Happy Anniversary!

Actually, my anniversary is tomorrow. Yes, the Day that will Live in Infamy, not because it gave Bill Parcells a chance to use describe a trick play his coaches installed (of course, with no disrespect to "orientals" intended), but because it was the day that the Professor made an honest man of me.

That's right, seven years ago tomorrow, I got hitched. And we started celebrating today with some oysters, champagne, and a huge Raiders win over the Steelers--which AFC West Blogger seems to have missed completely while covering the Donkeys' huge victory at KC (as of 13:45 PST).

Gradkowki's line, in front of his hometown crowd: 20-33 , 308 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions.

Unbelievable. I can't remember the last time a Raiders quarterback put up numbers like that.

Also, I don't think it's a coincidence that Louis Murphy and Johnnie Lee Higgins had big games at the receiver position while DHB sat out the game with a hurt foot. I know we gave JaMarcus a couple of years before applying the bust label, but DHB fucking sucks. When your receivers suddenly have a breakout game as a group on the day you don't play, that means you should probably take your obscene signing bonus, make sure your will is correctly filled out and signed, and then jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. Seriously, look at the receiving stats from the box score:

	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LG	TGTS
L. Murphy	4	128	32.0	2	75	6
J. Higgins	4	63	15.8	0	22	7
C. Schilens	3	45	15.0	1	23	6
Z. Miller	4	43	10.8	0	16	6
J. Fargas	2	13	6.5	0	10	3
T. Watkins	1	12	12.0	0	12	2
T. Stewart	2	4	2.0	0	3	2
D. McFadden	0	0	0.0	0	0	2

I'm the sure the NFL would give some kind of cap relief for a suicided player. Take JaFatass with you. He's never come close to a 121.8 quarterback rating. (While we're here, it's not like McFadden is lighting it up, either.)

Anyway, enough hating. Great win. Go Raiders.

One more thing: I rocked my Kirk Morrison #52 replica today. Coincidence? Not sure. I know I said I wasn't going rock any more Raiders gear this year, but for some reason I woke up this morning and was feeling it. So now I'm going to rock it until they lose. Probably next week at home, blacked out against Washington, who gave the Saints all they could handle today.

A Ray of Sunshine?

Chaz Schilens practiced today and will probably play on Sunday.

Nope. Still depressed.

About that Hater of the Week...

Dan wrote a really great post the other day giving Lowell Cohn the HOTW award for his one-two punch evisceration of the Raiders in columns on Sunday and Monday.

Nobody takes the piss out of the Raiders like Lowell Cohn. I stand by it. And it's mainly because we know, deep down, that what he's writing is probably true, at least when it comes to writing about Al Davis. That's why it hurts so much.

But then came the news that Chaz Schilens, who had looked so good in camp, broke his foot.

And then came news that the league is investigating the Jawbreaker incident.

And now we get word that the offense this morning, in the joint practice with the 49ers, was an atrocity.

And Mike Florio at PFT gets to unleash his wit on the Raiders:

And regardless of whether Cable punched Hanson with a fist, threw him out of a chair, or went Bob DeNiro-as-Al Capone with a Louisville Slugger, Hanson suffered a fractured facial bone during his fracas with Cable.

And in discussing the beatdown the offense took this morning:

Raiders coach Tom Cable likely was frustrated enough to punch someone.

Or throw someone out of a chair.

Or maybe a little of both.

Har-dee-fucking-har. What's apparent now is that the real Hater of the Week isn't Lowell Cohn, or Mike Florio, or even Nancy Gay.

It's God.

That's right. That's the only thing it could be: God has cursed the Oakland Raiders. Otherwise, why would be suffering the football equivalent of the Egyptian plagues, in injuries, ridicule, and losses? The only thing left if is for God to strike down the first-born sons of every player and coach.

God Hates Us

What a week. First, Cable's cold cock.

Now, Chaz Schilens, our number #1 receiver, has a broken foot.

Schilens says he'll play against the Chargers if God does a miracle. But since God obviously hates the Oakland Raiders, he'll probably get gangrene and never play again.

I'll talk to you guys later. I have to clean the oven.

Chaz vs. Crabtree

Jerry Mac makes the case today for Uncle Lenny's favorite receiver. He also has an interesting chat transcript involving Warren Sapp, who loves the Black Hole and is apparently a JaMarcus apologist as well. The opposite of Bronco Bill Williamson.

Elsewhere, Timmy issues a clarifying statement about African-American Athletes from Notre Dame.

Even Rich Gannon is Saying Nice Things about JaMarcus Now

He looked great on that drive, with passes to Schillens and Miller, mixing in nice runs from Michael Bush.

Cap it off with a toss to Schillens on 3rd and Goal and the Raiders will go into the half up 14-7, as Chucky's boys get booed off the field.

Schilens!

I had my questions about clock management during the two-minute drill, but JaMarcus throws a dart to Unk's favorite, Chaz Schilens (~Scheline), and the Raiders score with 30 seconds to spare.

Interesting conversation going on between Fargas and McFadden on the sideline - lots of shaking heads. But even more interesting comments from Gannon, who is a Cable believer. I've got to say, with the way JaMarcus is playing, Cable is rising on my list...

14-7 at half!

Still Watching

Nnamdi is worth watching. I echo John's plea to Al Davis to Lock Him Up. Honestly, would we be any worse off cutting every single other player who could help us save cap money in order to keep him for life?

Chaz Schilens may also be worth watching after beating our old buddy Fabian on a deep post. But then some terrible play calling and execution blew a 2nd and goal from the 3 opportunity.

And then I was going to point out how good it is to see Thomas Howard showing some emotion after a big stop on a screen. Then the Raiders happened.

Gibril - not Kiffin's signing - blew a tackle and let Ray Rice steal a lot more yards from Willis McGahee en route to a first down on 3rd and 17. And now, the Raiders add to their laughingstock reel with a highlight sure to be played over and over and over and over this week - Joe Flacco beats Ricky Brown on a deep route. On a deep route.

At least McGahee's TD was called back for holding.

John's Picks.

Waiting for Dan and his brother Mikey to show up and start pre-gaming for tomorrow...

I'm going with the Raiders in this game. For some reason, I think Brett is due to throw 3 or 4 INTs tomorrow. The Chaz Schillens era debuts with him getting 6 catches for 122 and a Touchdown. 22-13 Raiders. Hell, if stuff like this can happen (and yes, it may well be apocryphal), anything can happen.

The 49ers are playing the Giants, who just got worked by Cleveland, and are probably pretty pissed, and are going to take it out on the hapless 49ers. Oh, and JTO is a back-up quarterback. For a franchise that redefined quarterback excellence, it's just not acceptable that a guy whose name sounds like a schlocky Canadian 1970s rock band is calling signals on Bill Walsh Field.

The Colts look to be back, so maybe the Packers should worry. But since Sllaacs took Indy, I'm going with GB. 27-24.

Bufalo vs. San Diego is an interesting one. I like the disChargers, for some reason. 27-21.

Meeting Chazz

That's right. The Chaz Schillens era begins this Sunday. And Dan and I will be in the House.

Meaningless Observations

For some reason I watched the majority of last night's game. Maybe it was the drama of a few guys battling to make the team. Maybe it was the comedy value of guys fresh off the streets trying to slow down Mike Holmgren's backup offense. Maybe I needed something to look at while having a beer on the couch.

There was a lot of bad, starting with the HD Channel 2 production. Wow. Everything from audio to replays to sideline/booth communications was off. They couldn't even figure out how to cut to commercials. The play of the defense was mostly worse. Jon Alston and Chris Johnson might even make the team. Michael Waddell and Marviel Underwood were comically bad. And I'm afraid Fresno State's Sam Williams is going to lose his scholarship. He often turned up in the right place, but his tackling was atrocious, particularly for a guy who was in the conversation for a starting spot when camp began.

On offense, Super Mario continues to struggle, being burned in highly visible fashion to allow a sack and lost fumble on poor old Andrew Walter. And you had to feel sorry for Arman Shields, a fourth rounder this year who has missed most of training camp while on the trainer's table, endured Kiffin's public complaints and doubts, and then stepped into this game and dropped passes and ran the wrong routes. A classic preseason moment was James Lofton and Greg Knapp taking turns ripping Shields on the sideline after a blown route. Poor guy. At least he had one fairly spectacular sideline catch. His celebration let out a lot of pent up frustration.

But there was good, and it has to start with McFadden who averaged a healthy 12.5 yards per carry on 4 runs, two of which have me fired up to watch him against the Broncos' sorry run defense. The new fullback Lawton looked impressive catching balls out of the backfield. I recall reading some comment on the Lawton acquisition complaining that the Raiders are giving up on the passing game entirely. Obviously the commentator doesn't know the Raiders or Lawton very well.

What else? Chaz Schilens looked pretty good as a receiver. Todd Watkins was good and bad - he was getting open, at least. Michael Bush looked solid, and even Johnnie Lee Higgins busted a good kickoff return.

So the takeaway from the game is that the Raiders aren't deep, but we do have some bright spots. I had to laugh when Mark Ibanez came on and said if everyone has a little Raider in them, then everyone should be very concerned after this game. But besides depth, how does sitting all 22 starters have anything to do with what we'll see in the regular season?

I guess everyone has a right to project 3 wins after what we've seen the last 5 seasons. The good news is we get to start watching real games next week.