Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Big Plays and Little Things

Sometimes it’s the little things. By now, you all know the story of Sunday’s game, and all the reasons to scream and shout, so I won’t belabor the obvious. Therefore, I’d just like to focus on an unheralded moment just prior to halftime, one that got me fired up nearly as much as the big plays and final score.

With 38 seconds on the clock, and the Broncos facing second and nine on their own 15-yard line, Lane Kiffin called a timeout. Then, after the Broncos ran the ball for seven yards, he called a second timeout with 31 seconds remaining. After Denver got a first down on the next play, he stopped calling timeouts.

But the strategy was clear—Kiffin intended to stop Denver, get the ball back with about 20 seconds left, and fight for a long field goal before time expired.

Conversely, he wasn’t worried about giving the Broncos extra clock stoppages that might aid them if they came up with a big play.

In other words, Kiffin was totally on the offensive, even on defense.

This little sequence had no bearing on the game and was quickly forgotten, but I am convinced that it signals a long-overdue shift in our collective coaching mindset. You would have never seen something like this under Turner and Shell, who never seemed to grasp the concept of playing to win, and who never seemed to ask the question “What do we have to lose?,” even when all they were doing was losing.

Those of you who frequent these parts know that, for two and a half straight years, I have been literally flipping out about countless time-management decisions that contradict the laws of both common sense and competitive football. Kiffin himself has been a perpetrator at times. But he seems to have turned an important corner, and not a moment too soon.

What do we have to lose? Kiffin has finally answered that question: nothing. And this moment of clarity and catharsis has netted us back-to-back wins over AFC West rivals. It’s obvious in the playcalling, and it’s obvious in the execution. But it’s also obvious in the little things, like those aforementioned timeouts.

Kiffin stopped the clock and dared Shanahan and his team to make the big play. Kiffin stopped the clock because he was convinced we could keep them from getting a first down. Kiffin stopped the clock because he thought we could respond by quickly getting into Janikowski’s generous field goal range. Kiffin stopped the clock because he was ready to kick some ass.

Much has been made about Kiffin getting animated on the sideline during the game and even talking some smack. I know that the players appreciate it, but they no doubt appreciate these quieter votes of confidence as well. They, too, must be rejoicing about our return to competitive sanity.

On a related note, Sunday’s game was more than a mere victory, it was a long-awaited return to grown-up, highly functional football. Four offensive touchdowns in one game! There was a time—say, last month—when we couldn’t score four offensive touchdowns in four games. There was time—say, last year—when four touchdowns represented 25 percent of our seasonal output. I can’t tell you how thrilled Cousin of Raider Take and I were to be watching an exciting, dynamic game of highly functional football inside the Oakland Coliseum. It seems like it’s been ages. In fact, it has.

The frosting on the cake was the debut of JaMarcus Russell, and the deafening roar that accompanied him. The zip on his ball was remarkable. Compared to McCown, it was like seeing Nolan Ryan after watching Phil Niekro, if you get my drift.

Still, McCown proved that you don’t need a cannon to make the big plays. I recall him performing well enough during his days in Arizona, including a brilliant last-second touchdown pass to knock the Vikings out of the playoffs some years ago. Finally, he showed the upside I’d initially expected from him. Perhaps he just needed time to get acclimated—not to mention the extra time provided by our improving offensive line.

In the span of eight days, we’ve seen a revitalized Culpepper and a born-again McCown. Coincidence? Maybe. But it surely has something to do with the supporting cast, too, including the coaches. But whatever the reason, we’re suddenly seeing some serious playmaking. We’ve gone from tricycle to motorcycle in a span of two weeks. I need not tell you that this bodes very well for the immediate future of Lane Kiffin and the Oakland Raiders.

When things really get going at the Coliseum, the crowd becomes a sort of collective animal, a loud, throbbing explosion of humanity. On Sunday, the animal was unleashed, and it was quite a magnificent sight to see.

Yet amid all the big plays and riotous revelry, we can’t forget the significance of those two little timeouts, for they, too, reveal the return of a winning attitude to Oakland.

76 Comments:

Blogger Calico Jack said...

Well done RT! I think the Vikings game was an awakening for Kiffin. The consevative, play not to lose approach has been replaced by an aggressive, play to win mindset.

Kiffin's faith in the players is being rewarded. The confidence level and performance of the players has risen with the new "let it all hang out" attitude of Kiffin.

What is really exciting for me is that the trust & accountability factors will only lend itself to further improvement on the field.

The positive results these past 2 weeks further strengthens Kiffin's authority and ability to sell his program now and in 2008.

9:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

beating kc last week on the road was great, but nothing makes me more happy then smacking ratface and his cast of donkey's.

it feels great. so great that i am going to bust out an old al davis story for blandarocked.

it's off season 1979, the raiders have missed the playoff's the past season.
phil villapiano gets a phone call at his home, it's al davis. davis tells him he has a chance to trade for bills wr bob chandler. he asks villapiano what he thinks about chandler.
an excited villapiano tells davis he thinks it would be a great move to pick up chandler.

after a brief pause, davis tells villapiano he has just traded him for chandler.
classic al davis back in his glory days.

this winning feels great. let's keep doing it. down with the pack.

just keep winning baby !!!!!!

9:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

speaking of the crowd......

i took that denver writer's article as a compliment.

you could hear the buzzing when russell started warming up, then when he came in man, i have NEVER heard our fans that freakin loud before EVER! it was just incredible to see and hear! talk about deafening!

it was cool being that 12th man. to finally get the other guys to make the motion mistakes for a change.

i take my hat off to everyone of us there last sunday (and to those who were there with us in spirit). we gotta keep being that 12th man. the team feeds off our energy baby.

go raiders!

1:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Also, we are starting to see the fruits of this years draft. On Sunday Miller caught passes, Oren O'Neal layed some major blocks, Jay Richardson got a sack.

And, then there was that Russell kid. Even though he didn't get us into the endzone he got the crowd excited and into the game.

H

4:55 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also agree about Kiffin turning a corner with his "go for it" mentality. If I recall correctly, one of the things about Gruden that peeved Al was his propensity to play it safe and conservative, especially in big games. Of course this was not a playoff game, but it was a big game for the Raiders. It appears that Kiffin has learned something in half a season that Gruden didn't get in 4 years here. I'm not knocking Gruden, but maybe Davis was right this offseason when he said that Kiffin was further along than Gruden was as a rookie coach...

6:00 AM  
Blogger nyraider said...

RT, I thought the same thing about those timeouts before the half. However, after the Donkeys got a first down and called a T.O., I worried that ShanaRat was going to school Kiffin (again) by getting in position to kick a FG. Those fears were quickly thwarted by the Raiders D.

How can you not like Kiffin being aggressive? He seems to be a quick study in terms of what his players can do and how far he can push them.

IMO, what separates Kiffin from his predecessors is that he has a plan and knows how to execute it.

Instead of saying he knows something is wrong and it needs to be fixed, he says this is what’s wrong and here’s how you fix it. Seems subtle, but it’s actually a huge difference.

6:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice Take. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going against teams we haven't seen before. If we keep the mistakes to a minimum and execute like we have been, we should be able to take out SD and maybe one of the other teams with some luck.

After these last two games I don't even mind if we lose all 4 of the rest as long as we look good, stay together as a team, and build for the future. That also means playing JaMarcus more & more. Hopefully he gets the start against SD.

Regarding Kiffin's new willingness to get aggressive. I would expect this to continue the rest of this year, what the hell. But don't be surprised if we go into next year playing conservative again since we won't have that 'nothing to lose' mentality.

Hopefully Kiffin can find a good balance of aggressiveness looking at tape and racking his huge brain over the off-season. He'll get it done. Just don't freak out if it's not as aggressive as you'd like.

But I think everyone in or around the organization can feel that we're going have a very respectable 2008 season. One more solid draft class like this one, a little Kiffin/Al Davis free agency/salary cap magic and we're suddenly good, not great, but good. No more bottom-feeding for us. We'll have to eat some dead money in our cap for a little while but we should be able to field a pretty good team.

Psycho

6:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good take RT... can't add too much except I wonder how long Kiffin is going to allow SOB to "play it safe" when he decided he's not going to do it anymore?

Kinda defeats the purpose to attack on one side of the ball, and sit on your hands on the other, IMO.

It's not Raider football to have the defense too scared to dictate the flow of the game. I, for one, am sick of it. The one constant throughout all Raider teams, good or bad, was a defense that at least TRIED to tear the other teams QB's head off with every play, at any cost.

7:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hell yeah Gary. With our secondary we should be able to blitz like crazy if we wanted to. Plus people might start to forget how good our LBs are in coverage and throw more picks when we do drop them back.

I don't want to see caveman leave but I wish his dad & brother would just slap him one day. When he first got here he wanted to blitz a lot in the 3-4 with lots of trickery and it backfired. Seems like he lost the confidence and has since decided that we can't go too far beyond a base D, just minding our gaps.

Kiffin needs to put his foot down this off-season and make Ryan show confidence in his players, as Kiffin has. He took an interest in Defense already but so far has been content with letting Ryan go conservative for the sake of player evaluation and not giving up big plays. Maybe we'll see some changes before the season is over to take a look at a few things. I'm crossing my fingers.

Some interesting news. After that horrible effort by the Donkos D to stop Fargas, the Donkos have released DT Sam Adams.

Psycho

7:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Psycho said...

Hell yeah Gary. With our secondary we should be able to blitz like crazy if we wanted to. Plus people might start to forget how good our LBs are in coverage and throw more picks when we do drop them back.
>>>>

The thing that kills me is we have players that prolly are better off blitzing than in coverage anyway. Al drafted speed, and some of these players lack instincts to be any good at pass coverage... so why not have them use that speed to get to the QB... especially in passing situation? We saw what happened when Morrison got his chance against Chicago... he knocked the starting QB out of the game!

SOB is making me pine for Breshnahan.

7:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

>>>>
Some interesting news. After that horrible effort by the Donkos D to stop Fargas, the Donkos have released DT Sam Adams.
>>>>


I thought he was on his last leg when he played for the Raiders... the guy can hardly walk. No thanx.

8:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To elaborate a little further on what Mad Stork and a few others touched on, i am so impressed with how kiffin changed his philosophy, he was conservative for first 10 games which is enough time to give his way a chance but not long enough to be maddening and when he saw it wasnt working he adjusted just like it was halftime and tried a new theory. It is a simple thing that us as fans could not appreciate but for a 33 yr old first time head coach i couldnt be more impressed.
GO RAIDERS

8:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

RT-
Nice take. As I've posted after the game, this is Kiffin's 12th game in the nfl. An amazingly short learning curve.

I turned the sound down long ago. Actually during a Raiders donks game a million years ago when dick enberg kept with the "M and M - morton to moses" ad nauseum call. Since then the only announcer I will listen to is Gannon. On Sunday though the sound was up when Russell went in. And what a beautiful sound it was.

Another thing I noticed was what appeared as the players looking loose. Laughing and smiling on the sidelines.

I remember a story told by a player from another team about the old days. In the final minutes of a game against the Raiders at home, Ben Davidson looked into the O huddle twirling his moustache pointing and laughing. The other team realizing then there was no way they could win.

You know how it is when you really tied one down and you wake up still drunk? It's Wednesday and I am still drunk!

One last thing - if this goes the way I hope, someone deserves credit
(AD), don't you think?

8:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a difference 2 games make!

3 weeks ago we were ready to linch everybody in the Raider's organization, (except h with his glass filling up and evaporating faster than the colorado river and blanda of course with his intelectual positive "I'm in no matter what" attitude) now life is good! I think I read a post in here from somebody that is still hoping for the playoffs for this season!! the only way that I would accept the playoffs is if we meet the "droids" from ne.

8:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i think the reason that kiffin was a bit conservative early on was that our qb's were just turning the ball over too much.

this probably made kiffin reluctant to call certain plays during games.

the biggest change in the last two games was that our qb's threw it to our guys.
on sunday, mccown threw it to the guys in the black jersey's. he protected the ball, but at the same time, he made plays down the field.

i think this improvement by the qb's has given kiffin more confidence to be more aggressive with his play calling.

8:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

from jason jones of the sacbee:
"After Sebastian Janikowski missed a 58-yard field goal against the Broncos, he limped off the field.

Kiffin wasn’t buying that his kicker was hurt.

“I think ‘I missed the field goal and blame it on my leg look as you walk off,’” is how Kiffin described it. “There was nothing to it medically. I just think he was kind of down and felt something but there wasn’t very much to it.”

Coaches often lie about how a player is doing not to make them mad. Kiffin doesn't have that problem.

i hope it does piss him off. piss him off so much that he'll work that much harder to be more reliable. after the kick, i saw that janikowski limped off the field. re: the kick itself, from my vantage point it looked like he hit the ball too high. it was a low line drive kick that never had a chance.

ya see what i mean? even the guy's coach wasn't buying his act. kiffin is a smart guy. he knows janikowski's abilities, draft status etc. he had confidence in him to even try a 58 yarder. not many coaches would try that length with their kickers.

i believe someday janikowski will kick a freakin 70 yarder. but in my eyes, he's gotta be more consistent from the start to the end of the season!

9:03 AM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

Exceptional, RT, and absolutely right.

The constant among the posts is the absolutely amazing learning curve of rookie head coach, Lane Kiffin. A few hear will hate to hear this, but according to Gruden's book, this is the benefit of Davis' three day long job interviews. Davis will pose a question to his applicant, and ask him to think about it until the next meeting before coming back with the answer.

Something which has been mentioned before, and I can't remember by whom, is that Davis makes his best coaching hires by following his own instincts. His only mistakes, so far, in following his instincts are Shanahan and Shell II. His mistakes, following the advice of others are White, Bugel, Callahan and Turner.

But Al may have outdone himself with Kiffin. Kiff's learning curve is logical because of his football pedigree. He was literally brought up on football and football strategy. Kiffin was practically born to do this but, sans Al Davis, he likely would not have gotten his first NFL gig for several more years.

Kiffin knew what Shell knew coming in. Both he and Shell warned coming in that the team had a long path ahead, but wouldn't truly become competitive until we were deep into the season. But Shell's poor practice of team politics, poor coaching choices, and his inflexibility caused him to lose the team by the half way point, and everything he tried to build dissolved. Somehow Kiffin has held this team together while providing tough discipline and being consistent.

Instead of pressing on the team harder as we reached the half way point, Kiffin opened the cage door and let these birds fly free. The team loves him for it. Energy and pride fill Raiders headquarters.

The Raider identity emerges from hibernation. It claws the ground, stretches its muscles, and looks to 2008. It is time for breakfast. It is time to hunt.

9:18 AM  
Blogger Tim Mo said...

Literally flipping out? Probably not.

9:22 AM  
Blogger RaiderCat said...

"i think the reason that kiffin was a bit conservative early on was that our qb's were just turning the ball over too much.
this probably made kiffin reluctant to call certain plays during games.
- raider00


Great point, raider00!

I would add that HuggyJR's aggression for rushing yards has made a huge "Kiff'erence" - boosting our confidence in the OLine, lending for a more wide-open attack overall. DLines haven't been willing to "pin their ears back" in pursuit of our QB...

9:30 AM  
Blogger RaiderCat said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

9:37 AM  
Blogger RaiderCat said...

"The Raider identity emerges from hibernation. It claws the ground, stretches its muscles, and looks to 2008. It is time for breakfast. It is time to hunt."
- blandarocked

Nice!

"grrr-r-r-RAI-DERS!"

~'Cat

9:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

don't forget that one play sets up the other, in regards to kiffin's sudden change in philosophy.
conservative play calling sets a team up to open the playbook, if you will. a lot of what they are doing now are in the same formations as what we were running in our conservative plays (same motions, receiver set, cadence, etc). this is throwing off defenses, who are expecting a play they've seen before; and blam something to throw them off their rocker.
but what is absolutely making this work, is our offensive player's willingness to do the "little things." to be quite honest, up until the last several weeks, i was losing hope that our team was "quitting" again like they've done the last 3 seasons. they were losing confidence in kiffin with his vanilla play calls (which contributed why they couldn't execute well). i think a few of the offensive coaches (and al davis) came to kiffin, and said, "hey, let's open this thing up. let's give our team something to play for." kiffin agreed, and we see the results.
i don't care if we lose the next 4 games, as long as we are playing like this; and improving.
i somewhat agree with scorpio about not expecting to see this next season; but if kiffin has "his" guys in position (rb, qb, receivers, oline, defense, etc), can you imagine what they would do with this freedom? that will be the difference between good and great.
the hardest thing for a coach who utilizes this philosophy of "opening up the playbook" is convincing players to keep doing the little things. this is what makes bellychick a good coach.
but then again, when you are winning year in and year out, that philosophy will speak for itself.

10:41 AM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

One of the reasons I've been able to keep the faith this season is that almost every game was close. If just one or two extra plays from each game fell in favor of the Raiders, they could just as easily be 11-1. This reflects Gruden's 8-8 second year, when we all felt the team was ready to break out. All we needed was the team to "finish" the 4th quarter of play as they have the last two weeks.

I'm looking forward to Sunday morning. At 10-2 the Pack will be favored to tear the Raiders apart, just like they did four years ago when Farve's father died. The Pack is expecting a 4-8 team to show up, not expecting that these Raiders are 2-1, and coming off two division victories in a row.

11:27 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great Game Against the Donkeys!
I think we match up well with the Packers. Thier offensive weekness is our defensive weaknes. The running Game. Their strength offensively matches up with ours: the passing game. We cant afford to give "Farvra" a lot of time because he will eat a secondary alive. I think this next game will be very winnable.
Our line has played really well the last couple of games but I think everyone can aggree that we need off line help. Wouldnt it be great if we could get a "Wiz" type offensive lineman. A leader and a straight brawler. I can think of one person who should be an available free agent.
What about Feneca from the stealers? Davis needs to open the check book, and demand that Gallery redo his contract to make the necessary cap room to sign this guy. Any thoughts people?

12:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

One of the things that allows you to open the playbook is consistency from the running game. Further, a back that can be in on any down is even better.

Fargas and the O-line improvement have provided this. Fargas' style fits the scheme. Also, on his last four receptions three have gone for first downs. That last piece as much as anything is the reason Jordan and Rhodes are still on the bench and why they felt safe in saving Bush for next year.

One of the problems the last several years is we were predctible. Overly so.

Now, at least the last two games, you can't tell from our personnel packages what we are calling.

It's a bit harder for the defense to know when to blitz and forces more base defense.

raiderdecoachella,

One of my main reasons for keeping above the half full mark is in the end, it's a game. On Monday morning the sun comes up and I go to work.

As much as I want the Raiders to win, when they do it's gravy. I've had my miracles to be thankful for.

But that dosen't stop me from calling out the coach when he's boring me.

H

12:41 PM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

H:

"One of my main reasons for keeping above the half full mark is in the end, it's a game. On Monday morning the sun comes up and I go to work.

"As much as I want the Raiders to win, when they do it's gravy. I've had my miracles to be thankful for."

That's 'cause we're old farts. One of the benefits.

1:00 PM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

What I'd expect to see in the QB rotation this weekend.

McCown will get the start because he earned it last week.

He will likely be backed up by Culpepper, because both QBs have been banged up. However, Culpepper was not at practice this morning, leading to speculation that he might be out again.

If Culpepper is #2, Russell will be #3, and only play in the 4th quarter if the game is not close, one way or the other.

If Culpepper is out, look for JRuss to be #2 because he's taken more game snaps this season than Walter. If JRuss is #2, he will only see time if the above conditions are met, or McCown imploads.

1:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Personally speaking this game Sunday against gb is the easiest game in our 4 game schedule, gb does not have a running game and our front four with our linebackers corps are superfast, I know they will make fabres life miserable, who knows he might only play a couple of series.

Our strenght is running and playing in the cold you really don't want to get too crazy with throwing the ball anyway, I look for us to have a great defensive effor and if anybody messes up look for Sapp to beat the crap out of that player in front of the TV cameras, remember when he wanted to beat the crap out of the gb coach.

As far as I understand this game might not even be a sell out for green bay.

RT:

Thanks for this new way to leave a comment.

1:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice write up RT. I was at the game, and the crowd noise was deafening when Russell took the field. IMO, I think there was one play where he was looking to throw downfield, but his receiver was covered, so he ran to the sideline. But, that was from what I saw. I could be wrong.
I'm proud to say that I was part of that 12th man, when Denver was penalized for delay of game, the crowd was absolutely rabid.
If we don't win another game this year, these last 2 weeks represent the growth of this team under Kiffins' watch. Players are still buying into the system, and not cashing out as Turners' and Shells' squads had by this time. A win against the Chargers, and an upset against at least one of the others (Pack, Colts, Jags) would do wonders going into the postseason. I'm sure that Kiffin has scored HUGE points with Al, not only winning in KC, but following it up with an even MORE convincing victory against the Broncos at home.
I'm sure that last week, the Packers were looking past the Raiders-not anymore. If we keep the game close and stay competitive until the end, I'll be happy. Of course, a win would be even better.
Raiders for LIFE- I'm ALWAYS IN!!!

2:18 PM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

Snow, rain in Green Bay
The pirate drinks his coffee
Farve's farewell freezes

2:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I felt from the beginning of he season that it would take at LEAST seven games before things started to take shape. The offensive line needs depth, but they are meshing. The run offense is moving up. They have two legitimate rush ends. They need more depth at linebacker, but what they have up front is doing really well. The safeties have a pulse. Special teams have improved tremendously. Even the run defense is starting to look better. And if they're lucky, next season they might even have a surplus of quarterbacks that can actually run an offense. They have two potentially excellent running backs. Still a long way to go, but with a little luck they could be right in the thick of things next year. I got the same feeling with Kiffin that I did with Gruden when he was hired. A lot of bumps ahead, but by God things look so much better.

3:17 PM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

"Ever since Lane took the job, something about him wasn't going to let us do the same old (expletive) over and over again. His message has been consistent: 'Let's stop (expletive) around and go play.' He has all the confidence in the world, and we feed off that. This was the best we've played since I've been here, easy; we put our foot on them today."

Warren Sapp

5:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Holy crap... GB might not have a QB on Sunday:

FAVRE PRACTICES, A LITTLE

Packers quarterback Brett Favre, six days removed from injuring his throwing elbow and separating his non-throwing shoulder, was a limited participant in practice on Wednesday.

Favre threw a few short passes and handed the ball off.

"It's about where I thought it would be, I guess," Favre said. "Still sore, but I was encouraged today even though I didn't do a great deal."

Meanwhile, backup Aaron Rodgers, who looked great in Favre's place during Thursday night's game against the Cowboys, could miss several weeks with a hamstring injury.

Former Packers quarterback Craig Nall, who recently re-joined the team, took the majority of the snaps on Wednesday, and presumably would start if Favre couldn't go.

6:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

you guys are pretty hard on ira miller and glenn dickey. these 2 guys i feel are 2 of the best writers in the bay. both i feel are fair. with this article ira wrote on the whiners, does this sound like favoritism to you?

http://www.ibabuzz.com/onthenfl/
2007/12/03/49ers-have-a-foundation-
but-that%e2%80%99s-it/

sometimes we as fans can get so caught up in the anti-media thing. so when a team sucks they'll say so. it's their job to report the facts. not to blow smoke up where the sun don't shine. sure there are writers here in the bay like gay, kawakami, who don't have a clue but for the most part these 2 guys have been fair over the years.

11:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Blandarocked,

Your're right I am old. Some days older than others.

Gary,

Don't read too much into the number of snaps Farve takes. He could sit out the whole week and be back in sync by the second series.

GB has a decent defense. We will need to get off the mark early with the run. Kiffin spent some time up north so he will be familiar with the conditions.

It will come down to turnovers again. If we win that battle or at least break even, we have a shot.

Favre can be streaky. He throws and interception early, he might throw two two or three more. The inverse is also true, he might complete 20 in a row like he did two weeks ago.

I guess I'm saying I don't have a clue on this one. Too many variables. Or maybe it's just the prescription pharmaceuticals talking.

H

4:42 AM  
Blogger nyraider said...

Both Farve and his backup, Aaron Rogers, are injured. However, I wouldn’t listen to any speculation about Farve not playing Sunday. He will.

The key to the game will be getting pressure on Farve. As many have pointed out, Packers run game is somewhat marginal (85 yards per game), while their passing game (ala Farve) is the reason for their breakout season.

Our pass D is okay, but this season’s figures are again skewed by our ineffectiveness against the run (150+/- yards per game). While our corners are good in man coverage, we still struggle in zone coverages. The key to man coverage (or any D) is limiting the time the QB has to check down his receivers. And there’s nothing worse than allowing the QB and his WR’s time to improvise, as we’ve seen in some 3rd and long conversions this year against us.

I get a knot in my stomach every time I see the Raiders LB’s and occasionally even DL drop back into coverage on 3rd and long (obvious passing downs).

Given time, Farve will pick the Raiders apart, and he has the receivers to do it.

Note to SOB: Blitz! And blitz often. Run blitz. Pass blitz. Blitz for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Blitz for beers. Blitz for chicks. Blitz for bribes. Blitz to win!

Blitz Haiku:

Blitz for beer and wings
Blitz to sack the quarterback
Blitz to win this game

6:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

my concern is that green bay has a pretty stout run defense. their passing defense is shaky, but with favre, they can afford to get into shoot outs. the only teams that can beat them in a shoot out, the colts, patriots, and dallas.
ryan grant is their running back, and he's averaging 4.9 yards/carry. his best game this season came against minnesota with 119 yards on 25 carries. his longest run was 62 yards for a td against dallas. he is overlooked, and that works to his advantage.
what favors us going into the game is the streak that continues for fargas. he's aggressive, and continues to push forward. mccown needs to be smart with the ball like he was last week, and we have momentum offensively which is something we haven't had in awhile.
defensively, we have been monstrous. we held travis henry to 49 yards on sunday, and denver to 86 yards rushing. kiffin said that "we are a team built for running the ball." but regarding our defense he also said, "(we are) a team that can put a bunch of guys in the box because we have really good corners." (found here: http://www.ibabuzz.com/raidersblog/2007/12/05/tundra-talk/).
meaning he recognizes that we are going to need to stack the box on sunday, and they will be stacking the box on us as well. he's working to our advantage.
the weather is 16 degrees, with a windchill factor of 6 degrees for sunday. when favre passes, we need to pressure him, and hit him. if he's sore, it's going to sting him hard; unless he's on pain meds. :D

6:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Note to Nate:

Pain meds don't help when it's that cold. He'd have to take enough to put him in a coma, or at least make him reasonably incoherent.

Favre will play. Craig Nall is taking most of the snaps primarily because he was signed only four days ago and will, most likely, be the No. 2 guy on Sunday.

H

6:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So, in that case, the theme for the game must be one of Al's old addages:

"The quarterback must go down, and he must go down hard".

Chuck also has turf toe, we might be able to take advantage of that. He was the best tackler on our team, that's one of the reasons our tackling went to hell when he left.

7:15 AM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

I hear Woodson likely won't play, but we shouldn't count on it.

Scorpio, both Dickey and Miller are very strong in their anti-Davis sentiments, to the point where they are pathological. I said in a later post, that other than that I've enjoyed reading them over the years.

Except for one of them, they weren't always that way. Anti-Davis was a very popular attitude around these parts when the Raiders moved to LA. They simply adopted the "it's Evil Al's doing" mantra.

However, the NFL was the reason the Raiders went to LA. Davis had a negotiated agreement with Oakland on the table when Rozelle told the city they should give up less because the NFL wouldn't allow Davis to move anyway. This, incidentally, is a fact, proven in court, which is why Davis won his law suit (in part for willful contractual interference).

But the media, Dickey and Miller included, never discussed that in an article. They just wrote article after article saying what an evil, disloyal, nasty old fart Al was, and that he should be hated forever. Vindictiveness or laziness? You decide.

8:43 AM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

RT, when you talk about the "little things," don't forget about this because it's huge.

"Regardless of the mistaken identity, several team members told sources close to the team that they enjoyed seeing the emotion out of Kiffin when it came to defending his players, and the bond between coach and player in Oakland continues to grow — a far cry from the days of Bill Callahan and Art Shell. 'That was sweet to see Lane yell at somebody besides me,' McCown said. 'He was fired up, and guys feed off that. You love to see energy out of your coach. He was going after the guy that hit me. It wasn't just the refs. He went after the player. I appreciated that. It shows great leadership.'"

Last year a lot of people around here complained about Shell's lack of emotion. Showing emotion simply isn't Shell's style. With Shell, the leadership has to come from the QB and we were saddled with unemotional QBs as well. But you can never say enough about the power of a team leader going after officials in the defense of his team. I think Madden nearly got himself ejected a couple of times, and the team was so loyal to Madden they'd have done anything for him.

9:04 AM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

Another "little thing" that sits very large in turning this team around.

"Quarterback Daunte Culpepper (quadriceps), center Jeremy Newberry (day off), wide receiver Jerry Porter (shoulder), left offensive tackle Barry Sims (day off) and defensive tackle Warren Sapp (knee) did not practice. Kiffin said he gave the latter four players the day off because it's late in the season."

Under Kiffin, the older players get a little time off late in the season. Under Gruden (in his last year here) it was the practice that the older veterans didn't work hard in camp, nor in practice, to keep them from getting worn down. So the example that the "team leaders" were showing was "stand around on the sidelines and watch the kids work."

When Callahan continued the practice, he started letting the younger players slack off as well. Then Turner was just too nice a guy to say anything about it one way or another. Shell took the tough-guy approach. "Everybody works their butts off!" Which was too abrupt a change.

When Kiffin came in, he told the older veterans, "I need you in there to teach," giving them reason to work hard. And as the season wears down, and the veterans begin to wear down, Kiffin starts giving them a little extra time off - after it's been earned.

9:18 AM  
Blogger RaiderCat said...

"Note to SOB: Blitz! And blitz often. Run blitz. Pass blitz. Blitz for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Blitz for beers. Blitz for chicks. Blitz for bribes. Blitz to win!"
- nyraider

"Son Of Buddy"... gotta love it!

Like many other posters, I found myself watching the Ravens/Patriots game with amazement and wonder that Rob is related to Rex - even more so that they're twins! Rex did not fall far from the tree in regards to his defensive aggression. Not so with our beloved wild man, Rob.

With their polar-opposing looks, you'd think that Rob would be aggressive, and Rex would be the more conservative. Hmmph!

Although risky, those unbalanced line stacks of the Ravens were rather fun to watch.

C'mon, Rob... bring on the BLITZ!!!

9:19 AM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

Scorpio:

Here's the kind of thing I'm talking about in a nutshell.

From Greg Pitsch in The Bleacher Report:

"Josh McCown would get the start at QB due to Daunte Culpepper's injury during practice, trying to beat Stanford Routt in a 100 yard dash."

Since the Tuesday following the KC game, Culpepper made it clear that he injured his leg in the game against KC. He also made it clear that he jogs and runs sprints after every practice, and it wasn't until then that the leg really became uncomfortable.

But some idiot at ESPN says Culpepper was doing competitive running against CBs, and that's how he injured it. And everybody in the media adopts that angle. Culpepper has tried to set the record strait, but the meme set on TV is the one writers go with because it's already been sold to public and they don't have to sell it again. This is called "EXTREME LAZINESS!"

9:36 AM  
Blogger RaiderCat said...

"Since the Tuesday following the KC game, Culpepper made it clear that he injured his leg in the game against KC... and it wasn't until [later] that the leg really became uncomfortable."
~ blandarocked


Group-Speak. I'm not sure what the real story is, but the "race" sure makes GREAT headlines! Then, as such, it propagates itself with a life all its own.

9:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

that says it all bama!

10:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Blandarocked,

Just to add to what you stated about the media.

When our team sucks, we know it. We don't need to have some clown in the media with an agenda to tell us. We can just come here.

Here the team gets analyzed from dozens of angles. The good, the bad and the ugly.

These clowns in the media are filled with their self importance. They want to be the first with the story. Accuracy takes a back seat.

Their self importance is also the reason when a coach is rumored for a particular position, he is hounded until he just lies to them to shut them up. Then they get self righteous "how dare he lie to us."

The irony is they perpetuate rumor and innuendo ad nauseum, yet they don't seem understand why we don't trust them.

H

11:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

One more quick one:

When things are rumored or stated in the media, there will probable be multiple versions.

When the dust settles, the media will point to the one that is closest to the truth and say, "look we were right all along." Yet they fail to point out the other 10 versions that were totaly erroneous.

H

11:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

>>>>
Blanda:
Under Gruden (in his last year here) it was the practice that the older veterans didn't work hard in camp, nor in practice, to keep them from getting worn down. So the example that the "team leaders" were showing was "stand around on the sidelines and watch the kids work."

When Callahan continued the practice, he started letting the younger players slack off as well.
>>>>


Hmmm... I recall something completely different. The first thing that Callahan did was to take it easier in training camp knowing he had a veteran laden team and Gruden's propensity to crack the whip until his hands were sore.

The veterans responded, and the rest of the team came along with it.

I don't recall Callahans first year having any discipline problems. I think they all looked at him as a sigh of relief. The next year after they started losing was when the wheels came off... Callahan's ego got the best of him, Gannon bailed on him because he changed the offense... and he wasn't left with a leg to stand on.

[shrug]

7:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gary,

In Callahan's first year there was some rumbling when the loosing streak reached four. But, they went 7-1 in the second half and went to the Super Bowl. That will quiet things anytime. The wheels fell off immediately the next year and there was no repairing it. Especially with the fifty pound playbook Callahan came up with.

Also, in Callahan's tenure the Raiders were one of the oldest teams in the league. He did slack off on the youger ones, primarily because he wouldn't have enough to practice properly. Now we are a pretty young team. Very few starters over 30.

One of Kiffin's methods is to have the veterans teach the younger players, not just stand around and watch.

It's not necessarily bad to groom your eventual replacement. Especially if you are a Warren Sapp, or someone of that level. That's what good veteran leadership does. It's the way good NFL franchies used to work before free agency.

Or, in the case of McCowan and Culpepper, you know this is a one year deal and that's what you were brought in for.

H

6:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

From J.McDonald, here is a quote from Sapp on Kiffin's progress:

"I think it's gone pretty well," Sapp said. "You know, there's some different stuff that goes on around the Oakland Raiders, and if you haven't been inside of it, you really don't know what it is. I've been one of the people who's been inside it for four years, and he's had to change a lot of things.

"So far, so good. It takes you a little while once you get ahold of an organization to get it turned, and I was there with (Tony) Dungy the first couple years and it took him a couple years to get it turned the way he wanted (in Tampa)."
*****************

Interesting stuff. Sapp wouldn't get specific but it makes me think it is related to the fact that Cooper is still not on IR. And maybe it's referring to how they handled the Jordan/Bush situation. I'll bet Kiffin wanted to make room for Bush and didn't get his way.

Kiffin also seems a little frustrated with Cooper still being on the roster, saying "it's taking a while".

Having Sapp sit next to Kiffin on the bus every week reminding him about how Dungy hung in there and eventually got things working his way makes me feel a lot better. Kiffin seems like the kind of guy to just keep a smile on his face and keep chipping away at the problems until they're fixed, and we know Sapp is that way.

Sapp might prove to be more valuable to this organization than any of us realize. Sure, Kiffin can get the same kind of advice from his dad or someone else, but Sapp is right there on the battle field every day reinforcing what Kiffin is doing and validating his efforts.

Psycho

7:03 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yeah, but jmac also said that we haven't won in lambeau since '78. well, we lost to the packers in '78. oh, and it was a home game. the last time we beat green bay in lambeau was 1990.
i think keeping bush on the pup list is a smart move, whether he's healthy or not; for several reasons. first, jordan or rhodes would be wearing a chiefs/doncos uni. maybe even a tampa uni if we were lucky. second, those 2 won't be back next season, so we have an "unknown" weapon to unleash, and there will be no doubt that he will be 100%.
as far as cooper not on the ir, that is weird, but who do we replace him with? maybe wr drisan james, and that's a big maybe.

7:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

By 'Gannon bailed on him', don't you mean 'Gannon broke is F&^$ing neck'???????
Wait, that was third year.

Don't you mean 'Gannon tore his labrium?'


Anyway, point is, I don't recall Gannon bailing, nor could I imagine him 'bailing' on anything he is involved with.

When sapp says "if your not in there, you don't know", don't start making assumptions, or we're right back on the "Kiff is an alien" crap.

7:32 AM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

Green Bay is favored by 10.5 points. With Farve questionable (and likely to be protected for the playoff run if he starts showing wear during the game), Green Bay is favored by 10.5 points.

I attended a Raiders/Packers game in LA once. The biggest fan asshole I'd ever seen was a Packers fan. He spent the entire game flapping his gums at the Raider Nation in their house. After the game, I'm certain he was killed, but he still lives, I'd like the Raiders to bust up that spread real bad.

8:45 AM  
Blogger nyraider said...

Raider Nate 75 said - “i think keeping bush on the pup list is a smart move, whether he's healthy or not; for several reasons. first, jordan or rhodes would be wearing a chiefs/doncos uni. maybe even a tampa uni if we were lucky. second, those 2 won't be back next season, so we have an "unknown" weapon to unleash...”

Nate, I believe the key word is “unknown.” Will Kiffin know what he has in Michael Bush when the draft rolls around? If not, do we need to use (perhaps waste) a draft pick on another RB, particularly when we have so many holes to fill?

IMHO, not activating Bush was a mistake. What could Jordan have really done to help the Chefs or the Donkeys? Of course, we’ll never know, but the long-term benefit, again IMO, outweighs the short-term consequence (if any).

Blanda-
10.5 pts should piss the Raiders off. I might be slightly biased here, but the Raiders shouldn’t be 10.5 pt underdogs to any team after winning 2 in a row in the division. What’s it going to take to get some respect?

9:26 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

check out jerry mac's article today when he spoke to warren sapp. strange goings on in that building. good thing warren knows better than to mouth off within the building. he see the shit going on in there. he's not a blind dumbass.

here's a packer fan chiming in on silver and black pride - and he's RIGHT ON MAN! its ALL on al!

"Lastly, look at your team. Silver and Black Pride? Silver and Black Pride is on the South side of Chicago, not Oakland anymore. You have the worst run team in professional sports. Your senile, geezer owner is stuck in 1969. Fight the Power, Man! Get those cast-offs! Vertical offense! How's that going for ya? He fires anyone that might lead them to success (Chuckie)because they have to do it differently than he wants it done in order to win. Step into the next century old man.
Good luck Sunday, but take the Pack and the points.

The Raiders are the cubs of the NFL... The lovable losers.
by packfan on Fri Dec 07, 2007 at 10:42:11 AM EDT"

9:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who gives a sh@#t what some dumb-ass cheese-ass has to say?

9:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A few things to consider about the way the Bush thing was handled. At least in my opinion.

Is it being paranoid to think one of your rivals would pick up the player you just released?

No, Shanahan has picked up players for single games just to pick their brains about an upcoming opponent. He's not the only coach to have done this.

Is keeping Bush injury free the remainder of the year a good idea?

Definitely. Fargas is carring the load for now and doing well. I may be wrong but I believe past a certain point, if you release a player you still have to pay them for the whole season. So why release Rhodes or Jordan if you still have to pay them.

We are playing to win each week now (finally after much cajoling from the fans), and are looking forward to next season. At this point in time Bush isn't needed.

After March 1st look for Jordan or Rhodes or both to be released. The cap monies saved can then be utilized to resign Fargas and Asomugha. Both seem to want to be here and Fargas' acting career isn't exactly taking off at the moment. I believe the critics are saying he should keep the day job.

H

10:10 AM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

So, Scorpio, I assume that means you're taking the Packers and the points. Good luck with that.

Sounds like the same "Packer" fan that showed up in LA. I guess he is still alive.

10:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The cheesehead is wrong. We've won way more Super Bowls than the Cubs.

H

10:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

NYRaider, "What could Jordan have really done to help the Chefs or the Donkeys? Of course, we’ll never know, but the long-term benefit, again IMO, outweighs the short-term consequence (if any)."

serious? jordan and/or rhodes could give the chefs and doncos written examples of what the raiders playbook looks like. they could give them inside information on how to prepare for the raiders, even if they didn't play.

NYRaider, "Nate, I believe the key word is “unknown.” Will Kiffin know what he has in Michael Bush when the draft rolls around? If not, do we need to use (perhaps waste) a draft pick on another RB, particularly when we have so many holes to fill?"

kiffin knows what michael bush has, and what he's capable of. it's not like he hasn't been watching film, studying the playbook, or practicing with the team; all of which he can still do on the pup list. the raiders know what they have in bush.

hey scorpio, ask the packers' fan how their "vertical offense" is working, and how is their philosophy on that different than what davis wants? i'll tell you the difference, they have a qb capable of doing it. we have one that will be coming soon, and it's j-russ. they go about the vertical offense the way that the al davis wants to.
gruden had the perfect opportunity to put the vertical in with his westcoast offense, and didn't. that will be the difference with kiffin, he will utilize the vertical offense. to say that "it's old and dead" is stupid, because it's working for the colts, packers, cowboys, and giants. the patriots offense is the style of offense that kiffin wants to get to. a short passing game, and strong running game to set up the vertical. it's working out pretty nicely for them as well.
so go back and ask that fool how the vertical offense is dead? then tell the idiot that davis did not fire gruden. gruden made it public in 2001 that he was not going to resign as head coach with the raiders when his contract expired in 2002. so davis TRADED him to tampa bay. so who "fired" who? it sounded like gruden "fired" al davis, and davis got something out of it. now tell me who the one who is senile? it sounds to me like this packer prick is the one who is senile. maybe the cold up north has frozen his brain.
gannon did not quit on callahan, but he was upset that callahan completely changed an offense that was working. gannon tore his labrum and missed half the year. rice, brown, c-wood, garner, sims, langston walker, buchanon, wheatley, kennedy, barton, johnson, and harris were the ones who quit on callahan.

10:38 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

oh yeah, nebraska recently quit on callahan too.

1:40 PM  
Blogger Raider Take said...

The thing is, theoretically, McCown could have given us the Lions' playbook (big help that was) and Rhodes could give us the Colts' playbook, and so on.

Keeping guys around simply because the MIGHT sign with teams in our division, and they MIGHT be able to provide some sort of secret game-changing insight that can't be ascertained by watching game film, smacks of the "playing not to lose" mentality that, thankfully, we seem to be shedding.

Also, I doubt that Jordan or Rhodes could have bested Kolby Smith's two TDs and 150 yards. If these guys aren't good enough to crack our starting lineup, isn't that exactly the type of player we want starting for our foes?

1:59 PM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

I disagree with you, RT, and for this reason. It's a lot different when a player moves to another team in a subsequent season rather than a subsequent game in the same season.

In the offseason teams adjust their tendancies precisely because they know they will be facing players who were on the team the year before. Further, new wrinkles are added, and many of the players are different.

If Jordan or Rhodes were cut, and the cut player immediately went to a division rival and reported exactly where the team is in preperations and personnel, that's a whole hell of a lot different.

2:10 PM  
Blogger Raider Take said...

Sounds like a lot of "what ifs" and playing not to lose to me.

Remember, we're not talking about cutting both of them, just one. One player can go to one team, in this case the Chiefs or the Broncos, who, in fact, may not have been interested anyway. So we're talking about the relatively remote possibility of one of these guys being signed by one of these teams and providing insights that might have an influence on one game.

The reason that we're winning know is that Kiffin is done with the "what ifs" and is simply taking it to our opponents.

I guess it's conceivable that one of these guys could have shared some game-changing insights, but I believe that this remote possibility would be far outweighed by the advantage of pruning the deadwood, integrating our future running back into the fabric of out team now and not later, and sending the team the message that we're playing to win, and you're either with us or gone.

2:59 PM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

RT:

Granted I'm talking about a coach, here, and not a player, but don't forget the impact John Gruden had on our hopes of winning the Super Bowl because Callahan refused to make any change-ups a full year after Gruden had left.

At the time when we needed to make a decision on Bush, both KC and Denver appeared to be in desperate need of a running back, and we played the two teams back to back.

Now, my preference, if we had released one of 'em, would have been to release Jordan because he doesn't bother to learn the playbook anyway.

The other problem with activating Bush is that it likely would have been a week or two before he was ready to rumble anyway. The smart play, in a lost season, is to go ahead and let Bush fully heal. As for a #3 running back for next season - they aren't so difficult to find. There is usually a star hanging on to the end of his career somewhere about.

3:10 PM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

Perhaps the final game of the season will mean something after all.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/12/07/sports/nelson/23_44_5712_6_07.txt

Now wouldn't that be something.

3:26 PM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/
2007/12/07/sports/nelson/
23_44_5712_6_07.txt

paste 'em together.

3:27 PM  
Blogger nyraider said...

It’s hard to argue with not giving your competition - particularly a divisional rival - the potential advantage(s) that one of our backup RB s (Jordan or Rhodes) could provide them for a single game. And in hindsight, winning the last two games was more than awesome. I certainly wouldn’t prescribe to do anything that would change that.

It’s just that, with a 2-8 record (prior to the KC game), and after progressively getting worse since 2002, the thought of prolonging our resurrection doesn’t sit well.

Maybe Kiffin already knows what he needs to about Michael Bush. But does that mean Bush is a lock, or is he just another wasted draft pick? If Kiffin doesn’t know that answer, than do we use (possibly waste) another draft pick to acquire another RB?

We’re already behind the 2007 eightball with the holdout of JaMarcus Russell. For all we know, Bush might have been ready Day 1, but we didn’t activate him because of the logjam of lame duck RB s on our roster. If so, that sucks!

RT is right, there are a lot of what ifs. I just hope whatever we do now and the rest of the season puts us in the best position for next year. However, holding on to a backup RB over auditioning a potential future starter for the sake of possibly disrupting one game in a losing season doesn’t seem to imply that’s the case.

And why is it so difficult to IR Cooper? Roster moves are worse than pulling teeth. This team desparately needs help upstairs.

4:47 PM  
Blogger BlandaRocked said...

NYRaider, regarding Bush, you have to remember that Bush was not ready on day one. He didn't pass muster with the trainers, and he was held out of training camp. He had no preseason carries. Putting Bush in now, considering Bush had only worked with trainers until a month ago, would be a huge mistake. He's behind JaMarcus in development.

In terms of Kiffin knowing what he has, I'd say he does. Presuming that Kiffin has been honest with us (and it appears that he's been as honest as he's been able to be), he said he was very impressed by Bush when Bush was allowed to work out (briefly) with the team.

I don't think that having Jordan and Rhodes earn some of the money we're going to have to pay them for the season hinders our development.

I don't understand why Coop hasn't been placed on injured reserve, and why we don't fill his roster spot. We still can't activate Bush because the deadline for that is past.

It seems like we're waiting for something, but I don't have a clue as to what that could be. It could be that there is a big inside rumor that a player we want is about to be released by another team.

5:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey faida fanatics and big al (MR.) davis, Callahan is available again, now that "miss kiffy" will be booted out you can get a great deal on "Cally" What a bunch of LOSERS just wake up faidas. defend the "nation" 4-12 WOW doubled their wins!!!!! Awesome!!!!!

1:16 AM  
Blogger Raider Take said...

Dance, little monkey, dance!

9:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL Raider Take.

You just gave me a visual on that last comment about Anon. I can just picture him in one of those little Organ Grinder Monkey outfits scurrying around Pier 39 trying to hoc some loose change.

In between the begging for pennies, he flings his monkey poo at the crowd while they turn and walk away in disgust.

That is what I now picture "Lil Anon" doing everytime I glance at his irrelevant posts.

Too funny!

azraider63

12:04 PM  
Blogger Raider Take said...

For our next trick, watch Raider Take command the little monkey to watch every second of the next Raiders game and live blog about it.

He'll whistle to my accordian version of the Autumn Wind, too, if you throw him a cashew nut.

12:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Question for "faida monkeytake". Atre you going to continue the "webslog" when big al (MR.) davis moves your "team" out of the anus of the USA (choketown CA, murder capital of the nation) can't blame him! Columbus Ohio faidas...Has a nice ring to it doesn't it. It's the last ring your faidas will ever get.

1:28 PM  
Blogger Raider Take said...

Good little monkey, very good.

2:23 PM  

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