Mark Wilson. He mentioned a sixth, LB Kyle Shotwell, reporting that he'd heard Shotwell mentioned but hadn't seen him practicing with the team on Sunday.

The Chronicle's Tom Fitzgerald also mentioned Shotwell in a column today, and we note that the Raiders were high on Shotwell throughout camp. He was the 2006 Division I-AA Defensive Player of the Year at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo (John Madden's alma mater), not to mention the leading tackler in the East-West Shrine Game, so we think he's a likely selection, even though as of today his name still doesn't appear on Raiders.com's Transactions page.

Raiders.com has added two more players' names today for the practice squad, LB Jon Alston and WR Jonathan Orr.

JaMarcus Russell update: Here's the latest on the negotiations as of several days ago (Aug. 31), courtesy of former Mercury News and now-LA Times writer Sam Farmer:

We'll offer our unsolicited opinion here, that the Raiders' offer is a generous one. Most writers who had addressed this issue prior to the actual commencement of negotiations had used a ballpark figure of $30M for what it would cost Oakland in bonus money to sign the No. 1 pick. We ourselves had thought that, missing a strong and experienced negotiator in the pro player operation since the departures of Bruce Allen, Sean Jones, and Michael Lombardi, and with no prior experience at signing a top pick—Oakland has never before had the No. 1 pick—the Raiders might stumble and err on the side of bidding too low out of caution. But a $5M markup over the prior year is more than fair.

Rather, it would seem that the opposite has occurred, and that Russell's agents—fearful of their reputations should they fail to land a big contract—are demanding too much.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Despite our comment in this space yesterday expressing doubt that the Raiders would ever cut a third-round draft pick, new coach Lane Kiffin did indeed send Quentin Moses packing. But it's worth noting that virtually all the local writers who covered the roster cuts listed Moses as the biggest surprise. One need only look to G Robert Gallery to find an example of the Raiders' historical reluctance to face facts when it comes to poor draft selections.

As Jerry McDonald observed in his ANG blog today, "Rather than conceding Moses was a mistake in draft judgement [sic], the Raiders' spin is that cutting him validates their promise that performance counts."

In fact, Moses was claimed off waivers by Arizona today. But McDonald had another highly relevant observation:

Saturday, September 1, 2007

We were saddened, as we caught up with the personnel moves of the past few days, to see that DE Kevin Huntley was waived on Aug. 28. He was a favorite of ours.

An outstanding pass rusher, he seemed to be strong against the run as well, which in our view gave him a decided edge over rookie Quentin Moses, who does not play the run stoutly at all. Perhaps he will develop that ability, but we don't see it yet.

Huntley's only shortcoming seemed to be an occasional tendency to play out of control—overly aggressively—drawing personal foul calls. But that's not unusual with youngsters. They typically need playing time to develop a feel for how hard they can push without getting flagged by the zebras.

We suspect the arrival of DT Gerard Warren had a lot to do with Huntley's departure. That, and a large dose of needing to be right about draft choices, an old Raiders blind spot. With Warren (right) expected to get substantial playing time in the middle, defensive lineman Tommy Kelly is being moved to end, where Lane Kiffin says he will start. God forbid that the Raiders would cut a third-round pick (Moses), even if he is one-dimensional at this stage of his development, so Huntley got the axe. It says here it was a dumb move.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

We couldn't be more pleased, to see ProFootballTalk.com (Rumor Mill) editor Mike Florio doing some videocasts now courtesy of YouTube. (He calls it PFTV, which we think is rather cute.) He's highly knowledgeable and much of what he has to say fits an oral format better than it does the dense, single column blog that sometimes seems to go on and on without end at his web site.

The first several clips (that we've seen, anyway) appear among today's Articles. Check 'em out.

Three or four Sundays have passed now without an update on the self-described "Freud of Football"'s web site, www.MentalPerformanceIndex.com. Specifically, he's stopped two games short of analyzing Super Bowl XVIII (Los Angeles 38, Washington 9), which we're anxious to see him apologize for. (Trust us—he'll find a way; the man just plain doesn't like the Raiders.

)

We'll flag it to our readers' attention if and when he gets to No. 18 on the list. And in the meantime, it behooves us to try to get some of the 1983 season data into the database this week before camp opens, because once practices start, well, hope springs eternal, and there will be a good deal of coverage of the Raiders on a daily basis due (if for no other reason) to new coach Lane Kiffin.

So—if updates are somewhat abbreviated over the next four to five days, it's because we're working on laying more groundwork for expansion of the Super Bowl Gallery.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Squaws RB extraordinaire Larry Johnson is said to be asking for $28 million in guaranteed money. That's nuts! That's almost as much as what No. 1 draft pick JaMarcus Russell is expected to command. And if it seems to make sense to readers that a proven rusher like Johnson should deserve to make more than an untried rookie—and there are always writers who make this argument every year around draft time—first consider these facts:

Kansas City management is reportedly counter-offering Johnson between $11 and $14 million guaranteed.

Rookie T Mario Henderson's contract was for four years and $2.8 million, according to his home town paper. There's a nice, schlocky piece that ran yesterday about Henderson wanting to repay his maternal grandparents for taking him in and raising him after the death of his mother when he was a child. Warms the heart . . .

Thursday, July 19, 2007

A Pat Kirwan article on NFL.com on July 16th, "Freeney and the ripple effect," discussed various defensive ends but omitted any mention whatever of Oakland's DE Derrick Burgess, likely because he has three years remaining on his present deal. Yet Burgess is arguably more important to his team than any of those Kirwan does discuss, because he has single-handedly provided a presence off the edge and because he also plays the run very well for his size (only 260 lbs.). Put another way, the Raiders could less afford to lose Burgess than the other teams could suffer losing their stars. (Typical of the sorts of names mentioned by Kirwan is Carolina's Julius Peppers.)

Raiders fans are only too aware of the situations of Burgess and CB Nnamdi Asomugha. Neither is in a final contract year, yet both need to be taken care of. Burgess is grossly underpaid when his superb performance is measured up against his salary. Asomugha will be able to void the sixth year of his contract—just as Langston Walker did this off-season—once 2007 is in the books.

As the ANG's Jerry McDonald has pointed out from time to time, the Raiders tend to do contract matters at their own pace. But these are two instances in which it would be wise for the Raiders to act with haste.

Here's a blog post which we missed a week ago, from ESPN.com's Jeremy Green—Dennis Green's son, and an NFL scout by trade—praising the Donovin Darius signing. Better late than never, so we flag it here now. Ignore the annoying homonym that ESPN editors ought to have caught ("as I poured [sic] over team after team . . ."). Green makes the noteworthy point (which we've seen elsewhere too, by the way) that Darius can be expected to "headline" what may turn out to be a dominant big nickel defensive package. Exciting stuff!!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Late update: The video clip which follows comes from YouTube by way of ProFootballTalk.com, a.k.a. the Rumor Mill. It's a song about the Michael Vick case. We present it, frankly, because we are unabashed dog lovers. It's also a very clever, well done parody, although the subject matter's unlikely to make you laugh.

You may or may not choose to view it . . .

Where Are They Now Dept.: QB Kent Smith, who spent time with the Raiders last year both in training camp and then again during the regular season, was one of five players waived by the Titans.

We missed a Raider's birthday yesterday, and we feel badly about it.

Jack-of-all-trades LB Robert Thomas turned 27 yesterday and gets too little credit as things stand now. Thomas can play all three backer positions and many feel he outplays SAM backer Sam Williams.

You can send him a belated Happy Birthday wish through the link at NFLPlayers.com.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Late update: We slogged through the 15 rounds of a FOX Sports "experts fantasy draft" so you wouldn't have to.

Here were the results:

That was it for Raiders. Of course, it's fantasy football, which generally ignores defense, so "real" players the likes of Nnamdi Asomugha, Derrick Burgess, Kirk Morrison, and Thomas Howard go ignored.

"That indictment is brutal," said John Goodwin, the lead investigator from the Humane Society. ""The details in there are amazing. That's much stronger than most of the cases I've seen."

That's how a professional investigator characterized the meat of the indictment handed down against Atlanta QB Michael Vick Tuesday in connection with professional dogfighting. The NFL was made aware by federal authorities of the indictment Tuesday afternoon about an hour before the news was released to the general public.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Following up on our comments from five days ago (see July 10, below) about Ratface Shanahan and his proclivity for using unauthorized polygraph tests to "clear" his players accused of wrongdoing, Rumor Mill Editor Mike Florio asked yesterday, "We wonder what Coach Kevlar will do if the guy who passed the polygraph test is ultimately convicted?"

Saturday, July 14, 2007

LB Thomas Howard turns a youthful 24; you can send birthday wishes to him at NFLPlayers.com. WR Jerry Porter is 29 today. His e-mail link is NFLPlayers.com.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Where Are They Now Dept.: The New York Giants signed WR Kevin McMahan, who was 2006's "Mr. Irrelevant" as a seventh-round draft choice of the Raiders. He was the 255th and final player selected. McMahan, out of Maine, was waived by Oakland in last year's final cut Sept. 6. He had signed a reserve/future contract with Indianapolis on Jan. 11 of this year but was waived June 22.

Sometimes the roster listing on Raiders.com doesn't mean a lot, but at times the change in a player's position listing can also presage a change in the coaching staff's thinking. With that disclaimer in hand we call readers' attention to several changes in the listed positions of players.

Zack Crockett is back at fullback after being an "RB" for the last year or two (and for the first few months of the Kiffin regime). Youngster Tony Jackson, a hybrid tight end/fullback whom the Raiders had called a tight end for many months, is now shown as a running back. Ben Claxton, previously a jack of all trades ("OL"), is now listed strictly as a guard. Justin Griffith, in what we suspect is simply an error, is shown as a running back rather than a fullback. Finally, rookie Oren O'Neal is denoted "RB."

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Late update: The Raiders had shown mild interest in Maryland T Jared Gaither at his Pro Day last week. An Oakland rep had Gaither run through some positional drills for him. Gaither stands 6-8 and a fraction, weighs 320, and has exceptionally long arms; he's regarded as a weak run blocker at this stage of his development but a potentially very good pass blocker because of that wingspan and because he has good foot speed to boot.

Baltimore used the 31st slot in Round 5 of today's NFL supplemental draft to pick Gaither, so he won't be wearing silver and black. He would have been a long-term project in any event, and the Raiders already have several of those on the roster, including a very expensive one by the name of Gallery.

First up to be drafted today, though, as expected, was Georgia CB Paul Oliver, who was taken by the Dolts in the fourth round. Oliver, 6-0 and 208, is a big hitter for a corner but lacks speed (4.57 - 40); the "book" on him was that he'd be suitable for a Cover-2 defense where corners weren't asked to stay with receivers for any great length of time.

"You know how we like depth," said Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith, trying his best to sound wise. In reality the team expects to lose starting CB Drayton Florence to free agency after this season, so Smith is simply looking ahead a little.

The Raiders beefed up their special teams today with the signing of veteran—and special teams star—LB Isaiah Kacyvenski, who had worked out with the team at the final mini-camp in mid-June. We had hoped that Oakland would sign him.

New coach Lane Kiffin said after the college draft last April that one of his goals had been to get players with special teams abilities. You can't do a lot better in that department than Kacyvenski, who captained the Seattle special teams for several years during a 2000-05 stint playing for Mike Holmgren.

Kacyvenski was only let go by the Hawks when RB Shaun Alexander cracked his foot at the end of September, 2006, and Holmgren needed to sign a replacement running back. And he was snapped up just three days later by the Lambs, where he played the rest of 2006.

A Harvard grad, we also presume that Kacyvenski is heady and bright as well as a proven leader. He was a National Honor Society member in high school and attended Harvard on a scholarship. Good move, Kiff!!

The ANG's Jerry McDonald added in his blog entry, "Kacyvenski appeared as a guest on Thursday's Oprah Winfrey show, detailing his rise from poverty and child abuse to earn a scholarship to Harvard and make a name for himself in the NFL."

Kacyvenski got a one-year contract for the veteran minimum—in his case, $720,000. Oakland waived undrafted free agent LB Kurt Campbell.

ESPN Insider

Grade: 64 | Key
Alert: None

Comment:
Kacyvenski is tough and competitive. He is passionate about getting to the ball and has an excellent special teams mentality. He busts his butt getting downfield and is a physical hitter and tackler when he gets a ball carrier lined up. But Kacyvenski can be reckless and undisciplined. He gets overaggressive and opens up holes. He left some lanes that opponents turned into big returns in 2005. He is a straight-line player, so he has some trouble stopping quickly and breaking down in space. He is a little stiff through his lower body and doesn't change directions quickly. He has had some durability issues.

Source(s): Associated Press, ESPN.com, Raiders.com, "Inside the Oakland Raiders" blog (InsideBayArea.com)

We've added links for the "mental performance index" reports for the first three Super Bowl games involving the Raiders—II, XI and XV—to our Super Bowl Gallery.

The sports psychologist doing the project, John F. Murray, Ph.D., has fallen behind his originally projected one-per-week publication schedule. Consequently, SB XVIII, which was due on July 1, is still two weeks off.

We'll flag it on the What's New page when it does appear. Thus far, Murray, clearly not a Raiders fan, has made excuses and apologies for the Oakland victories.

According to ESPN.com's John Clayton, the Denver Donks currently have 12 D-linemen on their roster and might have to let one or more go to free up some room.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Late update: San Francisco Chronicle Raiders beat reporter David White reported that new Raider Donovin Darius' contract is actually for $7.1 million rather than the even $7M originally announced by ESPN's Len Pasquagooli.

The precise source of the figure appears to have been the NFL Network's Adam Schefter.

DE Bryant McNeal, arrested last week in South Carolina on a Florida warrant dating back to 2005, was waived today by the Raiders.

McNeal had two warrants outstanding, as it turned out. According to his agent, McNeal thought he had resolved a matter involving disputed title to a $15,000 Land Rover vehicle which McNeal had sold to a pawnbroker. What apparently was the kicker, however, was a separate charge involving an alleged bad check written to a South Carolina dentist for $1500.00.

McNeal did not have an attorney and it looked as though he was going to remain incarcerated while proceedings remained pending. Faced with that likelihood, the Raiders appear to have made the decision to simply cut their losses.

Clemson alum McNeal was described by writers in the know as a gifted pass rusher who had the misfortune to be cursed with a classic "'tweener" 's body. Unable to put on enough weight to be an every-down defensive end, he also didn't take well enough to learning to play as a stand-up linebacker.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Rumor Mill editor Mike Florio has an hilarious line about Ratface Shanahan's latest excuse-mongering for his players. Referring to David Kircus, the thug wide receiver whom Shanahan pronounced innocent of any wrongdoing back in May after sending him to a private eye for a lie detector test, Florio asks this question about Donks DE Kenny Peterson, who's just drawn a four-game league suspension for a steroids violation: "Shouldn't Coach Kevlar just give DE Kenny Peterson a lie-detector test regarding his claim that he didn't intentionally ingest a banned substance?"

Instead, Ratface jumped through all these hoops to make excuses for Peterson (account courtesy of Jeff Legwold of the Rocky Mountain News):

Oakland made a major free agent move by signing enforcer SS Donovin Darius to a three-year contract. ESPN reported the deal was worth $7 million.

Darius, a first-round pick of Jacksonville out of Syracuse back in 1998, started all 115 games he played in for the Jaguars before he was cut last month. He played in only 12 games over the last two seasons because of injuries—a torn ACL in 2005, then a broken ankle on Nov. 20 last year.

"He will bring us strong competition and he gives us added flexibility in our secondary," said coach Lane Kiffin, whose only prior NFL experience came in 2000 when he was a quality control assistant at Jacksonville, working primarily with the Jaguars secondary. "Donovin exemplifies hard work and dedication to the game. Working with Donovin at Jacksonville, I was able to see what a phenomenal competitor he is. He will fit great into our team philosophy."

Said Darius, "This is an organization that I feel is heading in the right direction with the new coaching staff and the players. I am very optimistic about the change that is taking place within the team."

The thinking of virtually all observers seems to be that Michael Huff—who doesn't weigh his listed 205 even soaking wet—will slide over to free safety, where his speed and body type make him better suited to play center field than in the box play after play. Darius, a big man and a big hitter, will almost certainly be expected to start at strong safety. The loser in the scenario is Stuart Schweigert, whose tentative tackling has never endeared him to us.

We long for a return to a Raiders defense that physically puts some hurt on opposing receivers. With Darius in the box that can happen, and Huff—the string bean among the safeties—won't be so overmatched trying to wrestle down the Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez types who predominate in the AFC West.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Late update: We thought of something we'd like to add to the discussion which follows concerning "Dan Birdwell's" great post today.

The author makes the point forcefully that there are considerable advantages to running split backs over the "I" formation. In the "I," of course, the lead back is virtually always a blocker, and the defense simply keys on that lead back to guess where the play is headed. There's little or no deception possible, other than a rare quick handoff to the first back through. But with split backs, all things become possible.

For many years the Raiders demanded of all their halfbacks that they be versatile. They had to be able to block, get to the outside, run between the tackles, and catch the ball. And that reminded us of a wonderful post from mid-June by "Professor Eyepatch" aka speedkills21, on Clarence Davis and Charlie Smith, Raiders halfbacks of yore who ran from split formations. Take a look at the following post, which fleshes out in more detail the point Birdwell makes today about running split backs: "CD and C Smith."

Jerry McDonald has been running guest posts in his "Inside the Oakland Raiders" blog on InsideBayArea.com for the past few weeks.

Today readers are in for a treat, as "RIP Dan Birdwell," a regular from the Contra Costa Times Raiders forum, explains the vertical stretch offense in his post, "Vertical stretch, with split backs, please." We've meant to do this explanation for years now—see Planned Features—but have simply never gotten around to it.

Birdwell explains it masterfully and succinctly, what it is and what it isn't. Required reading for Raiders fans, in our humble opinion!

The original Dan Birdwell, by the way, was one of the early Raiders, actually pre-dating Al Davis. He came in 1962. His brother posted in the guestbook we used to have on this site. Dan died of a coronary in the 1980s, if memory serves, too young, but had a distinguished Raiders career. A linebacker originally, Birdwell shifted to defensive tackle and became a central part of the original Eleven Angry Men—Ben Davidson, Birdwell, Tom Keating and Ike Lassiter were the front four—who racked up the 67 sacks of opposing QBs in the 14-game 1967 season. For more on Birdwell, see the Eleven Angry Men post in the CC Times forum.

Source(s): "Inside the Oakland Raiders" blog (InsideBayArea.com), Contra Costa Times Raiders forum

Thursday, July 5, 2007

CB Nnamdi Asomugha celebrates his 26th birthday tomorrow (July 6). If you'd like to e-mail him birthday wishes, here's the e-mail link for him at NFLPlayers.com.

Here's a smidgin of background on DT Lauvale Sape courtesy of Pro Football Weekly. Like fellow recent newcomer Albert Toeaina, Sape was available when he was because he had just concluded playing the 2007 season in NFL Europa—in Sape's case, for the Berlin team. Prior to that, Sape was released by Buffalo on 9/5/06 from injured reserve with an injury settlement.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Late update: There's an odd observation in the Rumor Mill's coverage of Earl Campbell's widely publicized remarks from several days ago about the players union needing to do more for retired players. Campbell was interviewed by the Associated Press and his comments received extensive exposure, including here on this site.

Michael David Smith, who has joined Mike Florio in writing the Rumor Mill column, notes in a July 2 post:

First-round draft pick Greg Olsen—the "other" tight end in the 2007 draft—was signed to a five-year deal yesterday by Da Bearss. He is the first player drafted in the first two rounds to sign. He was picked at No. 31 in round 1.

Teams, and agents, typically get serious about contract negotiations for rookies after the Fourth of July. For agents, slotting is everything, and each waits to see which few have signed and for how much. Hopefully Olsen's signing, together with passage of the unspoken deadline, will get the process going between the Raiders' personnel department—whoever's in the driver's seat at the moment—and the agents for the draft class. It's no small matter signing a No. 1 pick to a contract that is widely expected to include close to $30M in guaranteed money!

It's managing general partner Al Davis' 78th birthday today! Also today, QB Josh McCown turns 28. E-mail McCown.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Late update: We see from Raiders.com that jersey numbers have been assigned to four new arrivals. Three of these are returnees from NFL Europa, and the fourth is free agent T Albert Toeaina, signed last week. The two NFL Europa players who weren't given numbers finished that league's season injured. They are LB Ricardo Dickerson and CB Levonne Rowan. We're not sure if or how that affects their roster exemptions.

Toeaina will wear No. 73; DE Dave Tollefson, No. 97; WR Rich Parson No. 4; and, finally, WR Lauren Williams, No. 6.

Correcting an earlier item, the paper whose interview with DE Jay Richardson contained the language fingering Raiders veterans as the source of complaints about the pace of coach Lane Kiffin's practices was the Weekly Villager of Garrettsville, Ohio. It's one of a string of papers published throughout part of Ohio and carried on the Web at thisweek.com.

And, being more precise about the whole matter, it was the NFL Management Council—an arm of the owners—which acted against the Raiders after complaints made to it by the players union.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

The self-styled "Freud of Football," Dr. John F. Murray, will roll out an analysis of Super Bowl XVIII today—arguably the Raiders' greatest performance in a post-season game. When you factor in (1) the level of the competition—they were underdogs to a very good Washington team, defending Super Bowl champs from the prior year who had beaten the Raiders (in a close game) during the regular season—(2) the measure of domination in all three phases of the game, and (3) the lopsided score—until then by far the biggest margin of defeat in any Super Bowl—XVIII took the cake.

We came across the comments by rookie Jay Richardson identifying simply "the veterans" as those who had complained about the tempo of Lane Kiffin's practices. It was part of an interview he did for an amateurish This Week Community Newspapers publishing group which puts out editions in approximately fifteen different Ohio cities and towns.

We're sure Richardson will have his faux pas pointed out to him to no uncertain terms upon being re-united with his Raiders teammates. He'll have learned—one hopes—the valuable lesson that once you're in a fish bowl (as a professional athlete) you must always be conscious of what you're saying to the media.

Here's a tad more background info on new Raider T Albert Toeaina, courtesy of Pro Football Weekly. He was released by Carolina on 8/28/06, meaning in the final cuts prior to the start of the regular season. And this past spring—2007—he played for the Rhein Fire in the now-defunct NFL Europa league. That explains how it is that he just became available.