With one day of training camp left the Raiders seem eager to get out of
Napa. Not head coach Lane Kiffin, who had some critical comments for his
squad after watching Tuesday’s practice.
“I wish we had more time,” Kiffin said. “The reality is I don’t think
we’re very good right now as a team. Whatever that first game was, I
think we’re going to have a big test going into Tennessee against that
team. If we don’t have our stuff right and our guys aren’t right we’ll
get run out of that stadium real quick.”
The Raiders beat San Francisco 18-6 in their preseason opener last week
and will play the Titans on Friday night in Tennessee.
Unless the team makes marked improvement from its practice Tuesday,
Kiffin worries Oakland could get blown out.
The Raiders went through one of their most sluggish workouts of camp in
front of a few hundred onlookers from one of the team’s booster clubs.
Quarterback JaMarcus Russell had another rough day, throwing a pair of
interceptions. Backup Andrew Walter also threw a pair of picks while
Marques Tuiasosopo had one of his own.
Throw in a few penalties for false starts and a couple of dropped passes
and it’s easy to see why Kiffin is concerned.
“I didn’t think we were very crisp, especially early,” Kiffin said. “A
number of penalties early. We restarted the whole 9 on 7 down there due
to that. I didn’t think we were very crisp in the passing game until we
got to 7 on 7. Lot of incompletions, lot of poor timing so that’s
continuing to be disappointing.”
Russell did rebound, throwing a pair of sharp touchdowns to tight end
Zach Miller and another to Javon Walker.
Other news and notes from camp:
· Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha left practice and was taken for an X-ray
after complaining of soreness in his foot. No word on the results or how
long Asomugha might be out.
· Rookie safety Tyvon Branch had successful surgery to repair his broken
right thumb and will rejoin the team in time for the flight to Tennessee.
· Oakland cut linebacker Malik Jackson and signed defensive back Nick
Sanchez, who was listed as a safety in college at Stanford. Sanchez got
off to a good start, intercepting a pass for Walter.
· Linebacker Ricky Brown was back working with the starting defense
after sitting out some time due to a sore back. Brown took the majority
of reps with the starters while Robert Thomas went back to working with
the backups.
· Wide receiver Johnnie Lee Higgins had his worst day of camp, allowing
three passes to slip through his hands. Two of the passes wound up being
intercepted, one by safety Michael Huff and the other by cornerback
DeAngelo Hall.
· Wide receiver Ronald Curry also had a rough afternoon, dropping an
easy pass across the middle from Russell during team drills.
· Aaron Elling, who is filling in while kicker Sebastian Janikowski
recovers from a hamstring injury, made good on a pair of field goal
attempts from 40 yards.
· Walker had what Kiffin called his second-best practice of training
camp. The veteran wide receiver ran well, got off the line with no
problem and hauled in a trio of passes during team drills.
· The Raiders practiced a “last-play” drill in which the defense was
challenged to prevent the offense from scoring on the final play.
Oakland employed a 1-2-8 alignment featuring Derrick Burgess as the only
defensive lineman on the field with linebackers Kirk Morrison and Thomas
Howard.
· Mario Henderson, the second-year offensive tackle, continues to have
his problems. During one team drill the offense ran a rollout play to
the left but Henderson went the wrong way and drew the wrath of Kiffin.
