Pathetic Season Opener

I think Mike Ditka is a clown, but he said it best on Monday night with his comment about the Raiders.

“You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit,” said the ESPN analyst during the Raiders pathetic showing in their season opener.

When the visiting Denver Broncos weren’t moving the ball at will, the Raiders were tacking on 15 yard penalties by the bushel full. A porous defense, anemic offense and dumb penalty after dumb penalty, simply resulted in more of the same from a team that has won less than 30% of its games over the past six years.

The Raiders were embarrassed at home before a national audience, reaffirming the fact that this franchise is as dysfunctional as ever. The dumbfounded look on Al Davis face from the owner’s box reaffirmed the fact that it’s time for Davis to move on.

I’ve been a supporter of Davis’ for far too long. His legacy has afforded him far too many mulligans.

I don’t think anybody anticipated the pasting the Raiders would endure on opening night. I certainly didn’t. The difference on this night was that the Raiders seemed to take ten steps backwards (as if that were possible). There was nothing positive to take away from this game.

Well, except for the fact that Lane Kiffin will be able to resume his football coaching career sooner than later. This debacle will obviously fall on Kiffin’s shoulders, which means he’ll get canned that much quicker. Kiffin doesn’t fit in with the Raider mystique. He’s too progressive. Not a company man. Not an Al Davis man.

It was Kiffin after all, who wanted defensive coordinator Rob Ryan out. The same Rob Ryan, who’s defensive schemes allowed Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler to roam untouched all night long.

OK, maybe that’s not entirely fair…unless it was Ryan who convinced Davis to spend all that money on Tommy Kelly during the off season. Kelly played like a $50 million paper weight on Monday night. The Raiders defensive front did the impossible, making Namdhi Asomugha, Gibril Wilson, Deangelo Hall and Michael Huff look like a high school secondary unit.

It took the Raiders 48 minutes before they finally put any points in the board, but that’s because the Broncos were starting to pack for the trip home.

To make matters worse, 1st round draft pick Darren McFadden left the game with an apparent shoulder injury, and Derrick Burgess also left the contest with an injury.

And that was just week 1 folks. Painful.

Al Davis departure can’t come soon enough.