With two days to go until the exhibition opener against Dallas at the Coliseum, coach Tom Cable sounded the competition alarm Tuesday. Cable said he was looking forward to the camp battles being resolved between Bruce Gradkowski and Charlie Frye for the No. 3 quarterback spot, at center between newly signed Samson Satele, who's been playing almost exclusively with the first team, and John Wade, at middle linebacker, where Kirk Morrison and Rickey Brown are sharing time, and in the secondary, where Hiram Eugene and Michael Huff are competing for free safety and at left corner, where Chris Johnson and Stanford Routt are dueling it out.
"The battle's not really between me and another quarterback," Frye told reporters after Tuesday's morning practice. "The battle's between me and myself...that's all I can control, is how I prepare...the chips will fall where they may."
- Of course. Just in time for my feature story on hard-hitting Mike Mitchell, which runs tomorrow in advance of the Raiders' exhibition opener against the Cowboys, the Raiders' much-maligned second-round pick from Ohio re-aggravated the hamstring injury Tuesday he initially tweaked in May's mandatory mini-camp.
Cable has played it safe throughout camp with niggling injuries, not hesitating to hold guys out of practice. As such, don't be surprised if the hard-hitting Mitchell's NFL debut is postponed at least one game. Might wanna keep those Ronnie Lott and Jack Tatum comparisons on hold.
- Backup quarterback Jeff Garcia (calf), linebacker Jon Alston (foot), cornerback Jason Horton (foot), Huff (ribs) and right guard Mark Wilson (back) did not practice due to injury while defensive end Greg Ellis and defensive tackle Gerard Warren had the day off.
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