Niners inspire, Raiders already tired, Sousa wallows in the mire...

Got to say, the Niners made me proud vs. the Cardinals. The Defense was stout, and even with Gore running into walls all day the offense managed to get it done. Granted, Kurt Warner looked more like Time Warner, but he was still tossing to Fitz and Boldin. That final defensive play by Justin Smith is a nice endcap for a game that was won by the Niner D.

Both Bay Area teams played strong games last Sunday, but unlike the Raiders, the Niners are searching for no silver linings. Yes, Oakland played a good game on both sides of the ball at times and consistently on defense, but besides the smashmouth, you didn't have much "O" (the 57-Yard bomb on 4th and 15? Nice.), except for another bad game for Mr.#1 Overall.

All to the Right, Picks:

New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys

Eli will own. Hopefully, he'll drop a bomb or two to Marques Colston... Dallas should get... Something... But I don't know what. Giants over 'Boys 31-17.


New Orleans Saints @ Philadelphia Eagles

This would be more interesting if Vick were eligible to play - but Drew Brees is tossing the ball 40 times on a bad day - makes for interesting football. Also interesting: Let's see if Reggie Bush can begin to live up to his draft status.

Seattle Seahawks @ San Francisco Forty-Niners

The Seahawks rolled the Rams, no big deal - they also rolled out thier version of the latest gimmick - the Wildcat. So what? Until further review, the Seahawks still suck. Niners win at home, 21-10.


Oakland Raiders @ Kansas City Chiefs

I see that the Raiders are favorites over K.C. this week - I disagree. K.C. will mop the Raiders like the sticky floor of a S.F. strip club and then send them back to Oakland wondering where their money went. K.C. over Oakland 17-13.


P to the S;

Sousa has apparently gone all "Branch Rickey" and "Jerry Jones" in the case of Yahoo Fantasy League Football, apparently becoming inebriated and shouting down the following trade:

Marques Colston & Frank Gore for Randy Moss & Brian Westbrook


In his liquor (or liqueur) - filled tirade he blasted the trade as unfair (the person getting Gore -me - ripping off the person getting Moss). Come now - that's a fair trade, even in China, in fact my love of all things Frank Gore may result in myself coming up short in this deal when all is said and done.

As it was, his argument was ignored on Yahoo, and met underwhelmed non-support on FaceBook.

Sllaacs Ballers!!!

Sousa - get off that dum dum juice or you will reap the whirlwind... reap it... and then you'll sit there and wonder bout the size of that chicken...

Sllaacs

The Talent Leakage Fallacy

Borrowing a mechanism from Lowell Cohn...

The problem with the Raiders is illustrated by the players who leave. Just not the way most people think.

With Randy Moss and LaMont Jordan scoring touchdowns in the latest Oakland Raiders Debacle (do we need to go to ORDeal in place of BARFF given the Niners' recent respectability?), it has been all too easy to suggest that the Raiders are so inept that they let talent walk out the door. A much bigger problem is the opposite one: holding onto marginal players for far too long. And that so few ex-Raiders go on to enjoy success - and those that do, do so not as leaders - seems an indictment of the talent acquisition process.

The case of Moss is unique. A quintessential Raiders-of-late team captain, loaded with talent and completely lacking discipline and heart and any other leadership quality. Trading him was the right move. Had he been retained, why would the latter years have been any more productive than the first? His stench would have rotted away any promise of rebuilding with Kiffin before it ever began. Nnamdi summed it up while recapping the game with Raj Mathai: "He never played like that for us when he was here."

LaMont as an ex-Raider has done nothing beyond the one revenge run in garbage time on Sunday. How often do you see Jerry Porter on NFL Total Access? Barry Sims I did see, although he was getting blown away by Joey Porter en route to a sack of Shawn Hill. Fabian Washington? Not terrible, I guess. Kevin Boothe? Plays some, but never fit Cable's system. Tyler Brayton? Watching Trevor Scott this year just reinforces the disappointment Brayton was year after year with the Raiders.

Sure, Charles Woodson has been fine. But the Raiders kept even him far too long given their circumstances. Two years of Franchise money at approximately six-games-per-year. The Packers took a huge gamble (or knew something about his motivation level) signing him at such a cost when he hadn't played a full season in years.

Who am I forgetting? Kerry Collins? Right, he's a guy you can plug into a very good team and be successful. Dominic Rhodes? Ditto.

The fact is, the Raiders don't let very much real talent get away. Even this year may not be the exodus one might expect, although only so many franchise tags are available.

Unfortunately, the Raiders' problem is systemic and organizational and not fixed through talent alone. Talent that plugs in or shines in a good system simply is not good enough. Yes, they need to go find more talent - OT and WR in particular - but absent a talent that is also a world class leader the likes of Rich Gannon, talent is not going to make things any better.

As I write this, an NFL Network ad just came on featuring Eric Mangini saying, "The most important thing you can do is to build your team based on players that are intrinsically motivated." That's building a culture, and the Raiders have a destructive one that is destroying any talent they do have.

Open Wounds

Like a fool, this morning I sat in front of the NFL Network's replay of the Tuck Rule game as part of their NFL's Greatest Games series. With every sip of coffee and every carefully chosen comment spliced into the program, my blood pressure rose. Why don't I just get over this? Well, that's not how it works.

The NFL coverage follows the standard line. Terrible rule, but correctly applied.

Bullshit.

By rule, when Brady's left hand touches the ball, the act of tucking is complete. To overturn a call requires indisputable visual evidence. Such evidence does not exist. Not to mention the fact that Walt Coleman never invoked the Tuck Rule - or any approximation of it - in explaining the overturn. Obviously, someone in the NFL office pored over that rule book that night to prepare a defense when the controversy hit the next day. I can just see the intern racing through the office at 2 AM exclaiming, "I've got it! I've got it! Rule 3, Section 21, Article 2, Note 2!"

So now Randy Moss comes back to Oakland, returning to the site where he stole Al's money and spent a lot of time moping around instead of playing football. This one I've mostly gotten over. Is Randy Moss a big baby and the furthest thing from a leader? Sure. But during his stint he was merely the ultimate poster boy for a destructive culture that rewards raw talent, eschews discipline and does nothing to foster heart.

Charles Woodson used to shut down Moss with his physical play. If Nnamdi ever hopes to overtake Champ Baily in Pro Bowl voting, he'll do the same.

Art Shell Bad

I'm afraid we've gotten there. Ever get the feeling that Al fired the wrong coach?

It would just make too much sense for the Raiders to put Mike Vick on the team. At one point my least favorite player in the NFL was Warren Sapp. The Raiders promptly added him to the team. Then Randy Moss was my least favorite. Voila, Moss to the Raiders. Since the Vick drama, and as a person who has twice been on the receiving end of pit bull attacks (Maya absorbed all the pain and the emergency vet visits and surgery), Vick has been my most despised NFL player.

From my perspective, the Raiders are paying for the sins of putting degenerates like Sapp and Moss on the team. They haven't been good since those signings. If Vick joins the team, it might be enough to push me to fan hiatus. I never thought it possible, but that was the visceral reaction to Johnny's post. It isn't like I need this frustration in my life.

Forty Niner Sideline Drama

As the Niners melt down against a team that all contributors to this blog agree is terrible, the focus shifted from on-field events to those on the sideline. Vernon Davis, a very high draft pick whose speed-size combination was to revolutionize the tight end position, did something vaguely Raideresque by smacking a Seahawk in the facemask and drawing a completely stupid 15-yard penalty. The Interim then gave him a tongue lashing, VD put on his Randy Moss pout face in response, so Singletary just ejected him. He even made him come back and get his helmet and take it to the locker room himself.

If Norv Turner had ejected Randy Moss, how long do you think it would have taken for Al Davis to get out there and beat Norv with his walker?

Sure, the Niners are somewhat inexplicably getting crushed by the Seahawks, but I've come to believe that discipline is pretty central to success in the NFL, so Singletary may have taken a positive step today.

The Hater of the Week: Gary Peterson

Granted, he beat me to the punch. But this one is going to be tough to beat!

The original article is here. I think Kiffin wants to win, and my previous post muses whether the Arizona game was his attempt to maintain control over his own ability to do so. Peterson makes the opposite argument, that Kiffin is just denigrating the talent on the team so he doesn't look so bad when the team goes down in flames.

I think Peterson's hate-mailers have a point. To make the assertion that someone is taking a dive is pretty extreme, and as a fan, it's the last thing you want to hear before the season even starts.

Well, the next to last thing besides, "It's fishy around here, man, so, actually, we're walking on eggshells around here, man."

The Randy Moss We Know and Love

I've been wondering when Randy Moss would become a distraction for the Patriots. He's got great timing, too, right before the AFC Championship Game.

This is not to comment on whether or not he's guilty of anything. I'm frankly inclined to believe his version of events. But the fact that we're even discussing this leading up to a game in which two teams I seriously, seriously hate are playing for the right to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl has filled me with glee.

All we need now is for someone to leak a sex tape involving Shawne Merriman, Philip Rivers, LDT, and a goat, and this will be a great week.

UPDATE: Now Bill Simmons is doing his best to jinx the hell out of the Patriots...This will get its own post after Sllaacs sends in his picks...