OrangeShadow
11-13-2006, 09:08 AM
By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Oakland, Calif. - With Raiders owner Al Davis, not looking a day older than 108, peering down at the worst decision he ever made, all the noise and all the life was sucked out of the Black Hole.
"The quietest I've ever heard this stadium. Ever," said 12-year Broncos veteran Rod Smith, who has made trips to Oakland so long he can actually remember when the Raiders mattered in the NFL. "Why was this place so quiet? Because they're not a good football team."
The worst blunder Davis ever committed was squashing the spirit of his good-for-nothing Raiders.
Mike Shanahan, the best coach the Raiders ever fired, was going for broke on fourth down at the goal line.
"It really encapsulates the riverboat gambler in him," Broncos fullback Kyle Johnson said. "You want to keep a defense on its heels rather than its toes, and he really is the master at that."
Do we really have to tell you what happened next?
Shanahan looked brilliant. The Raiders looked foolish.
Trailing on the road by six points, Shanahan made one of his pet calls in the red zone, a delicate, sleight-of-hand pass to Johnson. It worked. The Broncos scored a touchdown that would give them the lead. And those were the final points Denver would require to stay atop the AFC West standings. It was the biggest play in a difficult 17-13 victory against the Raiders.
"We thought they might be playing the run," said Shanahan, who refused to settle for a field goal with Denver down 13-7 early in the fourth quarter.
The Broncos needed to gain maybe 20 inches for a touchdown. While many coaches would call for a QB sneak or a fullback dive in the same situation, when the action was halted before fourth down as a referee reviewed videotape to see if the football had been spotted properly, it quickly became blatantly obvious what Shanahan was thinking.
He stood on the sideline during the timeout and carefully lectured Jake Plummer, which tipped everyone who bothered to pay attention that the quarterback probably was going to do something more intricate than take a snap and stick the ball in the tailback's belly. You did not have to be a genius to read that a pass was on Shanahan's mind.
"It's not rocket science," Johnson said.
But, at the snap, the silver-and-black defense sold out in anticipation of the run.
Stupid is as Oakland does.
Johnson slipped into the left flat, ran across the goal line almost unnoticed and easily caught a soft touch pass from Plummer for the TD.
How did the Raiders, who had built a lead thanks to a turnover-plagued opening half by the Broncos, not see this one coming?
Not to say the Raiders are blind, but on the team's logo, a pirate's black eye patch covers one eye, and the other eye seems to have been blackened by years of NFL beatings. Hilarious!
Even in broad daylight, this is a franchise stumbling around in the dark.
Why make such a big deal of Shanahan going for it on fourth down, when he could have taken the conservative approach, put a field goal on the scoreboard and leaned on his defense to do the rest?
Here's why: In a dozen years as coach of the Broncos, Shanahan has never shackled his offense to the extent he has this season.
Any Broncomaniac who believes all the points Denver scored in recent games against Indianapolis and Pittsburgh foreshadowed a rebirth of Shanahan's swashbuckling style obviously has been wearing that old John Elway jersey for so long as to be stuck in the past.
All the proof you need of the true pedestrian nature of this Denver offense is to note some practice-squad refugee named Damien Nash touched the ball twice as often as star receiver Javon Walker did against the Raiders.
Asked if he hesitated one second before going for the gusto and the touchdown on fourth down, Shanahan said: "You guys have been around me long enough to figure that one out."
We know and love the coach.
But, after benching starting offensive tackle George Foster and backup running back Mike Bell for failure to perform, maybe Shanahan needed to remind the members of this Denver offense he still loves them enough to take a gamble and put the football in Plummer's hands with a tight game on the line.
"I hope it's preparing us for the playoffs," Walker said. "In the playoffs, there ain't no holding back."
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Oakland, Calif. - With Raiders owner Al Davis, not looking a day older than 108, peering down at the worst decision he ever made, all the noise and all the life was sucked out of the Black Hole.
"The quietest I've ever heard this stadium. Ever," said 12-year Broncos veteran Rod Smith, who has made trips to Oakland so long he can actually remember when the Raiders mattered in the NFL. "Why was this place so quiet? Because they're not a good football team."
The worst blunder Davis ever committed was squashing the spirit of his good-for-nothing Raiders.
Mike Shanahan, the best coach the Raiders ever fired, was going for broke on fourth down at the goal line.
"It really encapsulates the riverboat gambler in him," Broncos fullback Kyle Johnson said. "You want to keep a defense on its heels rather than its toes, and he really is the master at that."
Do we really have to tell you what happened next?
Shanahan looked brilliant. The Raiders looked foolish.
Trailing on the road by six points, Shanahan made one of his pet calls in the red zone, a delicate, sleight-of-hand pass to Johnson. It worked. The Broncos scored a touchdown that would give them the lead. And those were the final points Denver would require to stay atop the AFC West standings. It was the biggest play in a difficult 17-13 victory against the Raiders.
"We thought they might be playing the run," said Shanahan, who refused to settle for a field goal with Denver down 13-7 early in the fourth quarter.
The Broncos needed to gain maybe 20 inches for a touchdown. While many coaches would call for a QB sneak or a fullback dive in the same situation, when the action was halted before fourth down as a referee reviewed videotape to see if the football had been spotted properly, it quickly became blatantly obvious what Shanahan was thinking.
He stood on the sideline during the timeout and carefully lectured Jake Plummer, which tipped everyone who bothered to pay attention that the quarterback probably was going to do something more intricate than take a snap and stick the ball in the tailback's belly. You did not have to be a genius to read that a pass was on Shanahan's mind.
"It's not rocket science," Johnson said.
But, at the snap, the silver-and-black defense sold out in anticipation of the run.
Stupid is as Oakland does.
Johnson slipped into the left flat, ran across the goal line almost unnoticed and easily caught a soft touch pass from Plummer for the TD.
How did the Raiders, who had built a lead thanks to a turnover-plagued opening half by the Broncos, not see this one coming?
Not to say the Raiders are blind, but on the team's logo, a pirate's black eye patch covers one eye, and the other eye seems to have been blackened by years of NFL beatings. Hilarious!
Even in broad daylight, this is a franchise stumbling around in the dark.
Why make such a big deal of Shanahan going for it on fourth down, when he could have taken the conservative approach, put a field goal on the scoreboard and leaned on his defense to do the rest?
Here's why: In a dozen years as coach of the Broncos, Shanahan has never shackled his offense to the extent he has this season.
Any Broncomaniac who believes all the points Denver scored in recent games against Indianapolis and Pittsburgh foreshadowed a rebirth of Shanahan's swashbuckling style obviously has been wearing that old John Elway jersey for so long as to be stuck in the past.
All the proof you need of the true pedestrian nature of this Denver offense is to note some practice-squad refugee named Damien Nash touched the ball twice as often as star receiver Javon Walker did against the Raiders.
Asked if he hesitated one second before going for the gusto and the touchdown on fourth down, Shanahan said: "You guys have been around me long enough to figure that one out."
We know and love the coach.
But, after benching starting offensive tackle George Foster and backup running back Mike Bell for failure to perform, maybe Shanahan needed to remind the members of this Denver offense he still loves them enough to take a gamble and put the football in Plummer's hands with a tight game on the line.
"I hope it's preparing us for the playoffs," Walker said. "In the playoffs, there ain't no holding back."