Raiders Blog and Q&A

ALAMEDA - I've already received some email about what the commotion was during Lane Kiffin's televised press conference today.

Here's the background:

There was some mention last week of a Raider employee handing out a copy of an article to writers that was critical of Kiffin.

You want to know why that's a big deal? Remember when Art Shell was mad a couple of years ago about a team employee undermining him? It's the same thing.

That was the Raider employee in question yelling "that's not true" when a question was asked referencing articles being passed out to writers.

The Raiders deny articles were passed out and I wasn't given one, hence I never mentioned it.

What started during the press conference led to a shouting match between the employee and reporter in front of media and television cameras after the press conference ended with a few nasty accusations aimed back and forth, attacking each other's credibility.

For an organization that is often labeled dysfunctional, it's not exactly the way you want things to go on television.

Ideally, such talks need to be had behind closed doors. Because in these spats in which the media reports on a team that doesn't have a history of being friendly with the media, chances are the team won't look too good.

****

Javon Walker wants everyone to know that he feels fine.

And no, he doesn't know why he didn't play more during Sunday's 24-23 loss at Buffalo on Sunday.

"I was ready to go," Walker said. "I just didn't get into the game."

Walker missed the season opener and made a brief appearance in the Raiders' second game, a 23-8 win at Kansas City.

Walker registered his first two catches as a Raider on the opening drive against the Bills, but didn't catch a pass the rest of the game.

"When you only throw the ball three times in the second half there aren't many balls to go around," Kiffin said. "Javon did make two plays in a row there, and there weren't that many balls after that."

****

Here's how Kiffin responded to the reports he'd been told by team officials that he'd be fired besides saying he'd wait to hear from Davis.

"I'm not going to get into what's been said around here by other people, or what I've been told by other people, because that really doesn't mean anything until the owner makes a decision and tells me himself. That's where it's at. I have not had a conversation with him about it, nor has he gotten in touch with me. So I can't worry about what other people say. If we believed everything people said around here, we would be in a lot of trouble."

Kiffin continues to be impressed that the team remains focused even with all the speculation.

But Kiffin won't reach out to Davis for a resolution. Kiffin said he hasn't spoken to Al Davis since prior to playing Denver in Week 1.

"Yeah, there's so many things to worry about running an NFL team and keeping this team together and coaching it, and our staff, that I'm not about to tell Al how he should be handling this situation. He's been doing this for a long time, has had great success in the league for a long time. I got enough things to worry about, so I don't need to worry about telling him how he should handle it. He'll do what he feels in the best interest of our team, I'm sure."

****

This is Kiffin on Gibril Wilson's ejection:

"From what I saw on the film Gibril deserved to be thrown out. He clearly punched the guy. I don't know what happened before that because you can't see it on the film. I'd love to protect him in this situation but there's no reason for that. No matter what's happened before there's no reason for that and it hurt us. It hurt us with field position and it hurt us by not having him in there. We're playing Branch, a rookie, instead of a guy who's one of the highest paid guys and one of the leaders of our defense. I don't like the decision that he made. I'm sure Gibril regrets it as well."

****

Here's the injury report after the game:

DT Gerard Warren has a partially torn left pectoral muscle.

DE Derrick Burgess is having an MRI on his triceps.

RB Darren McFadden's toe isn't expected to cause him to miss this Sunday's game against San Diego.

RB Justin Fargas' groin injury will likely keep him this week with after the bye week as the target for his return.

RG Cooper Carlisle's left ankle injury is serious. Kiffin said Carlisle is day-to-day, but Carlisle was wearing a walking boot today with his ankle taped today in the locker room.

LT Kwame Harris is expected back after missing two games with a knee injury.

--Jason Jones