They try to say, “It’s the pre-season, it doesn’t matter.” That’s true to an extent. However, it’s very hard to justify a shutout. This is the time of year when the 3rd and 4th quarters can be physically painful to watch. I’ll focus on the first half of the game; because as Lane Kiffin shared in his post game report, a lot of the guys who played in the 2nd half will “unfortunately, not be with the team much longer.”

Raiders vs Cardinals, 24-0 LOSS

  • I knew when I hopped on BART an hour before the game it was going to be a light crowd. My trip to the Coliseum is usually a close personal experience with my Raider brethren, including spontaneous cattle calls of “Raaaaaaaaaaaiders.” But I had my choice of seats and it felt more like a library than public transportation.
  • The Defensive squad is announced. Gibril Wilson gets a modest ovation. DeAngelo Hall gets a roaring ovation. Nnamdi Asomugha is announced last and the Coliseum explodes. We’re a small group tonight, but we’re still an earful.
  • There seemed to be a lull on the field when we noticed a montage on the big screen of our beloved #63. When a familiar clip of Eugene Upshaw played, with his taped and muddy hand raising the football in victory, our ovation peaks. We stood together in a moment of silence, a small tribute of respect to one of our greats. At the coliseum, we do well when it comes to being loud together. When it comes to being quiet? Not so much. At first you could hear echoing mumbles followed by a distinct “Shhhhh” – and then we were silent. It was a touching moment. Thank you, Gene.
  • Coin flip – we receive. Rackers kicks, Higgins calls the touchback, Oren O’Neal lays squirming on the field and is half carried off.
  • JRuss moved the ball well on our opening drive, starting things off with two complete passes to Zach Miller. He was 4-4, we were driving, he eyes Carter open downfield, throws the pass and Drew falls to the turf grabbing his knee in agony.
  • In the first two minutes of play, both Drew Carter (a FA WR acquisition from Carolina) and second year FB, Oren O’Neal, go down with injuries and were gone for the game. In Kiffin’s post game interview he delivered the devastating news that they are probably gone for the season with knee injuries. Drew has been playing well and was expected to be our starting WR. Our 5 deep will now likely be Ronald Curry, Javon Walker, Johnnie Lee Higgins, Todd Watkins and Chaz Schilens. The loss of O’Neal is not as easy to put a band aid on. We only have one other true FB on the squad in Justin Griffith. Marcel Reece, the rook out of Washington, isn’t ready to step in. We could look at moving Michael Bush, or even Adimchinobi Echemandu into the role. Echemandu seems to be more physically able to meet the blocking demands of FB. Or we might scan the FA market and sign someone. Either way, Kiffin and Rathman have some work in front of them on this.
  • Matt Leinert is not impressive. He may be total eyecandy, and parties like a rockstar, but the boy had zero impact on the field. If Warner doesn’t get the nod as starting QB, I’ll be shocked.
  • We fed the ball to McFadden quite a bit, he got more carries than any other RB on the field last night – 12 carries/40 yards. You know what I love about him? He does not stop. There were two runs in particular where he pushed a second or third time before they drug him down. His longest run of the night was 8 yards, but he did that carrying about 3 Cardinals on his back.
  • We had the chance to match the Cards on the scoreboard with a FG, but Elling (whom Kiffin referred to as “the other guy” on his post game) hit the upright. So don’t go memorizing his name quite yet.
  • First Half Over. Cards 3 – Raiders 0. We’ll stop there, as we could easily have been tied or ahead. But Kiffin was following a specific agenda in order to make squad decisions. He’s got to cut 5 guys after our next game against Seattle, then 27 more the week after.
  • As the players headed toward the tunnel at the half, old teammates Derrick Burgess and Roderick Hood found each other and shared a hug.
  • The guys who sat behind me were fun. They were only in those seats for this game and obviously just casual Raider fans. They didn’t help with my need to discuss the game but their random comments gave me a laugh now and then; “It sucks that my wife is a cheerleader. Everyone is looking at her, dude.”

Next home game – season opener on Monday night against Denver!!



By: Knup on Aug 24th, 2008
Tagged as: Game Reports

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