Oakland Raiders - The Vertical Game

News Archive
Jan. 1 - Mar. 30, 1999

Tuesday, March 30, 1999

The Raiders and The Ticket (1050 AM) jointly announced yesterday that The Ticket will continue to carry Raiders games for the next two years.

Monday, March 29, 1999

Several astute readers wrote to correct my reference 10 days ago to the terrible injury which Napoleon McCallum suffered in 1994, the last time Oakland and San Francisco played. It was a knee and not a hip injury.

Saturday, March 20, 1999

The Raiders took something of a gamble this week in signing free agent RB Zack Crockett, last with Jacksonville.

Crockett has good size—he's 6-2 and 245 lbs. And he's said to be versatile. But the former third-round pick of Indianapolis in the 1995 draft hasn't been the same player since suffering a serious knee injury in 1996.

Friday, March 19, 1999

The home exhibition game against San Francisco will be played on Monday night, August 30, and nationally televised.

This observer has bad memories of playing the Whiners . . . In their last contest, in 1994, not only did the Raiders get thumped, 44-14, but Nap McCallum went down with a sickening, career-ending hip injury. He'll limp for the rest of his life. As if that weren't bad enough, the television crew kept replaying the injury over and over . . .

Team owner Al Davis found a way to upstage the NFL Commissioner once again, holding an "impromptu" news conference at the conclusion of the owners' meetings Wednesday just when Paul Tagliabue was due to make a public statement.

There wasn't anything new in Big Al's remarks. He repeated his claim that the Raiders are entitled to compensation if the NFL expands again into the Los Angeles market, and expressed his unhappiness once more over the lack of sellouts in Oakland.

Said Davis, "I have optimism we will come out all right. I'm in the later years of my life and I don't want to spend them fighting."

"What I am interested in right now is that the Oakland community, the city and county, live up to the representations made to the Raiders."

Sources: Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury News

Sunday, March 14, 1999

Shortly after writing here yesterday that Arizona would be one of the Raiders' preseason opponents, I checked Raiders.com and found all four opponents listed.

Oakland will host San Francisco and Dallas at home and travel to Arizona and St. Louis.

Saturday, March 13, 1999

Arizona fans are being offered tickets for a preseason game with the Raiders, so that will apparently be one of Oakland's exhibition games for 1999.

The Raiders added Mike Lombardi to their player personnel staff this past week.

Lombardi, 39, served as an analyst last season on CBS's "NFL Today" show. He has previously worked in the personnel area with Philadelphia, Cleveland and San Francisco. He was also an assistant coach at Nevada-Las Vegas from 1982-83.

Monday, January 25, 1999

Former Raider Howie Long is one of only four of this year's first-time nominees to the Pro Football Hall of Fame who made it to the final ballot, according to the Associated Press. Another first-time nominee, former RB Eric Dickerson, finished out his career with the Raiders.

Also among the finalists is punter Ray Guy. Guy has been close several times in recent years, but has to fight the stereotype advanced by some writers that punters "don't do anything." There's no other conceivable reason for keeping Guy out; he dominated his position throughout his career (1973-86).

The only Bay Area writer with a vote for the Hall of Fame is the Chronicle's Ira Miller. You can reach him at imiller@sfgate.com.

Rookie CB Charles Woodson will get to go to the Pro Bowl after all. Overlooked in the initial balloting, the Defensive Rookie of the Year was named as an AFC replacement for the Jets' Aaron Glenn.

Sunday, January 17, 1999

Exposed to the expansion draft for the new Browns franchise were KR Desmond Howard, OLB Terry Wooden, CB Perry Carter, DE Aundray Bruce and G-T Rick Cunningham.

The big name here, of course, is Howard. Despite appearing somewhat more dynamic in the last few games of the 1998 season, overall he's produced little as a Raider. Last year's $800,000 salary would escalate to $1.3 million in 1999, not to mention bonus acceleration. Overall, the Raiders will save over $2.3 million against the cap if Cleveland signs him. The team might also release him if he's not drafted.

More than one writer had speculated that RB Harvey Williams might be on the list, too, especially in view of Randy Jordan's surprising performance late last season, but the Raiders chose to protect Williams. Williams' status still remains up in the air — once again he's unhappy about a lack of playing time and has said he may retire.

The team apparently intends to stick with James Folston at strong side linebacker, making Wooden expendable. As for Carter, he once seemed to be next in line for a starting CB slot, but somehow slipped about as far down the ladder last year as there are rungs on it.

Bruce, a decent pass rusher but undersized to play the run, saw virtually no game action last year. Cunningham is a wide body, nothing more, who stuck around due to his ability to play all the interior line positions except center.

The Raiders signed two free agents this past week, QB Andre Ware and TE Marcus Hinton.

Ware, 30, ran up prodigious passing stats as a collegian at Houston, winning the 1989 Heisman Trophy, but has failed to make a dent anywhere as a pro. He last played in Canada in 1995-97 before being out of football last year. He'll compete for a backup quarterback spot.

Hinton, signed originally by the Raiders as an undrafted free agent, was the favorite target of QB Steve McNair as a college wide receiver. He was a late pre-season roster cut in 1997. In limited action in the past Hinton has shown the ability to get open, but also a tendency to fall prey to lapses of concentration. His blocking also needs improvement.

Receivers coach Fred Biletnikoff will chat with fans online Jan. 20 on Raiders.com from 4 to 5 p.m. Coach Jon Gruden will appear on Jan. 27 in the same time slot.