Week 2 Raiders @ Chiefs

Postgame wrap
By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 5:13 pm in Oakland Raiders.

Quick hits from the Raiders’ 23-8 win over the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium:

– It doesn’t get any more basic or fundamental than what the Raiders did in roadgrading the Chiefs. The last time they were here, the Raiders got 139 yards from Justin Fargas _ the first back to break 100 in 29 games in Kansas City.

They almost got two on Sunday, as Darren McFadden ran for 164 yards on 21 carries and Michael Bush had 90 on 16 attempts following a groin injury to Justin Fargas (43 yards, nine carries).

“We knew they were going to come in and try to run the ball on us,” Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said. “That was their mindset. We had to stop the run and try to run the ball and to protect our quarterback. We didn’t get any of those things accomplished.”

The Raiders, with Gerard Warren having a particularly strong game inside, held the Chiefs to 55 yards on 19 carries, with Larry Johnson getting 22 yards on 12 attempts with a long of seven yards. Quarterbacks Tyler Thigpen and Damon Huard were sacked five times.

Tyvon Branch and Kirk Morrison had interceptions, and 12 passes were broken up by defenders.

As bad as the Chiefs are, that’s a far cry from getting no sacks, breaking up no passes and having no interceptions against Denver.

– As much as the Raiders wanted to forget the Denver debacle, it couldn’t help but play a role in preparation for the Chiefs in a short week.

“You discard week one and just open the mind up that we’re going to play like we know how to play,” Warren said. “Week 1 we were more feeling our way around. We were in a fog almost. This week we just decided we needed to cut it loose and let it go.”

– If Sebastian Janikowski kicked at every other venue the way he does at Arrowhead, he would be regarded as one of Al Davis’ best draft picks ever.

He’s 21-for-24 in Kansas City, has hit his last 13 in a row and hasn’t missed since 2002. He nailed a 56-yarder _ his career best _ to start the scoring.

“I felt good the whole week,” Janikowski said. “I had a good week of practice. I didn’t miss anything. You go out there and try to do the same thing you did in practice.”

Kiffin joked that Janikowski felt at home seeing the soccer lines on the field from the previous evening’s soccer match featuring David Beckham between the Kansas City Wizards and the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Seabass, by the way, had a better day than Beckham.

– McFadden and Bush both lost fumbles, but both got the ball right back and did major damage.

Bush said breaking the 32-yard touchdown run to put the game away, “felt like a huge weight off my shoulders.”

– Raise a toast to Mario Henderson _ no penalties and no glaring errors as the Raiders effectively controlled things up front. Kiffin and Greg Knapp designed a game plan favorable to Henderson, often running to the opposite side and making sure he had help.

“Probably three out of four times we ran it away from him instead of to him,” Kiffin said. “But he still has to perform and he still has to do things. I’m very pleased with Mario and it’s just another case of stepping up to play and not worrying about things you can’t control when a guy goes down.”

Henderson got a pep talk from quarterback JaMarcus Russell, a wise old hand in his first road start.

“My thing is to keep going because you never know which player is going to break loose for you. So, I just told him, ‘No matter what happens, I’m going to be all right. If I get hit or whatever, just keep on going to the next play,’ ” Russell said. “Today, I didn’t get touched at all, probably twice I got hit on the ground, no sacks. I told him he did a great job.”

– Kiffin remained as cool as ever to reports that his job was in danger.

“I don’t worry about it. I don’t worry about things I can’t control,” Kiffin said. “That’s not my decision whether I’ll be here. So why waste time on it?”

Players seemed happy to get a win and relieved to have the Denver game pushed to the side. No time for distractions.

“I haven’t paid no attention all week. All week, the bullets were kind of on me so I kind of had a chip on my shoulder to go out and play ball,” cornerback DeAngelo Hall said. “Lane’s going to be Lane, Rob’s going to be Rob, Al’s going to be Al. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s going to be. We don’t have no control over nothing that happens up there. We just come out and try to play ball.”

– Read in my Web exclusive on-line column why Kiffin is serene despite his shaky job security.

– The Raiders didn’t need to pass, and it’s a good thing. Russell finished 6-for-17 for 55 yards with a long gain of 14. But two stats near and dear to Kiffin’s heart were clean _ no interceptions, no sacks.

“Once again, he didn’t throw an interception or turn the ball over, he’s coming out in a windy stadium,” Kiffin said. Javon (Walker) didn’t look 100 percent in warm-ups, so it was going to be one of those (games). We tried to throw a little bit early to loosen them up, and then in the second half for most part after that first series we didn’t bother throwing.”

It was the first win by Russell as a starter in his NFL career.

“It means a lot for me, as far as getting it out of the way,” Russell said. “That’s a big thing for me, as well. I just want to make it something that starting off today, just keep it going for the rest of the year.”

– Walker opened the game at split end, played one play, then came off in favor of Ashley Lelie. He didn’t return until 12:07 remained in the half and didn’t catch a pass. Lelie had the only reception by a wide receiver, a 12-yard gain on a slant. Ronald Curry had another drop.

– A defensive wrinkle by Rob Ryan had Nnamdi Asomugha, the Raiders best man-to-man defender and one of the taller corners in the league, defending against Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez in some matchups.

Asomugha said it happened on about six plays, including one debatable pass interference call.

– Kickoff return specialist Johnnie Lee Higgins had kickoff returns of 33 and 42 yards, with their average drive start following kickoffs at the 48-yard line. Kiffin thought the second return was crucial, because shortly afterward, San Leandro High product Jarrad Page forced a Bush fumble which the Chiefs recovered.

Higgins broke his return after the Chiefs had finally broken through and scored a touchdown and two-point conversion, coming within 16-8.

“If that play’s on the 20 and they get the ball back there, we’re in a totally different
game right there, we’re staring at a totally different ballgame right there,” Kiffin said.