Inside Bay Area - Cards stacked in McCown's favor
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OAKLAND — The Raiders can downplay tonight's exhibition game all they want. And who could blame them?
They won four exhibition games last season and only two regular-season games. They know tonight's game against the Arizona Cardinals at McAfee Coliseum is little more than a glorified scrimmage, where fans pay full fare to see what amounts to football lite.
Maybe so, but this game is more than a necessary nuisance to quarterback Josh McCown. The first-year Raider, facing his former team and with the starting job in his grasp, has more at stake than most of his teammates.
"I wanted to start this game because I wanted to play against the players ... that I played with when I was there," McCown said. "I just like competing against those guys. I thought it'd be fun. But from an overall standpoint, my focus is Week 1 against Detroit. So, it's good to start this game and get thiswork, but I want to be revving and ready to go Week 1."
The Raiders play the Detroit Lions in their regular-season opener Sept. 9.
Raiders coach Lane Kiffin remains uncertain whether McCown, Andrew Walter or Daunte Culpepper is his best option, with a little more than four weeks before a decision has to be made.
McCown realizes he is in the best position to land the starting job. He gets to work with Oakland's first-team offense and play against Arizona's starting defense. Therefore, what he does figures to carry more weight than the performances of Walter and Culpepper with and against a slew of players who won't be around Sept. 9.
Kiffin praised McCown for the way he has comported himself in offseason workouts and practices, meetings and throughout the first two weeks of training camp. That prompted him to give McCown the first crack at seizing the job.
The plaudits started in offseason practices. McCown asserted himself by diving into the playbook upon his arrival in late April, spending an inordinate amount of time working with offensive coordinator Greg Knapp and learning the tendencies of his receivers.
"Josh continues to make great decisions," Kiffin said. "He's very accurate, a great decision-maker. He audibles pretty much into the right plays and has done a great job (overall)."
McCown arrived in Oakland via a draft-day trade with the Lions that included veteran wide receiver Mike Williams. McCown and Williams became close last season, when both received little playing time and yearned for a chance to show their talents.
Williams said the Raiders got more than a journeyman quarterback in McCown.
"He's a big-time quarterback, man," Williams said. "He's got an attitude."
Cards stacked in McCown's favor
Cards stacked in McCown's favor
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