Raiders' defense reverts to terrible past

By Art Spander

OAKLAND, Calif. — This was the regression game, the reminder that the Raiders haven’t moved that far from their recent, terrible past.

This was the game where the defense couldn’t have covered a hole in a ground, much less a Philadelphia receiver.

This was the game that made Eagles quarterback Nick Foles part of history.

“It’s time for us,” Dennis Allen, the Raiders' coach said on Friday. “If we’re going to do something, we need to start making some sort of move.” 

He didn’t mean backwards, which is where Oakland went.

All those glowing words about the Raiders’ improved defense? All those thoughts the Raiders might reach .500 as the calendar reached November? Worthless.

Which in the 49-20 rout Sunday by the Eagles at O.co Coliseum is what the Oakland defense proved to be.

This was why the Eagles brought in Chip Kelly from the University of Oregon, to leave the opposition breathless as well as bewildered.

Philly didn’t dominate the clock or the statistics. Oakland had the ball 37 minutes 54 seconds, compared with 22:06 for the Eagles. Oakland had 560 yards, compared with 542 for the Eagles.

But Philly averaged 9.5 yards each play. Philly scored and scored. And scored.

Foles is the backup to the injured Michael Vick. He tied an NFL single-game record with seven touchdown passes. And of his 28 passes, only six were incomplete.

Seven touchdowns, six incompletions. What a replacement. What a nightmare for the Raiders, who are 3-5.

“We were out of place,” said Raider cornerback Tracy Porter. “We missed tackles. What NFL quarterbacks do is look for holes.”

In the Raiders, Foles found as many as in a hunk of Swiss cheese.

“They played their style, up-tempo,” said Porter. “And we weren’t able to match that. They came ready to play.”

What were the Raiders ready for? Or more accurately, were they ready for anything?

Rookie cornerback D.J. Hayden, Oakland’s first-round pick in the 2013 draft, wasn’t, including requests for a postgame interview, which he sloughed off with, “No, I’m good.”

In reality he was bad. Riley Cooper beat him for 17 yards 43 seconds into the second quarter to make it 14-3, then for 63 yards exactly three minutes later to make it 21-3.

“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for D.J.,” said Charles Woodson, the longtime all-pro defensive back who rejoined the Raiders again this season at age 37.

“He was the 12th pick in the draft. He was right there on those pass plays. I don’t think he located the receiver one time. Another time he slipped.”

That word, slipped, seemed appropriate for the entire Raider defense.

“I don’t know what to say,” added Woodson. “They executed their game plan from the word go. We never had an answer. You can read the press clippings. There were a lot of great things said about the defense. We took a beating, and we’ve got to stand up to it.”

Allen, in his second season as head coach, is not quick with the one-liners. No responses in the style of John McKay, who when being queried about his team’s execution said that he’d be in favor of it.

Allen remains wary of management, careful in his assessments, protective of his athletes.

“Obviously we didn’t hold up our end of the bargain,” he said. “We also realize we’re a better football team than what we displayed out there today, and we have to be better than that. Listen, I still have a lot of confidence in this defense. I think this defense is a good defense. We had a bad day. That happens.”

That happens to a team that either doesn’t completely extend the relentless demands of the NFL season or is not equipped physically or mentally to cope with those demands. Teams that tease, then buckle under pressure.

Everyone understood Nick Foles has a strong arm, yet he wasn’t even the starter. And now he’s in the books with people such as Sid Luckman, George Blanda and Peyton Manning.

“Their quarterback had seven touchdowns,” said Porter, “and we have to take that personally. We can’t give a guy seven touchdowns in a game, let alone let them put up 49 points. We couldn’t match their tempo.”

Philly, in the season’s and Kelly’s first game, beat Washington, 33-27, and the thinking was they were going to do to the NFL what Oregon has been doing to college football.

But the Eagles didn’t score an offensive touchdown in either of the two games preceding this one against Oakland, and the cynics said the Kelly system wouldn’t work in the pros. It worked against the Raiders.

“It’s an embarrassing loss,” said Oakland quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who came out of the game in the fourth quarter with a knee bruise.

“We just have to get better.”

Much, much better.