Archives for September 2008

‘Fortunately, fans and media types-whose existence revolves around blowing things out of proportion-are not bound by such strictures. Not when the local team produces the sort of performance that Buffalo did in Jacksonville last Sunday, staging a fourth-quarter rally to beat a perennial playoff team widely expected to contend for a Super Bowl berth this time around.’

‘"I’m not trying to discredit J.P. Losman," Kelso said. "He’s a very talented player, but I know he doesn’t have the leadership skills Trent does. I don’t think [Losman’s leadership skills] are to the capacity of Trent’s.’

‘Bills 30, Raiders 17.’

‘The Bills will win 27-13.’

‘It turns out that having very good but not great athletes like Crowell can actually harm a team, as players like of his sort are often convinced they can do everything when they really should only pursue the one thing they’re assigned. The Bills still need to tackle better than they did in northeast Florida, but they’ll get their chances because the current defenders are unlikely to vacate gaps only to end up chasing rushers who astutely exploit the free space. Why fruitlessly chase when you can get what you want just by waiting?’

‘”As much as it’s a team game, it is 11 individuals playing football out there and I think the Bills saw a good product and they went after it,” Walker said. “Nothing against Oakland and the guys that were on that team, because I think we all played hard game-in and game-out. It just didn’t work in our favor a lot.”‘

‘”Langston has done an excellent job for us,” Bills offensive line coach Sean Kugler said. “He’s huge but he’s got the feet to go with it. So he becomes a difficult chore for D-linemen in pass protection. They have a tough time getting around him and he has the feet to recover.”‘

‘”All I know is what people tell me, or what’s in the paper that front office people have informed them he’s making his decision, all the different things that come across [in the media] each day,” Kiffin said. “As crazy as it sounds, I know as much as you guys know.”‘

‘The Bills will wear their throwback, 1960s era uniforms for the Raiders game. They also will wear them for the Nov. 30 game against San Francisco.’

‘"When we drafted Kyle, you watched him play in college and he just made plays, all the time, every game, no matter who they played," Jauron said. "And then when he came to us we said the same thing. It looks like the same player we saw in college, it doesn’t look like he’s overmatched in the NFL and he was never overmatched in the college game, major college football, and that’s still how he plays."’

‘”Anyways, I don’t let it affect me because I can’t do anything about it. I don’t have the power to make the decision whether I’ll be here, so why worry about it? It is what it is, so we’ll make the best of it and hopefully we can get to 2-1.”‘

‘”I don’t think there’s any way that this could be an overconfident football team. We just haven’t won enough consistently to feel like we’ve arrived anywhere. We worked so hard to get what little success we have right here,” Jauron said. “It has not been easy. I do believe we are getting better, we are taking steps, but I don’t think there’s anybody on our squad that’s overconfident, nor do they have the right to be. We’ll be challenged every single week, and every single week we have to bring everything we have to stay in a game, hopefully get the upper hand and somehow keep it at the end.”‘

‘”I remember when we went 2-0 five years ago, and everybody was talking Super Bowl,” Bills punter Brian Moorman said. “Everyone said, ‘You’re in the playoffs, you’re going to be in the Super Bowl.’ Well, you know what? We ended up 6-10, so this team’s not taking anything for granted.”‘

‘”I feel like it (his time at Stanford) prepared me just to face a lot of pressure packages in the NFL,” Edwards said Wednesday in a conference call with Bay Area reporters. “I’m now able to use that to my advantage and recognize when I need to get the ball out and know where my (secondary) receivers are.”‘

Raiders: Commitment to extraneous events (Oakland Tribune)

Kiffin is counseled by Carroll (Oakland Tribune)

Stanford prepared Buffalo’s Edwards (San Francisco Chronicle)

Raiders’ runners need a bounce (San Francisco Chronicle)

Will Raiders, Davis learn from their mistakes? (San Jose Mercury News)

After DUI, lineman Kelly accepts responsibility (Sacramento Bee)

Davis determined to undermine his own coach (Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

Raiders’ Kelly takes responsibility for arrest (AP)

Meet the new Raider boss, same as the old boss (AP)

Inside slant (The Sports Xchange)

Strategy and personnel (The Sports Xchange)

Notes, quotes (The Sports Xchange)

NFL Day at the Movies (Raiders.com)

Brown Speaks with 5th Graders (Raiders.com)

Raiders Team Up with AEF (Raiders.com)