Raiders- Bengals Week 11

November has been a nightmare for the Oakland Raiders. Four straight losses, during which the defense has given up 30+ points, has the Raiders spiraling towards another lost season. The Raiders have set or revisited historical lows during this streak, they've never gone winless during the month of November, their four game losing streak is the longest since 2008 and they are now assured of their 10th consecutive season without a winning record.

"It's been mind blowing" said Tommy Kelly "I would have never in my wildest dreams, thought we would be 3-8 right now" Get your head out of the sand Tommy, anyone who looked over the Raider's roster going into the pre-season could see that Reggie's plan of addition by subtraction wasn't going to work.  Seriously, take a long hard look at this year's roster, player by position and tell me that this was ever anymore than a 4-12 team. From the moment Reggie McKenzie took over and Hue Jackson was canned, the 2012 season was written off as a loss.

In order for the 2012 Raiders to be successful, too many variables had to fall in place. In the Oakland Trib, Monte Poole asked the following question, "How did the '11 Raiders, with mostly the same starting cast, manage to reach first place in the division at this time last year?"  In my opinion it comes down to the chemistry between the coaching staff and the returning players. For better or worse, Dennis Allen is no Hue Jackson, and if Greg Knapp, the offensive coordinator or Jason Tarver, the defensive coordinator can't do better than this, then Allen must cut them loose.

Monte Poole continues, "But, really, how much rebuilding and fixing should be necessary for a team that was so close to the 2011 playoffs? It figured the Raiders might be better equipped to improve this season than last"  Mathematically, Oakland had a chance at the playoffs in 2011. Realistically by the time they played San Diego, inspite of all the playoff implications,  they had tanked the season and were simply playing out the string. It's not that the Raiders were that much better in 2011, it's just that everyone else in the AFC West stunk! and we still missed out on the playoffs.

For the love of all that is good, the Broncos with Tim Tebow at quarterback, won the AFC West by losing their last two games. "All the 2011 Raiders needed to reach the playoffs was an ordinary defense -- only Buffalo in the AFC allowed more points -- and surely in 2012 they could be at least ordinary" says Poole. Ordinary would be a step or two up from where they are now. We could point lots of fingers at lots of people, starting with Reggie McKenzie and on down the line. I'm sure the parade of waiver wire stiffs sours the mood in the locker room, as uncertainty hangs over the heads of defensive players.

Pat Lee was cut to make room for Aaron Curry who followed him out the door less than two weeks later. Just like at the end of 2011, nobody on the defense is safe, and rightfully so. Given the current state of  the Oakland defense, a 3-13 season is unavoidable. That's even worse then my own pre-season "lowered expectations" pick of 4-12. Raider fans have only themselves to blame if they got carried away on the wings of higher  expectations. Nobody outside the Facebook bandwagon "Raiders 4 Life" fan base considered this team a championship contender.

Suddenly the question becomes, "How the Hell are we going to beat the Browns?" The Cincinnati game gave us a surreal, Dickensian glimpse at our past, present & future. There's Hue Jackson, Bruce Gradkowski & Thomas Howard on the Bengal's sideline, the Cinci crowd booing Carson Palmer (ex-Bengal) without mercy even as promising rookies, Brandon Thompson, Kevin Zeitler & Dre Kirkpatrick landed on the Bengal's roster courtesy of the Palmer trade.

What part of that is our future?... the part where we lose, natch!  The Oakland Raiders are operating as a cut loss business venture, cutting costs while taking an axe to the deadwood, yet at the same time bringing in more deadwood.... ad nauseum. Many of the fans fell for the bait and switch, not realizing that all the changes also killed our chances of winning now. Whether this is just a blip on our way to future success or just more of the same old shit, won't be determined until next season or the season after that. Go Raiders!

Oakland Raiders   10                   Cincinnati Bengals   34

NFL Fact: the regular referees are only marginally better than the replacement refs. 

Dead in the water, Oakland started to rally in the third quarter. Sebastian Janikowski hit a 55 yard field goal, the Bengals were riding a streak of four straight three and outs. A beleaguered Carson Palmer temporarily quieted the boo birds by finally syncing up with Denarius Moore on a 20 yd. td. pass. It looked, for the world like the Raiders had finally found a spark.... then a sequence of events took place that typify everything that has gone wrong for the Raiders this year. 

The first set back to Oakland's nascent comeback effort was when Manny Lawson strip sacked Carson Palmer, resulting in a  20yd. field goal by Mike Nugent. A couple of possessions later, the Raiders had a chance to cut into Cinci's lead when Joselio Hanson stripped Mohamed Sanu of the ball at the Bengal's 25 yard line. As the ball was headed out of bounds, Hanson used an awesome acrobatic move to send the ball towards Tyvon Branch, who scooped it up and dashed untouched into the end zone. 

Touchdown Raiders!.... not exactly. Having not yet signaled a touchdown, the officials conferred and then ruled that an inadvertent whistle had blown, killing the play immediately after Hanson stripped Sanu, but before Hanson could keep the ball from going out of bounds. Faced with the option of accepting the play for fourth and one or replaying the down, the Bengals chose to replay the down. As the two teams lined up at the line of scrimmage, Cincinnati was flagged for a false start. 

Lamar Houston broke through the Bengals' line as players on both sides continued to play through, and tackled Bengals Qb. Andy Dalton. Cincinnati OL, Andrew Whitworth took exception to Houston hitting Dalton and went toe to toe with Lamar. A full blown scrum soon followed, it didn't take long for Tommy Kelly to get drawn in as punches were thrown and helmets ripped off. Once order was restored  Lamar Houston, Tommy Kelly and Whitworth were ejected from the game. 

"From the point of the turnover, or whatever you want to call it, it kind of went downhill after that," Coach Allen said. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis called Houston's play "a cheap shot." Coach Allen later said "We lost our poise." The poise less defense then rolled over and allowed the Bengals to drive 85 yards, culminating in a 7 yd. td. pass from Andy Dalton to Jermaine Gresham. How's that for a bedtime story?

     

Raider Notes:

Rolando McClain is still a Raider, or is he? the under performing middle linebacker posted on his Facebook wall "Officially no longer an Oakland Raiders" he later posted "Well techinically (sic) I am. But I'm mentally done. Just waiting on my papers" . McClain's Facebook wall was later wiped clean. The Raider front office reports that McClain is still on the roster, though he missed practice on Wednesday because of "team related issues" McClain was not present during the open locker room session with the media. He was not included on the league waiver wire as of Wednesday evening. 

Is Terrelle Pryor the Raiders version of Colin Kaepernick? looks like we're about to find out. Pryor who has been inactive for practically all of Oakland's games this year is about to earn his money. At this point, what's the worst that could happen, a quarterback controversy? Coach Allen is finally starting to think outside the box, too bad the box has already gone through the box crusher. With DMC and Mike Goodson still out (surprise!) a healthy pair of legs in the backfield couldn't hurt.

I have a good feeling about this.... it could be that little extra something that the Raiders need to get by Cleveland, which is suddenly showing signs of life (they beat the Steelers, but we too beat the Steelers and look at us now) "We got to look at any option" says Coach Allen. Where the fuck was this sudden need to experiment when the season started going south? One major hurdle that Coach Allen and his staff must clear, is their lack of imagination and daring do.... fuck! mix it up fellas, there's nothing left to lose (except your jobs)

Hue Jackson wants to return to the Bay Area, not as Oakland's offensive coordinator as many would hope, but as the head coach of the Cal Bears. The Univ. of California fired long time head coach Jeff Tedford and Jackson wasted little time before tossing his hat into the ring. Jackson calls the job "a golden opportunity" Cal has not contacted him, though Hue made it clear that he would welcome a call. He was last seen yelling "Can you hear me now?" into his cell phone. 

Transaction News:

As I mentioned previously, Aaron Curry was shit canned... all that rehab amounted to not a damn thing. That son of a bitch simply stole paychecks. Pat Lee who was cut to make way for Curry is back with Oakland after he cleared waivers. Kaelin Burnett played on special teams against Cincinnati, one day after he was promoted from the practice squad. 

Signed to the practice squad were Dan Knapp (all 6'5" 305 lbs. of him) apparently he's not related to Greg, though his father Steve did play linebacker for the Univ. of Nevada. and Cory Nelms, who played for the Univ. of Miami and had been a member of the 49'ers practice squad. Nate Stupar, who I thought would make the active roster during the pre-season is back on the practice squad.

Chris Johnson also returns to the Raiders after a short stint with the Baltimore Ravens. Johnson played in 12 games for Oakland in 2010, 4 games in 2011 before landing with the Ravens... never more, never more!  Give me your tired, washed up corners..... If Brandon Weeden could think straight he would drool over himself at the thought of dissecting the Raider secondary.

He's drooling all over himself now, but that's just from the concussion he suffered in the win over Pittsburgh. It's possible that Weeden will be ready for the Raider game, however the Browns are being overly cautious (if there's such a thing when dealing with concussions) due to the fallout from the way they handled back-up Qb.Colt McCoy's concussion last season (also against the Steelers)

 A local radio dee jay (he's  a 'Skins fan who ends his posts with HTTR) asked the question (on Facebook) "If you were to switch NFL teams who would you root for?"  I left a comment that said "As a Raider fan there is no other option" he responded "That's not what I asked" I answered "Fuck You Bandwagon" he unfriended me.

Take me Home Junior!, this pirate's life is full of peril and heartbreak, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Remember folks,  Raider law states that 1.The more things change, the more they stay the same  2. Anything that can go wrong, will  3. If you fight in the stands, don't start crying when they snap the cuffs on ya'   Above all else keep a sense of humor about you, after it it's only football.