The Post Mortem

Lane Kiffin was celebrated when he learned a lesson from Mike Shanahan and iced Browns kicker Phil Dawson the week after Shanny had done the same thing to Sebastian Janikowski. Kiffin has proven to be quite a pupil of Shanahan as he also followed Shanahan's game plan on how to allow LaDainian Tomlinson to run wild on his defense.

Even Norv Turner could have seen that was a bad idea.

What does that say about the Raiders incompetence? Your prodigy was schooled by the coach who gave birth to the Raiders streak of futility against the AFC West -- which has reached 16 games now. And yeah, we won't go so far as to say the Chargers are back and ready to challenge for the AFC title, but any victory over the Raiders should be celebrated. Especially since the Chargers were operating with the handicap of Turner at the helm.

I'd like to think that the last thing that went through a Raiders fan's mind -- other than how many quarters am I going to have to steal from for the local laundromat to pay back his bookie for the money I borrowed to get an obstructed view ticket at the lower bowl of Jack Murphy Stadium -- is how Norv Turner got the best of them.

That's something to ponder as the Greyhound bus makes its traffic detour around the Newhall pass.

CULPEPPER NEVER LEARNS
From the San Francisco Gate on Wednesday:

How's this for bonding during a bye week? Raiders quarterback Daunte Culpepper, who must have known he would start in Sunday's game against the Chargers, was spotted in Las Vegas on Saturday (last week) with teammates Kirk Morrison and Stuart Schweigert.

According to our man-about-town Norm Clarke of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Pep, Kirk and Stu were living large: the trio ordered more than 20 bottles of Cristal champagne while partying at Poetry, formerly known as the OPM Nightclub, inside the pricey Forum Shops at Caesars Palace.

Evidentially, the boat rental shops at Lake Mead had turned them away.

THIS WEEK'S GAME OF THE CENTURY
All of the bluster about the Patriots being the best team of all-time has already started in earnest, thanks to the normally level-headed Cris Collinsworth who said as much on Sunday night. Six games. The Patriots are off to neat start, but isn't there a team who makes a bid for the 1972 Dolphins each season? And not just Indianapolis and their annual run at perfection.

To borrow a phrase from Coors Light pitchman, if you want to crown their (donkey), than crown them. But let's wait a few weeks. Physical defenses have always given the Patriots fits. Watch for the Patriots game against Washington in two weeks to be a pretty good test.

Sure, the Redskins blow. But the Gregg Williams has shut down Jon Kitna and the Lions, he shut down Brett Favre this week, so this game is one you should circle on your calendar that the Patriots could lose. Plus this game comes one week before the showdown with Colts, so the Patriots will be ripe for an upset during that week. Don't count it just yet, but definitely keep an eye on that one.

• The 1976 Buccaneers are officially worried as the St. Louis Football Team and Miami Dolphins both look like they can make a run at 0-16. The SLFT has so many injuries even the Devil, who owns Georgia Frontandrearie's soul, is starting to feel sorry for them. Well, not really. This is just desserts for that franchise.

• Speaking of the Buccaneers, their running back troubles would be gone if they had picked Adrian Peterson in the first round instead of Gaines Adams. Not that Adams is bad -- he notched his first sack on Sunday, and hindsight is perfect -- but lord, there are going to be six teams who will regret passing on Peterson. Although, maybe yours truly should heed his own advice and not get crazy after six games.
  

• Kurt Warner is injured. Is anybody really surprised by this? The Cardinals are one injury away from Tim Hasselbeck playing. Maybe Coach Whisenhunt should bring in a mobile quarterback and go back to the platoon with Warner because that is where he will be his most effective.
  

• How bad is the NFL these days? The Chiefs are 3-3. And they are awful. Marvin Lewis is going to be looking for a new job real soon. The Bengals kept talking about how this was a must-win game, and they didn't show up until there was around nine minutes left, which was way too late. Lewis can get pissed and yell at the players -- as he did last week -- but the coach has to take some accountability. With all of the arrests and other nonsense that has gone on in Cincinnati, the time to make a change is here.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The NCAA and the voters might as well announce that no matter what happens, they just plan on putting LSU in the BCS title game. Guess complaining about your conference and already conceding a loss (like Loss Miles did before the season started) does pay off. You can call it a quality loss, but Kentucky isn't that good. They are the beneficiary of the SEC myth.

At the same time, complaining about the polls is pointless at this point because, as evidenced already this year, the polls are going to change drastically. For instance, the top four teams in the Pac-10, USC, Cal, Oregon and Arizona State still have the majority of their round-robin tournament coming up. (With Cal and Oregon already playing each other.) If any of those four teams can run the table, they deserve to be in the national title game. Especially the Devils, who would likely be undefeated if they ran the table.

But hey, there's too much football left. And while it might be therapeutic to vent about USC moving down three spots after a freaking win, then there really is no point to be concerned. Run the table and get in. That's about as simple as it gets.

• ASU is on a bye this week, then they play host to Cal on October 27, travel to Oregon the following week, and play host to USC on Nov. 22. Watch them win all three of those but lost at UCLA. That's the kind of stuff that Karl Dorrell would pull to somehow keep his job.

• South Florida had better make the most of this run for the title because those SEC schools are never going to schedule you again. But how quickly would the NCAA move to a playoff if it had a South Florida vs. Boston College BCS title game. But ...
  

• How long before the Sports Dork, Bill Simpson, jumps on the Boston College bandwagon? That can only be a matter of days. A potential feel good story will be ruined by the Dork.
  

• What's the deal with the Football Bowl Subdivision, as opposed to Division I? Heard this phrase in passing, but never really gave much thought to it, until they started making such a big deal about it during the BCS stuff. This seems obvious that the former Division I football wants to kick the WAC, Mountain West, et all down to the Football Playoff Subdivision (former Division I-AA) so they won't have to deal with teams such as Boise State upsetting Oklahoma in a bowl game. At the same time,those conferences will remain Division I in other sports. That might not be a bad idea for some of these Mid Majors. If they Football Playoff Subdivision could get a major television sponsor, maybe that wouldn't be a bad alternative for some of these mid-major schools. Who wouldn't want to watch college football playoffs in December instead of these meaningless bowls?
  

• Thanks for your time Colt Brennan, but your time as a Heisman hopeful are now over. You had Friday night all to yourself and that is the performance of you come up with? Not good.

• Boise State and Nevada provided some entertaining football on a Sunday night. College overtime rules. Nice to see that the WAC cares about student's schooling with games on Friday and Sunday night. Not that anybody takes a class before 11 a.m. anyway.

• Kudos for the writers of Shark, who got a not-so-subtle jab in on Barry Bonds during Sunday night's episode.

AND FINALLY
Biggest upset of the weekend: the Black Crowes did not play Conspiracy, Jealous Again or Remedy during its show on Friday night.

No wonder Kate Hudson left you.