It was a most enjoyable evening for the 2011 opener of NFL Network Thursday Night Football, I must say, although, ironically, the game is blacked out locally on NFL Network. Thank you, Rogers SportsNet for picking up the broadcast for a football starved fan like me. Let me break down this two-thirds rant into three components: 1. The Fickle Media; 2. The Fictional Rules created by the NFL Rules Committee; and finish on a positive note with 3. The sheer enjoyment of watching some fine football by some original AFL West rivals, the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers.1. a) I had forgotten from last season how that the initial half hour of the Thursday Night Football telecast was a complete waste of viewing time, filled only by talking heads trying their best to predict what the outcome of the game would be. Like most, if not all, other football commentators, they base their prognostications on the recent past. How silly. With one exception, all the broadcasters on this night were pretty sure that the Raiders had no hope of winning, and that San Diego just had to come out of its funk and go on to a Super Bowl berth. At the conclusion of the game, when they all interviewed winning quarterback Carson Palmer, not one of the "experts" said to Palmer that they had predicted wrongly that he would lose the game tonight. Stupidity coupled with no class. b) In the Raiders' previous game, a loss, they were basically done in by taking too many penalties. On this night the Raiders were playing a much more disciplined game, and were ahead in the score with no penalties, half way through the second quarter. At that point the Raiders were called for holding, and the announcers and the Network instantly pounced on Oakland, trotting out their graphic showing the Raiders leading the league in penalties, not only this season, but several of the top ten seasons in NFL history. No mention was made of the highly disciplined game that the Raiders were currently playing. It was as if the Network had its graphic ready to use at the first moment of penalization, and they were going to milk it for all it was worth, even though it really didn't fit during the Raiders' superb performance this evening. c) As star running back Darren McFadden was out with a foot injury, fullback/halfback Michael Bush was given the major work load at rushing the ball. Bush was incredible on this night, powering through the line on several occasions, and breaking a couple of long runs, one on a screen pass. However, NFL Network's Mike Mayock, in his infinite wisdom, comments that, with no disrespect to Michael Bush on one of his long gains, if it had been Darren McFadden with the ball, the play would have resulted in a touchdown. How does Mayock know that? Is he suddenly The Amazing Kreskin? Sure, maybe McFadden scores on a similar play, but there are no guarantees that he would have gone further on Bush's impressive run. I know that Mayock has a brilliant football mind, but sometimes he is just a clueless babbler.
2. a) Sebastian Janikowski has a sore hamstring, so the Raiders tried a fake punt from the Chargers' 34 yard line on their first drive. Punter Shane Lechler threw a pass to Jacoby Ford, who was mauled by Quentin Jammer because pass interference can't be called in a punt formation. At this point in the game, I was pretty sure that this was the stupidest rule ever, but that will actually come later. First of all, please define "punt formation". If a team is in a T formation or a Shotgun formation, then suddenly decides to have someone quick kick, is that punt formation? If so, then if they had a bad snap and threw a pass, does that mean there could be no pass interference on such a play? What if the punter comes forward at the last minute into a Shotgun or T formation; does that take it out of punt formation so there could be pass interference? It just seems wrong to me that a defender can completely clobber a pass receiver on a fourth down pass by the team's punter. b) Chargers receiver Vincent Brown appeared to come down with another great touchdown catch in the third quarter, this one for 33 yards. But referee Ed Hochuli overturned it on replay, saying that since the defender landed out of bounds with his hand on the ball, it was considered out of bounds. In fairness to Mike Mayock, he nailed this one. Mayock knew the rule inside and out, and kept telling the play by play announcer that the touchdown might be overturned. When the pass was ruled an incompletion, I could not believe my eyes or ears. The NFL Rules Committee has created a complete fiction that resulted in the stupidest of results. Vincent Brown came down with the ball in his abdominal area, and he grabbed the ball with his hands as he secured complete possession from the defender. Nearly all of Brown's body was in bounds, including all the important parts, the feet, the knees and the butt. Part of his shoulder was touching the out of bounds line, but he had the ball in bounds. According the the rule, apparently, that wasn't good enough. Although the ball never touched the ground or went out of bounds, and the receiver's feet and knees were in bounds, he was somehow deemed to be out of bounds. The Rules Committee has made a complete mockery of reality. They have created a fiction that is just plain stupid.
3. Apart from my being appalled at the stupidity of both the media and the NFL rules, I was overjoyed to witness a great football game, in old AFL tradition. Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer threw two touchdown passes and Michael Bush ran 30 times for a season-high 157 yards and one touchdown to lead the Oakland Raiders to a 24-17 win over San Diego. The Chargers offensive line looked dismal most of the night and lost left tackle Marcus McNeill, right guard Louis Vasquez and linebacker Takeo Spikes to injuries. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers was sacked on consecutive plays near midfield to end the game and fumbled on the final play. Rivers was sacked six times in total as the Raiders overwhelmed Brandyn Dombrowski, who replaced McNeill at left tackle. The Raiders rush was relentless, as Rivers could be seen going off the field several times and shrugging his shoulders to his head coach, as if to say: "What else can I do?" Of course I was happy that the Raiders won the game, as I have been cheering for them ever since the 1977 Super Bowl. But, it was just so good to see some great football action, with power running, short and long passing, fumbles and interceptions. A great evening overall, and I can't wait until the Raiders and Chargers' next meeting on New Year's Day 2012.
