OAKLAND _ Another come-from-ahead stake through the heart, another
chance for Raiders coach Lane Kiffin to open up a vein and tell everyone
how proud he is of the team, which could cease to be his whenever Al
Davis decides it's time close the deal.
At this point, it's hard to tell which man is having more trouble with
the endgame. Kiffin's team can't do it in the fourth quarter. Davis
can't reach a decision on Kiffin.
A 28-18 loss to the San Diego Chargers Sunday at the Coliseum was
similar to a 24-23 loss to the Buffalo Bills the previous week in that
the Raiders had a two-score lead in the fourth quarter and couldn't hold it.
Ever-positive linebacker Kirk Morrison didn't mean it the way it came
out, but he explained things perfectly when he said, ``Playing against
us in the past, I think a lot of times they would just steal one at the
end of the game. We stayed true to what we've been doing this year.''
And the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before
that. . . .
Make all this out to be the fault of the media if you wish, but the
Kiffin-Davis machine is being fed primarily by Kiffin and Davis.
Kiffin answered questions at the podium for 15 minutes following the
game, then in the locker room, actually looked at the group of reporters
and asked, ``You got enough?,'' and then started in all over again,
covering the same tortured territory.
``I don't know what I expect,'' Kiffin said. ``I'm not going to do
anything different than what I've been doing, keeping this team together
the best I can, keep the staff together, figure out a way to win these
games in the fourth quarter . . . until I'm told something different by
Al, we're going to keep trying to fined a way to win.''
Davis keeps the story alive by failing to give Kiffin the same sort of
backing he gave Rob Ryan back in February, when reports of the defensive
coordinator's imminent demise were met with a statement charging the
press with being irresponsible.
It was overbearing and a little disingenuous because it turned out Ryan
indeed offered to resign, but at least it provided direction and finality.
Meanwhile, the Raiders seem be playing better but their record stays the
same. They believe they're good enough to be 3-1, but the standings say
1-3 and the last five and a quarter years make it difficult to see
anything other than a sixth straight season of losses in double figures.
Strong safety Gibril Wilson, who forced a LaDainian Tomlinson fumble in
the end zone which Philip Rivers jumped on for a safety, flashes back a
year to a Super Bowl championship with the New York Giants and sees the
possibility of change.
``You know what? We've got to learn how to finish,'' Wilson said.
``That's the most important thing with this team. We do great for three
quarters and find a way not to win.''
That's what the Raiders are up against. They're trying to change a
conditioned response built through week after week of walking into the
locker room feeling the same as the week before.
Players who are team leaders, entrusted with passing on what they know
for future success, have little to draw on in terms of experience.
Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha is as professional as you'll find in the
business, and Kiffin identified Justin Fargas as a team leader.
When Asomugha and Fargas want to bring together the young players and
regale them with nostalgic yarns of the good old days, they harken back
to the 2003 and 2004 seasons, when the Raiders opened the season 2-1.
Asomugha and Fargas are 20-64 now, and they haven't seen .500 since.
Guard Robert Gallery and center Jake Grove, who arrived fresh-faced and
ready to join up with a team one year removed from an AFC championship,
are 16-52. Same with defensive tackle Tommy Kelly.
Morrison and Stanford Routt, who arrived in 2005, are 11-41. Safety
Michael Huff and linebacker Thomas Howard, defensive starters since the
day they were drafted in 2005, are 6-27.
When the Raiders lost to the Bills last week, Huff related the thing he
was most depressed about was failing to get to 2-1, a record that would
have been a letdown in college at Texas but would be a reason for
elation in Oakland.
Gallery insists things are different this year. Even after being
outscored 25-3 in the fourth quarter a week after blowing a 23-14 lead,
Gallery insists he doesn't believe defeat is inevitable.
``There have been years I've been here that may have happened, but I
don't feel that way with this team and this staff,'' Gallery said. ``I
think guys are in it and we've got to work through it. We'll be a good
team when we can win these games.''
The bar is set so low there is actually a Web site dedicated to saving a
coach who has won 25 percent of his games, which may be a first in the
history of professional or college sports.
It's doubtful Davis reads keepkiffin.com, and only he knows if and when
he will close the deal.
Whether he says Kiffin goes or says Kiffin stays, it would be nice after
the past two weeks to see a member of the Raiders with the ability to
finish.
