Poor long-term planning costing wins

Maybe Terdell Sands, a 6-foot-7, 335-pound defensive tackle, has taught owner Al Davis a much-needed lesson.Sometimes, finding the biggest, meanest-looking linemen doesn't work.Robert Gallery also comes to mind.This past offseason, Davis locked the 27-year-old Sands into a $17 million deal that will keep him with the team through the 2010 season. Sands essentially is being paid to do one thing: Stop the run. The same can also be said for well-known veteran Warren Sapp, who was awarded a seven-year, $36.6 million contract by the Dallas Cowboys jersey
Raiders back in 2004.Heading into 2007, Oakland and its fourth-year defensive coordinator, Rob Ryan, needed both interior linemen to put their money where their mouth is.So far, not so good. As it turns out, opponents are running the football down their throats.The Raiders currently give up 152.5 yards on the ground each game, positioning them 30th in the league in the category. Since the team's Week 5 bye, four different clubs have rushed for over 150 yards against the Raider 'D'.Of course, the ongoing four-game loss of the 325-pound Gerard Warren doesn't help, nor does the season-ending knee injury to Tommy Kelly. Both players are considered starters along Oakland's defensive line at DT and DE, respectively.Though, it all goes back to poor offseason planning by the leaders upstairs.Davis and the Raiders essentially wasted an early third-round draft choice this year on defensive end Quentin Moses, a 260-pounder from Georgia who was cut by the team just over two months ago, picked up by Arizona, released once again and just recently signed to the 0-8 Dolphins practice squad. The decision to select the underachieving 23-year-old goes back to poor scouting and decision making from the front office.Now, the team's fifth-round choice from the same draft, Jay Richardson, who was taken 73 slots after Moses, has been forced into premature action at defensive end. Richardson has now started five games and has registered just 16 tackles and no sacks.At defensive tackle, the team's backup solution -- if need be -- is Tyler Brayton. He's the guy who would come in if the team's starters weren't getting the job done (like now). Unfortunately, Brayton isn't much of an option. A first-round choice of the Raiders in 2003, the 280-pounder has spent five unproductive seasons in the NFL, where he's seen time -- and failed -- at both defensive end and outside linebacker. Apparently Davis believes Brayton can make it at DT; the 78-year-old spent none of his team's 11 draft picks on a defense tackle during the offseason.Over the past five years, Oakland has used only five of 51 draft choices on defensive linemen. Of the five, just one was a defensive tackle (Anttaj Hawthorne), and a meager two 6 Sanchez Purple AFL50th jersey
(Brayton and Richardson) are still on the roster.Until Davis and the Raiders realize that NFL games are won up front on both sides of the ball, they'll continue to struggle to win games.Sometimes that means going after the slow, unexciting players with discipline and a knack for the game.Is that something Al Davis will do? Probably not.Anthony Carroll, a senior writer for