Offensively:

JaMarcus Russell: If the Raiders are to win this Sunday, it will be due, in no small part, to the play of their cannon-armed young quarterback. This is especially true considering that their leading blocker for the season, Justin Griffith is outa€¦ not to mention that Oren O'Neil, their promising young fullback is already out for the season. To add to this, Darren McFadden's toes seem to have halted his promising inaugural NFL season. Despite, all this...

Looking back...

The game last week, against the Saints, was so atrociously ugly that I could hardly get myself to put finger-to-keyboard to discuss it until now. Last week, I argued in favor of a more balanced attack - which meant more passes. Unfortunately, however, Tom Cable/Greg Knapp thought it wise to simply thrust the game onto the broad shoulders of their young - but inexperienced - quarterback, JaMarcus Russell. So the Raiders...

Firstly, if they are to win this Sunday, the Raiders need to get more first downs a€" especially in the fourth quarter. So far this season, the Raiders have only managed a paltry 58 first downs a€" contrast this to the 82 first downs garnered so far by their opponents. This stat is especially troublesome in the fourth quarter, where the Raiders have had serious difficulties keeping their lead. This late-in-the-game-let-down trend can directly be attributed to the lack of first downs managed by the offense in the fourth quarter. Of course some of this can be attributed to Kiffin's ostensible lack of imagination, but the other integral part is the players themselves a€" the offense has simply faded at the ends of games which forced the defense to play most of the second half winded.

Secondly...

Offensive line coach, Tom Cable is looking as if he will succeed Lane Kiffin as head coach of the Oakland Raiders for the foreseeable future. That will bring some continuity, however this not likely to be a long-term solution. Cable, like Norv Turner in San Diego and Lane Kiffin formerly of the Raiders, seems to be more of a coordinator-type than a head coach candidate a€" unless one believes that an 11-35 record is indicative of head-coaching material. Perhaps, after the season, Al Davis will surprise absolutely everyone and look to Marty Schottenheimera€¦ but, that is likely only a dream.

However, back to today's issue; with the firing of Kiffin, it seems that Al Davis is sending a poignant and final message to young Kiffin...

Keys to Victory:

Run the Ball

Darren McFadden [if healthy] and Michael Bush need to run, run, and run some more if the Raiders hope to leave Buffalo with a win. The good news is that the Bills' rush defense is their weakest defensive link; the bad news is...

Many Raiders fans have seen the best of times and the worst of times; however sadly, sadly the sun rises over the Raider Nation there is no light in sight for there are two very dissimilar coaches coaching for dissimilar reasons... and the two could not be more different. One coach is brash, young, confident, and full of pride; the other is salty, brunt, and full of spit and vinegar. The younger not infrequently laments to the media that it is not his fault, while the other roars at the press, blame me!

Clearly Lane Kiffin is the brash coach who too oft runs to the media with quotes such as, "Rob [Ryan] and the owner [Al Davis] are in communication... for the most part; I let Rob do his thing over there. He has a belief in certain things and he has a conversation with the owner about that." In other words, last Monday night's total team loss was on Rob Ryan and his defense... and the owner of course. Make no mistake; it is absolutely true that...

It seems clear that Coach Kiffin is putting his feud with Al Davis ahead of his team and that is unacceptable. As Kiffin opined so much this offseason, the Raiders do not have a plethora of talent of their team. So, why then did Kiffin keep J. Walker out of the game? Are they so deep at the receiver position that they can merrily go on without their number one receiver and not miss a beat? Of course not... and Kiffin obviously knows this. So, then why keep him out?

Maybe it was Javon's hamstring? Well, according to some reports Mr. Walker, a mere couple of hours before the game looked absolutely fine and moreover appeared anxious to play against his old team. So, evidently his hamstring was not bothering him that much. However, it was obviously bothering Sergeant Kiffin.

Kiffin likely held Walker out of Monday night's for two reasons...