I love Marty Schottenheimer. As much as I enjoy watching the Chargers teabag the Raiders (six straight, and counting), Marty enjoys it more. The highlight of the game for me was late in the 4th quarter, with the Raiders continuing to call timeouts in a desperate attempt to avoid being shutout, and Marty’s yelling at someone, “Don’t let them get in the fucking endzone.”
At the same time, it’s hard to tell too much about the Chargers from this win, because it came against probably the worst fucking team in the NFL. They were certainly the worst team in Week 1. It was just hard to believe that a team could spend an off-season practicing and working on things, and still be that bad. Their offensive line resembled a group of cardboard cutouts, their wide receivers were dropping balls, they couldn’t establish a running game, and their quarterbacks… oh, man, their quarterbacks. Whew.
Raiders quarterbacks were sacked 9 times. The pressure that the Chargers were getting was outstanding, but Aaron Brooks… Aaron Brooks is not very good at his job. At times, it seemed like he wanted to be sacked. Like he was dropping back and waiting for Shawne Merriman flip him over and do him dry. Andrew Walter was an improvement when he got in the game late in the 4th quarter, but he took a few sacks of his own.
All the sudden, that Jeff George signing doesn’t look so ridiculous. In fact, what would be ridiculous is for Art Shell not to call Jeff George tomorrow and get him back on the squad. The situation is that bad in Oakland. And keep in mind this is just Week One, and there’s plenty of time for things to get worse. It’s only a matter of time.
Oh, and I’m pretty sure that the broadcast team of Brad Nessler, Dick Vermeil, and Ron Jaworski was the best I’ve ever heard.
insomniac
I remember being disappointed when Dick Vermeil got back into coaching b/c it meant he was gone from the announcer’s booth. So glad to hear him back.
And while he only threw something like 11 passes, this whole dumping Brees for Rivers thing might work out afterall.
September 12, 2006 at 2:49 am
Wes Mantooth
Totally agree with the assessment on the crew. When Vermeil talked about “bitching” players in his opening analysis, I knew we were going to get something better than the Tirico “Hey Jamie Foxx, I’m as cool a brother as you,” Theismann “If I talk enough, people will forget that I’m a complete idiot who just contradicted myself 5 times in my last sentence”, and Kornheiser “Why did I take this f’ing job.”
September 12, 2006 at 9:56 am
BA
Agreed, vermeil was really great in the booth. Is he going to do college games for ABC?
September 12, 2006 at 10:15 am
Bouj
I can take solace in the fact that no matter how bad my Texans are, the Raiders are worse. And they just seem so disinterested and apathetic about it too.
September 12, 2006 at 11:40 am
Mr. Bojangles
I worked for a company awhile back that was mismanaged very badly. Upper management couldn’t crunch the numbers, the hiring process was fucked, quality control was abysmal. I worked there roughly 4 months, and the hopelessness I felt at development meetings when I realized how incompetent we were.
Last night, Randy Moss was like the anthropomorphic manifestation of that feeling, every time they had him on camera before or after a play.
September 12, 2006 at 2:17 pm
KaLiBLeeK
I had to rely upon Aaron Brooks to get the Raiders some points, so the fantasy squad I was facing would lose points, as they had the Chargers D on their team. I don’t think I’ve ever felt such despair.
I’m sorry Raiders fans…I had no idea.
But cot’daymn did the Bolts defense look good last night.
September 12, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Matt Moore
Vermeil was surprisingly (to me) good, and I think Jaworski is really smart and a great analyst, but I just can’t stand his I’m-on-Teevee! voice. He over-enunciates and tends to almost shout all the time.
He’s still better than Theismann, though. I think if they swapped him or Vermeil into the booth with Tirico and Kornheiser MNF would be about 150% better.
September 12, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Mark
I think the most shocking stat, at least in my opinion, from this game is that the Chargers have beaten the Raiders 6 games in a row.
I didn’t watch the game, but I did see the highlights. Consequently, I can’t say too much, except to say that it looked like the Raiders have no sense of organization whatsoever. After a 27-0 loss, they can’t even say that they’re playing with pride.
No organization, no pride, a losing streak against apparently EVERY team in the AFC West…what DO the Raiders have going for them?
September 12, 2006 at 5:46 pm
jester0165
Aaron Brooks is about 1 season away from Arena Football.
Jaws? Come on.
September 12, 2006 at 7:13 pm
father figure
Yes! That announcing team was terrific! Instead of waxing philosophic about football, they actually diagnosed the plays that happened on the field! It was odd, to see announcers actually paying attention to and thinking about the game they were covering! Maybe this will start a trend…
September 12, 2006 at 10:23 pm
pete
The postings are better than the game. However, I will now watch the Raiders just to see how bad they are. I look at car crashes too.
September 13, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Brian
Where’s the sports announcer reality show? They gather everyone up and put them in a house and call high school games, and they all talk behind Theismann’s back and he cries when he’s the first one kicked out.
September 14, 2006 at 12:36 pm
CHARGERS SUCK
SCREW YOU!!!!! THE RAIDERS WILL KILL YOU NEXT TIME TO END THAT 6 GAME STREAK. GO RRRAAIIIDDDEERRRSS!!!!!!!!
September 17, 2006 at 12:40 am