Consider yourself lucky. You had to watch the Raiders' season-opening
abomination only once.
"As far as the film," coach Lane Kiffin said Tuesday, after
reconstructing his team's deconstruction, "not much different from the
same feelings as after the game."
That game, to use the term loosely, ended with the Raiders on the hind
end of a 41-14 score Monday against the Denver Broncos. By the time
Kiffin finished watching it a second time, it was 82-28, the Raiders had
committed 20 penalties, and cornerback DeAngelo Hall still hadn't
successfully defended a pass.
No wonder Kiffin's corneas looked double-seared.
"Defensively, the film was pretty tough," he said. "It wasn't just
missed tackles, (it was) some blown coverages and missed assignments. So
we're all disappointed in that."
Thus begins the seasonal game-within-a-game ritual for the Raiders — the
attempt to address, through clinical coaching methods, failures that are
systemic in nature. They lose a game, then study the film in the belief
that any player can be redeemed through preparation and repetition.
It's what coaches do. And keep in mind, Kiffin is the son of a coach.
"It's one game," he said. "So before we make statements that we're not
any good at one certain thing, let's play a couple games and look at it.
Hopefully, this week we'll get back on track."
OK, we'll play along. The promise of next week is the foundation of
football. And in fact, the Raiders face a beatable opponent Sunday in
the rookie-laden Kansas City Chiefs, who lost both a game and their
starting quarterback last weekend.
In fact, the Raiders have a highly favorable schedule to open the
season. Only one of their first 12 games is against a team that had a
winning record in 2007 — and that team is the San Diego Chargers, who
placed stud linebacker Shawne Merriman on injured reserve Tuesday.
But inevitably the Raiders conversation comes back to the Raiders. This
is their 14th season back in Oakland. We've been engaged in never-ending
debate over the same chronic shortcomings the entire time.
They're undisciplined. They commit too many penalties and way too many
stupid penalties. There are too many appalling breakdowns on defense.
Their safeties "... Have they had a decent safety since they came back?
They almost always have an effective running back but not always a
consistently effective running back. Any quarterback not named Rich
Gannon has been a roll of the dice. They forever seem to be about 600
pounds short of a dominant offensive line.
The roster almost always consists of too many me-first personalities and
freakishly gifted athletes, and too few team-oriented players with
football-specific skills. And the coach always finds himself working
with the hot breath of Al Davis on the back of his neck. You don't
remedy those ills by sitting in a dark room with a coach's clicker.
What's more, the earlier in the season these chronic deficiencies reveal
themselves, the worse it typically is for the Raiders. Contrary to
Kiffin's riff Tuesday, the first game has been a remarkably accurate
barometer since the Raiders came back to Oakland. When they're bad,
they're bad early and often, and here's the proof:
In the nine seasons they lost their opener, they've averaged 5.1 wins.
In the four seasons they won their opener, they've averaged 10.3 wins
(and had their only three winning records).
None of which could or should deter Kiffin in his search for answers.
But it does sort of cast him in a tragic light, given the historically
enormous challenge he faces.
