Raiders-Broncos quite a production

<p>OAKLAND - ESPN didn’t bring it’s A-team here for the Broncos game - the regular “Monday Night Football” crew was in Green Bay for the Packers-Vikings showdown - but the network certainly brought it’s A-game.</p><p>For this rare primetime double-header, ESPN brought four trucks, 23 cameras, some 36,000 feet of cable (take that, wireless!) and 186 credentialed worker bees, not to mention its three-headed team of Mikes - Ditka, Golic and Greenberg.</p><p>Golic has a Raiders connection, having played the defensive line in Philadelphia for Buddy Ryan, father of Oakland defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan. Buddy was the Eagles head coach, but he more or less ran the defense. Rob Ryan runs a very different scheme - less blitzing, more blanket coverage - but Golic sees similarities in attitude.</p><p>“Football is a gladiator, barbaric sport,” Golic said. “You want a guy who says, ‘Handle that guy in front of you, do your job. Get to the ball carrier and make a tackle.’ He doesn’t do it with a lot of bells and whistles. The more trickery you use, sometimes in a way you’re saying you can’t do it on our own. Rob is not like that. And his dad wasn’t like that.”</p><p>Meanwhile, Greenberg, the play-by-play man, was more concerned with physical safety in a venue he was visiting for the first time.</p><p>“I’m scared to death of the fans,” he said. “I’ve seen scenes of the Black Hole, where they pan through the audience. I will not be on the field before the game. Golic will. I won’t.”</p><p>ESPN’s first Monday-night double-header also included a game in Oakland, on opening weekend of 2006. That was the infamous 27-0 blowout by the Chargers that kicked off a dreadful season for Art Shell.</p><p>WHERE’S JAVON?</p><p>Wide receiver Javon Walker was among the Raiders inactives, though his hamstring was reportedly healthy. On Saturday, coach Lane Kiffin had said that Walker was “very impressive” as he went through drills. Walker himself sounded ready to face his former team.</p><p>“We just need to win games, so anything possible to be out there and play,” the receiver said. “I always make sure and take pride in getting myself ready. The trainers are doing that, too.”</p><p>But Walker never got into uniform. Ashley Lelie, signed last Tuesday, started opposite Ronald Curry and saw heavy action.</p><p>EXTRA POINTS</p><p>The Raiders released tackle Seth Wand and signed James Marten, a 6-foot-7, 309-pound G/T from Boston College. Marten was a third-round draft choice by the Cowboys in 2007.</p><p>WR Chaz Schilens made his first NFL reception at 4:09 of the second quarter, snaring a pass from JaMarcus Russell on a slant route. Three plays later, Schilens caught another slant from Russell.</p><p>Lane Kiffin’s first challenge of 2008 was a good one. He challenged the spot of the football after officials marked a first down for Michael Pittman on a third-and-1 run. Replays showed Pittman’s knee touch the ground inches shy of the marker, and the Broncos wound up punting.</p><p>Johnnie Lee Higgins was involved in one of the best plays of the first half, and one of the worst. Higgins fielded Denver’s first kickoff at his 7-yard line, sped up the middle, cut left and bolted for 58 yards before Champ Bailey pushed him out of bounds. Late in the second quarter, though, Higgins was supposed to get the ball on a double reverse; Justin Fargas’ short pitch bounced off the receiver’s hands, and Higgins lost 15 yards.</p>