Week 2 Raiders @ Chiefs

speedkills21
Member Join Date: Feb 2008
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Notes vs KC

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1. Herm Edwards starts with 3 WR's. Two plays later he yanks QB and puts in Hagins, I think, a WR. Splits HB wide, bombs to him vs Ho, at CB---unbelievably, impossibly good coverage for a LB, 30 yards deep. Edwards splits Gonzo, runs him vs Nam---TE's flagged for pushing off. KC's emulating Shanahan---trying to formation us into our usual idiocy. Didn't work.

2. We are looking at the greatest cover LB's in Raider history. Martin and Hendricks are not physically capable. Who in the NFL today can cover like Ho up the sideline? Lots of CB's can't. Both Mo and Ho, absolutely, they're flying around the field like all pro's, Pro Bowl starters, in fact. How many underneath passes did you see in KC where the under-cover guy jumps it so quick, literally, they're a blur on TV---you can't make out who it is? How many? It's Mo and Ho. They actually appear on replays.

3. Wind conditions such as we faced in KC---Radio Papa's all over it, good for him. I didn't listen to Gannon---did he go a whole game without mentioning, let alone dwelling on those conditions? Remember the OT win in SF in 01? Wind like that absolutely has as big an impact as playing in CL in the 80 playoffs. Different, tho.

4. Colquitt hit into a wind wall an 18 yarder to start the game. Set up Jano's record breaker. Lechler later managed a 27 yarder.

5. You just witnessed arguably the greatest game ever by a Raider K'er. In those conditions---perfection. 5 for 6 TB's, the 6th brought out by obviously bored KOR only to the 15. Five KO's were "with" the wind, but Arrowhead's a bowl, as Papa excellently explained repeatedly. Changes everything. There is no "with" wind. Maybe harder on WR's than QB's (I know)---think about it.

6. Longest FG in Raider history, almost a yawn. Except for the conditions! This strange young man has every opportunity to revolutionize the position. Stenerud forced em to move the goalposts, hello. Absolutely demands Canton, naked without him. When Stram crossed the 50, he scored---that's completely different. Football in the 50's, 30's, etc. Stenerud in 1950 would be a Championship every year, whoever had him. When Jano finds consistency---he's 100% so far, not FG's for FG's, TB's for TB's, but straight down the middle, every PAT even. When he learns consistency, Jano's almost by definition greatest all time.

7. Our K'er is greatly outperforming our P'er who always gets a pass. Certainly not the first time. Jano's 21 of 24 lifetime in KC.

8. Player of the Game: Burg and Warren. Considered: Jano, McFad, Gallery, Ho, Hall (for 50:00).

9. Burg---LIGHTNING speed. Damn. Where'd THAT come from? Where you hiding, #56? That's not "vs KC." That's speed. You saw. Yes. He was that quick. KC's operning drive, 4 straight hit/hurries of passer. Burg stopped that first drive. NINE! contacts QB's. Plus, outstanding, close to perfect run D. All day we gave up 2 contains. That's amazing. Once, Richardson got sucked inside on a play where Burg hurried QB from the other side (where's 98?), Thigpen's scramble L sideline for +15. Later, stack LB RB gave up outside, QB drifted peacefully there, then bombed down the middle to ? CB Hall, #23, man-on-man, blind to ball, has great physical coverage, tho---and WR's blind, as well, gets late look. Hall played it great, DID get his head around, receiver had no chance vs #23's positioning. Hall's physical. Lapses is gonna be his issue. Had he lapsed there---TD. Burg dominated H1, tailed off a bit in H2. But, still stout, 100%, at his #1 job---run gap, outside contain. You saw it. Twice in Q4, desperate bootlets ran his way---he's scary.

10. Warren. You saw. I haven't verified, and I don't want to, but if he wasn't out there every play, it was close. I saw Kelly come out, Sands. But not #61. Run-gap all day. SIX! QB hits. Two blatant, egregious holds inside our 10. Two plays before Gonzo's TD. And the TD itself, which could only be missed on purpose. Get this---Warren's last 2 plays: 3-man rush, he breaks thru, chases QB who's already rolled L, hurries pass direct to Routt. Last play of the game, 3-man rush, vs 2, he spies roll R, pursues, closes near sideline, forces strange throw back across middle intended, looks like, for Mo.

11. 7 dropped int's---3 by Nam, also Routt, Huff, Hall and Ho. There's a whole lot more good than bad in that.

12. Nam blitzed on the second play, a run by LJ the other way for +7.

13. 3rd and 1 to start the day---LJ barely makes it. Mo's so much more aggressive in short yardage than he is in, say, 1st and 10. He needs to transfer that immediacy and violence to any play where he reads run.

14. Hall has been extremely solid vs run, even vs DN. Cornered LJ's 4th carry, +3.

15. KC is staying away from Hall. He's bombing L vs Ho. Attacking Nam with Gonzo, twice. Later we'll see why---a 3rd down slant on the R, robbed with blink-blur quickness by Huff, off to 40 yards of paydirt, dropped.

16. Huff's a big boy. On the play before Gonzo's TD, Huff went 1-on-1 vs TE on the 2, held him out 2 seconds til help arrived, not needed, cuz by then #24 was pushing TE back.

17. Hall was attacked, I'm not sure, 2 or 3 times. He was shut-down on his side. Got lots of help. Til Bowe beat Hall's great positioning but falling-away ballplay---took a great double clutch catch to do it---for +30. Two plays later, Hall's beat bad by Bowe on a slant, +15, to the 29. He's gotta get over that. Needs to win in the long run, big picture. Which he totally did in KC.

18. Hall's report card vs KC: B+. Vs DN: F-. On the season: F.

19. Platoon Report Cards, after 2. QB: C. RB: A. OL: A-. WR: D (Curry! The kids are blocking, tho). DL: F-/A+. LB: A. DB: F/A+. P team: A. KO team: A+. PR: C. KOR: C+.

20. QB's first road start. He was off. Wind, maybe, even in his head. Didn't do much to lose it.

21. Kif opens in shotgun, split backs, Fargas and McFad. 3 WR's---Lelie, Walker and Curry. Two can play let's-freak-out-D. Screened to #20 for +9.

22. Kif managed his eight 4th downs totally pro. Opted for 56 yarder "with" the wind. Later P'd rather than try from 50 the other way. Ended H1, :02 on the clock, with a McFad run for a 1st down on our 30. Up 13-0, 4th and 2 on KC's 21, I feared the go-for-it kid would, instead of getting us the 3, for strategic 16-0.

23. P and KO Cover again tops. The most volatile platoon, tho, on any team. 4 P's: 42 yards, TB. 65, with a 0 return, tackled by Scott, Condo and Stew. 27 yards, 9 returned, Scott and Lawton. 36 yards, 3 returned, Scott, Ek and Wms. One KO returned, 22 yards to the 15---Ek and Stew blew up the wedge, both awesome, Eugene beats wing in front, Alston tackles. ST's is always the future of your team, sorta.

24. Henderson's first game since college. First active pro, I think. Faced DE Hali, #91, about 60%, beat him pretty solidly. 25% of his downs, #75 saw rookie #72, Dorsey, lost more than won. A good game by LT. QB was rarely touched, only once in all H2.

25. Gallery followed his best game ever last week with this significantly better. That's an all pro LG if he can keep it up. Our guys were blocking so well, you saw how easy it was for #20. Gallery faced Dorsey about half the time, dominated him.

26. 4th play of the game, McFad's lined wide. Again, messing with DC.

27. Our only FS wrecked our first drive, which started on our 41 after Colquitt's shank. More QB's fault, audibilizing in noise, than C's. Last week, Russell's confused ad lib cost us a delay. Grove's penalty in KC made 3rd and 14, which Miller almost overcame with a screen for +10. Russell put the nose of the ball down, really telegraphed that pass in there, like a handoff---nice touch.

28. Sands started for Kelly on KC's 2nd possession. Stuffed LJ for +0. Next time I saw #90 he did it again. At his best, he's immovable. He's not a mover, however, never will be. He must be thought of and used only when lack of movement is an assett. Rarely ends up more than 5 yards from where he started.

29. Tremendous improvement in blitz technique. You saw an explosion, an immediacy reserved til now only for Chiefs and Chargers and other killers of our QB's. The premium is NOW! Surprise doesn't matter. The purpose is to overwhelm NOW! with numbers.

30. Burg, of course (by now, it's "of course"), forced Branch's int, inside RT untouched, on QB at 2 secs. Pass tipped by Routt.

31. Russell's late! Lelie! R corner! Great call. 1st and goal on the 8, fake L, roll R, all free. Throw the ball, kid! Damn.

32. Radio Papa: we were 60% in red zone last year, 5th in football.

33. On 3rd down on the 6, JLH ran an out and up from slot R. CB #24 Flowers, blind to QB and ball, hits Higs on the turn up, past 5 yards, ball in the air. PI. Certainly called vs S&B CB.

34. Usually conservative KC is wild with formations---trend jumpers.

35. JLH---excellent game. In that wind. 6 PR's, 5 solid, one bonehead freelance backwards. Vs DN, 3 KO's he decides to go R, everyone else L. Reached the 33 or so, once, twice got stopped inside the 20. Vs KC, he let a 72 yarder get over his head in the gust, still covered it. But his 50 yard KOR after Gonzo's TOTAL GIFT 6 points made Bush's fumble occur on their 30 instead of ours.

36. Fargas runs right!

37. Surtain was hurt on an incomplete to Lelie in Q2. KC was left with rookie CB's. Babes vs babes. KC's the youngest team in the pro's.

38. Schilens cracked Hali twice, one BOOM each time did in DE. Very impressive. He must be strong. Walker was out front on McFad's 1st big run from our 5. Lelie walled at +8 on a different +24, which woulda only been +5 or so---that key a block. On the +50, Miller split with #20 in the backfield, shotgun, a draw on 3rd and 11. Miller led, twisted out LB in front at +7. The next key block after Miller, totally crucial to play's success, was Curry, from wide L, with timing, positioning, violence, cracking #44 out, gorgeous, at +10, as McFad scoots on. From slot R, not credited til now, not seen til tonite (how'd I miss that, I watched the play at least a dozen times?)---JLH, slot R, fires out on #55 at +5, hits, maintains 2 secs, right in the lane, a tiny hold, L hand, gets #55 out!

39. Lofton really has these kids blocking. Tho JLH it was who got blown up by Hali on McFad's +0 on 3rd and 2, before Jano's last FG made 16-0. Grove too got beat bad on the play, driven back 5+ yards. Don't know why JLH was at TE, just L of #75.

40. Kif opens H2 with 3 straight incompletions, all outside hash. Curry's open on the first, L sideline, but QB's off. Next, Curry can't get free. Then, Lelie and QB get confused on the R side.

41. Kif stayed away from KC's middle. Miller vs Raider-killer SS Paige.

42. 95 yard drive, 7 runs. McFad +21, +1, -2, +50. Then, Bush +2, +4. Then, #20's TD, 19 yards.

43. The rook carried the ball in his R hand on the TD, good. Always tote in outside hand, for obvious reasons. The athletic HB switched hands inside the 5 so he could reach the ball across. Still, I smell fumbles. Pungently. Hold the ball, kid. There's only one. If ALL of US are gonna give it you... Concentrate more on pure possession, think less about jukes, 6 moves ahead. One ahead'll do, you'll still beat the next guy.

44. DE's performed nothing short of brilliantly. Can't recall a game with such consistency, discipline. All of em.

45. Those dropped int's will come. If---IF---that kinda coverage maintains. Coaches trip too much over dropped picks. Most int's are bad passes. Coverage is premium.

46. Fargas ran into Miller 10 yards downfield, dominating LB.

47. Ironic, Fargas' groin. You'd think it'd be a rib. Or his skull.

48. Griffith, hands down, over 2 games, our least effective blocker. Again, more good than bad.

49. Miller's not blocking as well as last year. Faced Hali about a dozen battles. Went about 40-60. Second game with far fewer max protects, for Miller about a half dozen.

50. #95 Edwards got rolled by Henderson, grabbed and spun Gallery to prevent #76 from getting to LB. Refs flagged #95. I see this a lot, our ZBS OL's getting hindered while running. Not much of a hold, this one.

51. McFad's power.

52. Bush resembles Dixon a little. Big, not real quick. Athletic, graceful, deceptive.

53. Fargas was I Formation FB for McFad once. Led over LG, hit LB at scrimmage---CRACK---audible on TV. But moved no one, his guy made the tackle. Next play, McFad fumbled on KC's 27.

54. 7 dropped int's. And 2 fumbles forced but lost. Ho ripped LJ for one. The other was one of our 5 sacks, Burg?

55. Late Q2, up 6-0, P'ing from our 13---65 yards, 0 return. Big play. Scott, Condo, Shaw.

56. Nam's 2nd drop, or 3rd. Smells smoke-screen, jumps it, ball thrown right to him, easy TD. Huff's drop too woulda scored.

57. Our D was more likely to score than their O.

58. Mo mistimed a blitz, jumped OS---sign of improvement.

59. PI vs Nam on the 7, before Gonzo's gift TD---bogus. No TV replay. I have the tape.

61. Warren held on 1st and 7 on the 7, two plays before "TD." Bear hugged for 1.5 secs by C. Blatant.

62. Henderson can keep a snap count but Sims can't?

63. McFad's TD---play call more than blocks. 3rd and 4 on the 19----pitch wide vs pass rush (Bill Walsh). Green out front, not needed, 360's, searching. Grif changes mind vs LB---no problem.

64. We're flagged for a horsecollar, ironic after what we've seen this month.

65. Burg forces a FS.

66. McFad goes +20, +50, +20, +25. When Russell fakes L, throws R to Grif---almost guaranteed.

67. Kinda like blitzing. Lots easier after you've stopped em. Remember, a failed blitz is USUALLY suicide. By all means, blitz. But don't be dumb about it.

68. KC's not won since we beat em last year.

69. No way KC scores without striped assistance.

70. DE Edwards hit QB 6 times! Wasn't even on the field that much. Clemons never did that. In Q3, KC was backed up, 3rd and long. 3-man rush, Edwards still hit QB in the endzone.

71. When Russell threw a Q4 fade to Curry, I knew before I saw that he was gonna get mugged. CB's have been invited. Ref had to throw that flag. Which can't possibly be true after what happened to Warren on Gonzo's gift---they don't gotta call nothin.

72. Depth?! Henderson, RB's, DE's, ST's.

73. Scott played very little D. Stood out repeatedly on ST's. Wakefield, no D that I saw. Just the 3 DT's.

74. Heroic.

75. For an hour.

76. Despite KC's only TD. Despite Ryan's calling a TO before the 2 point try. Despite network not going to commercial. No TV replay of Gonzo's phony TD.

77. Burg is not on the field in goal line. Gonzo's TD was, L to R, Kelly, Sands, Warren, Richardson. 2-point play was the same.

78. Burg sees a few, 2 or 3, downs at RDE, vs DN and KC each.

79. 4:00 O, after KC's TD, 16-8. Six straight runs, all Bush, all R: +11 (fumble), +7, +3, +10, +2, +4. The 7th play went L, 3rd and 4 on the 32---Bush's TD.

80. One completion to WR, Lelie +11 on 3rd and 10. Preceded a Q2 P.

81. Fargas picked up Hali on a stunt in Q1, looping around RG---textbook.

82. On Bowe's juggling +30 over Hall, Wilson blitzed from D's R, excellent, creamed QB upon release. Ho too came from the same side, feeble---like, if I can't get there, maybe I should drop, or something.

83. 2-point play---Wms on the edge gets chipped by FB who catches the PAT. Just a bit of a chip, but #54 crumples. QB rolls free like there's no Wms, cuz there isn't. Mo charges like a maniac from 10 yards away---airborne, fully extended, just timed---must be 10 feet.

84. That replay they show.

85. Mo's int: 3-man rush, Edwards hurry.

86. This game shows how ALIVE is competition. How guys can get better, while LT gets worse. How playing together and just plain wanting it one day makes a completely different team from another. THIS has been our weakness all our down times. How much we want we CAN compete for.

87. So, here's our POTENTIAL, demonstrated. So, we know. At least OL's, LB's, DB's, ST's Cover, RB's---we know. This is how good we CAN be, yes, it is POSSIBLE. Nothing is inevitable here.

88. I'm not convinced, none of us are, the smart ones of them aren't convinced this TEAM wants anything more than an hour's worth. We'll see.

89. But it was fun. Which might be the point. Glory's fun. Pays the same. But it's what we WANTED from the start, even when we were kids, remember? To be on Sabols forever.

Professor Eyepatch