Raiders' Davis interviewing potential Kiffin replacement

ALAMEDA - Lane Kiffin was still undead Monday afternoon, addressing the Bay Area media under a growing cloud, just as he had done the previous two weeks. Kiffin seemed to be under control, leading some to wonder whether he just might retain his job through the bye week.

A little after 6 p.m., however, ESPN reported that owner Al Davis had scheduled Monday evening interviews with three members of his staff — offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, offensive line coach Tom Cable and advance scout Paul Hackett — ostensibly with an eye to replacing Kiffin.

Knapp isn’t much of a surprise, but the other two are. Most viewed wide receivers coach James Lofton and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan as the two leading candidates to replace Kiffin. Both had interviewed previously with Davis for the head coaching job.

How Kalimba saved the Raiders

If Kiffin does somehow manage to save his job, he will have defensive end Kalimba Edwards to thank.

Lost in the, ahem, excitement of the Raiders’ fourth-quarter cave-ins the last two weeks is the near-collapse at Kansas City in Week 2. If that game had been played this past Sunday, Raider Nation would be hiding its collective eyes and mumbling prayers as the Chiefs ran plays in the final quarter.

To recap: Oakland went up 16-0 on Sebastian Janikowski’s 312-yard field goal (OK, it was really from 40 yards) with 6:53 left. Then the Raiders went to a more conservative defensive style, and the Chiefs needed only 2:49 to go 80 yards in nine plays for their first touchdown. The visitors promptly gave back the ball on Michael Bush’s fumble. Then, eight points down, K.C. picked up a first down on Tyler Thigpen’s pass to Dwayne Bowe at the Oakland 45-yard line.

Sound familiar? And painful? Sure enough, but two plays later, on second-and-10, pass-rush specialist Kalimba Edwards came around the right side of the defense and sacked Thigpen for a 9-yard loss. Faced with third-and-19, Thigpen threw into coverage and the ball was intercepted by linebacker Kirk Morrison. Buoyed by the takeaway, Kiffin ran Bush six straight times, and the runner finished off the Chiefs with a 32-yard touchdown burst.

It looks like Kiffin may indeed be out of a job. But if this team were 0-4, 0-3 in the AFC West, and had blown not two but three leads in consecutive weeks, he probably wouldn’t have survived Sunday night.

Edwards, by the way, could be in for more playing time. Kiffin had already talked about playing Edwards in place of right defensive end Jay Richardson on run downs. The Raiders did so out of necessity Sunday, with left end Derrick Burgess limited by a triceps injury, and Edwards performed well.

“I think he played 54 plays maybe, the most of any of our defensive linemen,” Kiffin said at Monday’s news conference. “Kalimba really responded to it, and it was good to see. ...We didn’t give him the starting job — he had to earn it. And then he goes out and responds and plays as well as he did.”

A defensive player on the rise

Here’s Kiffin on massive defensive tackle Terdell Sands, who had two sacks and five tackles against the Chargers: “Terdell Sands played his best game, by far, since I’ve been here. He single-handedly, him being in shape and playing the way he is, is changing our run defense from last year.”

In 2007, the Raiders ranked 31st in the NFL while allowing 145.9 yards per game. So far in 2008, they are yielding 113.5 yards per game. Kiffin also shone the spotlight on Edwards and strong safety Gibril Wilson for their play Sunday.

And one who’s backsliding

And here’s Kiffin on free safety Michael Huff, who missed a tackle on a touchdown run by LaDainian Tomlinson and looked lost on a couple of pass plays: “Michael had his least-productive game of the season this game. Missed three or four tackles and ended up not having any tackles in the game. As well as we played on defense, this wasn’t one of Michael’s better games.”

Bye-bye, Raiders

With no game this Sunday, the players were off Monday. Kiffin said they’d be off again today, then return to practice Wednesday and Thursday to focus on red-zone and third-down plays, a disaster area for the Raiders so far this season. Of course, all of that is up in the air right now.

There’s never a bad time for a week off, but the bye is particularly well-situated for Oakland this year. Players such as running backs Justin Fargas and Darren McFadden, guard Cooper Carlisle, defensive linemen Gerard Warren and Derrick Burgess, and cornerbacks Nnamdi Asomugha and Stanford Routt are battling nagging injuries. Kiffin believed all of them will be healthy by the time the Raiders play at New Orleans on Oct. 12.

You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.