It's Got to Be the Morning After

Raiders 22, Cardinals 9-- Stupid Raiders can't even win for winning these days. Here they were with an opportunity to do something historic, something almost impossible, something for which they'd be remembered for years and they had to go blow it by winning. Now they are what they are and only what they are-- a crappy football team. Oh, they could’ a been a contender, but no.

Actually, the win is big for other reasons besides getting them off the winless schneid. By beating another really bad team, they can no longer be considered the worst team in football. And by beating the snot out of Matt Leinart, they made people forget for just a few weeks how they blew this year's draft in not picking him. Especially when the guy who they did draft, Michael Huff, got credit for a safety.

Whether or not this is an indication of future things or an anomaly brought on by the crappiness of the Cards we'll soon see, but the Raiders didn't look half-bad. They're D was great, the team played with spirit (excepting Randy Moss who dropped three balls), Andrew Walter had a good game, and they won despite having five turnovers.

49ers had a bye, insert joke about still giving up points here-- Did anyone see the story in the Chron about Mike Nolan having so much control over the team he's reading resumes of admin types? And that he has more power than any coach in football, more power than Bill Belichick and Parcells and Andy Reid? Why do we bring this up? Because he's Mike Nolan. Why should he have so much power? Shouldn't he win first? And shouldn't making the Niners better be his first priority? Look, we like Nolan and think he's got a good chance of turning the team around, but shouldn't the main focus be in running the team, not the franchise.