Raiders Blog and Q&A

I'm enjoying Southern California, but here's who will and might be watching tomorrow's game in San Diego.

Out
LB Ricky Brown (groin)
C Jake Grove (calf)

Questionable
WR Ashley Lelie (headache)
WR Ronald Curry (ankle)

Probable
LB Jon Alston (ankle)
S Rashad Baker (elbow)e
G Cooper Carlisle (ankle)
DE Kalimba Edwards (hip)
T Cornell Green (knee)
TE Zach Miller (groin0
WR Chaz Schilens (ankle)

Curry was limited in today's practice and said on Tuesday he would play tomorrow. If Lelie is still bothered by headaches, Johnnie Lee Higgins and Todd Watkins figure to play more on offense.

--Jason Jones

ALAMEDA - What should a quarterback say to his receiver should he sail a ball over his head and he takes a hard hit from a defender.

Raiders wide receiver coach James Lofton had a suggestion.

"Suck it up," Lofton yelled as he overheard JaMarcus Russell being asked a question along those lines.

After Sunday's loss to Kansas City, Raiders tight end Zach Miller said Chiefs All-Pro tight end Tony Gonzalez advised him to tell Russell not to throw passes that set him up to take big hits.

He said he never intends for his teammates to take some of the hits they took against the Chiefs.

"That's football," Russell said when asked about receivers getting hit. "You're going to get hit anyway so you might as well hold on to it."

Russell does admire that he has receivers willing to take big hits for a catch.

Russell said he's willing to do the same for them.

"I'm not going to sit up there and not get hit," he said. "I stand there and take a shot in the mouth and throw the football. I make sacrifices for my teammates just the way those guys do for us."

--Jason Jones

ALAMEDA - I have to run to take care of some business, so there will be more posted later.

But here's the injury update.

C Jake Grove (calf) and LB Ricky Brown (groin) did not practice and won't play this week.

WRs Ronald Curry (ankle) and Ashley Lelie (headache) did not practice but are expected to play.

DE Kalimba Edwards (hip) and WR Chaz Schilens (ankle) were limited in practice.
--Jason Jones

ALAMEDA - It's always refreshing when an athlete is honest.

All too often football players on losing teams try to convince everyone just how good a team they really are when the facts are the team is losing, and it's not because good teams lose more than they win.

Here's what San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates had to say about the team's disappointing season on today's conference call with local writers.

The Chargers' season began with hopes of a Super Bowl run. But the Chargers are 4-8.

Then there was a last-second loss to Carolina and the team was jobbed on a bad call in Denver to fall to 0-2.

Gates, however, isn't making excuses.

"Well you can make the case for things not going our way but I'm a firm believer that you are what you are. We are a 4-8 team. That's the facts. Facts are facts in this league. You can't judge off of nothing else. There are situations that have occur that where plays are made in the last seconds of games that we felt we should have won. We had some unfortunate calls in the last second of games that we felt we should have won. But it is what it is. We have to find a way to get it turned around and that's what championship teams do. They deal with adversity. They accept constructive criticism when things aren't going their way and they just find a way to turn things around."

That kind of accountability from one of the team's best players is a reason the Chargers could rebound next season.

*Besides hearing some of the new Kanye West being played at practice, nothing much to report.

No sign of LB Ricky Brown (groin) or C Jake Grove (calf).

The full injury report will come from Tom Cable later in the afternoon.

--Jason Jones

ALAMEDA - Before getting to Tom Cable saying it's OK to "chew" on his butt, let's touch on one Lane "Lance" Kiffin's introduction as the new head coach at the University of Tennessee.

But first, a few words from Cable on his old boss landing one of the most coveted college jobs.

"Well, I'm happy for him and his family, he can move forward now," Cable said. "That's what he should do and move to the next step in his career."

Not so fast.

Before Kiffin moves forward (and waits for his grievance to get his money from Al Davis), he had to say something when asked about his time with the Raiders.

"To deal with a completely dysfunctional franchise when you get there --t hat wasn't a joke -- that's really valuable," Kiffin said. "You can't go to school and learn crissis management like going there."

Here's a little more Kiffin for you:

"It was a great experience, as far as being able to go through all the daily interactions that you have with players in the NFL and with what happens in that building. To be able to deal with that, in that environment, it makes everything else you do easy, from my opinion."

Nice to know the dysfunction in "that building" in Alameda makes going to the Southeastern Conference "easy."

So I guess that means he'll have no problem beating Florida next season.

*By the way, Kiffin didn't confirm that his father, Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, would join him with the Volunteers.

If he does, Monte's last game in Tampa Bay would be against Raiders.

You think he'd like to go out with a bang by beating up the team that fired his son?

But back to Raiders-related matters...

*Cable said the fake field goal in yesterday's game would have worked because of the "width" of the Kansas City defender set the Chiefs up to be bewildered long enough for Sebastian Janikowski to run about 20 yards total for a first down.

Yes, Janikowski could have juked Maurice Leggett, who read the play perfectly or that Shane Lechler's unusual stance tipped everyone off that something was up.

"Just hurried a little bit at kicker, that's all," said Cable of what went wrong on the play. "I think the pitch was fine in terms of where he was supposed to be, and all that. Just hurried it up a little bit too much."

Cable said the play worked every time in practice. Then again, the Raiders said they had their best practices of the season leading up to the 24-0 beating they took from the Atlanta Falcons.

"It worked every time, and that's the shame of it all," Cable said. "But it's like I mentioned a few weeks ago, if you take a chance like that and it works, everybody thinks you're a genius. When it doesn't everyone wants to chew on your butt. So chew."

There you have it, Raider Nation. Get in line if you want to take a bite.

*One of the questions many have is what was Davis' reaction to seeing his prized punter and kicker involved in a fake field goal.

Cable said he spoke with Davis this morning, but didn't divulge any details except to say they talk about "a lot of things."

"One thing he and I share is a tremendous passion for winning," Cable said. "Losing is about the worst thing in our lives. That's what it
is."

*The talk of the AFC West being up for grabs still comes up for some reason.

I guess the Raiders aren't mathematically eliminated. They need one more loss or Denver win to be guaranteed another season out of the playoffs.

This clearly a case where logic should take precedence over math, but it can't yet.

"As I mentioned last couple weeks, we're really not out of it," Cable said. "You keep having something to play for. Everyone has had their issues. All four teams have had their issues in different ways, some of it injuries, some of it just poor play. So we're kind of all in this thing together and it's just really whoever will sort it out best at the end."

*No new injuries. Linebacker Ricky Brown (groin) could return Thursday and would get his starting job back because Cable said players don't lose their jobs to injuries.

--Jason Jones

OAKLAND - Raiders interim head coach Tom Cable said he wants creativity in the offense.

But the offensive set that has the most potential to be creative has been pretty bland.

The Miami Dolphins call it the Wildcat. The Raiders call it Stallion.

With any name, it's about putting your running back at quarterback and allowing him to make plays.

The Raiders have Darren McFadden, who ran the set at Arkansas, but their Stallion is just a boring little pony.

There's no motioning someone like Ronald Curry or Michael Bush - two players that have played quarterback in the past - into the backfield to take the ball for run/pass options.

McFadden hasn't faked a run and tried to pass to Zach Miller.

How about a double pass since JaMarcus Russell is lined up as a receiver?

Nope, just a basic, boring running play with no impact on the game.

"It's something we haven't put in there yet,' McFadden said. "We haven't gotten to doing the motion and moving around. Right now we're just going to stand pat and play smash mouth football."

The Raiders were in the Stallion four times and gained a total of five yards with a long run of four yards by Justin Fargas.

Twice McFadden gave the ball to Fargas. The other two times, he McFadden ran into the middle of the line

"It's just one of those things where if a defense plays it right it's not going to be there," McFadden said.

And the Raiders are making it easy on defenses to play the formation with the lack of creativity out of the formation - minus last week when Curry tried to pass out of it after taking the snap.

But this formation is supposed to be about McFadden.

And when he's been at quarterback, there's been nothing of note outside one nice run against the Broncos for 11 yards, not the big plays the Raider offense needs.

After all the buildup of all the Raiders could do out of the formation, there's really nothing to be excited about yet.

The Raiders have nothing to lose in their final four games. It's time to show everyone reason to be excited for 2009 and get really wild on offense.

*Upon further review it looks as if the botched fake field goal could have also been a pass to tight end Tony Stewart.

When you look at the replay Stewart would have been wide open or been the lead blocker on the run.

It was still a bad call.

Maurice Leggett would have hit Sebastian Janikowski likely forced a fumble if Janikowski held on to the ball to attempt a pass.

--Jason Jones

OAKLAND - No, you weren't that intoxicated.

You really did see this.

And you thought that 76-yard field goal attempt was wacky...

Interim head coach Tom Cable was going to ask Sebastian Janikowski to take the football and run for a first down.

To no one's shock, the play didn't work and it proved to be a pivotal point in what ended up being a 20-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Cable explained the decision by saying the Raiders had practiced the play for two years and that the Chiefs were lined up in a way that the play was designed to work against.

But did anyone really think the play would work.

Most players said the right thing on the record.

They had chances to make plays later in the game.

It was still only a 10-3 game after Maurice Leggett ran the football back 67 yards for a touchdown after the botched pitch from between Shane Lechler's legs to Janikowski.

The off the record reaction was more like "What in the world was that?"

When you have an offense like the Raiders' offense, you can't afford to give away points. And that's what the Raiders did.

Instead of going ahead, 6-3, they trailed and never led again.

Teams try a variety of trick play in practice. Some are just for fun.

But who would have guessed Cable would ask Janikowski to run about 20 yards total for a first down.

"I didn't even see it," said cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. "I just saw the guy running down the other way. We do that in practice all the time, but I never knew that it was a real thing that we were going to attempt. When they told me that's what happened, that it wasn't a blocked field goal, I was a little surprised. But Cable owned up to that. He said that that one was on him."

Cable didn't regret calling the fake.

"We just didn't execute," Cable said. "That was my decision. And obviously it was not a good one."

Couldn't have said it any better.

Because for all of JaMarcus Russell's inaccuracy in the second half (3 of 13), the Justin Fargas fumble or even the 91-yard drive by the Chiefs in which the Raiders couldn't stop them on third down, this game was lost on one play.

When Leggett ran it in for a score.

There was no recovering from that.

Or as Russell said: "Looking back at that game, I wish we would have taken the points today."

--Jason Jones

OAKLAND - Traffic held me up today, so this posting is extremely late.

Here are today's inactives:

3rd QB Marques Tuiasosopo
CB Michael Waddell
CB Darrick Brown
LB Ricky Brown
C Jake Grove
G Dylan Gandy
T James Marten
DE Gresyon Gunheim

Chiefs
CB Patrick Surtain
CB Ricardo Colclough
TE Michael Merritt
LB Pat Thomas
LB Donnie Edwards
T Andrew Carnahan
G Adrian Jones
WR Jeff Webb

--Jason Jones

Defensive end Kalimba Edwards is questionable for Sunday's game against Kansas City with a hip injury.

Edwards was injured at the end of Thursday's practice.

If Edwards can't play, at least Derrick Burgess is healthy.

But the injury would alter any plans of a rotation to keep Burgess fresh.

It would also mean Jay Richardson would stay in the starting lineup with Trevor Scott filling in on passing downs for Richardson.

Another option would be give rookie Greyson Gunheim some reps.

Linebacker Ricky Brown (groin) and center Jake Grove (calf) are out for this Sunday.

Look for Jon Alston to replace Brown in the starting lineup and John Wade to start his third straight game at center.

Brown will miss his fifth straight game.

Brown dressed for practice today, but will begin working toward getting on the field again Sunday before the game, when a lot of injured players work out.

Wide receiver Chaz Schilens (Achilles' tendonitis/ankle) and tight Zach Miller (groin) are questionable.

Schilens trying to play with the injury has only made his ankle worse. Miller was hurt in the Raiders' win at Denver.

*Congratulations to Lane Kiffin, who appears to have landed the head-coaching job at the University of Tennessee.

His gamble of taking the Raiders job paid off.

Kiffin interviewed for the job at the University of Minnesota before being hired by the Raiders, so college is a place Kiffin definitely saw himself working.

And after not getting the Arkansas job last year, he actually got a better job in the Southeastern Conference.

No matter what happened with the Raiders, Kiffin was bound to be OK.

If he'd won more than five of the 20 games he coached with the Raiders, he would have been a hot commodity around the NFL for winning games with the Raiders.

And if things flamed out (as they did) no one would hold it against him, as he was a young coach put in a tough spot.

My guess is he won't be as critical of players publicly as he was with the Raiders with boosters all over his every word.

Good luck, Lane. You better hope things work out better for you than the last Raider coach that was fired and ended up with a college job, Bill Callahan.

--Jason Jones

ALAMEDA - The last time the Kansas City Chiefs were in Oakland, they left with a 12-10 win over the Raiders on Oct. 21, 2007 and were in first place in the AFC West with a 4-3 record.

The Chiefs have won one game since.

Instead of finishing in contention for a playoff spot in 2007, the Chiefs finished tied with the Raiders for last place in the AFC West.

The Chiefs lone victory came Sept. 28 2008 over the Denver Broncos, who the Raiders just defeated.

After closing out the 2007 season with nine straight losses the Chiefs decided to do what many team won't admit they're doing - rebuild.

It's a different approach than the Raiders, who also finished 4-12, took.

The Raiders opted to spend a lot of money in the offseason (WR Javon Walker, S Gibril Wilson, CB DeAngelo Hall, re-signing DT Tommy Kelly) with the hope of a quick turnaround.

That approach has the Raiders at 3-8, two games ahead of the 1-10 Chiefs.

"It's been hard," said Kansas City coach Herm Edwards in a conference call Wednesday. "But when you decide to do what we've done, blow it up and start all over with all these young players, the thing you know is that you're building something and I see it. You see guys improving from the game at New England to right now."

It wasn't that long ago the Chiefs were a playoff team. Kansas City was a Wildcard team in 2006.

Bur realizing the roster couldn't go much further, the Chiefs dealt their best defensive player, defensive end Jared Allen, for multiple draft picks.

So besides running back Larry Johnson and tight end Tony Gonzalez, you'll probably need a program to figure out whom most of these Chiefs are.

"We haven't won enough games because you always want to win," Edwards said. But I think in the long haul this team is going to be competitive for a long time because we're so young. A lot of these rookies are playing and playing well."

*One of the most amazing stats headed into Sunday's game is the Chiefs having only six sacks as a team.

There are 19 players with more sacks than the Chiefs.

"We have gotten a lot of pressure, we just haven't gotten any sacks," Edwards said. "We haven't gotten a lot of sacks. When you lose a Jared Allen that hurts some. We have had some injury problems with some of our ends. And that hurts you, too."

Linebacker Derrick Johnson leads the Chiefs with 1.5 sacks.

*After scoring 31 points, the Raiders figure not to start another offensive drought against the Chiefs.

Kansas City has held only two opponents under 20 points this season.
The Chiefs allow 29.7 points a game and are last in total defense, allowing 406.3 yards a game.

--Jason Jones

ALAMEDA - Someone asked Raiders interim head coach Tom Cable if the Raiders might (giggle) have a letdown against the 1-10 Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday.

"That's ridiculous," Cable said. "First of all we can't have a letdown of any kind because we haven't done anything. Whether it's the Chiefs, the Giants or whoever coming in, that doesn't matter to us. We have to still take care of us."

The Raiders have made a habit of losing at least once at home to a team that most would assume the Raiders should be able to beat at home.

A couple of times it's been the Houston Texans, when the Raiders somehow managed to make Ron Dayne look like the Dayne of his Heisman Trophy days at Wisconsin.

Many assumed the Raiders could knock off the Detroit Lions in their home opener last season.

Of course, the Raiders lost.

Back in 2005, the Raiders lost 9-7 to a bad Cleveland team.

The Chiefs are set up perfectly to be that team this season.

They haven't won since Sept. 28 and are coming off a 54-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

And the Raiders handled the Chiefs 23-8 in Week 2.

But the Chiefs can run the ball, and that could be trouble if the Raiders start thinking about walking over them.

"Those guys are going to look back at the film and see everything," said quarterback JaMarcus Russell. "We're ready to come for a dogfight."

*The Raiders signed guard Dylan Gandy and placed wide receiver Javon Walker on injured reserve today.

Gandy was a fourth-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2005 out of Texas Tech. He spent part of this season with the Denver Broncos.

Gandy started 11 games during the Colts' Super Bowl season of 2006.

*Center Jake Grove (calf) and linebacker Ricky Brown (groin) were the only players to not practice.

Wide receiver Chaz Schilens (ankle) and tight end Zach Miller (groin) were limited.

Cable said Miller's injury isn't serious.

*There was a little talk in the locker room about Lane Kiffin possibly landing the head coaching job at the University of Tennessee.

Raiders safeties Rashad Baker and Gibril Wilson both played at Tennessee.

Baker was quick to point out one thing: "You better win right away in the SEC."

*By the way, Sunday's game is sold out and will be televised locally.

--Jason Jones

ALAMEDA -- Center Jake Grove (calf) and linebacker Ricky Brown (groin) were not on the field at the start of practice.

Safety Michael Huff (stinger) and wide receiver Chaz Schilens (ankle, Achilles) were at practice.

Updates on who practiced and who was limited will follow this afternoon.

--Jason Jones

The Raiders only needed to see offensive lineman Junius Coston before deciding to move on.

The team waived Coston and promoted cornerback Darrick Brown from the practice squad to the active roster.

Coston was signed last Tuesday.

Brown (6-4, 200) is an undrafted rookie from McNeese State that signed after the draft but did not make the final roster after training camp.

The Raiders did not have to cut Coston to add Brown to the roster. Putting Javon Walker on injured reserve would have done that.

--Jason Jones

ALAMEDA - Interim head coach Tom Cable promised a lot of game balls would be awarded after the Raiders beat the Denver Broncos, 31-10, Sunday.

Here are the winners:

Offense
WR Ashley Lelie - four catches, 92 yards, touchdown
QB JaMarcus Russell - 10 of 11, 152 yards, touchdown
RB Justin Fargas - 24 carries, 107 yards
RG Cooper Carlisle - Team ran to the right a lot Sunday
TE Zach Miller - three catches, 41 yards
RB Darren McFAdden -10 carries, 38 yards, two touchdowns

Defense
CB Chris Johnson - Held up in coverage as Denver attacked him deep repeatedly, two passes defended
S Gibril Wilson - Six tackles, fumble recovery
S Rashad Baker - Five tackles, good coverage downfield
DT Tommy Kelly - No tackles, but anchored the middle of the defense and didn't allow Jay Cutler to get comfortable in the middle of the pocket
LB Thomas Howard - Team-high eight tackles, interception and pass defended.

Special teams
PR Johnnie Lee Higgins - 89-yard punt return for a touchdown
LB Marquis Cooper - No tackles but was a big part of the special teams coverage units.

Coaches
Willie Brown - Spoke to the team about the importance of the Oakland-Denver rivalry

*The Raiders have a chart in the hallway near their locker room detailing 12 aspects of special teams and whether the team accomplished its goal in each area.

Among the goals is 100 percent kick and punt coverage, winning the battle of net punt average, making a big play, scoring and keeping the opposition from starting across the 50.

For the first time this season, the Raiders had sticker marking off an achieved goal in each category, including the most important: win.

*LB Ricky Brown (groin) and C Jake Grove (calf) are day-to-day, Cable said. S Michael Huff (stinger) is expected to be OK.

--Jason Jones

DENVER - As the Raiders piled up a few questionable penalties team officials were become red-faced.

It was if Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler should have been playing two-hand touch.

There were three personal fouls for unnecessary roughness called for hits on Culter in the Raiders 31-10 win at Invesco Field at Mile High on Sunday.

One was on defensive tackle Gerard Warren and two were on linebacker Thomas Howard for hitting Cutler with his helmets.

Howard's penalties were especially questionable.

But something happened during the game.

The Raiders just kept playing.

The team that's loved to blame the officials when things go wrong didn't use the flags as a reason to fold.

They kept playing and won.

"It's touchy when you get to talking about those refs so I'm not going to get too deep into it," Howard said. "All I can say is ... they made the calls, we lived with it. We didn't let it get us down. So we just went back in there and played."

Interim head coach didn't want to say too much but called the penalties on Howard "ridiculous" which might earn him a fine (even though those calls were ridiculous).

But it's a step in the right direction for a franchise that's become accustomed to failure and excuses.

"You know it's kind of been the battle cry the whole time," Cable said. "We're gonna keep pushing, keep playing, keep playing."

Cornerback had an interception return for a touchdown negated when he was called for holding on the same play.

Johnson continued to play well in spite of the call in the second quarter.

"I didn't think it was holding," Johnson said. "But if the refs made that call I've got to respect that call. I couldn't let that one take my confidence away so I just kept playing."

The Raiders are still an incredibly young team in a lot of areas. Sunday's showing was a sign that players are starting to understand what it takes to win.
Dare I say a sign of maturity?

"I guess you could say that," Howard said. "A sign of maturity always sounds good. But it was just us sticking in there. What else can we do when a ref makes a call like that? What else can you really do but play?"

*Johnnie Lee Higgins was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after a backflip after his punt return for a touchdown.

The reason? Apparently his falling on the landing somehow is penalty-worthy.

If Higgins had stuck the landing, there would have been no penalty.

*JaMarcus Russell had his second consecutive solid game after completing 10 of 11 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown.

Russell is 25 for 33 (75.8 percent) for 308 yards and a touchdown and no interceptions in his last two games since sitting out the Carolina loss with a knee injury.

And next up is Kansas City, which allows the opposition to complete 66.6 percent of its passes and has only six sacks all season.

*Darren McFadden ran for two touchdowns. Quarterback Daunte Culpepper ran for three scores Sept. 30, 2007 at Miami.

The last time a running back ran for two touchdowns for the Raiders was LaMont Jordan. He scored twice Nov. 27, 2005 against Miami.

*Both of Cable's wins as head coach have come over division leaders (New York Jets, Denver).

*Cable was a bit teary eyed after the game and said it wasn't from allergies.

"It's just been a lot of hard work," he said. "And we're getting there. And I know you all think I'm crazy when I say that for the last month. But the bottom line is I just believe in our players and I believe in what we're trying to do. So you just keep pushing and when you do it right enough, long enough, something good is going to happen. So, I don't know. I'm just happy. I'm very happy, I know I seem calm right now but it's a lot of hard work. Today was a good day for the Raiders."

--Jason Jones

DENVER - After scoring 31 points and coming up with three touchdowns, it would be easy to praise the offense.

The offense had gone 15 quarters without a touchdown before coming through with three in the second half of the Raiders' 31-10 win at Invesco Field at Mile High.

But lets give Rob Ryan and the defense some credit for doing a good job against a team that put 41 points on the Raiders Week 1

Jay Cutler hadn't completed less than 50 percent of his passes in a game until today (16 of 37).

Only New England has held the Broncos to few points this season.

"The big thing for us was that was the third scoring offense in the league and we held them to 10 points," said linebacker Kirk Morrison. "Week in and week out Jay cutler has been finding ways to pick defenses apart."

The Raiders didn't sack Cutler, but forced him to move around a lot in the pocket.

And Cutler went after cornerback Chris Johnson no fewer than 10 times. Johnson more than held his own against Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal.

"The first couple times I thought they were going to try go to go the other way after I got the pick (that was called back) and knocked a couple of balls down," Johnson said. "But Jay's a good quarterback and he was going to try to catch me slipping. I just had to stay on my game the whole time."

Johnson is quickly earning the respect of teammates for his play in place of DeAngelo Hall.

"We believe in him because he's been around and he's got good technique and he's not afraid to play guys up close, not afraid to get beat," said Nnamdi Asomugha. "No one was really surprised but they threw a lot balls at him and he played well."

*Like every other team that plays the Raiders, Denver basically stayed away from Asomugha the entire game.

Asomugha nearly had an interception in the fourth quarter when he nearly picked off a pass intended for Darrell Jackson.

Stanford Routt was covering Jackson at the time. Jackson made sure Asomugha didn't hold on to the ball.

"Me and Stanford talked about it," Asomugha said. "I said if they're not going to throw at my guy I'm going to come off and I'll look at your guy ... Cutler told me after the game I'm not going to give you many opportunities. You've got to make the most of it."

Cutler had more nice things to say about Asomugha after the game.

"They have the best cornerback in the game," Cutler said of Asomugha. "He takes away half of the field."

*Darren McFadden scored two touchdowns. The last time that happened was Sept. 30, 2007 in Miami when Daunte Culpepper ran for three scores and Jerry Porter caught two touchdowns.

*The Broncos lived up to their rep as a poor team in defending the pass. JaMarcus Russell completed his first nine passes in going 10 for 11 for 152 yards and a touchdown.

Michael Bush also completed a pass to tight end Zach Miller.

*Jon Alston helped escort Johnnie Lee Higgins to the end zone on his 89-yard punt return for a touchdown while holding his helmet after it came off during the play.

"In the middle of the play I was like I've got to keep my head on a swivel," Alston said. "And try not to get knocked out."

*The Raiders now have 12 touchdowns from the offense. Five have come against the Broncos.

--Jason Jones