Jets Attack Tuiasosopo

Tui's coming out party was crashed by the New York Jets defense resulting in another Raiders loss. Is the Raiders offensive line that bad? Jets DE Johnnie Abrams was all up in our backfield causing havoc on Tui. I'm sure Kerry Collins was in a "see I told you so" mode while watching from the sidelines. Between the bad play of the offensive line and the penalties the Raiders didn't have a chance today.

I hate to have to admit that we are living up to the negatives that analysts and sports writers preach about the Raiders. We are undisciplined and beat ourselves with penalties and mistakes.

Tui's performance was probably no worse than any inexperienced quarterback behind a weak O-line. Just look at the 49ers earlier in the season. Three quarterbacks later and they're just starting to put drives together.

Now the blame game for the Raiders poor play will probably be directed toward head coach Norv Turner. I wouldn't have minded swapping coaches today. Herm Edwards had his team prepared to compete today. I ask myself if today's game plan was one that gave better protection and opportunities for an inexperienced quarterback? I don't think so. Shorter routes and quick passes to the tight end may have helped, but I must admit that I couldn't watch after a while, so I'm not one to analyze the game today.

From what I saw, and I hope I'm wrong on this, it appeared that the team kind of gave up on winning the game. They began playing for the "Reggie Bush Sweeepstakes" and may qualify by season's end. That may not be such a bad thing. I wonder if maybe Al saw all the Reggie Bush highlights the sports networks ran this weekend after he won the Heisman? They say Reggie is maybe the best back ever to play college football. One analyst said he's a combination of Gale Sayers, Walter Payton, Earl Campbell and O.J. Simpson as a running back. If that turns out to be proven true, look out NFL. Maybe Al knows what's best for the Raiders in trying for the Reggie Bush Sweepstakes, we'll see.

I love my Raiders, but it's times like these that test my allegiance not to the team but to the organization. Are we a good team lacking leadership and smart organizational choices or are our players just not worth their price on paper? We'll see when and if Tui is given another chance, this time on home turf against the lowly Cleveland Browns.

Win Lose or Tie!