I'm going to make this as short as possible, because I'm still really, really bitter about it.
This team has not been focused all year. The Raiders were ready for us, they were fired up, and they were firing off the line of scrimmage on defense. We came out flat, Ben looked confused and tentative most of the day (wouldn't you if you had suffered two concussions in four months?), and, worst of all, we couldn't run the ball.
A lot of folks figured we'd have trouble throwing the ball against the #1 pass defense in the NFL. The Raiders did a great job against Arizona the week before and Arizona's a much better passing team than we are. But they had the 26th ranked run defense coming into the game.
And we outgained them 363-98. And they only converted one of six on third down.
Dumb penalties, special teams yards, and turnovers. Dumb penalties, special teams yards, and turnovers. We had FOUR personal fouls in this game. FOUR! Two taunting penalties, a roughing the passer/late hit call that I thought was pretty bogus, and a horse-collar tackle. I really thought they didn't call the horse-collar anymore, if they ever really did. I'm not complaining. Seriously. Troy got away with one in the Super Bowl. Someone horse-collared Fast Willie in the Atlanta game. I really don't care, I just wish the refs would be more consistent. It's not something subjective like pass interference or holding. Either you grab the guy and pull him down by his shoulders or you don't.
For those of you keeping score at home, those four personal fouls went for a total of 60 yards, or 3/5 of OAKLAND'S TOTAL YARDS FOR THE DAY.
This game reminded me an awful (emphasis on awful) lot of the Texans game in 2002. Tommy was coming off a neck injury and looked like a three year old that just learned you shouldn't touch the stove. Remember how he called a timeout with ONE SECOND remaining in the third quarter, 15 seconds left on the play clock, and the clock running? Ben reminded me a lot of that. He just didn't seem to see defenders, looked like he was afraid to scramble (in 2004, he would've jumped head-first into the end zone on that 4th and goal play at the end of the game), and you could tell that Whisenhunt was calling plays in the red zone with all his fingers and toes crossed and his eyes closed. They just didn't trust him to make a play. And he didn't trust himself. Which begs the question...
WHAT THE HELL WAS HE DOING IN THE GAME, THEN!?!?!?!
Just throwing it out there. You can't bench him against the Broncos or Saints, because, seriously, we still need him. But you can definitely bench him against Oakland. And he should've been sitting down for this game. Or, at least, been the back-up. If the line knows Batch is in there and we're definitely going to be running the ball 40 times in the game, I think they get off to a better start. I also think Batch doesn't throw those two interceptions that were returned for scores (or any picks, really). I really think we would've won with Batch in there.
But, I don't think we stand a chance against Denver and New Orleans without a healthy Roethlisberger. Therein lies the conundrum.
And... the joy of being 2-5. Which basically means that we're screwed for the rest of the season. While it's possible that we could go on a 9-0 run (anything's possible; man landed on the moon), we really need to go 11-5 or at least 10-6 to win the division/make the playoffs.
Even if we make the playoffs, this team doesn't have it in them to do what they did last year. Part of that's the players, part of that's the coaches, but part of it is that there's a freakin' reason no #6 seed has ever won the Super Bowl. It's really tough to do. Everything came together last year and we caught a lot of breaks. We played pretty much mistake free. No dumb ass penalties. Special teams was a difference for us in our favor, not to our detriment. Maybe this team isn't as talented as I thought. Maybe we just got lucky. Playing our best at just the right time and all those cliches.
But, hey, we won the Super Bowl. I'll take it.
A Couple Random Thoughts:
Verron Haynes is gone for the season. So is Arnold Harrison. While neither of these is a huge deal, it also means Davenport or Parker will be the third down back. Or... Duce. Nah, that's crazy talk. I really think we should have Duce clean the toilets at the practice facility or get people Gatorade on game day. Have him do something for the $2.5 million we're paying him.
Harrison will be missed on special teams, but he was undrafted and a back-up for a reason. Haynes really found a niche for himself as the third down back, though. I think that was one of the big things Whisenhunt really missed at the end of the game. There were three or four situations in the fourth quarter where I thought to myself, "This would be a perfect situation to run a slip-screen or a draw play," only to realize that we couldn't, because Parker and Davenport aren't the third down back for a reason.
Jeff Hartings is out for an undisclosed period of time. And, I hate to say it, but his knees were bound to give out eventually. He's in the last year of his contract. We need to get Okobi in there sooner rather than later. Now that this season is shot (though I still think we can go 9-7), we need to put Hartings on IR and throw Okobi in there.
One of the reasons the team has struggled is the attitude and aggression has not been there on the offensive line. The pass blocking has been terrible. Max Starks got abused by Derrick Burgess yesterday. The run blocking has been sporadic, at best. Maybe some new blood along the line will revitalize it.
Then again, those guys are back-ups for a reason...
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