Raiders Team Report

INSIDE SLANT

While most of the attention has gone to first-round pick Darrius Heyward-Bey(notes), there was a second player widely regarded as a reach who has yet to justify where he was selected in the draft by the Raiders.

Mike Mitchell(notes), a safety out of Ohio who didn’t make first-team All-Mid-American Conference, went to the Raiders in the second round, No. 47 overall, and the mere calling of his name stumped draft experts from ESPN and the NFL Network.

Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN said he had Mitchell ranked between No. 40 and No. 70—not of overall players, but college safeties.

Mike Mayock of the NFL Network, who correctly forecast in the days leading up to the draft that Al Davis wouldn’t be able to bypass Heyward-Bey at No. 7 overall, had no film or report on Mitchell at all.

It still doesn’t sit well with Mitchell, whose first season got off to a slow start because of hamstring issues which have restricted him to special teams and occasional duty in short-yardage situations defensively.

“There were some things that were said that I still don’t like and I’m still looking forward to proving myself right—not necessarily proving them wrong, but just proving myself right,” Mitchell said. “That’s what I need to do, and I’m not going to stop until I do that.”

Following a strong individual workout at his high school in Kentucky, Mitchell began to generate interests from several NFL teams and piled up the frequent flyer miles in the weeks leading up to the draft.

The day of the draft, Mitchell said he got a phone call in the second round that the Bears were interested in taking him at No. 49, only to have the Raiders strike at No. 47. He’d had a visit with Raiders in Alameda and was told at the time by defensive backs Lionel Washington he could step right in and play in Oakland.

Mayock issued an apology of sorts on Day 2 of the draft, simply conceding he had no report or information on Mitchell.

After the high of the surprise selection, events conspired to slow Mitchell’s progress. First, his graduating class at Ohio was so late he missed the first minicamp.

When Mitchell got to his first organized team activity, a hamstring he had rehabbed before his Pro Day workout gave way. Then it happened again during training camp, making Mitchell a spectator.

“I’d never had a leg injury before and I’m a guy that loves to lift,” Mitchell said. “I was never in tip-top shape, and if you’ve ever seen my tape in college, I wasn’t the same football player. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago I was really able to dig, run, sprint and really feel good and not have to worry about it.”

The Raiders anticipate Mitchell’s arc to be similar to that of Tyvon Branch(notes), a fourth-round pick last season who missed the last 10 games following shoulder surgery. Branch was a special teams standout but was handed the starting strong safety job during the offseason.

Branch has developed into one of the Raiders’ best defensive players at a problem position. Other than getting a last great year out of veteran free safety Rod Woodson, the Raiders have struggled to find playmaking safeties since their return to Oakland in 1995.

“That would be the expectation level, to see (Mitchell) increase his level of play,” Raiders coach Tom Cable said. “Now that he’s healthy he’ll get more opportunity to do that and certainly bodes well as he gets ready for next year and the offseason.

“He’ll know how to train, how to take care of himself a little bit better, all those kind of things. Yeah, you would expect a leap.”

The long-term dilemma is the Raiders typically don’t use interchangeable safeties. The strong safety plays closer to the line of scrimmage, often in the box, with the other safety playing deep in the middle, responsible for both sides of the field.

That spot is currently manned by Michael Huff(notes), having his best season after three disappointing ones, two as a strong safety and last year as a free safety.

“I don’t want to look too far ahead because I don’t know what their plans are upstairs,” Mitchell said. “I’m just here to play safety, that’s what I’m going to do and I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.

“In college I was versatile and could play anywhere—nickel, free safety, strong safety. I can do a lot of different things.”

Mitchell admits to being impatient, but on the other hand compares his rookie year to a learning season in college.

“I tell everyone back home, it’s like redshirting except I actually get to play,” Mitchell said. “Every meeting, I’m listening to guys like Nnamdi Asomugha(notes), Michael Huff and Tyvon. I’m seeing the game through their eyes and am not forced to go out and do everything—even if I’d like to do everything.

“It’s a chance to let me grow and learn things at a slower pace.”

Series History:   18th regular-season meeting. Raiders lead series 9-8. Pittsburgh has won five of the last seven, but Raiders won last game 20-13 in 2006 despite gaining 77 yards of total offense. Oakland had two defensive touchdowns—a 24-yard interception return by Nnamdi Asomugha and a 100-yard return by Chris Carr(notes). The Steelers won the last game in Pittsburgh, 24-21 in 2004 on a 42-yard field goal by Jeff Reed(notes). The Raiders had tied the score 21-21 on Rich Gannon’s 38-yard pass to Alvis Whitted(notes), with Gannon hitting Whitted for the two-point conversion with 4:51 left.

NOTES, QUOTES

—The Raiders had a positive experience dealing with a blitzing defense in a 13-9 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, but the Steelers, under Dick LeBeau, may be even more confusing.

Coming from a 3-4 alignment, it’s anybody’s guess who may be blitzing and who might be coming for the quarterback on a given snap.

“They bring a lot of pressure from everywhere and pretty much wreak havoc,” left tackle Mario Henderson(notes) said. “They’re coming from anywhere there’s green grass. They’ll bring anybody—corners, safeties, coaches, they’ll bring anybody, man.”

Henderson isn’t putting much stock in the Steelers’ three-game losing streak.

“Their last three games don’t affect how their defense has played,” Henderson said. “Their defense is still a championship-caliber defense. So we still have to bring it every single down against them. It’s going to be real important.”

• One exit north of the Coliseum is a new billboard organized by a fan group calling for Al Davis to hire a general manager and stay out of the football business because of the team’s failings over the past six-plus years.

Jared Staszewski, a 22-year-old Raiders fan from Erie, Pa., was the point man in raising $2,000 and getting a line of credit to pay the $5,000 the billboard will cost for four weeks.

The group has a web site—www.messagetoal.com—and claims to have collected 21,000 signatures to request four things of Davis:

1) Step down as general manager

2) Hire a new GM

3) Hire a “Super Bowl” caliber coach

4) Agree to refrain from intervention in personnel or football operational matters.

• Sounds as if Raiders players will be on the lookout for Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward(notes), who draws the same sort of fear and/or respect as Troy Polamalu(notes) does on the defensive side of the ball for Pittsburgh.

“I don’t think I’ve seen another receiver that approaches the game the way he does, as far as blocking and running down, hitting guys on every snap,” Asomugha said. “You think of the receiver position as kin of the prima donna position where goes don’t to get hurt, don’t want to mix it up.

“But he’s going come down, crack on the linebackers and try and get big blowup shots. They call him the dirtiest player in the league. He’s done some stuff on film, some head-scratching stuff, so we all know to keep our eyes going when we have him.”

• Tight end Zach Miller is in his third year and has played for two head coaches and three play-callers, with the distinct possibility he could have his third head coach and fourth play-caller in Year 4.

So he’s a little envious looking at the opposite sideline where the Steelers have gone from their glory days of Chuck Noll to Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin in a period that began in the 1970s.

“You just look around the league and you see coaches that have been there for awhile with that kind of stability,” Miller said. “It helps to improve, especially offensively, with the same system, guys who have been there three, four and five years know all the ins and outs of a system, and you can be real detailed. You put in new offenses and tweak them to a different coach, it takes awhile to learn that.”

By The Numbers:   39—The number of negative rushing plays recorded by the Raiders defense (not including 11 kneel downs). They’ve also given up 54 plays of 20 yards or more—20 of them running plays.

Quote To Note:   “I watched that game, and you’d never have thought they’d have given up that many yards. They’re a very good defense.”—Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger(notes) on the Raiders’ 29th-ranked defense, which surrendered 494 yards to the Cowboys on Thanksgiving.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Second-year player Trevor Scott(notes) appears to have ascended to a position of importance based on his use in Dallas. A sixth-round draft pick last season utilized as a nickel end, Scott started at weak-side linebacker and played only a few snaps with his hand down against the Cowboys.

Thomas Howard(notes), the fourth-year player who started every game until the Thanksgiving Day game, still played a lot and moved over to the strong side for some snaps in place of Sam Williams(notes).

Scott not only has pass rush skills that Howard does not, but he’s a bigger body and in theory more stout in terms of shedding blocks and defending the run. He does not have the speed to stay with quicker running backs as does Howard, one of the NFL’s fastest linebackers.

Player Notes  

• DE Greg Ellis(notes), out with a knee injury against Dallas, was said to be doing much better but did not practice Wednesday.

• LB Isaiah Ekejiuba(notes) is questionable with a knee injury, but practiced Wednesday and is expected to play against Pittsburgh.

• RB Justin Fargas(notes) came out of the Dallas game with a stinger, but practiced Wednesday and expects to face Pittsburgh.

• WR/KR Nick Miller(notes) (tibia) is still not practicing, has been on the 53-man roster all season despite not playing and could end up being put on injured reserve.

• DE Matt Shaughnessy(notes) would start ahead of Jay Richardson(notes) if Ellis is not ready to play.

Game Plan:   The Steelers rank third in rushing defense, and the 88 yards surrendered to Baltimore’s Ray Rice(notes) last week was the most they’ve given up all season, having shut down Chris Johnson, Cedric Benson(notes) and Adrian Peterson along the way. That’s essentially a stop sign for Justin Fargas and Darren McFadden(notes), and an indication the Raiders will need to move the ball with a controlled short-passing game, avoid turnovers and leave the field position up to Shane Lechler(notes). That only works if the Raiders defense can hold its own, slow the Steelers running game and put some pressure on Roethlisberger. It’s a huge order in a potentially bad weather game in Pittsburgh.

Matchups To Watch:   Raiders LT Mario Henderson vs. Steelers ROLB James Harrison(notes). Henderson, coming off a so-so game against DeMarcus Ware(notes) of Dallas, gets a few extra days to prepare for last season’s NFL defensive player of the year and current Steelers sacks leader with 10. Henderson could conceivably fare well when it’s clear Harrison is his man; the problem comes when the Steelers stunt or drop rushers and bring others into the fray. Henderson has been caught in communication problems on occasion.

Steelers WR Santonio Holmes(notes) vs. Raiders CB Chris Johnson. Although Dallas went his way a few times, most teams stay away from Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha in favor of Chris Johnson, who makes his share of plays but also gives them up—often for big yardage. Pittsburgh’s most explosive wideout is Super Bowl hero Santonio Holmes, and Roethlisberger is particularly adept at finding him in play-action for big yardage.

Injury Impact:   The Raiders go into the game relatively healthy for the 12th game of the season, although Ellis’ knee problems could be costly in terms of a pass rush. The last time the Raiders played Pittsburgh, Roethlisberger was coming off a concussion, the Raiders got decent pressure, mixed coverages and the result was a pair of interception returns for touchdowns in a 20-13 upset win. Any hope of a repeat will mean a strong defensive effort from the front four including the pass rush.