Give the Raiders their props, at least, for turning something ugly into pretty … or at least pretty good.
After watching tight end Zach Miller get away to Seattle last week – lured away by former Raiders head coach Tom Cable – there was plenty of abuse piled on the franchise. How could they let such a key part of their offense get away?
As the Oakland Tribune’s Jerry McDonald noted when the news broke, the team “blew it,” and then tweeted that “Al Davis didn’t value him” as other members of the organization did. The Chronicle’s Vittorio Tafur asked, “Who on Raiders gets blamed for letting” Miller slip away?
But, the Raiders didn’t punt.
On fourth-and-28 they went for it and got a first down, snatching former Giant TE Kevin Boss out of the free-agent herd with a four-year, $16 million deal.
Boss doesn’t have the receiving numbers Miller does – Miller has two straight 60-catch seasons while Boss has 77 total over the same period -- but he gets solid reviews as both a receiver and blocker (where he might be better than Miller).
After going through his first practice with the team Saturday, Boss planned to study the playbook all day Sunday – a day off.
Raiders QB Jason Campbell told ESPN that Boss “is smooth.” The same could be said for the Raiders’ quick recovery – after what could be a costly fumble on Miller.
