Scoring

Miami–Ronnie Brown 9-yard run (Jay Feely kicks PAT), 12:40.

Notes:

– Justin Peele rambled 36 yards down the right sideline with a Trent Green pass on a fourth-and-four play past a blown coverage to the 9-yard line, setting up Brown’s scoring run.

Following a sack by Tommy Kelly, the Raiders had Miami in a third-and-18, but Green flipped a short pass over the middle to Brown for a 15-yard gain, setting up fourth-and-3 at the Oakland 41.

Miami coach Cam Cameron, already down 14 points, opted to go for the first down rather than give the Raiders the ball back.

– The Raiders punted on their first possession of the second quarter after Daunte Culpepper, passing on third-and-4, stumbled and came up a yard short of the first down. Shane Lechler’s punt pinned the Dolphins at their own 11 with 10:05 left in the first half.

With the Dolphins backed up, Oakland’s defensive line on the first play, from left to right, is Jay Richardson, Tyler Brayton, Terdell Sands and Chris Clemons. No Tommy Kelly, Warren Sapp or Gerard Warren _ probably their top three pass rushers with Derrick Burgess out.

– After a false start, with first-and-15, Brown broke a 60-yard run to the Oakland 34 through Brayton’s attempted tackle.

– The Raiders turned a fourth-and-7 Miami play into fourth-and-2 with an encroachment call on Tommy Kelly, and Brown raced 15 yards to the Oakland 25 on the next play for a first down.

– Green presented Stanford Routt with a gift at the 2-yard line, flinging a pass to Chambers near the goal line which hung in the air because of pressure by Kelly.

The Raiders took over at their own 2 with 6:51 left in the half.

– Culpepper completed his second pass of the game, an 18-yard strike to Jerry Porter, to convert a third-and-5 play from Oakland’s own 7.

By the two-minute warning, the Raiders had pushed the ball out to the 41-yard line and were facing third-and-4. Oakland has 23 carries for 98 yards.

– Jordan went down with a left injury after catching a 7-yard pass from Culpepper to the Miami 34-yard line with 29 seconds to play.

Culpepper dropped the shotgun snap, picked it up and managed to find Jordan under pressure. Jordan caught the ball and was spun around by Donnie Spragan. he was helped off the field by the training staff after a few minutes on the field.

Early indications are Jordan aggravated a back injury which has bothered him off and on since training camp. He spoke to the media earlier this week with an ice bag strapped to his lower back.

Sebastian Janikowski was brought in the game to attempt a 52-yard field goal as officials reviewed the play for the spot. Jordan was driven off the field on a cart.

Janikowski left the field as the Raiders instead opted to go for the first down on fourth-and-1.

Miami called time out as the Raiders went to the line.

Culpepper threw to his right to an open Curry, but Renaldo Hill was able to knock the ball loose for an incomplete pass.

Miami took over with 23 seconds left at their own 34-yard line and opted to kill the clock and end the half.

Miami linebacker Joey Porter’s guarantee that the Dolphins would beat the Raiders Sunday was greeted with shrugs of shoulders, half-smiles and indifference.

“It amuses me, I guess,” safety Michael Huff said. “I guess he’s just trying to fire up his own team. We’ll just play our game, whether he said it or not. We play Raider football, we’ll be fine.”

Porter, who signed a lucrative free agent contract with the Dolphins in the offseason after parting ways with Pittsburgh, as the reputation for being a big talker.

“I don’t worry about that. We know what he’s about, so it really doesn’t matter,” running back LaMont Jordan said. “You can talk as much as you want to, the bottom line is you have to go out there and play. With that said, I know those guys are going to come out fired up, but like coach Kiff says, it’s never about the other team. It’s always about us.”

More news and notes:

– Lane Kiffin wants to see Josh McCown limp around for another two days before he can be absolutely sure about his quarterback situation.

Or maybe he is waiting to see if the Raiders hire Mr. Miyagi of “Karate Kid” fame to slap his hands together and apply his magical healing powers to McCown’s fractured left toe.

“Josh didn’t go today so we’ll take another look at him in the morning and see if he can practice tomorrow,” Kiffin said.

McCown struggled against Denver with limited practice time. Would he be comfortable starting McCown if he missed practice again Friday?

“I’ll have to look at what happens,” Kiffin said. “I’ll have to see how he was the next day.”

Never mind . . .

– LG Robert Gallery made it through the entire practice, meaning it’s likely he will be able to start against Miami. Same goes for center Jeremy Newberry and linebacker Robert Thomas.

Kiffin wouldn’t say whether Newberry or Jake Grove would start at center.

“I don’t know yet,” Kiffin said. “I have to see how he responds to having a full day of work.”

Grove’s performance against Cleveland nose tackle Ted Washington, listed at 375 pounds but looking like 475, impressed line coach Tom Cable.

“Jake has done an awesome job filling in for Jeremy,” Cable said. “Last week was a perfect example. You’re playing a guy who’s the biggest guy in the league and he handled everything we asked of him and we were able to have a little success.”

– DE Derrick Burgess did not practice. Kiffin said the bye week will be taken into account regarding the health of all injured players.

“We always talk about all the different variables that go into the decisions that we make as far as knowing that a whole week is coming up,” Kiffin said. “There are two different ways to look at it. One is, you can get him to that week and rest him, or another one is, do you push your guy knowing (that week) is coming.”

– For the past two days, the Raiders offensive players wore black jerseys and the defense wore white. Even long-time Raiders employees can’t remember it ever happening before.

“You put them in jersey colors so they get used to what they’re throwing to for the quarterback,” Kiffin said. “We’re wearing black in Miami, so he gets used to throwing to black and gets used to white on the other side.”

Which doesn’t explain why the offense wasn’t in black last week, considering the Raiders wear black at home.

Now that Josh McCown is possibly sidelined with two bad feet, it’s time to put on the blindfold, pick up a Louisville Slugger and take a few home run cuts at the Rob Ryan pinata.

Considering the size of the thing, one swing and candy ought to be flying as far away as the empty seats at McAfee Coliseum.

Depending on who was counting, Ryan dropped anywhere from 8 to all 11 men into coverage on the last offensive play from scrimmage in the Raiders’ 26-24 win over the Cleveland Browns Sunday.

The result was a 13-yard Derek Anderson to Joe Jurevicius pass which set up the Browns at the Oakland 22 for what could have been a game-winning field goal. It didn’t happen only because Lane Kiffin Shanahaned Phil Dawson with a timeout, giving Tommy Kelly a chance to block the re-kick.

The Jurevicius pass was preceeded by 33 and 23 yards strikes over an open middle to tight end Kellen Winslow.

It couldn’t have been more clear. The Raiders backed off when they should have attacked. They let Anderson have time to throw rather than apply pressure. They should have blitzed.

Ryan’s reluctance to bring the house, or at least a spare room or two, almost cost the Raiders the game.

At the risk of offending qualified coaches in the stands and in front of television sets everywhere, I’ll suggest blitzing isn’t always the best way to go.

Everyone remembers every game they’ve witnessed in which an offense picks apart a passive “prevent” defense and marches down the field to inevitable victory.

You’d think it happens that way every time. It doesn’t, of course.

A couple of examples of recent history from Arrowhead Stadium:

– On Nov. 6, 2005, Trent Green beats a Raiders blitz with a short flip over the middle to Larry Johnson, who races 36 yards to the 1-yard line. Dick Vermeil calls time out, and Johnson jumps the pile for a game-winning touchdown.

Many of the Raiders were focusing on a phantom tripping call on Ed Jasper preceeding the Johnson play. Al Davis was equally miffed at Ryan’s blitz call which was supposed to force the action against Green but instead gave the Chiefs a big play.

– On Nov. 23, 2003, Green finds Marc Boerigter for 16 yards on a fourth-and-14 pass in single coverage against Phillip Buchanon. Morten Andersen kicks a 35-yard field goal and the Chiefs win, 27-24.

After the game, Rich Gannon, injured at the time with a torn labrum, calls me to the side. He had been standing with Davis and Jim Otto. In a measured tone, Gannon says, “What I’d want to know, if I were you, is why we were blitzing on fourth-and-14 right there. That’s what I’d ask.”

I tell Gannon we aren’t allowed to talk to assistant coaches (Chuck Bresnahan was the defensive coordinator) and he shakes his head in disgust.

Maybe Ryan should have blitzed or applied more pressure against Cleveland. Hindsight, apart from the fact the Raiders won the game, suggests as much.

Blitzing, however, leaves a defense susceptible to big plays, and standard defensive operating procedure late in the game, as painful as it is to watch, is to make a team run as many plays as possible before scoring. The more plays an offense runs, the better the chance for a mistake.

Kiffin’s reasoning that the Raiders needed to cover better is not entirely without merit.

If you’re blitzing, who do you send?

Based on the first two games, you keep Kirk Morrison and Thomas Howard in coverage, because early indications are there isn’t a better pair of pass coverage linebackers in the NFL.
Linebackers are usually your best blitzers, and those happen to be the only two on the field in passing situations.

My argument with questioning defensive calls is the same as offensive calls. The execution is more important than the call itself.

Coaching up your players during the week during two-minute drills is more important than dialing up a scheme on Sunday as if you’re playing Madden ‘07.

If you’re teaching coverage all week and think you’re good at it, you don’t start blitzing on Sunday.

As long as Davis is around, the Raiders aren’t going to be a team that goes heavy with the blitz. They’re going to play more man-to-man than most teams and do their best to bring natural pressure without relying heavily on blitzing.

If they can’t bring that natural pressure, they’ve got a problem. And if they can’t cover dropping seven or eight at a time, what happens when that blitz is picked up and they’re covering with six or less?

As for the hope that Kiffin can some day coax his dad Monte on staff, with the Raiders playing a Tampa 2 zone, it would be the ultimate demonstration that the kid has more juice than any coach Davis has ever hired.

The Tampa 2, if you recall from the Super Bowl debacle, isn’t big on blitzing. It has to do with falling into coverage and relying on speedy defenders to correctly read the quarterback and break on the ball.

Should Ryan have applied more pressure? The last two drives against Cleveland say yes, but taking heat from fans is nothing compared to dealing with Davis when it comes to defense.

Daunte Culpepper is starting the second half for the Raiders.

Derrick Burgess missed practice for the third straight day, but coach Lane Kiffin did not rule out the possibility of using his best pass rusher in a limited role.

“If we can push him to where he can go obviously he’s of great value to us, even if it’s in a limited role, where some players may not be,” Kiffin said. “If he can just go to where he can be just on third downs, he’s of value to us. So we’re going to keep trying to push and see if we can get him out there.”

Burgess was listed as “questionable,” meaning there’s a 50-50 chance he could play. In theory, that means he is more likely to play than Josh McCown, listed as doubtful last Friday, was against Denver.

Kiffin was asked if it made sense to put a guy on the field whose strengths are his explosiveness and speed, when those two areas could be adversely affected by a calf injury. Kiffin said that as an every-down player, Burgess might be able to push through fewer plays.

Burgess wasn’t available for comment and made it clear Wednesday he wasn’t going to be discussing injuries with anybody.

You wonder if there is a tug-of-war going on behind the scenes here. Kiffin twice used the term “push,” as if with just a little shove in the right direction, Burgess might be able to play if so inclined.

It’s a sticky subject where Burgess is concerned. During training camp, Burgess said there was talk of upgrading his contract befitting his status as the NFL leader in sacks over the 2005 and 2006 seasons, only to have the talks cease once Mike Lombardi left the organization.

Burgess didn’t attend any voluntary workout sessions in the offseason and started training camp on the physically unable to perform list after hernia surgery.

He chose his words carefully during camp on the money issue, making it clear that he would look out for himself as well as the team.

“Hopefully they decide they want to give me a new contract, cool. If not, hey, it’s a business, you’ve got to remember that,” Burgess said. “The only part I want everybody to understand, like I tell the young cats, always treat it like one. That’s it.”

Burgess could decide that it’s not good business to take the field when speed, one of his important assets, is an issue because of an injury. Going out and being ineffective is never good business, and neither is making the injury worse. He has been down that road before in Philadelphia, where he missed nearly as many games as he played.

It would behoove both the Raiders and Burgess to make sure he’s at or near full strength. If that means sitting out this week and even next week, the Week 5 bye would give him three weeks to get healthy.

He could still get a running start at the season with three quarters of it remaining to be played. At 6-foot-2, 260 pounds, Burgess is not a stout defensive end, smaller than many linebackers. He is not going to get past 330-pound tackles without the burst which has put him in the Pro Bowl two years running.

If Burgess spends the season nursing a nagging injury which robs him of his speed, it’s bad business all around.

More Friday news and notes:

– C Jeremy Newberry (questionable) practiced for the first time this week, although he did not finish practice. Kiffin said Newberry might be available, but that Jake Grove would start. Grove will give up at last 75 pounds to Cleveland nose tackle Ted Washington.

– RB LaMont Jordan (back) practiced Friday, was listed as probable and should be good to go for Cleveland.

“We’ll play him as normal and monitor him during the game,” Kiffin said.

– Those who did not practice, were listed as doubtful and likely won’t face Cleveland included LB Robert Thomas (hamstring) and FB Oren O’Neal (hamstring). LB Isaiah Ekejiuba is out with a cracked bone in his foot.

With Thomas and Ekejiuba out, Ricky Brown is the lone reserve linebacker.

– The way Kiffin sees it, Josh McCown’s struggles against Denver and the Josh bashing that ensued is not necessarily a bad thing. McCown, who left the practice facility in a protective boot on his sprained foot, was listed as probable.

“I think it helps him a lot, because he is very tough and he’s a tough competitor,” Kiffin said, noting that Denver coach Mike Shanahan noticed that McCown was passing in pain against the Broncos. “It’s of extreme value, especially to go through a time where there’s a lot of questions about the starting quarterback in the public, and I’d venture to say the public perception is they’d much rather not have him be the starting quarterback.

“It’s very valuable to have that as opposed to a quarterback who maybe hasn’t been through adversity, and is not very tough and wouldn’t be able to handle it very well. I think he’s handled it great.”

We’ll see how “good” it is if McCown experiences similar adversity against Cleveland.

Three quotes which prove players are so focused on their jobs they sometimes don’t realize what comes out of their mouth:

– “I didn’t think this game was difficult for us as far as coverage. I don’t know that we blew any assignment. I have to watch it . . . I didn’t think it was that bad.” _ Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha regarding the pass defense against Denver.

OK, Asomugha’s coverage was pretty good, and the pass interference penalty he received was a close call _ he did turn around an instant before the ball arrived. Linebackers Thomas Howard and Kirk Morrison were good in coverage as well.

As for the rest of the secondary . . . not good. Too many open receivers.

– “It was hard because the run game was developing so well for us it was hard to get away from it . . . it was hard to build a good rhythm in the passing game. Somewhere in there, there’s a good balance.” — quarterback Josh McCown regarding the “embarrassing” passing attack against Denver.

If so, this is groundbreaking stuff _ the first time in recorded NFL history a strong running game has actually worked to the detriment of the passing game.

Maybe this happened in in college when Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma teams had Thomas Lott running the option, but in the NFL, it’s universally accepted that a solid running game should open up the passing game.

Some of Ben Roethlisberger’s best games come when he throws 20 passes or less for Pittsburgh.

– “Our O-line did a great job. I don’t think we gave up too many sacks, if we gave up one,” _ running back LaMont Jordan.

The offensive line did a very good job run blocking, but McCown was sacked four times.

More news and notes and observations from the player’s day off:

– Lane Kiffin was ready at the end of his press briefing when word got back to him that CBS analyst Rich Gannon’s commentary included a story relayed by Mike Shanahan that Denver expected to take charge late in the game because the Raiders don’t practice hard enough.

“I’m kind of hearing that third hand so I don’t know what was said exactly,” Kiffin said. “But Mike must have pretty good spies if he knows how long and how hard we practice every day . . . maybe Lombardi told him.”

And with that, Kiffin thanked reporters and left room.

Lombardi, of course, is Mike Lombardi, the Art Shell “fox” who is now in the hen house of the Broncos.

It was the best press conference exit since Bill Callahan read a prepared statement the day before he was fired, bolted from the podium and when asked, “Are you taking any questions,?” replied, “No!” before walking through the media room door for the final time.

– With Atlanta having signed Byron Leftwich to a two-year contract worth $7 million, the most likely trade partner for McCown, Daunte Culpepper or Andrew Walter is no longer seeking a quarterback.

JaMarcus Russell will be exempt for one more game, watching from the sidelines and taking it all in, but will be in uniform when the Raiders visit Miami in Week 4. Kiffin said it is unlikely the Raiders would keep four quarterbacks

– For anyone keeping track, Arizona defensive end Quentin Moses has been inactive the first two games of the season.

It doesn’t mean the Raiders necessarily made the right move in cutting the first pick of the third round, but it indicates he hasn’t exactly been “unblockable” with the Cardinals.

Strong pass rushers simply aren’t inactive, because they’re useful even if it’s only for five to 10 plays a game.

– I’ve heard from a few people who feel I was too hard on the Raiders’ defense against Denver, considering Oakland generated nine points with a touchdown, a safety and opened the overtime with a three-and-out against the Denver offense.

All those things are true. Three dominant, top-flight defensive sequences. There was also a two-play drive that ended in an interception by Kirk Morrison.

Denver’s other eight possessions racked up 26 first downs. Going 4-for-12 is not what anyone had in mind for a defense which hoped to be one of the NFL’s best, even against a solid opponent.

You think you know, but you don’t know. And you never will.

Those words were spoken once by former Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Mora and will live forever in the sound byte Hall of Fame.

Lane Kiffin didn’t say it that way Monday. He was more polite, fielding questions regarding the unpopular decision to stay with Josh McCown as his quarterback when the Raiders host the Cleveland Browns Sunday at McAfee Coliseum.

The meaning, however, was very much the same.

You don’t know what I know. How could you?

Included in the Monday review of the Raiders’ 23-20 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos was this excerpt of Kiffin’s opening statement:

“Our passing game was basically embarrassing.”

Not embarrassing enough to change the quarterback.

McCown will start his third game for the Raiders against the Cleveland Browns. Both he and Kiffin know what the reception will be like, with McCown taking the field and Daunte Culpepper standing on the sideline in his baseball cap.

There was a taste of it in the Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions. Before the Raiders had scored a touchdown, before McCown even ran on the field, he warned Kiffin of what was to come. Kiffin smiled as he told the story.

“Josh says, ‘Don’t worry about it, coach. It’s going to get pretty ugly here,’ ” Kiffin said. Kiffin asked McCown what he was talking about.

“Just wait until the next series when we go out,’ ” McCown told Kiffin.

“He knows what’s coming more than I did,” Kiffin said.

To all of you who plan on voicing your displeasure Sunday, this was Kiffin’s message: “I apologize to our fans but I can’t make our decision based on their reactions. That’s not fair to our team. I feel Josh this week continues to put us in the best position to win.”

Why is that, exactly? Here is Kiffin’s unedited answer:

“I feel right now that there’s so much that goes into the game besides just numbers. There’s checks he’s making on third down. There’s third-and-9 where he audibles to a run vs. a certain blitz that he has about five seconds on the play clock to get done, and we make 10 yards and make the first down.

“There’s a bunch of little things hidden in there. Or a time somebody comes in free and he moves out of the way or throws one to Zach (Miller) for about five yards that could have been a loss of 8. Right now I feel he puts us in a better position to win. Will that be the case next Monday? I don’t know.”

McCown, short of booing himself, says he feels even worse than the fans.

“They pay their money and they’re entitled to root for the guy they want out there,” McCown said. “I don’t get caught up in it because it does me no good. It’s just going to bring me down.

“I have to play to a standard that I want to and as bad as the fans may think that you play, this is just something they go and watch, and they go and get enjoyment from. This is my life, this is my job. If they want me to do better, then just imagine how much I want to do better and how well I want to play. As much pressure as they put on, their standard does not even come close to where my standard is for myself. I’ll go out and work hard this week and prepare and get ready to go and try to get this first win.”

There was more, and I’m sure you can find Kiffin’s press conference on Raiders.com, but you get the point. He’s the coach, McCown’s the quarterback. It doesn’t appear there’s anything anyone can do about it short of one of Al Davis’ bodyguards using a vaudeville hook and pulling McCown off the field.

Kiffin conceded McCown had “accuracy issues” and lamented about a missed opportunity to Jerry Porter late in the game on the throw preceeding an interception by Dre’ Bly.

“He throws off his back foot and overthrows Jerry or the game’s over at that point,” Kiffin said.

Kiffin said the five interceptions in two games “blows me away” but said not all the picks were on extremely poor decisions.

“Josh has got to get better, that’s no secret, or he won’t be out starting quarterback for long, especially at this pace,” Kiffin said. “At the same time, there’s other stuff that goes into it.”

As for Culpepper, Kiffin spoke with enthusiasm about how the offense would look with him in the game.

“I feel very comfortable with Daunte. I just feel Josh puts us in a better position to win right now,” Kiffin said. “When the time comes that Daunte plays, I’m going to be excited because he brings us something different. Does he have the offense down as much as Josh? No, he doesn’t, but can he do some other things better than Josh? Yeah, he can. When the time comes that Daunte plays, I’ll be the first one cheering him in there.”

Not likely, assuming that game happens at home. About 40,000 fans may beat Kiffin to it.

More news and notes:

– Sebastian Janikowski’s 52-yard miss may have been adversely affected by the one he made on the previous kick which, was erased by Mike Shanahan’s time out.

Since the first kick left a divot, holder Shane Lechler, Kiffin said, moved about nine inches over to the right.

“He’s not exactly square right there so he’s actually off center a little bit,” Kiffin said. Center Jon Condo’s snap made Lechler reach for the ball.

It almost resulted in a blocked kick.

Seabass, by the way, has Kiffin’s complete support. He has no plans to bring in a kicker any time soon.

– More fuel to the quarterback fire _ JaMarcus Russell got his second up-close look at an NFL game (the first one he attended was for close friend Michael Clayton) and feels he could have stepped in and played.

“Yeah, no doubt. I’m going to say that anyway, because I just want to get that chance to go out there and get a chance to play,” Russell said. “My dream has finally come true, I’m in the NFL. My next dream is to go out there and be very productive for my team.”

– Kiffin was critical of Oakland’s tackling in the secondary which resulted in extra yardage for the Broncos all game long.

– The Raiders coach apparently has USC stats on the brain. He said Jordan could have run for 200 yards himself.

– Oakland’s delay of game penalty occurred, Kiffin said, during a time when the communication system to the quarterback went out.

Wireless signals were a dicey proposition in the press box during a day which had a 25-minute delay for a lightning storm.

– The Raiders have apparently established a Sgt. Shultz, “I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing” policy with regard to injury updates on Monday.

So no word on the status of Derrick Burgess, who sat out the end of the game with a calf injury.

Of course, someone could leak it to NFL Network, but beware _ the word last Tuesday was that McCown could be gone three or four weeks with a broken finger and sprained foot.

– How did Kiffin tell his team to deal with the defeat snatched from the jaws of victory?

“I talked to them about the feeling that you had for about five seconds before you knew there was a time out, how great that feeling was and what they felt running out on the field,” Kiffin said. “I wanted ‘em to capture that feeling and remember that, what that was. And then I wanted them to remembver what it was like in that locker room when they felt terrible, they were miserable.”

There. Feel better?

Scoring

Oakland–Jerry Porter 46-yard pass from Josh McCown (Sebastian Janikowski kicks PAT), 5:19.

Notes: Brandon Marshall was called for offensive pass interference against Nnamdi Asomugha after an apparent touchdown pass from Jay Cutler. Jason Elam then missed a 45-yard field goal attempt . . .

With 8:27 left in the third quarter on Oakland’s first possession of the second half, Josh McCown remains the quarterback.

McCown at least temporarily validiates Kiffin’s faith with a 46-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Porter, cutting the Raiders deficit to 17-10.

The big play in a 65-yard drive, apart from the score, was a 10-yard run by LaMont Jordan on fourth-and-1 moments after the Broncos successfully challenged the spot of a first down, leaving Oakland a yard short.

The Raiders wasted a successful onsides kick attempt when the ensuing drive stalled because of back-to-back penalties, a false start on Cornell Green and a delay of game call on the offense.

It put Oakland into a second-and-20, and McCown was eventually sacked for 12-yard loss by Elvis Dumervill on third-and-15.

The third quarter ended with the Broncos backed up to their own 4-yard line and facing a second-and-14 after a holding penalty.

Josh McCown took the field as the starter after Jason Elam’s kickoff was taken in the end zone for a touchback.

No one expects to see Alex Gibbs at the Raiders-Broncos game Sunday at Invesco Field, but his influence will be felt every time a defensive player picks himself up off the ground, the victim of a block he never saw.

Gibbs was the architect of Denver offensive lines from 1995 through 2003 which annually were among the best in the NFL despite being comprised of smallish blockers who were often castoffs or low draft picks.

Once upon a time, Gibbs was an offensive line coach for the Raiders. Mike Shanahan had worked with Gibbs on the Denver staff with Dan Reeves, and when Al Davis hired Shanahan to coach the Los Angeles Raiders in 1988, Shanahan requested to have Gibbs on his staff.

Davis also insisted Shanahan take Art Shell. Shell believes in man-to-man blocking, power against power, may the strongest man win. Gibbs philosophy is to get the defensive line moving one way and create a lane for the running back to make one hard cut through the hole.

“The thing is to have the appearance you are going outside,” defensive tackle Warren Sapp said during training camp. “But teams that stretch the ball don’t want to go outside. They want to
cut it back - spread your holes and (put) you on an island with a great athlete
and then he can put a move on you.”

Shanahan lasted just 20 games as the Raiders coach, and when he was fired in favor of Shell, Gibbs went with him.

Gibbs and Bobb McKittrick, the former line coach for the 49ers, were the leading practitioners of cut blocking, where linemen will dive at the legs of defenders, a tactic almost exclusively used on running plays. As McKittrick used to say, “We believe a defender is less likely to make a tackle if he’s on the ground.”

It favors smaller linemen who can get out and move, with stretch plays, sweeps and traps being the most effective running plays. It’s a system in which Kevin Boothe, a promising 14-game starter as a man blocker, becomes expendable in favor of Chris Morris, a center-guard who started last season on the practice squad before being elevated to the 53-man roster, although he rarely played.

After his Raiders experience, Gibbs, no big fan of Davis, quickly joined forces with Marty Schottenheimer in Kansas City.

When Shanahan became head coach in Denver, he brought in Gibbs to coach the offensive line.

While Gibbs never made it back to the Raiders, many of his philosophies are taught on a daily basis, courtesy of coach Lane Kiffin and line coach Tom Cable.

When Kiffin was co-offensive coordinator at USC, Gibbs came to campus in 2002 and spent two days teaching his blocking system.

“You’d always watched it and studied it but you never had the real bits and pieces of it,” Kiffin said. “When he came and gave it to us, we just never looked back after that and have used it ever since.”

Kiffin said the Raiders, or even the Broncos for that matter, do not fully adhere to all Gibbs’ tenets, but have incorporated most of his theories.

When looking for a line coach, Kiffin zeroed in on Cable early in the process. Gibbs left Denver in 2003 and was brought in by Jim Mora to be the assistant head coach and line coach with the Atlanta Falcons.

Cable was hired in 2006 to be the Falcons line coach when Gibbs wanted to reduce his work load and become a consultant.

Like Cable, Denver line coach Rick Dennison also worked with Gibbs from 2001 through 2003.

The Raiders transition has been encouraging.

“Nobody wants to be told they’re not worth a darn,” Cable said during training camp. “They’re human. I think they embraced it the right way. Definitely.”