“I don’t have the answer, obviously,” Jackson said. “I talk to the team about it all the time. I don’t just talk. I yell, I scream, I threaten. I’ve done everything. I get a bunch of letters of people telling me other things I should try, too. And please don’t send any new ones because those things don’t work.”

The Raiders (8-7) head into their must-win season finale against San Diego needing four penalties for 11 yards to break both records held by the 1998 Kansas City Chiefs.

Considering the Raiders have committed at least four penalties in 27 straight games and have had at least 11 yards in penalties in all but three games since moving back to Oakland in 1995, it seems like a safe bet those records will fall.

Jackson vowed at the start of training camp that he would fix a problem that has plagued the Raiders for most of their history. Oakland has committed at least 100 penalties for 12 straight seasons and have ranked in the top five in total penalties in the NFL for five straight seasons.

Jackson has had three officials at most practices in order to curb the problem and said they usually see about three or four infractions a day. That rises to more than 10 a game when it counts.

The players have also instituted a $100 fine system for committing penalties with a jar on defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan’s desk collecting the loot.

“Charity will love us at the end of the year,” Bresnahan said.

But the flags keep flying each week. The Raiders have hit double digits in four straight games, including a season-high tying 15 in last week’s overtime win at Kansas City that featured a delay of game that negated a fake field goal for a touchdown.

“I wish we knew what it was,” quarterback Carson Palmer said. “It’s not a bunch of false starts. It’s not just holdings. It’s kind of all over the place. In special teams, on a touchdown a delay of game. It’s just been a weird year. There’s been some calls that you can’t find on film when you go back and watch them. It’s not one thing. It’s not a trend. As those flags get going in games I always have guys come up to me on the sideline saying, ‘This is what happens when you play for the Raiders.’”

There have been quite a variety of penalties with 58 being pre-snap calls, including 20 offsides calls and 19 false starts. There have also been a league-worst 29 personal fouls, and 39 holding calls.

The biggest problem has been on defense where the Raiders have committed a league-worst 78 penalties on defense — more than twice the league average of 35. They have 58 penalties on offense — tied for fourth most — and are tied for sixth with 19 on special teams.

“You want the penalties to hold down because they’re going to come back and bite you sooner or later,” said defensive tackle Tommy Kelly, who has been called for seven. “To me, just limit the 15-yarders, the big ones. We can deal with the 5-yarders. But the 15-yarders are the ones keeping the drives alive.”

There have been some costly ones as the Raiders have given opponents 54 first downs with penalties, including 20 drives that led to a score. Penalties aided Buffalo’s two fourth-quarter TD drives in a 38-35 Oakland loss in September and Detroit’s two fourth-quarter TD drives in the Raiders 28-27 loss earlier this month.

“I stay up late at night trying to figure this out, as much as I can,” Jackson said. “I’ve worked at that as hard as I’ve worked at anything. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen, but we’ll have a long discussion about penalties when this season is over. I promise you that.”

In all, 43 players have accounted for the penalties, including Terrelle Pryor, who committed a false start to negate his only play all season. Jackson also has a penalty for challenging a scoring play in Week 2 at Buffalo, which is against the rules.

Cornerback Stanford Routt has been the most penalized player in the league with 16 — one more than the entire Green Bay defense. Offensive linemen Khalif Barnes and Jared Veldheer are next with 10 apiece, followed by defensive tackle Richard Seymour with nine.

“Obviously, getting penalties is never a good thing, but you can’t let that get in your head, because if you do then you’re playing into the other team’s hands,” Routt said. “You don’t ever want to let the referees decide the game, and if you let them get in your head, you’re letting them decide the game.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The fine jar in the defensive meeting room fills up with bills, suggestions pour in from fans and coach Hue Jackson’s voice gets hoarse from yelling.

Despite plenty of effort to cure the Oakland Raiders age-old penalty problem, this year’s team is on pace to shatter the NFL record for penalties and yards penalized in a season.

“I don’t have the answer, obviously,” Jackson said. “I talk to the team about it all the time. I don’t just talk. I yell, I scream, I threaten. I’ve done everything. I get a bunch of letters of people telling me other things I should try, too. And please don’t send any new ones because those things don’t work.”

The Raiders (8-7) head into their must-win season finale against San Diego needing four penalties for 11 yards to break both records held by the 1998 Kansas City Chiefs.

Considering the Raiders have committed at least four penalties in 27 straight games and have had at least 11 yards in penalties in all but three games since moving back to Oakland in 1995, it seems like a safe bet those records will fall.

Jackson vowed at the start of training camp that he would fix a problem that has plagued the Raiders for most of their history. Oakland has committed at least 100 penalties for 12 straight seasons and have ranked in the top five in total penalties in the NFL for five straight seasons.

Jackson has had three officials at most practices in order to curb the problem and said they usually see about three or four infractions a day. That rises to more than 10 a game when it counts.

The players have also instituted a $100 fine system for committing penalties with a jar on defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan’s desk collecting the loot.

“Charity will love us at the end of the year,” Bresnahan said.

But the flags keep flying each week. The Raiders have hit double digits in four straight games, including a season-high tying 15 in last week’s overtime win at Kansas City that featured a delay of game that negated a fake field goal for a touchdown.

“I wish we knew what it was,” quarterback Carson Palmer said. “It’s not a bunch of false starts. It’s not just holdings. It’s kind of all over the place. In special teams, on a touchdown a delay of game. It’s just been a weird year. There’s been some calls that you can’t find on film when you go back and watch them. It’s not one thing. It’s not a trend. As those flags get going in games I always have guys come up to me on the sideline saying, ‘This is what happens when you play for the Raiders.’”

There have been quite a variety of penalties with 58 being pre-snap calls, including 20 offsides calls and 19 false starts. There have also been a league-worst 29 personal fouls, and 39 holding calls.

The biggest problem has been on defense where the Raiders have committed a league-worst 78 penalties on defense — more than twice the league average of 35. They have 58 penalties on offense — tied for fourth most — and are tied for sixth with 19 on special teams.

“You want the penalties to hold down because they’re going to come back and bite you sooner or later,” said defensive tackle Tommy Kelly, who has been called for seven. “To me, just limit the 15-yarders, the big ones. We can deal with the 5-yarders. But the 15-yarders are the ones keeping the drives alive.”

There have been some costly ones as the Raiders have given opponents 54 first downs with penalties, including 20 drives that led to a score. Penalties aided Buffalo’s two fourth-quarter TD drives in a 38-35 Oakland loss in September and Detroit’s two fourth-quarter TD drives in the Raiders 28-27 loss earlier this month.

“I stay up late at night trying to figure this out, as much as I can,” Jackson said. “I’ve worked at that as hard as I’ve worked at anything. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen, but we’ll have a long discussion about penalties when this season is over. I promise you that.”

In all, 43 players have accounted for the penalties, including Terrelle Pryor, who committed a false start to negate his only play all season. Jackson also has a penalty for challenging a scoring play in Week 2 at Buffalo, which is against the rules.

Cornerback Stanford Routt has been the most penalized player in the league with 16 — one more than the entire Green Bay defense. Offensive linemen Khalif Barnes and Jared Veldheer are next with 10 apiece, followed by defensive tackle Richard Seymour with nine.

“Obviously, getting penalties is never a good thing, but you can’t let that get in your head, because if you do then you’re playing into the other team’s hands,” Routt said. “You don’t ever want to let the referees decide the game, and if you let them get in your head, you’re letting them decide the game.”

The Oakland Raiders’ defensive tackle, Richard Seymour, was not only recognized for his outstanding efforts by being selected for the Pro Bowl yesterday, he was also honored for his exceptional performance on the field in Kansas City in the Raiders victory over the Chiefs on Christmas Eve.

Richard Seymour
Wikimedia Commons

Seymour has been named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after being responsible for two blocked field goal attempts, the second block forced the game into overtime and prevented the Chiefs from capturing the victory and kept the Raiders playoff hopes alive.

Seymour remarked “I give my teammates and my coaches a lot of credit, they put me in the right position to make plays. I couldn’t be the player that I am without Tommy Kelly and the guys beside me.”

Defensive tackle Kelly is a Pro Bowl alternate and commented on Seymour’s great plays after the Chiefs’ game, “Make a play, make a play, that’s all, and Big Rich [Richard Seymour] made a play.”

Seymour has spent much of the 2011 season playing through a painful knee injury, and would likely have a lot more than the six sacks and 27 tackles on the season if it wasn’t for the injury. Fortunately for the Raider Nation he appears to have recovered just in time. In his 11-year NFL career he has 479 tackles and 54.5 sacks.

The impressive defensive tackle was a big help in the opening game of the season at Denver as well. He sacked the Broncos’ former quarterback Kyle Orton twice, helping his team to a 23-20 victory.

Seymour was traded to Oakland by the New England Patriots in 2009, and in his very first game for the Silver and Black he had two sacks on San Diego Chargers’ quarterback Philip Rivers. Something tells me he’ll have at least one more on Rivers this coming weekend.

Earlier this year Seymour became the highest paid defensive tackle in the NFL after signing a $30 million two-year contract extension in February. He’s another player that the team’s late owner, Al Davis, considered a priority on the team and he’s definitely earned his keep. Let’s hope for the Raiders sake he has another stand out performance on New Year’s Day. Just believe!

K.C. Dermody grew up in the Bay Area of California, and has been an Oakland Raiders fan from the time she could walk. She has continued her loyalty to the team through its many ups and downs over the decades, and has been privileged to meet several of her favorite players, including famed quarterback, Jim Plunkett . Follow her at www.facebook.com/KCDermodyWriter or on Twitter @kcdermody.

More from this contributor:

Three Oakland Raiders Selected to the Pro Bowl: Fan reaction

Oakland Raiders’ Janikowski Nominated for Never Say Never Moment: Fan’s Look

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Oakland Raiders Give Fans the Best Christmas Present: A Defeat of the Kansas City Chiefs – Fan’s Take

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The Oakland Raiders might have gotten their spark back after it seemed to go out during at least two of their three recent losses. It nearly died in the battles against the Miami Dolphins and the Green Bay Packers, and there just wasn’t enough to get that flame going to defeat the Detroit Lions. But fortunately, it seems to have returned, and players are starting to sound like they’re part of the team fans know and love.

Brandon Meyers, Oakland Raiders tight end
Wikimedia Commons

The must-win defeat of the Kansas City Chiefs, and some exceptional stand out plays showed their heart is in it to win, and hearing some of the players and coaches shortly after the game over the last couple of days there is no denying that.

Stanford Routt, an Al Davis favorite, was responsible for one of two interceptions against the Chiefs’ quarterback, Kyle Orton, on Christmas Eve. He posted on Twitter after the game, “Not gonna dwell on the small stuff….just gonna enjoy this because I can’t ask for anything better than WIN on Christmas Eve!”

He also tweeted, “We’re a movement by ourselves…but a force when we’re together,” which I believe speaks volumes for the team.

Tommy Kelly, the Raiders’ defensive tackled commented on the Chiefs’ game, “At the end of the day, if we win 16-13, I don’t care how we get there. After last week losing 28-27 and giving up 14 points in the last five or six minutes, I don’t even care to tell you the truth. I just want to win and go to the playoffs for the first time in my career.”

Possibly my favorite quote after the victory on Christmas Eve was a tweet by tight end Brandon Myers, “Early Xmas present to #RaiderNation we are gonna give it our ALL to beat SD an make the playoffs. Much love.”

Myers was part of that amazing play when they pulled off the fake field goal and punter Shane Lechler, the holder on the play, threw a shovel pass to Myers who ran untouched into the endzone for the touchdown. Unfortunately it was called back for a delay of game penalty, but at least this time, we’re not talking about how that penalty (and others) led to a loss.

Although it’s too soon to know which injured players will make a return for the final game of the season coming up this Sunday, there is a possibility that we’ll see receiver Jacoby Ford back on the field. He’s missed eight games, but if he can be in for this final, must-win situation, he will.

Safety Michael Huff, who had never missed a game at any level of his career, has missed four this season with a hamstring injury. This morning he commented, “It feels good to be this close. It’s been a while since it’s been like this around here. It’s a good feeling. We know we have to go out there and handle our business this week and everything will take care of itself.”

Huff also added, “I’ll be out there,” Huff said Monday morning. “I’m not going to miss this one.”

There is a possibility that running back Darren McFadden could return for week 17, but he’d have to play through pain, and head coach Hue Jackson might want to save him for a playoff game rather than risk further injury. We won’t know more until later in the week, and I think the chances are pretty slim for him to come back against San Diego.

Either way, the spark has returned, and it’s bigger than ever. I do believe we’ll see them defeat the Chargers. It’s rare that you’ll ever hear me say this, but “Go Chiefs!” And, of course, to the Raiders, “Just win baby!”

K.C. Dermody grew up in the Bay Area of California, and has been an Oakland Raiders fan from the time she could walk. She has continued her loyalty to the team through its many ups and downs over the decades, and has been privileged to meet several of her favorite players, including famed quarterback, Jim Plunkett . Follow her at www.facebook.com/KCDermodyWriter or on Twitter @kcdermody.

More from this contributor:

Top Five Highlights from the Oakland Raiders Defeat of the Kansas City Chiefs: Fan’s Take

Oakland Raiders Give Fans the Best Christmas Present: A Defeat of the Kansas City Chiefs – Fan’s Take

Christmas Eve Game, Raiders and Chiefs: Fan’s Look at Injury Updates and Last Year’s Battles

Fan’s Look at the Heated Rivalry Between the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs

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