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American Football Spectacular: The Saddest Game Ever.
If you don't expect anything from life, you can't be disappointed. Monday at the Oakland Coliseum, the Raider Nation in attendance expected their Raiders to compete with the San Diego Chargers. The Nation assembled with facepaint and masks and bared teeth. Their songs of war echoed through the East Bay night air. You see, the Nation, they expected a battle. They got a slaughter.
The Chargers utterly dominated the Raiders on both sides of the ball in an ugly display that carried no positive inertia. The men of the Silver And Black were dominated, cowed, and blown off the line of scrimmage. The Oakland sideline was full of shell-shocked hundred-yard stares. The Raiders were in mid-season give-up form. Yet it was only Week One. The third quarter of Week One, even. The first boos began to waft down from the stands within the first quarter with three minutes remaining.
The Raiders' problem summarized? Incongruous coaching decisions poorly executed unenthusiastically by talented men not working in synch. One of the joys of football is to watch a team's plan change over the course of a game to adapt to their opponent. The Raiders did no such thing until it was time to put in the backups in the 4th quarter.
By SFist Christopher Rogers for "American Football Spectacular," contributing
The Chargers paid no mind to why the Raiders were putting forth such a foolish stratagem. With QB Philip Rivers making his first start, San Diego's obvious plan was to just give the ball to LaDainian Tomlinson, the best all-around running back in the NFL. Ayup, and that's just what they did. Before halftime, he had already gained 100 yards.
The Raiders did not attempt to force Rivers to throw, rather, the plan seemed to be to to use a base "nickel" defense, with a safety following San Diego's Pro Bowl tight end Antonio Gates wherever he lined up. The nickel is a relatively weak form against the run since you've got one more defensive back and one less linebacker. When a team is obviously one-dimensional, as the Chargers obviously were on offense -- it'd be to the defense's advantage to force the offense to use its weaker aspect. The Raiders were playing as though they'd already stopped San Diego's running game. The Chargers ignored this gambit from OAK, not even bothering to throw the ball to Gates until the second quarter. They merely ran the ball right at the Raiders, and Tomlinson cut through the Oakland's line like a hot knife through butter. Fortified with bow-tie pasta, we shook our head in frustration.
On offense, the Raiders could not move the ball. Every play felt like a broken play. Passing downs degenerated into QB Aaron Brooks attempting to flee as Chargers burst through the o-line, and on running downs... well, there weren't really any running downs until the game had already been decided. SD's Shawne Merriman was a beast, knocking Raiders backward in his pursuit, and closing in with the speed of a bad thought. Former bed-and-breakfaster offensive coordinator Tom Walsh gave up on the run after only seven attempts in the first half, allowing the Chargers's pass rushers to just tee off on Brooks with each snap. And tee off they did, notching nine sacks against the Raiders' overmatched o-line, and getting a hand on poor Brooks on nearly every down with only four men sent after the QB. Yet at the same time, the Raiders could not bother to get the ball to their greatest threat -- Randy Moss. It is immeasurably incompetent that the first pass caught by him was with 5:25 remaining in the second quarter. Utterly incompetent.
This isn't Brooks' fault. This isn't Moss's fault. This isn't even the o-line personnel's fault. This goes directly to the failure of the coaching staff. And what that means is, the responsibility for this failure of coaching goes directly to Al Davis.
In this Nation, it doesn't look good right now. It is a hard time, a time to question the precepts by which one lives, to think about what can be improved and how.
Next up on your American Football Spectacular: Next up are the Baltimore Ravens, who are suddenly frightening now that they have a QB in Steve McNair. AFS previews this Week Two matchup.