Post by TheShadow on Dec 5, 2003 22:29:13 GMT -5
www.sportsline.com
Inside Slant
The Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers will be meeting for the 15th time on Sunday at Heinz Field. Never before have they run into one another when both teams had sub-.500 records.
It has never even been thinkable that they would be THIS far under .500.
The Steelers are having loads of difficulties at 4-8 but the Raiders are having nightmares at 3-9. Neither will finish over .500 this year and the latest goal is to finish the season with their dignity intact.
"That linebacking corps they have is still one of the better ones in the NFL," running back Tyrone Wheatley said. "We still have to contend with them regardless of what their situation is ... and regardless of ours."
The Raiders' situation, already bad, appeared to have become unknowably worse Sunday when coach Bill Callahan, in his post-game press conference, ripped into his players for making the kind of bonehead plays only the mentally challenged would make.
Flames shot out of the locker room afterwards. Insurrection seemed imminent. The team met Monday, but there was no players-only meeting in advance of the usual gathering as Tim Brown suggested.
That being the case, Brown did describe the meeting that did ensue as an "everybody-in-the-building meeting."
Whatever that meant. Nobody was saying.
It was a team thing," tight end O.J. Santiago said. "We handled it as a team."
The usual day off Tuesday was followed by another "business as usual" gathering Wednesday morning. Apparently no shots were fired.
"Everybody was together," running back Tyrone Wheatley reported.
"I think everybody is together," said Santiago. "You have to be ... you aren't going to make it very far if you're not. We have a job to do. We have four games left."
Wide receiver Jerry Porter said there was no apparent bloodshed to the Monday meeting. It seems the team is getting used to this "crisis of the week" deal.
They should be by now. It's been a year to remember -- or forget, if you will. If it wasn't Bill Romanowski punching a teammate, it was the BALCO steroids scandal. Or Charles Woodson carving up the head coach. Or Sebastian Janikowski's latest arrest.
Or it was Quarterback No. 1 going on injured reserve or Quarterback No. 2 following him after being hurt in his first start. And if it wasn't that it was Romanowski, Trace Armstrong, Rod Woodson and another half dozen having their seasons cut short by injury.
Thankfully, the only thing that hasn't happened is a homicide.
"It's been like that the whole season," Santiago said. "You have to stick together. If you don't, it will definitely fall apart. But guys have stuck together. This is a good group of guys. I can honestly say I like everybody on this team."
So all the smoke is just camouflage?
"There's always going to be frustration when you are not where you want to be as a team," Santiago said. "I think it can bring a team even closer together because there are no big stars, no big egos.
"There is nothing going on because nobody is happy with where we are at. We are all low men on the totem pole. We're all grinding. We're all in it together."
And they seemed to be together in putting a halt to repercussions of Dumbgate. On Wednesday, it was as though the team had agreed not to fuel the fire any further.
Naturally, there was a transference of blame onto the messenger.
"He (Callahan) made everybody realize he didn't say `You guys are just straight out dumb.' He said our play was dumb," wide receiver Jerry Porter said. "The media ... didn't say he called this team's PLAY the dumbest in America. You just have to take the sense out of the nonsense and move forward."
Forward would be a new direction for the moribund Raiders.
SERIES HISTORY
15th regular-season meeting. Some 30 percent of the games played between the Raiders and Steelers (6 of 20) have been playoffs. Oakland leads the series 8-6 in regular season, it is tied 3-3 in postseason. All six playoff games were contested between 1972 and 1983. In those 14 regular season meetings, the teams' records at the time they played are similar. Cumulatively, Oakland was 56-31-1, Pittsburgh 55-33-1.
Inside Slant
The Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers will be meeting for the 15th time on Sunday at Heinz Field. Never before have they run into one another when both teams had sub-.500 records.
It has never even been thinkable that they would be THIS far under .500.
The Steelers are having loads of difficulties at 4-8 but the Raiders are having nightmares at 3-9. Neither will finish over .500 this year and the latest goal is to finish the season with their dignity intact.
"That linebacking corps they have is still one of the better ones in the NFL," running back Tyrone Wheatley said. "We still have to contend with them regardless of what their situation is ... and regardless of ours."
The Raiders' situation, already bad, appeared to have become unknowably worse Sunday when coach Bill Callahan, in his post-game press conference, ripped into his players for making the kind of bonehead plays only the mentally challenged would make.
Flames shot out of the locker room afterwards. Insurrection seemed imminent. The team met Monday, but there was no players-only meeting in advance of the usual gathering as Tim Brown suggested.
That being the case, Brown did describe the meeting that did ensue as an "everybody-in-the-building meeting."
Whatever that meant. Nobody was saying.
It was a team thing," tight end O.J. Santiago said. "We handled it as a team."
The usual day off Tuesday was followed by another "business as usual" gathering Wednesday morning. Apparently no shots were fired.
"Everybody was together," running back Tyrone Wheatley reported.
"I think everybody is together," said Santiago. "You have to be ... you aren't going to make it very far if you're not. We have a job to do. We have four games left."
Wide receiver Jerry Porter said there was no apparent bloodshed to the Monday meeting. It seems the team is getting used to this "crisis of the week" deal.
They should be by now. It's been a year to remember -- or forget, if you will. If it wasn't Bill Romanowski punching a teammate, it was the BALCO steroids scandal. Or Charles Woodson carving up the head coach. Or Sebastian Janikowski's latest arrest.
Or it was Quarterback No. 1 going on injured reserve or Quarterback No. 2 following him after being hurt in his first start. And if it wasn't that it was Romanowski, Trace Armstrong, Rod Woodson and another half dozen having their seasons cut short by injury.
Thankfully, the only thing that hasn't happened is a homicide.
"It's been like that the whole season," Santiago said. "You have to stick together. If you don't, it will definitely fall apart. But guys have stuck together. This is a good group of guys. I can honestly say I like everybody on this team."
So all the smoke is just camouflage?
"There's always going to be frustration when you are not where you want to be as a team," Santiago said. "I think it can bring a team even closer together because there are no big stars, no big egos.
"There is nothing going on because nobody is happy with where we are at. We are all low men on the totem pole. We're all grinding. We're all in it together."
And they seemed to be together in putting a halt to repercussions of Dumbgate. On Wednesday, it was as though the team had agreed not to fuel the fire any further.
Naturally, there was a transference of blame onto the messenger.
"He (Callahan) made everybody realize he didn't say `You guys are just straight out dumb.' He said our play was dumb," wide receiver Jerry Porter said. "The media ... didn't say he called this team's PLAY the dumbest in America. You just have to take the sense out of the nonsense and move forward."
Forward would be a new direction for the moribund Raiders.
SERIES HISTORY
15th regular-season meeting. Some 30 percent of the games played between the Raiders and Steelers (6 of 20) have been playoffs. Oakland leads the series 8-6 in regular season, it is tied 3-3 in postseason. All six playoff games were contested between 1972 and 1983. In those 14 regular season meetings, the teams' records at the time they played are similar. Cumulatively, Oakland was 56-31-1, Pittsburgh 55-33-1.