regarding the Raiders' suckitude, one of the great lead-ins of any sports column I have ever read (from the Merc):
"Just when you thought the Raiders had hit rock bottom, they broke out the shovels and dug themselves even deeper into the earth's crust."
In case you missed it the Raiders finished the 1st half with 13 offensive plays totalling -2 yds (which is truly offensive in the other sense of the word) and zero first downs, meanwhile ATL had 20 first downs, 309 yds, 3 sacks & scored the first 4 times they got the ball. The Falcons in the end had more first downs passing (12) than Oakland had net yards passing.
Deep into the earth's crust indeed!
(sorry Rod!)