American Football Spectacular: Or Else, Down We Go Together
"Count it a blessing that you're such a failure, your second chance might never have come." -- from the song "Winners Never Quit" by Pedro The Lion
Friends, as we've said before, these are indeed dark time for American Football in the Bay Area. As both of our professional football clubs' fortunes plummet, ever closer we are to the dreaded Double Blackout. Down into pro football's depths fall we -- much like Bill and Ted fell that one time during Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey.
Just this past Sunday, Gary Radnich turned to the camera and said "Football is over in the Bay Area in mid-October." Ugh. Golly. That sound, somewhat like pots 'n pans falling from a badly stacked kitchen cabinet, is the sound of peeps falling off your Raiders' bandwagon. No one saw the Chargers take apart the Raiders in Oakland last week, as the typical TV blackouts roll in like Halloween advertisements. LaDainian Tomlinson caught a touchdown, ran for a touchdown, and threw a touchdown. Moss got hurt. How far down does the rabbit hole go? This week's game vs the resurgent Buffalo Bills will tell if there is to be any prayer of OAK turnaround.
SFist Christopher Rogers, contributing
And how are those Bills, now that they've benched their QB of the future, JP Losman? "The preseason is over, and we have given into reality and realized JP is not ready," said American Football Spectacular's Buffalo correspondent DJ Burrito, "Holcomb is our hombre to lead us into a outside chance of playoffs, dependent on the rest of the league. Mainly the Pats' downfall. The best [the Bills] can do is 9 - 7."
OK, so what do you think is going to happen on Sunday? "We are gonna hold LaMont Jordan to 95 yards, allowing the worst rush defense to make a stop." Indeed, the Bills have the second-worst run defense numbers in the AFC, just ahead of the sad Texans. Yet when have the Raiders used their run game to any great effect this year? OAK is 31st in rushing yards per game, behind the sans-running game Eagles. 31st! With the personnel currently in place, this absolutely should not be.
"They will try to over-pass," opined Tracy's finest, "Their passing game is gonna suck cause Moss is out, and Gabriel is going to get eaten up alive. The key for us is to defend against LaMont. If we do that, they will punt all day. Our strength in the defense are the CBs -- we allow more rushing yards than passing yards!" Wow, 'tis true. The pass-happy Raiders are going headfirst into the teeth of the Bills' defense. Um, uh-oh.
The DJ's predictions: "[Willis] McGahee will run for 130 yds, and 1 or 2 TDs. Holcomb will have 2 touchdowns, one to Evans, one to Moulds. It's gonna be a 31 - 14." Ouch. Thank you for your insight on the Bills, DJ Burrito.
Regarding SF, certain wags are going so far as to label the final Niners home game vs the mal-helmed Houston Texans "The Reggie Bush Bowl." Ouch. And ironic, considering neither team needs a running back. Yet, if a stud offensive lineman emerges from the college ranks, HOU and SF would scuffle up something awful for the right to hold up a "#1" jersey in front of him on draft day. There are few winnable games remaining for your 49ers. This week's match against the Washington Redskins, though WAS can be unpredictable, does not look to be one of them. That Week 01 win against the Rams seems so long ago now.
Even during a bye week there were losses: Rattay is gone, traded to Tampa for a low draft pick, fire sale style. Bearded ILB Jeff Ulbrich did the right thing and opted to get surgery on his torn bicep, sidelining him for the rest of the year. Poor OLB Saleem Rasheed picked up his seasonal injury just as he was about to be a starter this week. Yes, we could really use Jamie Winborn right now.
The best that can be said is that the team is following Coach Nolan's lead. It's time to play the kids and let 'em learn.
There's a lot of pessimism right now in Bay Area football. That's understandable. We in the Bay Area are used to the ho-hum of only the best. So, when things aren't performing up to our standards, it can be hard to know how to react. Our Niners, at best, may be in the process of course correction. Our Raiders are, again, a talent-laden team that can't get it done because of an ineffective coaching staff installed by Al to carry out His will. Both footballs clubs are hard to watch, literally and figuratively.
Next on your American Football Spectacular: How many local journalists think that the Raiders can still make the playoffs this year?