OAKLAND – Raiders coach Lane Kiffin emphasized it was only one game.
But boy, was it an ugly game.
The Raiders' season opener did nothing to make anyone think the team's fortunes have changed after posting a 19-61 record in its previous five seasons.
The Raiders were embarrassed in front of a nationally-televised audience on "Monday Night Football" in a 41-14 drubbing by the Denver Broncos at McAfee Coliseum.
The Raiders showed their trademark lack of poise (10 penalties), poor tackling and raggedy offense much of the night for all to see.
The Raiders have lost six consecutive season openers, and two of the last three, at home against AFC West opponents, have been especially bad.
San Diego beat the Raiders 27-0 in 2006. That was also a Monday night game.
"I thought we showed a lack of discipline tonight," Kiffin said. "We talked about it before the game and it didn't happen today. We've got to find a way to fix that."
The Raiders were flagged for five personal fouls, including two on consecutive plays by cornerback DeAngelo Hall in his Raiders debut.
Hall said he seems to get the "short end of the stick" when it comes to borderline calls and said his two penalties were examples of that.
But he made no excuses for the team's effort.
"They outschemed us, they outplayed us," Hall said. "We didn't show up at all. … They came out and dominated us from start to finish."
The rebuilt secondary missed tackles and allowed 299 passing yards to Denver quarterback Jay Cutler.
Cutler was without his best wide receiver, Brandon Marshall, who was suspended by the NFL for Week 1 for repeated arrests.
No need to worry. Rookie Eddie Royal happily took advantage of the Raiders' attempts at coverage with nine catches for 146 yards and a touchdown.
The nine catches were the most by Broncos rookie in his debut in team history.
"He looked like an All-Pro guy," Hall said of the rookie.
A virtually nonexistent pass rush didn't help the secondary. Cutler wasn't sacked the entire game.
Meanwhile, Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell saw his fair share of pressure. He was sacked two times and fumbled twice.
His final statistics weren't bad. Russell completed 17 of 26 passes for 180 yards and touchdown passes to Ashley Lelie and Ronald Curry.
Kiffin said Russell played well, something he knows is "hard to imagine" with the final score.
"I thought there were some plays that guys could have made for him to where the guy could have actually had a really good night, surprisingly," Kiffin said.
In addition to wide receiver Javon Walker (hamstring) being inactive, rookie running back Darren McFadden left the game in the second half with a stinger. He said he first hurt his arm in practice and aggravated the injury on his first carry of the game.
Starting left tackle Kwame Harris left the game in the third quarter with a right knee injury when Denver linebacker Jamie Winborn rolled into his leg.
Paul McQuistan replaced Harris. He left the game with a knee injury that Kiffin said was the worst of the Raiders' injuries.
Harris said he would have an MRI this morning.
Starting defensive end Derrick Burgess also left the game in the second half with a shoulder injury.
Besides praising Russell, Kiffin found something to be optimistic about.
"Whether we lost 7-6 or by 34 or whatever it was, we're 0-1," Kiffin said. "We have a big game next week, go back to Arrowhead (Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.) and try to even it up at 1-1."
Read Jason Jones' Raiders blog at www.sacbee.com/ raidersblog.
