Raiders looking to fix mistakes against Parcells' new-look club
Saturday, August 21, 2004

By MIKE ALDAX
Register Sports Writer

Many of the Oakland Raiders' more apparent problems from
last week's 33-30 exhibition win over San Francisco can be
remedied with a broom, it seems.

After all, penalties and silly mistakes are the kind of muck that
shouldn't be hard to sweep clean.

That's why head coach Norv Turner is taking tonight's exhibition
matchup with Dallas as an opportunity for the Raiders to fix what
should be fixable.

"Between Week 1 and Week 2 you have a chance to clean up a
lot of things," Turner said. "And obviously we have issues to clean
up. We have to eliminate the penalties, we have to tackle better.
And again offensively to me, taking care of ourselves is more
important."

The Raiders used four field goals from Sebastian Janikowski to
beat the Niners last Saturday, including a 40-yarder to win the
game as time expired.

But the stellar kicking performance didn't do much to mask the
blatant miscues that marred their first outing.

In fact, the mistakes were alarmingly reminiscent of Oakland's
4-12 campaign last year.

The Raiders were tagged with a mind-boggling 21 penalties for
246 yards in San Francisco. Oakland was called for pass
interference five times.

Of course, Oakland is facing a Cowboys crew that wasn't much
prettier in its 18-0 loss to Houston. Dallas couldn't rediscover the
same defense that was tops in the NFL last year.

Houston scored on its first three possessions against the Cowboys'
starters. The Texans' David Carr calmly connected on 7-of-8
passes for 89 yards and a touchdown in leading Houston to the
win.

"I've heard the comments (the Cowboys) have made. They want
to come out and play better so they're going to be ready to go,"
Turner said.

Turner said facing the Cowboys is going to be a good learning
experience for his team.

"I'm glad we're playing Dallas because they present some problems,"
Turner said. "They were one of the better defenses last year, so
obviously it will be a challenge for our offensive group."

The Raiders actually found success on offense last week. Oakland
picked up 348 yards passing and 103 rushing against the Niners.

The success on offense was highlighted by quarterbacks Rich
Gannon (9-for-15 for 69 yards) and his current backup, Kerry Collins
(5-of-8 for 88 yards). The two will again bring the Raiders'
quarterback situation to the forefront tonight in Oakland.

Although Gannon looked on top of his game Saturday, Collins
directed an eight-play, 80-yard scoring drive in the second
quarter that took just over three minutes.

The Raiders also looked strong in their running game. Tyrone
Wheatley led the way with 33 yards on five carries.

Still, Turner said there is room for improvement on offense. The
Raiders didn't reach the end zone twice within 20 yards and also
fumbled twice, although neither led to turnovers.

"Offensively, there are some plays we missed that we need to
make," Turner said.

The Cowboys will bring in new faces with receiver Keyshawn
Johnson, running back Eddie George and quarterback Vinny
Testaverde.

Testaverde took the starting role after the Cowboys cut Quincy
Carter on Aug. 4. Testaverde was 4-of-7 for 34 yards against
Texas. George ran for 12 yards on five carries before giving
way to the backups.




* Raiders Notebook

Offensive lineman Robert Gallery, the Oakland Raiders' top draft
pick who went down with a right elbow injury during practice
Monday, will not play tonight. Gallery is expected to get back to
practice on Monday ... Guard Ron Stone will play tonight. Turner
said he'd get in on 12 to 14 plays.

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