Post by TheShadow on Dec 2, 2003 17:45:12 GMT -5
www.oaklandtribune.com
Raiders, 'the dumbest team in America,' falter against Broncos
By Bill Soliday, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- "We must be the dumbest team in America."
Bill Callahan's bitter words brought an audible gasp from those attending his postgame news conference Sunday. They brought a verbal and often bellicose response when the words reached the locker room.
The Raiders didn't just lose a football game 22-8 to the Denver Broncos on Sunday. They may have lost whatever cohesion they had left in the midst of a 3-9 season that has gone so far south it's seeing penguins.
In a season of meltdowns, the Raiders have reached absolute zero. The defending AFC champions were eliminated from playoff contention.
"It's not going to be a pretty situation," said Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown. "I know tomorrow is going to be very ugly. But my job is to squelch fires, and I've got a wildfire tomorrow to contend with."
Like kindling, that fire was already lit in the aftermath of Callahan's outburst.
"I don't believe that," said cornerback Charles Woodson, who has been openly critical of Callahan's leadership this year. "But I am sure it's on film. We'll see it, and then we will address it as a team tomorrow ... and take it from there.
"If that's what he said, I won't allow no man to call me stupid or dumb. We're not going to stand for (stuff) like that. There's frustrating, but I don't care what it is. If he says we're dumb, he's dead wrong."
"That's a dumb statement," tight end O.J. Santiago said. "It's a stupid statement. I guess he was frustrated. We have a good team. We weren't dumb when the season started. We didn't just turn dumb."
Callahan's pressure cooker blew a gasket over several plays that cost the Raiders what could have been their fourth victory of the year, one that would have eliminated the Broncos from AFC West contention.
Penalties and turnovers -- the same things that have plagued the Raiders from the start of this lost season -- came at the most inopportune moments imaginable.
With the Raiders holding a 5-0 lead off a blocked punt by Santiago and a 46-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski, Denver was at the Raiders' 32 with a third-and-14. Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer rolled left and headed down the sideline but went out of bounds 5 yards short of a first down. However, linebacker Eric Barton clipped Plummer on the heel as he exited the field and drew a 15-yard personal-foul penalty that was plenty enough for the first down. Four plays later, Plummer hit tight end Shannon Sharpe with a 4-yard touchdown pass and Denver led 7-5.
After the Raiders regained the lead 8-7 on a 48-yard Janikowski field goal on their next possession, the Raiders had Denver punting on a fourth-and-4 from their 46 when Santiago -- going for a second straight block -- jumped offside, giving Denver life. Six plays later, Clinton Portis, who would rebound from a slow start, scored from the 1 and Denver had a 14-8 lead.
On the kickoff, linebacker Napoleon Harris was called for clipping and the Raiders started at their 3. They eventually had to punt from the Denver 42. With those 15 yards back, they would have been in field-goal position.
At the start of the third quarter, the Raiders were near midfield when Tyrone Wheatley fumbled, ending the drive.
Late in the third quarter, the Raiders got a 36-yard punt return from Phillip Buchanon and started at the Denver 41. False-start penalties on Langston Walker and Lincoln Kennedy helped put the Raiders in a third-and-31 situation that blunted that potential drive that had reached the Denver 29 at one time.
The team dodged a bullet despite back-to-back penalties on Woodson for a blow to Plummer's head and interference early in the fourth quarter didn't hurt the cause thanks to a Buchanon interception at the Raiders 1.
After Denver took a 22-8 lead on Portis' second touchdown run (he finished the game with 170 yards on 34 carries), the Raiders' last stab at playing catch-up was marred by a holding penalty on a 9-yard pass to Porter, and their last drive ended at their 40 with 2:10 to play.
Callahan had seen enough.
"As I watched the performance on the field, I strongly felt that if we don't learn how not to beat ourselves, we won't win again," he said. "And we won't win for a long time.
"I am highly critical because of the way we give games away. We give them away, period. It's embarrassing, and I represent that (effort). I apologize for that. But if that is the best we can do, that is a sad problem.
"It's a lot. It's undisciplined play. It's uncharacteristic play. A lot of it has to do with the character of playing hard and playing smart and being emotionally disciplined enough to pull off and make a smart play and not get yourself penalized.
"That is where we're at. We're in this funk we can't get out of right now. Until we learn how not to lose games the way we've been losing them, we will continue to lose them.
"We're certainly capable of winning. ... I think that is indicative of the way we are playing. All that effort goes right out the door when you get an effort like this from a penalty standpoint."
Callahan -- who has vowed on two occasions this year to refuse to criticize players specifically -- did not name names. But when his words were relayed to the team, there was near unanimity.
Classify the team as a whole as dumb, and you've classified each and every one.
"That is not acceptable at all," Woodson said. "(Mistakes) have hurt us, it's been that way all season. It's killed our drives. But we're out there fighting regardless of what is going on. At this point, we're 3-9, but we're still out there fighting and we're not going to stand for anything like that."
"You have to try to stay politically correct as a player," safety Anthony Dorsett said. "Is it only geared towards players? I just don't know why coach Callahan said that."
"That was an unfortunate comment," Brown said. "The situation is tough enough. One thing we've tried to do around here is stay positive. Coach and I had a conversation before the game about staying positive. That kind of statement is not conducive to being positive.
"It just makes the job in the locker room a little tougher. I am sure there are going to be guys who are not going to react very positively ... and you really can't blame them. When your head guy says that about you, there could be a little separation thing going on.
"Coach is his own man. He makes his own bed. Whatever happens ... he is going to have to live with."
Brown, who planned to call a team meeting before the regular meeting today, thinks he knows what is going to happen next.
"He is going to come in tomorrow and say, 'Hey guys, I didn't mean that personally,'" Brown said. "But know what? Once you ring the bell you can't unring it."
The bell has been rung. Woodson wouldn't count out revolt.
"It will be more than me. ... I don't think anybody on this team is going to go for that," he said.
Raiders, 'the dumbest team in America,' falter against Broncos
By Bill Soliday, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- "We must be the dumbest team in America."
Bill Callahan's bitter words brought an audible gasp from those attending his postgame news conference Sunday. They brought a verbal and often bellicose response when the words reached the locker room.
The Raiders didn't just lose a football game 22-8 to the Denver Broncos on Sunday. They may have lost whatever cohesion they had left in the midst of a 3-9 season that has gone so far south it's seeing penguins.
In a season of meltdowns, the Raiders have reached absolute zero. The defending AFC champions were eliminated from playoff contention.
"It's not going to be a pretty situation," said Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown. "I know tomorrow is going to be very ugly. But my job is to squelch fires, and I've got a wildfire tomorrow to contend with."
Like kindling, that fire was already lit in the aftermath of Callahan's outburst.
"I don't believe that," said cornerback Charles Woodson, who has been openly critical of Callahan's leadership this year. "But I am sure it's on film. We'll see it, and then we will address it as a team tomorrow ... and take it from there.
"If that's what he said, I won't allow no man to call me stupid or dumb. We're not going to stand for (stuff) like that. There's frustrating, but I don't care what it is. If he says we're dumb, he's dead wrong."
"That's a dumb statement," tight end O.J. Santiago said. "It's a stupid statement. I guess he was frustrated. We have a good team. We weren't dumb when the season started. We didn't just turn dumb."
Callahan's pressure cooker blew a gasket over several plays that cost the Raiders what could have been their fourth victory of the year, one that would have eliminated the Broncos from AFC West contention.
Penalties and turnovers -- the same things that have plagued the Raiders from the start of this lost season -- came at the most inopportune moments imaginable.
With the Raiders holding a 5-0 lead off a blocked punt by Santiago and a 46-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski, Denver was at the Raiders' 32 with a third-and-14. Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer rolled left and headed down the sideline but went out of bounds 5 yards short of a first down. However, linebacker Eric Barton clipped Plummer on the heel as he exited the field and drew a 15-yard personal-foul penalty that was plenty enough for the first down. Four plays later, Plummer hit tight end Shannon Sharpe with a 4-yard touchdown pass and Denver led 7-5.
After the Raiders regained the lead 8-7 on a 48-yard Janikowski field goal on their next possession, the Raiders had Denver punting on a fourth-and-4 from their 46 when Santiago -- going for a second straight block -- jumped offside, giving Denver life. Six plays later, Clinton Portis, who would rebound from a slow start, scored from the 1 and Denver had a 14-8 lead.
On the kickoff, linebacker Napoleon Harris was called for clipping and the Raiders started at their 3. They eventually had to punt from the Denver 42. With those 15 yards back, they would have been in field-goal position.
At the start of the third quarter, the Raiders were near midfield when Tyrone Wheatley fumbled, ending the drive.
Late in the third quarter, the Raiders got a 36-yard punt return from Phillip Buchanon and started at the Denver 41. False-start penalties on Langston Walker and Lincoln Kennedy helped put the Raiders in a third-and-31 situation that blunted that potential drive that had reached the Denver 29 at one time.
The team dodged a bullet despite back-to-back penalties on Woodson for a blow to Plummer's head and interference early in the fourth quarter didn't hurt the cause thanks to a Buchanon interception at the Raiders 1.
After Denver took a 22-8 lead on Portis' second touchdown run (he finished the game with 170 yards on 34 carries), the Raiders' last stab at playing catch-up was marred by a holding penalty on a 9-yard pass to Porter, and their last drive ended at their 40 with 2:10 to play.
Callahan had seen enough.
"As I watched the performance on the field, I strongly felt that if we don't learn how not to beat ourselves, we won't win again," he said. "And we won't win for a long time.
"I am highly critical because of the way we give games away. We give them away, period. It's embarrassing, and I represent that (effort). I apologize for that. But if that is the best we can do, that is a sad problem.
"It's a lot. It's undisciplined play. It's uncharacteristic play. A lot of it has to do with the character of playing hard and playing smart and being emotionally disciplined enough to pull off and make a smart play and not get yourself penalized.
"That is where we're at. We're in this funk we can't get out of right now. Until we learn how not to lose games the way we've been losing them, we will continue to lose them.
"We're certainly capable of winning. ... I think that is indicative of the way we are playing. All that effort goes right out the door when you get an effort like this from a penalty standpoint."
Callahan -- who has vowed on two occasions this year to refuse to criticize players specifically -- did not name names. But when his words were relayed to the team, there was near unanimity.
Classify the team as a whole as dumb, and you've classified each and every one.
"That is not acceptable at all," Woodson said. "(Mistakes) have hurt us, it's been that way all season. It's killed our drives. But we're out there fighting regardless of what is going on. At this point, we're 3-9, but we're still out there fighting and we're not going to stand for anything like that."
"You have to try to stay politically correct as a player," safety Anthony Dorsett said. "Is it only geared towards players? I just don't know why coach Callahan said that."
"That was an unfortunate comment," Brown said. "The situation is tough enough. One thing we've tried to do around here is stay positive. Coach and I had a conversation before the game about staying positive. That kind of statement is not conducive to being positive.
"It just makes the job in the locker room a little tougher. I am sure there are going to be guys who are not going to react very positively ... and you really can't blame them. When your head guy says that about you, there could be a little separation thing going on.
"Coach is his own man. He makes his own bed. Whatever happens ... he is going to have to live with."
Brown, who planned to call a team meeting before the regular meeting today, thinks he knows what is going to happen next.
"He is going to come in tomorrow and say, 'Hey guys, I didn't mean that personally,'" Brown said. "But know what? Once you ring the bell you can't unring it."
The bell has been rung. Woodson wouldn't count out revolt.
"It will be more than me. ... I don't think anybody on this team is going to go for that," he said.