Oakland Raiders Organized Team Activites 20 May news notes and quotes

May 20, 12:44 PMOakland Raiders ExaminerPatrick Patterson

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Coach Tom Cable leads a practice
Photo by Patrick A. Patterson/EXAMINER.com

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Today's practice is now in the books, and things are becoming a bit clearer with where the Oakland Raiders are standing with the 2009 training camp approaching. There were some highlights, and there were some questions answered whilst others were raised. This practice had a high energy level, and resulted in one fight.

Noticable absences: Darrius Heyward-Bey and Michael Mitchell were absent due to commitments to their colleges. Nnamdi Asomugha, Chris Johnson, Andrew Walter, and Derrick Burgess all were absent from this practice session.

Quarterback updates: JaMarcus Russell continued to look inconsistent. He was again off on his short passes, and floated several of his deep balls. He did have a few bright moments where he was on target with lasers. Twice he was almost intercepted with Kirk Morrison and Darrick Brown both dropping sure interceptions. He also threw two interceptions, one of which bounced off of Louis Rankin's hands right into the hands of Jon Alston. His other interception was about as ugly as they come, as he underthrew Chaz Schilens by about 15 yards and Stanford Routt intercepted it cleanly.

Meanwhile, Jeff Garcia had a sporadic practice. He had some really nice throws, and at other times looked well out of sync.

Notes:

• Todd Watkins continued to catch nearly everything thrown his way.
• Fourth round pick Louis Murphy made several grabs, including one where he made a stellar play on an underthrown ball to make the catch before it could hit the turf.
• Jon Alston broke through for what would have been a sack, and he recorded an interception off the hands of Rankin.
• John Bowie limped off the practice field at one point, but shortly returned.
• Andrew Walter was the only quarterback not present. The countdown on his exit from the Raiders only accelerates.
• Had a conversation with Amy Trask about the mystery Airbus 340, and will have that for you later.
• The non-contact practice got physical in goal line drills where the defense swarmed undrafted free agent tight end Chris O'Neill after a catch and would not allow him into the end zone.
• The lone altercation of the night came when Cooper Carlisle and Ricky Brown mixed it up after a drill. Neither one of them would have given Manny Pacquiao or Andre Ward any challenge, however.

Quotes:

• Special Teams coach John Fossil, "You guys haven't been lively enough"
• Fossil after the drill, "That's good reps. Thats good work."
• Unknown coach, "Tempo defense, tempo"
• Hiram Eugene during a offensive v defense drill, "Come on ten, come on ten."
• Unknown coach to Slade Norris, "Are you using your eyes?"
• Unknown coach "Angles to the ball"
• Unknown coach "Use your eyes"

More to come later today... Also see our partner site at Thoughts from the Dark Side for further updates.