Just catch the ball Heyward-Bey

ALAMEDA - Raider Nation has a lot of questions for Darrius Heyward-Bey. Are you angry? Depressed? Is the pressure starting to get to you? Could you catch a football if your career depended on it?

The answers will have to wait. Since booting the crucial pass from Bruce Gradkowski in Sunday’s 16-10 loss to Kansas City and tipping it to Chiefs safety Mike Brown, Heyward-Bey has been missing in action. He cleared out of the Raiders’ locker room before reporters got there after the game, and didn’t show up during media time Monday.

“I haven’t talked to Darrius today, but I talked to him yesterday and gave him a lot of encouraging words, just let him know that ... it was a collection of things,” fellow rookie Louis Murphy said Monday. “It’s tough being an athlete and being a playmaker. You want to make those plays.”

Coach Tom Cable, who has been very supportive of Heyward-Bey, praised the receiver’s sustained block on Michael Bush’s 60-yard run on the second play from scrimmage. But he couldn’t sugarcoat the numbers on the No. 7 overall pick of the 2009 draft, who has six receptions — and a similar number of drops — in nine games.

“I would say it’s confidence,” Cable said. “He makes the great play, the play before that on the sideline, a tremendous catch, and then not that one. ... He feels the pressure of being the first-round pick and what everyone has said and on and on and on. And rightly so. He hasn’t backed it up yet. I see that kid being a real good pro, I really do.”

Murphy said every receiver goes through rough stretches, himself included.

“Oh, yeah, it was called a cold case of the dropsies,” he said. “It happens. It’s more than that. ... It’s been really tough getting into a rhythm. It’s either a perfect pass and a dropped ball, or it’s either a perfect pass and a perfect catch and a penalty.”

NNAMDI MORTAL AFTER ALL

Here’s a typical game for cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha: blanket the other team’s receivers all day, check your text messages on the field while the quarterback throws 16 times at Chris Johnson on the other side, blow up a couple running plays, shower, save a baby from an overturned car on the way home, and get back in time to see yourself acting on “Friday Night Lights.”

Sunday, Asomugha proved he, too, is made of flesh and blood.

He lined up against Kansas City’s Dwayne Bowe for most of the day, and Bowe won his share of the battles. The talented receiver beat Asomugha for at least two completions, got past him on a pass play that went incomplete when Bowe couldn’t control it inbounds, and drew a pass-interference call on a third-down play.

On the Chiefs’ longest pass play of the day, Bowe started out against Asomugha, but wound up down the field with no one in close coverage. He hauled in a pass for 41 yards. “It was a pick route,” free safety Michael Huff explained after the game. “Tyvon (Branch) got picked by Nnam’s receiver. Everybody knew their plan, it was more just we got out-executed.”

EXTRA POINTS

Emerging from the game with aches and pains were Murphy (bruised tailbone), QB Bruce Gradkowski (hamstring strain), S Hiram Eugene (shoulder), LB Isaiah Ekejiuba (ankle sprain) and Huff. Cable called Huff’s injury an ankle sprain. The player said it was more in his foot, and the team was awaiting results of an MRI exam.

Cable said he would have challenged the call on Huff’s defensive play in the third quarter, had it not come on fourth down. Officials ruled Matt Cassel’s pass incomplete, though Huff may have gotten both feet down for the interception.

The coach said he is considering changes at punt returner (the confidence-deprived Johnnie Lee Higgins) and kickoff returner (Johnathan Holland): “I don’t think either guy brought much to the table Sunday,” he noted. Rookie kick returner Nick Miller still hasn’t been cleared to play after breaking his shin before the season.

Cable had praise for his offensive line, which benefited from the return of LG Robert Gallery and RT Cornell Green. He said the unit allowed two sacks, both avoidable, and two quarterback hurries. “That’s unheard of in this league,” Cable said.

You can reach Staff Writer

Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.