Cardinals may be just what Raiders need to turn it around
By Bill Soliday, Staff writer
Article Last Updated:10/19/2006 11:03:26 AM PDT
Frustration, thy name is the Oakland Raiders.
But hold the phone — Sunday they get a chance to play a team that could be just as punch drunk as they are. While the Raiders have suffered in relative silence, it was there for all to see Monday night for the Arizona Cardinals.
That's when coach Denny Green lost it during his post-game press conference. Responding to a question, he began with a measured evaluation of the unbeaten Chicago Bears and their relative strength. But the more he thought about it, the more Green's temper got the best of him.
In the end, he was shouting and punching at the microphone, making statements that probably made sense only to him. It was either a back window peek into Green's volatile personality or a con job aimed at his players when he stormed off the podium and back to his office reciting some of Chaucer's better words.
So which was it, Denny?
"Oh, I felt great," Green said during a conference call with Bay Area writers four days in advance of the showdown between two teams that have struggled with what meager prosperity they have enjoyed.
"My point was just — and it wasn't that the reporter was out of line, believe me, he wasn't — with how great the Bears were and how could it be, what did we know or what did we do that would enable this little team down in the desert to be able to play like we did against the mighty Bears." In other words, it reminded Green of what he had been telling his team the entire week — that the Bears could be taken, that his words had proved prophetic and then the bottom fell out.
"So I just took a little offense at it," Green continued. "My offense (to it) was we played these guys in the preseason and we've got an opinion and they are who we thought they were.
"We were 1-4 and we wanted it bad. We had an excellent plan on offense and defense. We scored 14 points the first two times we had the ball. We were leading 23-3. There were a lot of things working. They (the Bears) were really struggling. We just let it evaporate. You see it every now and then, but you never believe you'd be a part of it."
Green didn't try to downplay what the Bears were. "They're 6-0 and they should be 6-0," Green said. "But we also had an opportunity to beat them and we gave it away in every way. We had five things go wrong and if only four of those five things went wrong, we still would have won that ballgame. "We had all five go wrong. I just let off some steam."
Green was apparently still miffed when he dumped offensive coordinator Keith Rowen the day after the game, replacing him with quarterbacks coach Mike Kruczek. Rowen, a former offensive line coach with the Raiders under Joe Bugel and Jon Gruden (1997-98), remains on staff as an "offensive assistant."
It is under those circumstances, the Cardinals come to Oakland as a bit of an unknown. They arrive with either an excess of potentially beneficial angst or a debilitating aura of defeatism.
The Raiders have no way of knowing much beyond this: The Cardinals are, like them, struggling, don't play well on the road, have just seen their coach go postal on national television and may be wondering what fate has in store for them next.
One Raider smells blood in the water. "That shows frustration," safety Stuart Schweigert said of Green's meltdown. "Everything is going to trickle down (to coaches and players). With him showing that, it's going to be another great opportunity for us to jump on a team that's a little bit hurt right now.
"It seems like we always have a lot of off-the-field issues going on around here. It's going to be interesting to see how another team can handle a situation like that. "It's a great opportunity for us to go in and jump on them early and finally finish a game. They're having trouble finishing games. So are we. So we want to kind of get over that hump this weekend and play a full 60 minutes."
Asked about Green's tantrum and how likely he thinks the Cardinals might bounce back, Raiders coach Art Shell spoke for all those East Bay residents who have wanted to punch something, anything. "I've got my own problems," he said with a gross lack of sympathy.
And would Shell ever take a swing at an innocent, unfortunate podium? "No, no," he said. "You can want to, but I wouldn't do that. I'd walk out and you would probably just hear some noise in the back room."
By Bill Soliday, Staff writer
Article Last Updated:10/19/2006 11:03:26 AM PDT
Frustration, thy name is the Oakland Raiders.
But hold the phone — Sunday they get a chance to play a team that could be just as punch drunk as they are. While the Raiders have suffered in relative silence, it was there for all to see Monday night for the Arizona Cardinals.
That's when coach Denny Green lost it during his post-game press conference. Responding to a question, he began with a measured evaluation of the unbeaten Chicago Bears and their relative strength. But the more he thought about it, the more Green's temper got the best of him.
In the end, he was shouting and punching at the microphone, making statements that probably made sense only to him. It was either a back window peek into Green's volatile personality or a con job aimed at his players when he stormed off the podium and back to his office reciting some of Chaucer's better words.
So which was it, Denny?
"Oh, I felt great," Green said during a conference call with Bay Area writers four days in advance of the showdown between two teams that have struggled with what meager prosperity they have enjoyed.
"My point was just — and it wasn't that the reporter was out of line, believe me, he wasn't — with how great the Bears were and how could it be, what did we know or what did we do that would enable this little team down in the desert to be able to play like we did against the mighty Bears." In other words, it reminded Green of what he had been telling his team the entire week — that the Bears could be taken, that his words had proved prophetic and then the bottom fell out.
"So I just took a little offense at it," Green continued. "My offense (to it) was we played these guys in the preseason and we've got an opinion and they are who we thought they were.
"We were 1-4 and we wanted it bad. We had an excellent plan on offense and defense. We scored 14 points the first two times we had the ball. We were leading 23-3. There were a lot of things working. They (the Bears) were really struggling. We just let it evaporate. You see it every now and then, but you never believe you'd be a part of it."
Green didn't try to downplay what the Bears were. "They're 6-0 and they should be 6-0," Green said. "But we also had an opportunity to beat them and we gave it away in every way. We had five things go wrong and if only four of those five things went wrong, we still would have won that ballgame. "We had all five go wrong. I just let off some steam."
Green was apparently still miffed when he dumped offensive coordinator Keith Rowen the day after the game, replacing him with quarterbacks coach Mike Kruczek. Rowen, a former offensive line coach with the Raiders under Joe Bugel and Jon Gruden (1997-98), remains on staff as an "offensive assistant."
It is under those circumstances, the Cardinals come to Oakland as a bit of an unknown. They arrive with either an excess of potentially beneficial angst or a debilitating aura of defeatism.
The Raiders have no way of knowing much beyond this: The Cardinals are, like them, struggling, don't play well on the road, have just seen their coach go postal on national television and may be wondering what fate has in store for them next.
One Raider smells blood in the water. "That shows frustration," safety Stuart Schweigert said of Green's meltdown. "Everything is going to trickle down (to coaches and players). With him showing that, it's going to be another great opportunity for us to jump on a team that's a little bit hurt right now.
"It seems like we always have a lot of off-the-field issues going on around here. It's going to be interesting to see how another team can handle a situation like that. "It's a great opportunity for us to go in and jump on them early and finally finish a game. They're having trouble finishing games. So are we. So we want to kind of get over that hump this weekend and play a full 60 minutes."
Asked about Green's tantrum and how likely he thinks the Cardinals might bounce back, Raiders coach Art Shell spoke for all those East Bay residents who have wanted to punch something, anything. "I've got my own problems," he said with a gross lack of sympathy.
And would Shell ever take a swing at an innocent, unfortunate podium? "No, no," he said. "You can want to, but I wouldn't do that. I'd walk out and you would probably just hear some noise in the back room."
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that everyone else was 
