(Note: Got an idea for the lead item on the blog? Send them to jmcdonald@angnewspapers.com. I’m out of town on vacation but will check e-mails daily)

By RIP Dan Birdwell

Raider detractors, and all too many Raider fans, believe that the vertical stretch is designed to air out the ball 20-30 times a game, winging the ball downfield with abandon.

That was never true in Oakland, and not really in San Diego where the concept began with Sid Gillman (and where Al Davis got his pro-football coaching start).

The premise of the vertical stretch is simple: make the defense defend not only with width of the field but also its depth. The free safety has to respect the deep ball, and so the offense runs against a seven man box.

Sneak the safety up, and to paraphrase John Madden, WHAP _ the ball goes long over the safety’s head for a very long gain. To have any real chance at completing the deep ball, then, you have to be able to pound the ball with the running game. And I mean pound, pound, pound. On play action, the defense is going to be caught dead, more times than not.

Back when the Raider Mystique was born, we not only ran our variant on the Gillman offense emphasizing power running, but we also ran from a split back formation. That changed when Marcus Allen arrived. Allen insisted on running from the I formation, like he did at USC and eventually got his way.

People who never really saw the Raiders before 1982 think that that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We have a chance to bring it back, this year.

The advantage of split backs over the I is flexibility, and it requires more from both running backs than does the I. Both guys have to be able to take the ball inside, yet have enough speed to go outside.

Both need to be able to catch the ball, and it really helps if they can get deep. Marcus Allen would have done even more in this formation given his gifts, but it was not to be. The defense lacks the “key” of watching the fullback to read the run, which will get more than a few guys thinking instead of reacting and make them much easier to erase with a block.

Enter “Lance” Kiffin. His relationship with Al Davis (note, not Mr. Davis) appears more collaborative than any other has been. Davis talks about how Kiffin reminds him of himself, Kiffin talks about how much Davis knows.

Kiffin knows how to use two talented backs in the same offense, getting each back 100-plus carries per season. The Raiders just happen to have on their roster LaMont Jordan, Dominic Rhodes, Justin Fargas and Michael Bush at halfback, in addition to Zack Crockett and Justin Griffin at fullback. All these guys can run between the tackles, with Fargas and Rhodes having the added ability to get wide. All of them can catch, and any of the halfbacks can beat a linebacker deep.

In 1967, 1969-1977, 1979-1981 at least two Raiders had 100-plus carries (in 1968 Hewritt Dixon had 206 Charlie Smith had 95 and Pete Banaszak had 91 carries), and that includes three seasons (’73, ‘75, ‘76 when three Raiders had 100-plus carries.

That means in 15 years of split backs (once we got a complement to Clem Daniels, in other words) in only two of those years did we not have have multiple backs with 100-plus carries. In the 22 years of the I formation (excluding the strike years) 13 times did we have multiple running backs with 100-plus carries.

We have the backs, and we have a coach who said he’s going to put his playmakers in positions to make plays. With that stable of backs, we have the personnel to run split backs. The flexibility and lack of a fullback to key on helps the O-line. After pounding away, up comes the free safety, and say goodbye to Jerry Porter, Ronald Curry and Co.

To repeat my order, I’d like a vertical stretch with some split back formations, please.