The Vertical Game

Watching the Eagles take apart Atlanta and Jeremy Maclin just scored on an 83-yard bomb, which made me think of the two WRs taken before him in the 2009 NFL Draft.

There will be no avoiding the DHB-Crabtree comparisons today. Crabtree admits to having a little extra incentive to rub it in Al Davis's face today, while DHB says he isn't going to spend even a minute thinking about Crabbers. While DHB has been an easily foreseen disaster, based on the problems he's had in SF, it's clear Crabtree would have been a nightmare in Oakland.

Maclin, on the other hand...oh yeah, we have Johnnie Lee Higgens.

Hopefully Campbell can figure out how to get the WRs involved this week.

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.

Dennis O'Donnell is a Little Bitch

Well, okay. Mike Singletary is announced as the new, permanent head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

But that doesn't mean you have to cut away from Johnnie Lee Higgins doing the Rerun dance.

Johnnie Lee is saying, "I can't show you too much, cuz I might be on 'Dancing with the Stars Next Week."

But that doesn't mean O'Donnell has to give the "wrap it up" sign to his producers or whatever.

The Robot

Johnnie Lee caps off a beautiful drive--helped out by a PI call on a nice pass down field by Michael Bush--with a TD catch.

Then he broke out the Robot.

Touchdown Bush!

Everyone makes some plays on this drive: Raiders 7-0.

Bill Williamson Sucks

I guess there aren't any Mike Shanahan press conferences to transcribe, because Bill Williamson is out with a post in which he names my least favorite player in the conference--Philip Rivers--the AFC West Player of the Week.

I really, really hate Philip Rivers and his big, sassy mouth.

Besides, everyone knows that Johnnie Lee Higgins should have been the Player of the Week, if only for his dance moves.

Real Football

The only barf this week is over my fantasy team, as the Raiders win in commanding fashion and the Forty-Niners pull it out against their main rival.

JaMarcus looked like a real quarterback, and it reminds you that while he is in danger of being a bust, he isn't there yet. I started to wonder about his work ethic, not to mention his sanity as he pointed towards all the "positives" he took from the Patriots debacle. But today's effort is worth something. The Raiders of late are always criticized for mailing it in late in the season, and with Cable appearing to be a lame duck, this is prime mail-it-in time. Instead, JaMarcus had perhaps his finest performance of the season. And - another day, another lush Jammy fur. Today it's brown and looks like a real animal. He's single-handedly taking down the Coliseum's PETA ranking.

And Johnnie Lee...oh, Johnnie Lee. I've been pretty hard on JLH, but justifiably so. Today he was terrific, and even his post-game interview on CBS was endearing. He explained one of his terrible dances as an attempt at "The Carlton from Fresh Prince." His analogy for how it felt getting to the end zone was like an antelope outrunning the cheetahs. Ok, let's keep him. At least for now.

Barely Watchable

Well, so far this is looking more like trips to Green Bay, Jacksonville, and New Orleans. Bombs.

What's bad so far?

The offensive line can't run block, can't pass block.

JaMarcus can't hit the broad side of a barn.

The run defense is terrible.

Johnnie Lee Higgins remains my least favorite Raider.

Gibril Wilson - as Al was sure to point out, a signing with which Kiffin had nothing to do - can't seem to play the pass.

Punt coverage is pretty much nonexistent.

What's good so far?

It isn't noon yet, so at least the day isn't shot.

Waiting for Tape Delay

We should be used to tape delay after weeks of Olympic "spoilers." While watching track & field and unfortunately already aware of the disastrous results, I couldn't help but think of Al's love for Olympic sprinters at the WR position as the US men's 4x100 relay team dropped the baton in qualifying. It looked painfully familiar.

So tonight we will watch to see whether any of the current Raider WRs can get open and catch. The good news is that Walker and Carter welcome the attention. The bad news...well, all visual evidence so far suggests they shouldn't. Making this more difficult will be the tantalizing presence of a disgruntled Anquan Boldin, one of my favorite WRs in the league.

Run defense is another area of focus for tonight's game. I'm afraid we may have to discount positive results, however, given the stagnant Arizona running game. But we can look to the details - Kelly blowing up lanes, Sands staying low and eating up blockers, Morrison running free, Wilson plugging gaps, etc. Based on the Tennessee game, long runs continue to be a problem for this defense, so it would be nice to see them eliminate those tonight.

Johnnie Lee Higgins. This guy is under my microscope. He has thus far proven to be worthless as a WR, yet somehow we've stuck ourselves with him as the only viable returner on the team. (Is it even worth pining for Carr in light of our thin CB ranks? Of course not.) If JLH does something dumb - again - tonight, then it's time to look to the scrap heap for a punt returner and give Schilens a roster spot.

The offensive line should be interesting to watch tonight given the pass-heavy game plan and extended playing time for both JaMarcus and the OL starters. I'm not yet a Kwame believer, but Cable is, publicly, which is at least nice to read. And Gallery's continued improvement, along with Grove's potential to take over at Center, makes for heartwarming TV.

Saving the best for last, I really look forward to watching JaMarcus tonight. He is beginning to look like a starting quarterback. Maybe we'll even get an Al Pleaser to the deep post, just for fun.

JaMarcus is a Baller.

I watched most of the game tonight, but the most promising part was the touchdown drive that ended the first quarter and started the second.

JaMarcus looked great. Poised, confident, in control. The play he made on the touchdown pass, ducking under Haynesworth and firing a straight up bullet into Zach Miller's hands, was a thing of beauty.

Now if we can find a wide receiver who can make some plays (Curry had a couple of nice catch and runs), we could be in business. McFadden and Bush were awesome.

Johnnie Lee Higgins sucks.

Insight from Jerry

It's no secret we love Jerry McDonald's blog. Another reason to love? His weekly live chat.

Thus far, very little seems to have been written about on-the-field-at-camp McFadden. Maybe it's just me, but I was starting to get nervous that our newest superstar was just bumbling along trying to catch passes with "incorrect hand placement." Two very encouraging comments in Jerry's chat:

"McFadden is a stunningly fast runner when he reaches the corner or finds a crack. One of the fastest I've ever seen carrying a football in person, the others being Deion Sanders, Randy Moss and Napoleon Kaufman."

Ok, that one was predictable, but this is even better:

"McFadden seems to be absorbing everything they give him in terms of scheme and complexity. I think you'll see him catch 40 passes minimum and the number will go up each year to what the Raiders hope is a Marshall Faulk level."

Jerry also brings up the "strange case" of Johnnie Lee Higgins, my least favorite Raider of 2007:

"Looks great one catch, lost the next. His ticket is if he is chosen to return punts. Kiffin clearly wants Higgins to win the job, but it's not clear he is up to it."

Unfortunately, we seem to have no full time backup plan at punt returner. Higgins was truly dreadful last year, and now he's in position to knock a promising WR prospect off the roster.

But in keeping with yesterday's optimistic tone, Jerry notes the drastic improvement in the passing game, among other improvements. Are the Raiders better than last year at this time?

"Overall, it's a pretty good upgrade."

Are We Allowed Moral Victories?

The Raiders traditionally have not been. But tonight is the best I've felt after a Raider loss in a long time - particularly considering that this loss was the 10th of the year. The defense played a terrific game, the offense put together some nice drives - including a "masterpiece" - and while special teams were suspect, at least Carr did a nice job with kickoffs.

Kiffin does not share my positive vibe tonight: "We're too far along to feel good because we played the world champs down on the 14-yard line to win the game. Who cares? We lost. We got to start winning these games. Some day we'll be that team that makes the plays and finishes people off like that."

Good point. So on the negative side, the final Colts drive made me think of the unnamed NFL coach frequently quoted by Jerry McDonald regarding last year's highly ranked defense. He basically said that it seemed like any time an offense really needed to score against them, they did. Manning cut it pretty close with a couple of 3rd down conversions, but he did go 7-for-7 and cap it with a TD pass.

Another complaint is our WR depth. Not a new complaint. I couldn't help but wonder whether Doug Gabriel or Travis Taylor might have made the catch that Chris McFoy dropped to end a JaMarcus drive. Jerry points out that Johnnie Lee Higgins was on the bench at that time. So why was he on the field to catch the punt at the end of the first half? His game of possum cost the Raiders a shot at a game-tying FG.

But we only won 2 games last year and I couldn't bear to watch during December, so this feels like real progress. How about the game Howard had? Asomugha shut down everyone who came his way. There was even a brief Sands sighting as he stood up a guard during the second goal line stand. Going back to the situation leading to Johnnie Lee's punt non-return, how is it fathomable that the Colts gain 5 yards on first down with just under a minute to play in the half and MANNING ON THE FIELD...and the Raiders call a timeout! That's confidence. And sorry Lane, that feels good.