Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

I’ve said it just about everyday of my adult life. Timing is everything. I remind myself of that whenever I’m mad at myself for arriving too early and use it as a mantra when I’m running late.

Timing is everything.

For Nnamdi Asomugha his timing couldn’t have been worse from a team standpoint. He arrived in Oakland just in time for the franchise to endure its worst decade ever. Then he managed to jump ship for Philadelphia just in time for the Eagles to endure one of their most disappointing seasons on record.

I’m not going to take any shots and Aso as I still respect him for all he does both on and off the field. However he is severely mislead in thinking expectations are higher in Philly than they are in Oakland.

Asomugha said as much in an interview when he compared the differences between going 8-8 in the East Bay to going 8-8 in Philly.

“It’s true. The 8-8 in Oakland? We were perennially the last team in the AFC West. We would win maybe two games a year or four games a year. When we got to 8-8 and it was like wow! There is so much improvement. You’re not excited you didn’t make the playoffs, but you’re excited that we were moving in the right direction. I love how different that is over here because 8-8 is not acceptable. It doesn’t matter where you have come from. 8-8 should always be we are playing below where we should be playing. Out here that is the mentality. 8-8 shouldn’t be anywhere near what we are thinking. That was great.”

I see the point Nnamdi is trying to make but he’s not seeing the big picture.

The Raiders are a historically great franchise that had fallen on hard times. He just so happened to be around when, yes, 8-8 was truly an improvement. Nobody in Raider Nation was celebrating that our beloved silver and black had reached mediocrity. Quite the opposite, most of us were disappointed that we missed the playoffs these last two years.

As for he Eagles and all their “expectations”, again Aso is slightly confused. You see Raider fans have seen a Super Bowl team or five over the years. Eagle fans…not so much. Nnamdi makes the classic mistake of the modern athlete by confusing media hype with greatness.

The only reasons expectations were so high in Philadelphia is because the front office dropped major cash in free agency then self-glossed with the “dream team” moniker.

And while we’re keeping it real, let’s be honest. Who in their right mind had high expectations with JaMarcus Russell, Aaron Brooks, and Josh McCown calling signals? I would hope Philly fans expect more of a team loaded with talent.

But I digress.

Like Nnamdi’s statement it all comes down to timing. Had he said this before last season then maybe there would have been some merit to his claims. To say so afterwards cheapens what he endured in Oakland while overstating what he’s seen in one season as an Eagle. Then again, if Nnamdi had said 8-8 would be unacceptable before last season then he would have gotten a nice taste of the merciless media in Philly. So I guess in some ways his timing couldn’t have been better…or…worse? Only time will tell.

Oakland paid tribute to Shell and the '06 Raiders on Sunday.

The Raiders rolled back the clock on Sunday. It was Retro-Raider day at the far-from-sold out Oakland Coliseum as the rival Denver Broncos blew into the Black Hole.

Denver left with a 23-3 victory, a perfect 3-0 record to start the season and first place all to themselves in the AFC West.

Raider Nation left having watched their team give an effort only Art Shell could admire.

The game had everything you’d expect from the ’06 version of the Silver and Black. JaMarcus Russell continues to find ways of making Aaron Brooks look like a franchise quarterback. Darren McFadden fumbles at the most inopportune moments as if his name was LaMont Jordan. The defense made no adjustments and was continuously beat by the same running and passing plays. Richard Seymour even checked in with his first personal foul as a Raider.

Al Davis must have been proud.

Tom Cable is executing Al’s plan to perfection. No thought is ever given to benching Russell no matter how loud the “boos” get. No change in defensive philosophy is made even if Kirk Morrison is getting burned by Brandon Marshall like a Southern California brushfire. No need to give your young quarterback veteran wide receivers if he can’t hit the target to begin with.

This is what Raider football has become. It is a stubborn belief in a losing system as opposed to a winning game plan based on talent.

Photo: Brant Ward / The Chronicle

JaMarcus Russell could develop into a franchise quarterback, but it’s not going to happen anytime soon. In fact, it looks like he’ll be seeing a new playbook and a new set of coaches come 2010.

The Denver Broncos didn’t have to do much to win on Sunday. So long as they showed up, there was a good chance the Raiders and their stubborn game plan would be enough to gift victory.

Sure enough, the Raiders did their all to give Denver an easy win.

Penalties, poor decisions, bad coaching, horrendous execution, missed tackles, blown assignments, fumbles, interceptions, missed opportunities and that was just the first half.

The Raiders posted 137 yards of total offense on Sunday, a meaty average of 2.9 yards-per-play.

Ah, yes! A vintage ’06!

The defense gave up 217 yards on the ground to Denver at a clip of 4.8 yards-per-carry.

That stubborn formula did produce some good though. Staying true to form, Nnamdi Asomugha and Chris Johnson shutdown everything on the corners, Shane Lechler boomed four punts to the tune of 47.5 yards per-punt and Sebastin Janikowski nailed a 48-yard field goal with stunning power and accuracy.

About the only thing missing from this one was Mike Shanahan flipping Al Davis the bird once the clock hit 0:00 in the fourth quarter.

Where does Tom Cable go from here? How can he top this great homage to the 2006 Raiders?

One way of ensuring this continued and aimless approach to building a champion might be to do the exact same things again. That seems to be the best way of keeping Russell’s completion percentage just slightly above his quarterback rating. Not making any adjustments assures McFadden will have more trouble keeping his hands on the ball than Al Davis will have keeping his off the defense. Not changing a thing assures the ’09 Raiders a chance at matching the ’06 win total of 2 for the entire season.

Ah, yes! I can taste that ’06 now! It tastes like another miserable year of football topped with an off-season spent debating who should be taken with the number one overall pick.

Cheers to Art Shell! This one was for you!

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If Tom Cable wants to announce himself as the Harry Redknapp of the NFL, then he’ll pull a Houdini and show Raider fans something they haven’t seen since September 28^th, 2003: A victory over the San Diego Chargers.

The Raiders had to overcome a two touchdown deficit in the second half to defeat the Chargers by way of a 46-yard Sebastian Janikowski field goal back in ’03. Since that 34-31 victory, the Chargers have taken the rivalry by the horns in Jim Tressel-like fashion.

The numbers are ugly and I suggest viewing them on an empty stomach. The Chargers have 11 straight victories over the Raiders. During that streak, LaDanian Tomlinson has out rushed the Oakland Raiders by himself with a sum of 1395 yards to 798. The Raiders have held LT below 100 yards 4 times out of the 11 meetings and have kept him out of the end zone just twice. Over the course of the streak, the Bolts have only started two quarterbacks (Drew Brees and Philip Rivers) while the Raiders have trotted out five different starters including Rich Gannon, Kerry Collins, Aaron Brooks, Daunte Culepper and JaMarcus Russell. Rivers has never lost to the Raiders; his record is currently 6-0. Al Davis has employed six head coaches while the Chargers have had just two, one of which was Norv Turner who jumped ship leaving Oakland for San Diego in an attempt to become the new Mike Shanahan.

Michael Mitchell, you’d better have Tomlinson’s face on your dart board.

Personally, I haven’t been able to bear attending these games any longer. The last Raider/Charger affair I saw in person was back in 2005. LT had a game right out of fantasy football geek’s wet dream as he ran for a touchdown, caught one and even threw for one. The pain was unbearable and I knew that I was at my breaking point. Getting heckled by bandwagon fans is as dumbfounding as being called a douche bag by Tony Romo.

The chargers have beaten the Raiders in every way possible. They’ve blown us out. Made epic comebacks like those twenty five 4^th quarter points they hung on the scoreboard  just this past season. They’ve even had help from the zebras. Remember that horrific “illegal forward pass” call in 2006 that resurrected the ghosts of the “tuck rule”?

Despite all the sorrow and angst, the Raiders could go another six years without a victory over the Chargers and the all-time series would only be at .500. One wonders why this has ever been called a rivalry. The Chargers have little to show for their recent domination over the Raiders. Each year the pundits pick the powder blue to represent the AFC in the big game and each year they find a new way to disappoint their front running fan base.

Coach Cable promised the Raiders would return to the playoffs on his watch. He also said that the Monday Night opener against the Chargers in 2009 is the “perfect way to start the season”.

There is no way to know if there will be a story book ending in Oakland this year, but the first chapter could be a perfectly written first act if Cable can pull a rabbit out of his hat. Raider fans won’t care if Cable’s magic is nothing more than slight of hand so long as it fools the non-rivals in San Diego.

Cable exorcised Chucky to conclude ’08. Beating San Diego would be a great way to top himself in ’09.