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| Kiffin In the Company of Men |
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Friday, November 30 2007 @ 04:40 AM PST
Contributed by: tenaciousp |
 In the Company of Men
He is a pretty-good sized individual, probably about six-foot two-inches tall, judging from the video and pictures one sees of him.
Yet when you look upon his boyish face, it seems more-likely he should take your ticket at the movie theater or serve you up an extra-large order of French fries at the drive-thru. Instead, week after interminable week, we would watch Lane Kiffin, head coach of the Oakland Raiders, stand in front of the microphones and impishly serve up another round of humble pie.
“…need to get this offense fixed….play more disciplined….eleven offensive penalties….my tailor keeps shrinking my clothes….it’s very disappointing….missed too many opportunities….storyline is two things….John Madden was great and Bill Callahan’s going to get fired….gotta finish ‘em right there….still a chance to win….disappointing loss….and I’m worried all my head gyrations are a precursor to Parkinson’s Disease.”
Here he was, though, standing in the Raiders’ locker room following their surprising 20-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium. Standing beside gigantic men who block out the sun and obscure the life-size cardboard cutout of Run Run Jones in the corner. Surely to be visited by Al Davis, who would extol the virtues of this victory and talk for a while about the good old days—way, way back when—when the Middle East Peace process was actually pursued as something important and the Raiders could defeat the Kansas City Chiefs. In this pulsing environment, Lane Kiffin could allow himself a smile.
In the company of men.
Though the game was hardly played for first place, the victory did not occur without its share of firsts.
Defensive back Michael Huff’s first career interception came in the initial quarter on the game’s third play. Kansas City’s Brodie Croyle (who has to be from the South with a name like that) lofted a pitch that Huff read well, reached high, and snared even better; three plays later a 25-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski put Oakland on top, 3-0.
Wide receiver Jerry Porter had his first game of leading by example since he sauntered into Art Shell’s office with a belt-buckle on and said he didn’t feel like practicing today. Two of Porter’s three grabs (75 yards total) against Kansas City were made on concentration, ability, and grit. The third-quarter, 25-yard right-side leaping gazelle reception was the reason Al Davis wanted to keep Porter in the first place. The 35-yard catch, also on the right side, was a beautiful timing pattern where Porter knew he would get his bell rung. Moments after the catch, he wasn’t disappointed. Leaving the game, Porter held onto the football, but it was reported that he forgot his mother’s name. “Mom” would have been the correct answer.
Kirk Morrison made a play. If the fourth-and-one stop had been made by Morrison at the beginning of the third quarter, we hardly would have glanced at the monitor as we stood in line for our 24th big-gulp beer. This tackle, however, was a game-saving stuff. Morrison read the play well, crept stealthily to the line and stopped Kolby Smith for a loss. The Raider rush defense has hardly been laudable these days: A quadriplegic sucking on a straw riding a Goodwill wheelchair could gain 64 yards against the Silver and Black. In this critical moment, Morrison made a play, and the Raiders garnered a victory.
Justin Fargas set a modern-day record by being the first Silver-and-Black running back to race for over 100 yards rushing in Arrowhead Stadium since Arthur Whittington in 1978. To give you some perspective on this accomplishment, in 1978: Sweden became the first country to outlaw aerosol cans, World Health Organization was formed, neutron bomb was abolished, Anwar Sadat was still alive, and Diane Keaton made males’ loins enflame in Annie Hall. During the intervening 28 seasons from 1979 through 2006, the Raiders won six times at Arrowhead.
So it is not a small thing that the Silver and Black won in the sea of Neanderthal red, in the land of the lunkheads. Let’s revisit the five straight losses at Arrowhead Stadium:
2002: 20 – 10 loss: Despite amassing 417 yards in total offense, Oakland could manage just one field goal and a touchdown pass from Rich Gannon to Doug Jolley. Failed third-down conversions, turnovers, and inopportune penalties stymied the offense. Over the final nine games, the Raiders would win seven.
2003: 27 – 24 loss: When you hear the name Phillip Buchanon, do all Raider fans feel their eye twitch? With four minutes remaining, Buchanon returned a punt 27 yards down to the Kansas City 16-yard line, then ripped off his helmet and ran toward the stands to taunt the crowd. The resulting 15-yard penalty pushed Oakland back to the 31-yard line and they settled for a field goal. Chiefs won it with four seconds to play.
2004: 31 – 30 loss: Dante Hall’s 49-yard kickoff return with 1:03 to play set the stage, 38-yard field goal provided the Chiefs victory.
2005: 27 – 23 loss: Facing fourth-and-one at the Oakland one-yard line with five seconds remaining, Kansas City chose to go for the win. Larry Johnson dove over the line into the end zone.
2006: 17 -13 loss: With 32 seconds left in the game, on first-and-eight at the Chiefs eight-yard line, Aaron Brooks threw an end-zone interception to seal the Raider defeat.
Raider fans can therefore feel good about a win over the dunderheaded Chiefs. There was one other first that was accomplished in the 20-17 victory. This significant, trivial fact involves the number of head coaches who won at Arrowhead Stadium the first time they coached there while wearing Silver and Black. John Rauch, John Madden, Tom Flores, Art Shell, Mike White, Joe Bugel, Jon Gruden, Bill Callahan, and Norv Turner all lost in their initial Kansas City appearance. There has been only one real head coach for the Raiders who has won in their first try in Kansas City.
Al Davis, Municipal Stadium, November 8, 1963: 22 – 7 win.
This sentinel asterisk puts Coach Lane Kiffin in pretty heady company.
In the company of men.
Craig Parker
Author, Football’s Blackest Hole,
Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia
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