Post by TheShadow on Aug 16, 2005 18:51:51 GMT -5
www.sfgate.com
By Glen Dicke y
Ignacio De La Fuente, president of the Oakland City Council, and Gail Steele, chairman of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, were camp visitors Monday. De La Fuente had met with the Raiders on Friday to discuss marketing strategies and, at that time, Raiders chief executive Amy Trask invited him and Steele to come to camp in Napa.
"The only way anything's going to get done is if we sit down and talk it out,'' said De La Fuente, who said no specific program was yet in place. "Nothing's going to happen unless both sides agree.''
Lechler update: Punter Shane Lechler might be held out an additional week because of his hamstring injury.
"For sure, he won't punt this week,'' coach Norv Turner said, "and if there's any doubt next week, we'll let him sit for another week. We don't want to take any chances.''
Lechler has led the league in punting the last two seasons, with averages of 46.7 and 46.2 yards a punt.
Briefly: When asked why he thought the defense might be improved this year, Turner cited more team speed. "There was a play in practice last week where a running back caught a pass coming out of the backfield and there were four tacklers around him immediately," he said. "That's the kind of play that got away from us last year.'' ... The Raiders will leave Wednesday night for the Houston Texans' training camp. They'll practice two days and then play the Texans on Saturday night. In the past, when the Raiders have done that with another team, they've usually scrimmaged, but Turner said that will not be the case this time. "We'll basically be practicing the same way we do here, except that we'll be practicing against another team," he said. "We think that will be a big benefit to us and a good lead-in to the game."