A Bitter Pill for Oakland to Swallow

 “This was a tough loss to take.”--Coach Lane Kiffin

By Barbara Mason 10/22/07

Raiderdrive.com/Bay Area Sports

The Oakland Raiders had all the weapons to win Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.  Why did they lose?  The defense stepped up when it had to, which was pretty much the entire game.  With two minutes left in the fourth quarter, and Kansas City facing a third and nine, it was Chris Clemons who came up with a huge sack.  With 1:46 left on the clock, it was up to the offense to drive downfield and let Janikowski kick the winning field goal.  Culpepper completed three passes--one to Zach Miller for seven yards, the

next to Ronald Curry for eight, and a third to Curry for three.  It was the fourth play of that series that spelled disaster, as a Culpepper pass meant for Curry ended up in the grasp of the Chiefs Jarrad Page.  This game against the division rival Chiefs came to an end, with Oakland once again coming up on the short end of the stick 12-10.

“This was a tough loss to take,” said Coach Lane Kiffin after the game.  “We played really well on defense for the majority of the game.  We put ourselves in the position to win on offense.  We started extremely slow on offense, but our defense kept hanging around and punting was great today.”  He was critical of the running game and unhappy with the 24 rushes that translated into a mere 55 yards.  “You’re not going to win very many games; but even with that, the defense kept us in it.  They gave us a shot.  We had the ball at the end; and we had a chance to win, and we didn’t finish it.”  He continues to have faith in his team and will continue to call go for it on those fourth and one plays.  “We’ve done very well in this situation so far this year, and I’d do the same thing again.  I believe in our players.”  One bit of good news for Kiffin is the fact that there were no injuries and everyone finished this game.

Wide receiver Ronald Curry was among seven Raiders who caught passes in this game, finishing with 45 yards on 4 catches, including one touchdown.  “It was good to get one after a couple of drops.  It was a boost of confidence.  I think at times we ran the ball like we wanted to, and we passed the ball like we wanted to.  We just didn’t do it on a consistent basis.  Hopefully, everybody can tune in, and we can be a more consistent offense.”  The drops that he had during this game were a source of frustration for him.  “Everybody knows there is one thing I take great pride in: catching the ball.  And I usually never ever have a problem holding onto the ball.  For some reason I did today, and I don’t know why,” Curry said.

It was the Culpepper interception at the end of the game that many will view as the losing play.  The reality is that the mistakes of the offense had begun to mount up throughout the game, and this loss cannot be pinned on , but we’ve just got to finish,” said the Raiders QB.. 

“I wish I could have it back,” said the veteran Culpepper of the intercepted pass, “but I can’t.”  Culpepper, along with his teammates believed that they could have won this game, and it’s obvious that they had the weapons to do exactly that.  “Even when we were down 6-0, we still felt like we can go out and win the game.  My thinking is that I’m always going to lead by example.  No matter what the score is, I’m going to treat it like it is 0-0.  We are going to have that attitude whenever we go out and play football.”

The team’s unofficial cheerleader, the always-optimistic Jarrod Cooper, likes the attitude of this year’s team.  “I can’t complain,” he said after the game.  “The attitude of the team, when everything got down, was that people weren’t complaining on the sidelines.  Everybody was together trying to win; and even up to the last second, everybody was together.  I haven’t seen that here in at least a year, so that to me puts a smile on my face.  We’ve got ten games to go, and that attitude is going to win football games.  It’s day and night from last year.”

“We knew it would be a close game,” said safety Stuart Schweigert.  “We knew that it would come down to the last play.  That’s how this series has been in the last three years.  Unfortunately, we’ve been on the losing side of that, and that’s something that we’ve got to get over.  You just hope that one of these times it’s going to go in our favor, and it didn’t happen today.” 

Once again, it is the defense that is stepping up, and the offense that is coming up short, very short.  The difference from this year’s offense versus last year’s is this year’s offense will get it going.  They have all the weapons needed.  The running game and the passing game are all solid.  They have experience and leadership at the position of quarterback, and it will all come together.  As Jarrod Cooper stated, there are still ten games left on the schedule and still plenty of time to turn this thing around.  And if Coop has anything to say about it, this year’s attitude--coupled with the abounding talent on this team--might make for a pretty safe bet.