Raiders- Browns Week 12

Light hearted reverie is our trademark, as it is throughout sports. The NFL is a billion dollar industry, but it's still just a game. The games in and of themselves contribute nothing to our society other than to entertain and divert us away from the reality of our lives, be it the good life or otherwise.  Every now and then, reality intrudes into the world of sports. That was the case this past week when Kansas City Chiefs defensive player Jovan Belcher, shot and killed his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins (in front of his daughter & mother) then drove to the Chiefs facilities at Arrowhead stadium and took his own life in front of head coach Romeo Crennel and General Manager Scott Pioli.

The Chiefs played on Sunday, Crennel explained that as football men, that's what they do, they play football. This, in the face of all the sanctimonious and pious sports pundits across the country who pleaded for them to do otherwise.  Crennel, Pioli & Qb. Brady Quinn are enduring life in a pressure cooker, with each passing week and loss the pressure ratchets up. They are the face of the franchise. The Chiefs as a team have been the subject of criticism and derision throughout the season. Only Jovan Belcher could say if that sour mood contributed to his actions. We do know this, Belcher for whatever reasons, snapped.

As Brady Quinn waited for some team to draft him during the first round of the 2007 NFL draft, I joined everyone else in taking potshots at him. Projected to be among the first 4-5 players selected he sat there as a parade of his piers stepped up to the podium. During the time he was in Cleveland he became a running gag for football's wise guys. The Browns would eventually dump him off on the Chiefs.  However, after Sunday's heavyhearted game vs. the Carolina Panthers, (which the Chiefs won 27-21) Brady Quinn stepped up to the podium and showed that he is a thoughtful man, with a big heart, who has his priorities in the right order.

"It was tough" Brady Quinn said "I think it was an eerie feeling after a win because you don't think that you can win in this situation. The one thing people can hopefully try to take away, I guess, is the relationships they have with people. I know when it happened, I was sitting, and in my head, thinking what I could have done differently" Quinn, paused and then continued "When you ask someone how they are doing, do you really mean it? When you answer someone back how you are doing, are you really telling the truth?"

Brady Quinn had everyone's attention "We live in a society of social networks, with Twitter pages and Facebook, and that's fine, but we have contact with our work associates, our family, our friends and it seems like half the time we are more preoccupied with our phone and other things going on instead of actual relationships that we have right in front of us" his words sunk in "Hopefully people can learn from this and try to actually help if someone is battling something deeper on the inside than what they are revealing on a day to day basis."

Further in, Brady Quinn stated, "I think that moments and tragedies like this, they can either define you or redefine you. I think this team was able to take it on that and allow it to redefine us"  If the Chiefs never win another game, they have as Brady Quinn stated, been redefined, as has the NFL and our single minded, often thoughtless and selfish need to belittle the players when things go wrong. In this game of football there will always be winners and losers, they keep score, otherwise it wouldn't be worth watching. If your team winds up on the losing end, it's not personal and it's not the end of the world... it's a football game.

Everyday all across America, people go to work following the death of a loved one or co-worker. Life does indeed go on, as it did on Sunday. Romeo Crennel who witnessed something that no person should see, became the team's anchor... their rock. The Chiefs rallied around him and did what so many people do under similar circumstances, they went to work. However even as the pro football community and the families of Kasandra Perkins & Jovan Belcher mourn, questions are already being asked. Belcher was said to be "dazed and suffering from short term memory loss" after the Chiefs game against Cincinnati, because of this he saw limited action against Denver.

Reports have come out saying that Belcher had been taking painkillers and drinking heavily during the days leading up to Saturday's tragedy. Concussions are a hot topic in the NFL and this will surely bring the NFL's so called "concussion protocol" (which one writer referred to as "cover your ass" protocol) back under the microscope. If concussions did play a role in Belcher murdering his girlfriend and then killing himself, the repercussions will be felt all across the NFL. In retrospect the recent actions taken by the Oakland Raiders in dealing with  Rolando McClain now make much more sense. Team officials and coaches need to do a better job of reading the signs.

Oakland Raiders  17           Cleveland Browns   20

Did the Raiders avert a tragedy similar to that of Jovan Belcher by taking immediate action to help Rolando McClain? Who can really say?, but it does show that Coach Allen, Reggie McKenzie & the coaching staff are putting the welfare of their players first and foremost.   Many of us hate on Reggie McKenzie, Dennis Allen, Jason Tarver, Greg Knapp, Carson Palmer, Darren McFadden etc. but they are just men doing the best that they can. On Sunday against the lowly Browns, some of them did their jobs just a little big better than before, but it still wasn't enough.

Falling behind and then trying to stage a comeback while hindered with this rambling wreck of a defense and this walking aid station of an offense is futile. Brandon Weeden, did what rookie quarterbacks often do to the Raiders secondary... he picked 'em apart. Weeden coming off a concussion he suffered against Denver, threw for a season high 364 yards on 25-36 attempts. In the spirit of fair play he also threw two interceptions. Carson Palmer almost matched Weeden's numbers completing 34-54 passes for 351 yds. and two touchdowns. Raider TE Brandon Myers blew up catching 14 passes for 130 yards and 1 td. The 14 passes he caught ties a franchise record held by Tim Brown.

The Browns went up 10-3 at the half, they extended their lead to 13-3 before Oakland closed to within a field goal at 13-10, on a 64 yd. td. strike from Palmer to Rod Streater. However, the old Palmer bugaboo... "the interception" killed any chance Oakland really had of completing their come back. Halfway through the fourth quarter, the Raiders drove into Cleveland territory, picking up a first down at the Brown's 33 yd. line. Carson then tried to rifle a pass to Juron Criner that was picked off by Sheldon Brown at the six yard line. "I was trying to take a shot there, get the touchdown quickly and I just didn't put the ball in the right spot"

It was in the right spot.... for Sheldon Brown, who said "I saw Carson throwing the ball and I just became the receiver and caught it" in all actuality it was Criner who was in the wrong spot. "We can't stop the run, we can't stop the pass" said Raiders CB Michael Huff "Things just aren't going well on defense, right now I guess we're just a bad defense".... and how!  It's not really something the defensive unit can hide from, the weekly results speak for themselves. Carson Palmer connected on a 51 yard touchdown pass to Brandon Myers with one second left in the game, a text book example of  "too little, too late"

The Raiders have lost five straight, their longest since a six game losing streak during Lane Kiffin's first season as head coach in 2006. Raider fans across Raider Nation can't be happy with that, but they'll just have to deal with it. The losses could continue as the season grinds on, after all if we can't beat the Browns, who can we beat? The fanatics will fill the Black Hole on Thursday to see the Silver & Black battle the Broncos and then the following week, K.C. will come to town. It's the circle of life, we are Raider fans... at some point in our lives we chose them as our team and that's all there is to it.

Raider Notes: 

Officially the Raiders were eliminated from playoff contention for the tenth straight year, though we knew that horse left the barn long ago. Coach Allen was informed prior to the game that his father Grady Allen, a former NFL player, was in  serious condition and had been admitted to the intensive care unit of a Dallas area hospital. Dennis Allen left for Dallas immediately after the game, he's expected back in time for Thursday's game against the Broncos. 

Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 51 yard field, but was wide right on a 61 yard attempt at the end of the first half.  The Raiders were outscored by 90 points during November and December didn't start out any kinder, the Raiders went three and out on their first four possessions of the game to fall behind 10-0. Less than 44,000 showed up for the game, the lowest since Oct. of 2010.

Rolando McClain was all over Facebook, Twitter and the sports wire. Just what happened between Coach Allen and McClain is still a mystery. There are rumors that the two had a verbal altercation during practice. Regardless of what took place McClain is suspended for two games and likely finished as an Oakland Raider.  

Transaction News (or bring us new stiffs, the ones we have are starting to stink)

Rolando McClain was suspended for two game due to conduct detrimental to the team. Eddie McGee, a wide receiver was added to the practice squad along with defensive linebacker Jerrell Harris.

McGee is an undrafted free agent who escaped from the New York Jets madhouse, he played his college ball at Illinois. Jerrell Harris, an undrafted free agent, is a "Bama product with no previous experience in the NFL that I'm aware of. 

Coach Allen expects both Darren McFadden and Mike Goodson to be ready for action on Thursday night. "We tested them out, they just weren't ready to go (on Sunday) but I would hope they'd be ready to go Thursday night" said Allen.

Monte Poole, the best NFL beat writer

"The anticipation of what these new Raiders might deliver in 2012 died last month and now even the curiosity is gone" 

It's not among the worst years in franchise history, but it's officially a losing season and officially forgettable.

Nnamdi Asomugha left in 2011, it just seems like he has been gone for four years.

Consider running back Darren McFadden, this one is fairly simple, if offensive coordinator Greg Knapp is back, along with his zone blocking schemes, McFadden and the Raiders are better off apart. 

On a defense this porous, no player is worth $12 million dollars (Richard Seymour)

Consider the linebackers, Rolando McClain must go and certainly will

No one is absolutely safe, No coach or player, with the possible exception of kicker Sebastian 

Janikowski, had done enough this season to be regarded as untouchable