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What happened to pride and poise?

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Posted: Thu October 2, 1997

Many of you have E-mailed questions with the same theme: What's wrong with the Raiders?

I was in Oakland for last Sunday's game against the Rams, and it felt like I was watching a Bewitched rerun. Here were the Raiders making the same stupid mistakes they've made almost every autumn week for a generation. Penalties on the first two plays. Two fumbles in the first 10 minutes. Another bad PAT snap. And this obsession with the deep pass ... why? Third and one, Oakland 23, 12 minutes into the game, RB Napoleon Kaufman's got the hot hand. So Jeff George wings a prayer 45 yards up the left sideline for James Jett, who's covered tightly. Incomplete.

Is there some law against doing things intelligently around here?

The Raiders, by sheer force of talent, recovered and beat the Rams by 18. That makes them them 86-83 since the start of the 1987 season.

The Raiders are America's sporting mystery. What's wrong? I have four theories:

1. We—the media, or at least some of us in the media—build the Raiders up too much before the season, so everyone gets disappointed when they're mediocre. I think Dan Dierdorf picked them to get to the Super Bowl this year. If Dierdorf hadn't said it, someone else would've.

2. The mystique is gone. I was in St. Louis last week before the game, and there was not a single guy in the Rams' locker room who thought it was anything special to go out to play the Raiders. In Oakland, the lack of excitement at the Coliseum amazed me. There were about 3,000 crazies, but otherwise the place felt as passionless as an old Rams game in Anaheim.

3. George. He's a good quarterback with great talent. He's not one of the best quarterbacks in the league. If he were, he'd have won more than 36% of his starts in his career. Sometimes I think George wants to make the big play, rather than the smaller play that will help his team win.

4. Discipline. This is hard to define. But I bet if you added up penalties and giveaways in the '90s, the Raiders would be in the top three.

Having said all this, I think the Raiders still could pull a 9-7 or 10-6 if they play the way they played the last three quarters on Sunday. They need to hand it to Kaufman 22 times a week, hit TE Rickey Dudley (and his newfound great hands) on the short stuff that he'll turn into long stuff, and continue to lean on WR Tim Brown eight times a week. Defensively, they need to cover like they covered on Sunday. Also, they should light a fire under DT Chester McGlockton, who looks totally uninterested. It's not too late, for McGlockton or this strange team.

Which player can Denver least afford to lose for more than a couple of games: QB John Elway or RB Terrell Davis?
—Greg Mongiello, Houston

Davis. Last year, coach Mike Shanahan kept telling me how good Jeff Lewis was going to be. Shanahan sees Lewis as Denver's quarterback of the future. Lewis had a great preseason, and there's no doubt in my mind that he can play in the NFL now. He could win games with a conservative game plan that relied heavily on Davis. If Davis were lost, I think defenses would fire out at Elway significantly more than they do now, and he'd be in danger of getting hurt.

Who has been the best free-agent signing? The worst?
—John R. Neeley, Warsaw, N.Y.

Best: Chicago LT Andy Heck. Left tackle is one of the three or four toughest positions to fill on a team, and the Bears bought one of the top five in the game in 1994. He was the only NFL tackle to have a perfect 1995—he didn't allow any defensive lineman to sack the quarterback.

Worst: WR Andre Rison. The Browns made a $17 million mistake in 1995. Art Modell is still paying it off.

What is your opinion of Giants coach Jim Fassel?
—Craig Faretra, Staten Island, N.Y.

Fassel is tougher than most Giants fans realize. He has instilled a gruff mentality in his team, brought the productive defense and unproductive offense closer together than they were in the Reeves era, and done some good things with QB Dave Brown.

I still have grave doubts about Brown's future, but I've got no such problem with the coach. Give him some time. When Brett Favre was throwing two or three picks every Sunday five years ago, did anyone think Mike Holmgren was a genius?

Now that the Buccaneers are 5-0, what do you think of this week's game with the Packers?
—Mitch Miedzinski, Tampa

The Bucs must get Warrick Dunn untracked to have a good chance in Green Bay. They've come to rely inordinately on their rookie tailback in the first month. When he struggled against Arizona, the team struggled too.

On defense, the Bucs must expect Favre to come out on fire, because he played so horribly at Detroit last week. Donnie Abraham, Tampa Bay's great young corner, better have a big day shadowing Packers WR Robert Brooks.

Why is it that Troy Aikman is never mentioned in the same breath as Joe Montana, John Elway or Dan Marino?
—Aven Nasta, Perth, Australia

Aikman is not mentioned with Montana in most conversations I hear, but then, who is? But I think most people in the game today think of him as a peer of Elway and Marino. Statistically, Aikman will never put up the numbers of Elway or Marino because Troy plays in a run-oriented offense. But Aikman will definitely be remembered as one of the great quarterbacks of his day for one simple reason: He is one.

NFL game announcers often say something akin to "the coach has scripted the team's first 15 plays." What does that mean?
—Nick Benimoff, Howell, N.J.

It's simple: Teams draw up scripts to match what they do best against what their opponent does worst. I once watched the Packers script eight passes and seven runs in their opening 15 plays before a game against the Vikings. (The Packers thought Minnesota's young secondary was vulnerable.)

True, the first 15 plays are never run in succession. But the script is a model. Coaches will use the script in pretty much the order they've written it, except when they're in a short-yardage or goal line situation. When that situation is over or when the next series begins, the coach will pick up on the 15-play script where he left off.

The week I watched the Packers, they drove the ball down the field on the first series and used the first six plays on the script exactly as they were drawn up.

The NFL's TV ratings keep dropping. Why?
—Paul Mercurio, Columbus, Ohio

There is no one answer, but I will give you my three thoughts:

1. This year there is great lack of interest in major markets. Los Angeles has no team, and the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants stink.

2. There's no question that the off-field behavior of certain stars has turned people off.

3. Some of the new TV markets—Baltimore and Nashville most notably—are smaller than the old ones.

Read my column in the magazine this week. You'll see that the NFL is trying to fix the ratings decline. For one thing, the league wants Monday Night Football to begin at 8 p.m. instead of 9, so the ratings don't plummet after 11.

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