Richard Seymour should get only 48 hours to prepare for every game.
With just two days in Alameda to learn the playbook, the Oakland Raiders' recent trade acquisition Richard Seymour stood out in Monday Night's 24-20 loss to the Chargers. Al Davis traded the Raiders' first-round pick in 2011 to bring Seymour to the bay, and in Monday's game Seymour looked like he was worth his weight in first-round draft picks.
Seymour rang up two sacks, six tackles, and hurried Philip Rivers like an angry bartender at last call throughout the entire evening. The Oakland Trib's Jerry McDonald decreed via tweet that Seymour is the "best Raiders defensive lineman since Howie Long."
It would be fair to point out the Raiders still lost the game. But it was the kind of loss where Kanye West might grab the microphone and declare that you still played "one of the best games of all time!"
In that respect, it would also be fair to point out that LaDainian Tomlinson had rung up the Raiders for 100 plus yards in nine of his previous outings against them, with an embarrassing 119.1 average against the Silver and Black. Last night, with Seymour in the Raiders' DL mix, Tomlinson had 56 yards and was rendered damaged goods in fantasy leagues nationwide.
Seymour's first sack came late in the first quarter as he was being double-mugged by two Charger offensive linemen. All you could see was Seymour's fist emerging from the scrum and dragging Rivers to the dirt. Again, with just one hand while being double-covered.
As ProFootballTalk.com wisecracked on it's live-blog, "It puts him on pace for 64.0 sacks for the season."
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But it wasn't just the sacks that made Seymour such a special addition to the Raiders, It's that he could line up at a number of positions to leave Norv Turner more confused than he was when he coached the Raiders. Seymour bum-rushed the Chargers' backfield when lined up at defensive end, right tackle, and even as a three-point stance linebacker.
In his San Francisco Chronicle blog, David White gamely observed, "the Raiders have been blowing leads in the fourth quarter since I got on this beat in 2006. But I've never seen them play three quarters that well before."
Richard Seymour was a big part of that difference. And he might provide the Raiders a modicum of revenge on the Patriots for the Randy Moss trade.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who would franchise Richard Seymour every year until he retired.
