Dog days of camp have Raiders panting

NAPA — The dog days of training camp are in full swing. The temperature is soaring, the bodies are aching, and the regular season seems too far off to grasp. The players won't find any sympathy from coach Lane Kiffin. Suck it up, he said, in essence, Tuesday afternoon on the heels of a second straight subpar showing at practice. "The reality is, I don't think we're very good right now as a team," Kiffin said, without prompting. "Whatever that first (exhibition) game was, we're going to have a big test going into Tennessee (Friday night) against that team. If we don't have our stuff right and our guys aren't right, we'll get run out of that stadium real quick." Call it a motivational ploy or an old coaching trick. Veteran right guard Cooper Carlisle said Kiffin is calling it as it is. "He's trying to get the best out of us," Carlisle said, when apprised of Kiffin's comment. "If you have bad days on Sundays, you get beat, and beat bad. If you want to be a great team, you can't have bad days." On Tuesday, the Raiders committed a fair amount of penalties, the quarterbacks had four passes intercepted, and the timing of many players was off. It was enough to prompt Kiffin to threaten additional practices once the Raiders return from Nashville and resume their preseason practices Sunday at their year-round facility in Alameda. "If we go down there and we're not practicing the way we need to be," Kiffin said, and if we go out in Tennessee and get our butts kicked and come back and don't practice the way we need to, then we can always go back to that format." McFadden's struggles Running back Darren McFadden looked every bit the part of an overmatched rookie Monday. He lost three fumbles, had a pass hit off his hands that resulted in an interception and looked nothing like the player who sparkled the first 22 practices. On Tuesday, McFadden's gaffes weren't anywhere near as egregious or obvious to the casual observer. However, Kiffin still wasn't impressed. "The last two practices have been his worst practices," Kiffin said. "They're still good, but he had been so exceptional and almost perfect that he made some normal mistakes that rookies make over the last two practices. So, it will be good to see him rebound. He's getting tired, he's getting overloaded with a lot of plays, and that's how it should be now." Kiffin is far from being down on McFadden. A few minutes later, he made a point to call McFadden "the star of camp." Roster move The Raiders signed safety Nick Sanchez. Linebacker Malik Jackson was released to clear a spot for Sanchez on the 80-man roster. Sanchez, 6-foot and 190 pounds, played at Stanford from 2003-07 and is a long shot to make the Raiders' opening-day roster. Sanchez intercepted a pass midway through practice, jumped to his feet and returned it for a touchdown.