REPORT CARD VS. CHIEFS

PASSING OFFENSE
C -- Blink and you missed it. The Raiders struck and Daunte Culpepper struck like lightning with back-to-back completions of 59 yards to Jerry Porter and 21 to Ronald Curry for a touchdown late in the third quarter. Other than four catches for 45 yards by Zach Miller, not a lot to talk about. Curry dropped three passes and Culpepper threw the killer interception to Jarrad Page when the Raiders were hoping to get in field-goal range.

RUSHING OFFENSE
F -- At least they were persistent -- persistently bad. LaMont Jordan had 29 yards on 11 carries and Dominic Rhodes had 21 on nine attempts. Erase Jordan's 12-yard run and an 11-yard burst by Rhodes, and the Raiders rushed 22 times for 32 yards. This from a team that averaged 194.2 yards on the ground through its first four games and is now down to 145.8.

PASS DEFENSE
B -- The Raiders got sacks from Warren Sapp and Chris Clemons and a solid rush from Derrick Burgess. Stanford Routt had his third interception of the year at the 7-yard line, but Kirk Morrison dropped what could have been his fourth. Safety Stuart Schweigert put the wood to Chiefs TE Tony Gonzalez. Oakland's best defender, Nnamdi Asomugha, let Kansas City rookie Dwayne Bowe get behind him for a 58-yard gain for the lone egregious error.

RUSH DEFENSE
B -- Larry Johnson (24 carries, 112 yards) went over 100 yards like he always does against Oakland, but this time it was different. He broke loose on one 54-yard cutback run that didn't hurt because the Chiefs blew a 30-yard field-goal attempt. Other than that, it was 2.5 yards per carry (58 yards, 23 carries). Terdell Sands had one of his better games at defensive tackle, helping tie up Chiefs blocking schemes.

SPECIAL TEAMS
B-minus -- The weekly big mistake was costly -- this time Asomugha allowed a Kansas City gunner to run him into return specialist Chris Carr, with the ball coming free and the Chiefs recovering, leading to a field goal. Still not much going on returns, other than a 24-yard punt return by Carr. Sebastian Janikowski converted his only field-goal attempt from 37 yards and had three touchbacks. Shane Lechler punted nine times for a 51.2 average and 45.1 net, placing three inside the 20-yard line.

COACHING
D -- Lane Kiffin's stubborn nature regarding running the ball is both admirable and maddening. His decision to go for a first down on fourth-and-one in the red zone -- they didn't get it -- was one of the big reasons the Raiders didn't win. You wonder if Kiffin's tacit admission that he has little faith in the passing game to carry the load isn't affecting the confidence of that part of the Raiders' game. Overall, this was a game the Raiders needed to make a statement they apparently weren't prepared to make.

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