Raiders Back in Familiar Territory

It just feels right, doesn't it? Seeing the Oakland Raiders in last place, that is. After a 2-2 start, the long-struggling Raiders were sailing through the AFC West, jovially raising their wooden mugs and throwing their bicorn hats in the air. Problem was, the high seas got rough again, and the Raiders dropped two consecutive games at home against divisional foes San Diego and, most recently, Kansas City . Suddenly, Al Davis's crew is back to 2-4 and looking up at the other three teams in the AFC West, whom they've lost to an astounding 17 consecutive times.

The formula for stopping Oakland is obvious: cram the box and dare Daunte Culpepper to beat you through the air. The Raiders averaged 194.2 yards rushing in their first four games. But against the Chargers, they gained only 53 yards on 23 carries. Against the Chiefs, they rushed for just 55 yards on 24 carries.

"They did a great job of bringing safeties down, their four did a tremendous job of clogging up the holes," said Culpepper of a Chiefs defense that limited his team to just seven points. "We're going to see defense like that week in and week out, and we've got to continue to get better."

Much like with an ocean storm, Lane Kiffin believes his crew must stay the course and sail its way out of trouble. "I think we have to run the ball. This team is not built to sit back and throw the ball 50 times. That's not who we are personnel-wise," Kiffin said.

One week after gaining only 42 yards on 18 carries, running back LaMont Jordan had just 29 yards on 11 attempts. Dominic Rhodes, seeing his first action as a Raider, produced 21 yards on nine carries.

"Teams are going to put eight in the box. They're going to do what the two teams have done for the past two weeks," Jordan said. "When we look at the film, we're going to realize we just got out-executed. We got a few big plays from our passing game but when it's all said and done, the strength of this offense is running the ball. The last two weeks, we didn't do a good job of that at all."

Jordan went on to talk about missed opportunities from the Charger loss before saying, "We're close, but heck, we're close to about being out of the playoffs if we keep losing."

Don't expect things to get any easier for the Raiders. Their next game is a road matchup against the 4-2 Tennessee Titans, owners of the league's top- rated run defense.

SAPP OFF THE SCHNEID

A year after recording 10 sacks in a Pro Bowl-snub season, defensive tackle Warren Sapp did not get his first quarterback sack of 2007 until Week 7 against the Chiefs. Playing without fellow starting defensive tackle Gerard Warren, Sapp was able to burst through the Kansas City o-line and bring down Damon Huard to give himself 95.5 career sacks, placing him third on the all- time list for defensive tackles.

Later in the game, Sapp reached Huard again, except he was forced to let him go due to the small legal nuances of football.

"I had him by the face mask," Sapp said. "I had to let him go or else I would have gotten a penalty."

Sapp let go of Huard and the quarterback wound up completing a crucial 58-yard pass to Dwayne Bowe that helped set up Kansas City 's go-ahead score.

WHO'S HOT

Punter Shane Lechler showed once again Sunday why he is one of the best in the business. Lechler punted nine times, averaging 51.2 yards per boot. He had a long of 66 and left three balls inside the 20-yard line. Chiefs return specialist Eddie Drummond had seven punt returns, none going for more than 12 yards.

WHO'S NOT

The entire Oakland running back trio --- Jordan, Rhodes and Justin Fargas --- struggled again on Sunday. The three combined for 21 carries and 52 yards against the Chiefs.

NEXT UP

The Raiders travel to Tennessee to face the 4-2 Titans.

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