Raiders look to be mastering Art of football
The Shadow
Column by Art Spander
OAKLAND — Tom Flores, who has been there and done that, twice in fact,
coaching the Raiders to Super Bowl wins a long, long time ago, put the
whole business into perspective for those of us unsure whether to get
giddy or skeptical about current events.
The Raiders, having whipped the day-tripper Detroit Lions 21-3 on Friday
night, are now 4-0 in what the NFL chooses to call the preseason. While
presumably it's better than 0-4, the question is, How much better?
Back in 1973, the days of six-game exhibition schedules, the New York
Football Giants were a perfect 6-0. They then proceeded to lose seven of
their first nine games in the real season, and 11 of 14 overall, proving
the preseason was nothing but a big con job.
So while the Raiders were scoring touchdowns on long passes — hey, this
Randy Moss is pretty good if somebody throws him the ball — and playing
great defense, you wondered if it actually meant anything.
When radio play-by-play guy Greg Papa tossed the conundrum to Flores,
the analyst, Tom offered a bit of analysis.
"They're playing well," Flores said about the Raiders, "they've got
tremendous team speed, and their spirit is up. I know it's only the
preseason, and the games don't count. But they do count when you've had
poor seasons. Your credibility is at stake."
Moss, we've been advised, was incredible, and sometimes incorrigible,
when he was with the Minnesota Vikings. For whatever reason — can you
say Kerry Collins? — Randy's brilliance was rarely in evidence
throughout the regular season of'05 or the preseason of'06.
But against a Lions team that got up Friday morning in Detroit and
played something resembling football on Friday evening in Oakland, Moss
and new Raiders QB Aaron Books looked like a new version of
Stabler-Branch or Montana-Rice. Take your pick.
Randy entered the game with only two receptions for a total of 30 yards.
But the third play from scrimmage he caught one for 63 yards and a
touchdown from Brooks, and then early in the second quarter, leaping and
spinning, Moss grabbed a 25-yarder in the end zone for another TD.
At the end of the half, and the end of his work, Moss had three catches
for 102 yards and the two scores. Maybe this kid has a future. Maybe the
Raiders have a future.
"As I said before," Raiders coach Art Shell insisted, "Randy will get
his shots, get his opportunities, and tonight those opportunities were
there. When there was single coverage, Randy got open.
"Aaron did a good job of searching him out and finding him."
Brooks was 9-for-15 for 187 yards. There were a couple wild throws, but
all in all, he was on target, especially when the target was Moss.
"I thought our team took another step in the process of getting ready
for the season," Shell explained.
For what it's worth, the Raiders in their history never have had an
unbeaten preseason, and since they play at Seattle on Thursday, the
probability is they won't have one this time either. Still, as Shell
pointed out, it's where they're going that's important.
"We came out (on the field) with a lot of energy," said Shell, whose
selection by Al Davis as the man to revitalize the franchise for which
he once played and once coached looks more brilliant by the minute.
Art is a no-nonsense individual, and thus far his team has played
no-nonsense football, very few penalties but a great deal of aggressiveness.
"We played hard with a lot of intensity," Shell said, "and smart for
most of the game."
That means not jumping offside, not shoving people when they're already
out of bounds, not taking cheap shots, seemingly a Raider tradition. And
a tradition apparently about to end.
Art wants them tough. Art doesn't want them careless or unthinking.
"The only way to play this game is to be a physical team," Shell
reminded. "If you're physical you have a chance to make a lot of things
happen."
What they made happen Monday night was to have a too-small crowd of
43,889 at McAfee Coliseum start to believe maybe the bad days are in the
past, although, yes, as stated, these are only glorified exhibitions.
"We're going in the right direction," Shell conceded, "but we're still a
work in progress."
The thing is they're making progress. Aren't they?