Remember how we said the Rai-duhs weren't going to release Kerry Collins? Oops. Yesterday they officially released Collins in an attempt to save the Raiders 9.1 million against the salary cap. We had actually thought Collins was that much safer because of the new CBA which raised team's salary cap to $102 million and gave the Raiders more money, but we were wrong. ...

Tomorrow, teams in the NFL have to announce whom they're keeping and whom they're releasing. After that happens, it’s free agent signing time. So Tomorrow is the start of football's Hot Stove Heater, or whatever it is they call it in the NFL. Yep, it's the time of year where one can sit around and dream up any ole thing (Daunte AND T.O. to the Rai-duhs!) even though it'll never happen and only makes people extremely disappointed when it doesn't happen. See Giants fans still better that the Giants never signed Vlad. As much as we love all this, we much prefer baseball's free agent dreaming as the salary cap weighs way too much in all of this and let's just say SFist barely made it through Physics for Poets. This year we find the Bay Area teams at opposite sides of the salary cap spectrum. The Niners got rid of some deadweight (like Ahmed Plummer) and are rolling in dough. That sounds great except the Niners front office still appears to be Dysfunction Junction and unable to agree on much of anything. Good luck with that, Niners fans. ...

Norv Turner, late of our Raiders, now has been hired to be our 49ers' offensive coordinator. Please, remain calm. Now, before anyone leaps to the logical conclusion that this is a very, very bad idea, let us consider the possibility -- however unlikely -- that this may be a good idea. ...

As we look ahead to week 14 of the 2005 NFL season we see a pretty dreadful slate of games featuring the hometown teams. So we tried to think of a compelling reason why you should watch the games this weekend instead of going out with your homies to see the "gay cowboy eating pudding movie" (you know you want to) and we actually were able to come up with a few things. The biggest,......

Yes, Rai-duh fans, we have ourselves a full-fledged QB controversy as yesterday, in his press conference, Norv Turner said that he was maybe, sort of, possibly thinking about benching Kerry Collins and replacing him with sportswriters' worst nightmare, Marques Tuiasosopo. Said Marvelous Marv Turner: "We're going to look at the quarterback thing, the quarterback situation, and say, 'Hey, is it time to look at Tui? With his mobility, would that help us?" The positives......

In the "Um, yeah, but Rich Gannon's practically a member of AARP and Kerry Collins is a chump" department, agent Dante DiTrapano is confirming the news (which will stay unofficial until the trading period opens on March 2nd) that Minnesota Viking Randy Moss is going to become part of the Silver and Black Attack. He'll be joining recently re-signed Jerry Porter in what looks like on paper as a pretty impressive wide receiver package......

The 49ers have now matched their worst-ever performances from the late seventies by beating the woeful Arizona Cardinals, 31-28, but are still officially the worst team in the league. SFist has never liked Dennis Erickson -- always one step ahead of the NCAA investigators during his college coaching career, the man has never coached a successful NFL franchise. We wonder why on earth he's still even working. Oh, right, the ineptitude of the 49ers' front......

Recap of the weekend's football action....

The Oakland Raiders manhandled the Buccaneers, beating them far more mercilessly than the 30-20 score would indicate. This was obviously a payback game for the humiliating loss they suffered at the hands of the Bucs in Super Bowl XXXVIII. The game was marked by moments both bitter and sweet - sweet to see longtime Raider Tim Brown catch his 100th touchdown in Oakland, bitter when former league MVP, Quarterback Rich Gannon, went down with a......

Special Tuesday afternoon edition. It's an exciting time for football fans, as the NFL preseason was wrapped up and the college season got off and running. In case you were busy at the beach, out of town or catching up on chores, EssEffist will be here to second guess coaches and players at the beginning of each week with a wrap-up of the weekend in pigskin. The much-hyped Cal Bears opened the season strong, rolling over Air Force 56 to 14. They're currently ranked 13th in the coaches poll and some early season wins could get them into the top ten in short order. EssEffist would like to point out that if you have to lose a game, Cal, lose it early - it's the end of season polls that count. Stanford, currently unranked, trounced the hapless San Jose State Spartans 43 to 3. Ouch. Turns out the Spartans lost six players to Academic decertification just one day before the game. EssEffist didn't even know that the Spartans were good enough to bother cheating. The 49ers managed to preserve their win-free preseason by losing to the Chargers 31-15 at home. If the 49ers were to move to LA (and, presumably, change their name), now would sure be the time to do it. They might have sullied their record with a win if two of three touchdown passes would have counted - instead, all three were discounted due to penalties, and EssEffist thinks the receivers coach wishes he still had T.O. around to blame. They gear up for the Falcons next Sunday. The Raiders squeaked past the Rams 28-24 over in Oakland, finishing the meaningless games at three and one, with all three of their quarterbacks making appearances. It looks like the starting job will go to Rich Gannon next Sunday in Pittsburg even though Kerry Collins has looked strong as a field leader....