JaMarcus Russell's #1 Caucasian Fan

Well thats what the season is for, Porter. He may be better, he may not be. We won't won't know for sure until the season is done. All I know is the on-field distractions (litigation is a given in this case, but has nothing to do with on-field issues) are gone, we got a guy who at least has head coaching experience on some level and some coordinating experience in the pros, and to me thats a step up from Kiffin. Although the head coach is different, I really don't see a change in philosophy and offense from Cable. I'm just glad Kiffin is gone at this point, because his mere presence was causing distraction to this team. I'm not saying OMG NEW GOLDEN AGE, but Kiffin, whether justified or not, needed to go (and I think he been wanting out since last winter, so he got what he wanted). A fresh start is a good thing here.

I haven't really posted in the baseball threads at all this year, but I have been following Baseball closely this season. For the record, I am a Dodger fan. Phillies over Brewers in Four Dodgers over Cubs in Five

Well damn I was wrong. Tom Cable has coached at Idaho and UCLA recently and was the O-line coach for the Falcons and Raiders. He at least has some head coaching experience. This actually may work out. Who knows. I wish Lane Kiffin the best however. He just wasn't the right fit at this time. Hopefully he has learned some lessons from this and can land on his feet. As for the Raiders, it sucks we fired another coach, but promoting Tom Cable may just what the doctor ordered. I think this guy can turn around this ship. Like I said earlier, the NFL is about winning now, not developing head coaches for the future. Well, now that at least the distraction is gone, I look forward to the rest of the season. Hopefully the team can rally together and start winning some games.

M5Q: 1. Who is the best team in the league? 2. Who is the worst team in the league? 3. Who is going to take a big step forward the next 4 games? 4. Rookie of the year candidates? 5. Other than Brady, what is the most costly injury to have happened so far? 1. I would say the best team in the league as of NOW? I would say the Dallas Cowboys still. Buffalo has been impressive in their 4-0 start, but the teams that they have played so far have a combined recored of 4-11 so far. Honestly I would like to see how the Bills do after their bye week, where they play the Chargers, Dolphins, Jets and Patriots with two of those being on the road. Dallas still has the big guns, can score points in a hurry, a decent defense and just play in a murderous division. I just can't hold the Redskin loss against them right now. 2. The Rams easily are the worst team in the league. No O line what so ever, a midseason coaching change and malcontent superstars are a toxic mix. They won't go winless, but I see a 1-15 team in the making. 3. I'll be a homer here and say the Raiders after the bye week will start turning some heads in the football world. I don't think Lane Kiffin is going to get fired this season (its going to happen after the season) and to be honest has the team playing hard. After the Denver game, the Raiders have looked like a respectable team (albeit 1-3 so far, but have played teams with a combined 10-6 record), and they had an opportunity to win the Buffalo and San Diego games late. I don't expect more than 7 wins, but I think things are starting to click and we will see a team that will make some nice strides the next couple of weeks. The real answer is the Buffalo Bills. I have no doubt that they will be 5-0 after the Arizona game and then they go into their bye week. Their next four games are rough but if they go either 2-2 or 3-1, during that strech then the Bills will rightfully be an AFC Super Bowl contender. 4. AFC- Joe Flacco, NFC- Felix Jones 5. I'll go with the Devin Hester injury. The guy is like 50 percent of the Bear offense.

I don't have a horse in the race this week, so I can actually enjoy watching football! Early Kansas City at Carolina- KC impressed me beating Denver, but the good times end here against a strong Carolina team. Chicago at Detroit- Chicago seems to win in spite of itself, but Detroit sucks so I see the Bears winning here Atlanta at Green Bay- Atlanta can show flashes of being good, but no matter who starts at QB for the Pack, I see them winning at home pretty easily San Diego at Miami- San Diego has been inconsitent this year to me really, and Miami is coming off a bye week. I want to believe Miami cando this but i can't bring myself to pick the Dolphins in this one. San Diego, but it will be a tough one. Seattle at NY Giants- Two teams coming off bye weeks. The Giants have impressed me more so I'm taking them. Washington at Philadelphia- This will be a war. Jason Campell has come of age and Philly took a bad loss in Chicago. Washington rolls on here. Tennessee at Baltimore- The Steelers showed how to beat the Ravens, so I see the Titans putting the hurt on Flacco again. Indianapolis at Houston- Indy hasn't looked good at all, I can see the Houston getting over the hump here. It will be close. Late Tampa Bay at Denver- I think Denver is finally figured out here. Tampa has a good enough D to stop Cutler and Co., and should run all over the Broncos D. Tampa in an upset. Buffalo at Arizona- Buffalo continues the magic, but it will more than likely kill their fans in the process New England at San Francisco- Poor 49ers, they get the Pats after a bye week. At least its at home.Pats win big. Cincinnati at Dallas- If Dallas loses here, I will eat my hat. Dallas in a romp. SNF Pittsburgh at Jacksonville- Is anybody else getting tired of the Steelers shitting it up on National TV. The Jags recover from a slow start to beat the Steelers MNF Minnesota at New Orleans- The Saints should put up a lot of points here, but I think this will be a close game that shouldn't be.

I like watching Wimbledon on NBC and they have been using this theme since I could remember: Wimbledon on NBC

Ughhh, what a crushing loss by the Raiders today. Blowing a 15pt halftime is obviously bad, but when your defense is out on the field for most the half things like that tend to happen, when the offense can't muster a drive for more than three downs. I can't really be too upset, because the Chargers were supposed to win the game anyway, and hey we were COMPETITIVE the whole game. This team has the talent to win some games, but haven't learned to put it all together for the W just yet. After the Denver game, I thought this would be another long season, but these last three games, I have really felt the Raiders are on the rebound for the better. 1-3 is obviousbly poor, but I like the effort and play by the defense. And if JaMarcus to more comfortable in the pocket and improve his accuracy, I think the offense will be much improved by seasons end. Hate to go into the bye week, with a loss, but the Raiders can be proud of their effort put forth in the season so far. As far as Lane Kiffin goes, its been no secret that I think he's not a good head coach (yet) and have been frustrated with him, but I have to respect the fact he comes to work everyday under stressful circumstances and prepares the team to play its heart out. The effort and intensity has been noticed and for that I can give him the credit. If anything, I just wish things were handled differently between Al and Lane, but I can't control that. Hopefully the players stick up for him, because while I HATE his playcalling, the team plays hard for him no matter what. Hey, I think I just complemented Lane Kiffin. If he is going to be fired, just do it now I guess. Anyways, there are things to be improved upon, but I look forward to the Saints in twp weeks. Hopefully the good effort can turn into a W for once.

I'm a lazy ass black guy, living off some well timed settlement checks, tax refunds, and graduation money! Hooray for lawsuits!

1. The Bengals are the worst team in Ohio by far. No defense, malcontent star players, and an embattled head coach is a recipe for disaster. 2. I think Houston is better then they are showing, but I can't see them digging themselves out of an 0-2 hole. I kinda thought they would competitive at this point, but its a long season and we have seen crazier things. 3. The Falcons are the most improved team in the league this year. They won't probably win more than 7 games or so, but they will give some teams problems later down the line. 4. I think this game should be close, but the Raven offense won't be able to put many points on the board against an battle hardened Pittsburgh D. I predict a 10-7 final in favor of the Steelers. 5. No, because the Raiders aren't even expected do anything against the Chargers. Lane Kiffin should just go for broke here, because really he has nothing to lose anyway. And VX, The Packer secondary would worry me if I were a fan, because the secondary is already banged up as it is, plus you have the possibility of losing Al Harris for the season. Yikes.

1:00 Games ATL @ CAR -I like the Panthers to bounce back from the Minnesota game. ATL isn't good enough to win early divisional games yet. CLE @ CIN- Battle of the 0-3 Teams. Both teams can't play defense. I'll chosse Cleveland is this one HOU @ JAC - I like Jacksonville to get back to .500 DEN @ KC - Denver should pour it on here by a lot. SF @ NO- NO has been a dissapointment. SF has surprised me on both side of the ball. I can see them winning here. ARI @ NYJ - The Cardinals aren't as good as I thought, I like the Jets to bounce back here. GB @ TB- Another tossup. I like Green Bay more than I like Tampa. Although I'm weary a bit of the Packer's secondary. MIN @ TEN- I can't decide, but Tennessee has proven to be a player in the AFC this year. This should be close 4:00 Games SD @ OAK - LT has made a career of running over the Raiders, and would love to take Lane Kiffin out of his misery. SD, and its not going to be pretty. BUF @ STL- Buffalo is not losing to the worst team in football. WAS @ DAL- Washington has bounced back nicely from week one, but the Cowboys are the real deal. I like them at home. Night game PHI @ CHI- Philly should have no problem with Chicago here. MNF BAL @ PIT 8:30 PM- Another defensive struggle here. Its going be close, but I can't trust Flacco here just yet.

Week 5 Games to Make Picks For THURSDAY USC at Oregon State FRIDAY Connecticut at Louisville SATURDAY Virginia at Duke North Carolina at Miami Northwestern at Iowa Purdue at Notre Dame Colorado vs. Florida State (in Jacksonville) Fresno State at UCLA TCU at Oklahoma South Florida at N.C. State Alabama at Georgia Illinois at Penn State Virginia Tech at Nebraska Stanford at Washington Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Alabama/Georgia game? 30 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Oklahoma's Sam Bradford have against TCU? 313

More hot Lane Kiffin newz!!!: Per ESPN: Fired? Who me?

I guess we just have to agree to disagree then. I just don't see where he was a good or potentialy good head coach at this point in time. I agree our talent on offense isn't quite there yet, and have no depth at WR, but head coaches worth their salt make due of what they have. I mean you are paying JaMarcus Russell 60 million to dink and dunk, let him freaking play! He's going to make mistakes, but all rookies do that. Protecting him is just retarding his growth. And I disagree with the stability issue. Stability is nice when you have a capable head coach, but Lane Kiffin simply is not. Why keep a bad employee for the sake of stability? There is no on the job training in NFL. You win or you get fired, simple as that. He didn't win with the people he had, what makes everyone think that he would win if he had a say in front office matters? Every other coach in Raider history had to operate within Al Davis' parameters, what makes Lane Kiffin so special? I mean if you were a boss of a company, and was sucessful and had a laundry list of accomplishmesnts, and some guy with no track record of anything, living off his dad name, came in and told you to do it another way? He would be out of line no? What makes you think he's capable based on what we have seen? I don't know what games you guys are watching, but Lane has proven he is over his head coaching in the NFL. Giving him another year wouldn't have made a difference. He didn't get his way in the offseason, he whined to media in an attempt to make ownership look bad, didn't take accoutabilty for his own shortcomings when he did fail and he got canned for it. He didn't want to be here, so I say good riddance. I'd rather have a head coach that wants to be in Oakland, takes accountability, and at least tries to work with Al Davis, even he may think he is off his rocker. About Walker and Hall. Every Raider fan knows that this team has a history of taking discarded vets and giving them a second chance. Hall and Walker are no different. It worked as recently as 2002, so why wouldn't it work now?

Well he was head coach of the Raiders back in the 1960s. Porter, my problem with Lane Kiffin was that, while he did blame Davis and Ryan for the opening week debacle, he did not take ANY accountabilty for the loss. Thats the problem. He never takes responsibilty for anything. It's always something or somebody else with him. Thats where I lost respect for him. I don't any NFL GM or Owner would take kindly to that. It really just comes down this for me is this: he didn't get the job done on the field. Last year, I could give him a pass because he took over a 2-14 team. Fine he went 4-12, with signs of improvement. Not good, but something to build on. This year, there was an expectation that the team would build off last year and compete with Denver. We all knew how that went. It went backwards. The offense (mind you, He was brought in the improve the offense and he was know as an "offensive genius" at USC), while still shaky, has talent to compete. The offense looks as bad as last year, JaMarcus Russell is being handcuffed in an unproductive way (let him make mistakes, thats the only way he will learn), and he looks plain lost while playcalling. The offense, not the defense, is the weak link on this team, but Lane didn't want to take responsibilty for the shortcomings of HIS offense, which he was brought in to improve. My last point is, why would Lane Kiffin have ANY expectation of usurping Al Davis for control of all team matters? Hell, Bill Parcells the quote unquote greatest football mind today, couldn't get a word in with Jerry Jones in Dallas, so why would Lane Kiffin, the co-offensive coordinator at USC, expect to come into the Raiders and get to call the shots in the front office. Only coaches on Bill Belichick's level can even THINK of being that powerful, and its proven time and time again that a team is generally sucessful when the head coaches just coach and the GM/Owner whoever handle matters in the front office (there are exceptions to that rule). The point being, that if Lane Kiffin had made the playoffs last year, or if the team was 3-0 this year, Lane Kiffin's firing would not be justified. But a 5-14 record, fueding with the owner, an offense that has seen no signs of improvement, and no accountability for own his shortcomings,its clear Lane Kiffin just wasn't working out. I for one, thought he was a distraction with his bullshit over the winter, and I am not a shedding a tear over this.

Porter, the fact of the matter is that when you are the head coach of the Raiders, Al Davis is the end all be all no matter what. You just have to learn how to work with the circumstances you are given. John Madden, Tom Flores, Art Shell (the first time) and John Gruden to an extent all worked successfully with Al. I don't feel too bad about this because, Lane Kiffin really dug his own grave in Raider land by calling Al Davis and Rob Ryan out in the media (whatever you think of him now, it doesn't cancel out that Al Davis probably has forgotten more about football than Lane Kiffin knows about) and also thinking that he could come into the NFL with really no head coaching experience anywhere and come in to the Raiders and call the shots. Lane Kiffin hasn't proven himself to be a competent playcaller, let alone call the shots in the organization. Only a select few coaches in NFL even get to call the shots in the front office, so why would Lane Kiffin think he could come in from college, mind you, and usurp Al Davis? Add to the fact, that he wasn't getting it done on the field and openly feuding with everyone . Lane just had to go. Lane's gonna be a good coach one day, once he gets his ego in check. I wish him the best, but he wasn't the right fit for this team. Hopefully James Lofton, can rally these guys together, because we have the talent to win some games this year.

I hear ya 909. I think Lane was a distraction and it didn't help that everyone on his staff HATED him. Any word on the interim head coach? Whoever it is, I just hope it would be somebody that wouldn't be afraid to rattle some cages.

After watching this slate of Sunday games, I have to give VX some props. The NFC has caught up to AFC and may have surpassed them this season. The traditional AFC powers are flawed, and the NFC powers have look dominant at times. Although, the Bills, Broncos and Titans have played good football, there is no way that they are better than the Cowboys, Packers, Giants and Eagles at this point in the season. As a Raider fan I can't be too upset at 1-2 right now, after watching the late games. I'm hoping for a Jet victory on Monday Night.

Bills just beat the Raiders on a last second field goal. Not happy about the loss, but I'm happy the way the Raiders battled I guess.

2002, Bob i believe. Its been that long

JaMarcus Russell just threw an 84 yard touchdown to Johnnie Lee Higgins, after the Bills drove 95 yards to score.

You know, for running up the score on on Miami last season, the Patriots are finding karma a bitch right now.

Oh, and DMC and Michael Bush make a lethal combo. Good running attack today.

I guess the Raiders Defense isn't a fluke. I'm very impressed. Even Deangelo Hall is earning his money today. Still a long way to go for a win, but I think we can do it.

Not anything that angers me, but just a frustration. I have been out of college since last December and thanks to the economic situation in our country, its been a hellish year trying to get my foot in the door career wise. I think I've been turned down for everything so far this year. I'm kinda in a catch 22 of sorts, since I lack experience yet I need a job to experience. I have my substitute teaching credentials and have been trying to get into that, but it doesn't look good. I want to go to law school next year, but I at least want to get some experience before I go back to school. Has anyone else that graduated recently been as frustrated by the job market?

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet: Colorado beat WVU in overtime by a field goal. Can Anybody thats a Big East fan explain to me why WVU always seems to underachieve?