OAKLAND – There's silly. There's downright dumb. And then, there's the Raiders.

All your favorite silver and black-clad dysfunctional outfit did this time was run a fake field-goal attempt in which the kicker, a beefy 250-pounder named Sebastian Janikowski, was asked to catch a pitched ball on the run and rumble around the left end.

On fourth and 10, meaning the acreage needed to cover about 17 yards, what with where the ball was to be placed.

On a ball flipped to him from between the legs of a kneeling holder, Shane Lechler.

And early in the second quarter, with the score tied 3-3.

Did we mention the next time Janikowski sprints on the field will be the first time? Why not just run a "Wildcat" direct pitch to 335-pound defensive tackle Terdell Sands? Taking off on a Student Body Left, minus the student body and, it turns out, the ball, the slowest Raider could not corral said ball. Kansas City's Maurice Leggett scooped up Janikowski's flub, and the rookie was gone.

Sixty-seven yards later, the Chiefs had a 10-point swing and, as a result, a 20-13 victory in a dog of a game between two of the league's biggest mutts, and the silly call all but killed the Raiders' just-as-ridiculous playoff dreams.

And you thought Plaxico Burress was the only NFL player to shoot himself in the foot this weekend. OK, so, technically the New York Giants wide receiver blasted himself in the leg, but you get the point.

Plus, the ball almost had company on the Oakland Coliseum grass after Janikowski could not handle the pigskin.

"I thought my eyes were going to pop out," Leggett said, and he wasn't the only one whose peepers nearly came out of their sockets when the, ahem, trick play unfolded.

"We do that in practice all the time," Raiders captain Nnamdi Asomugha said, "but I never knew it was a real thing that we were going to attempt."

Stifle the laughter for now. Interim coach Tom Cable, the, um, mastermind behind such brilliance, called the play because, as Cable and long snapper Jon Condo insisted, it works all the time in practice.

Yes, but it has worked against the RAIDERS!

"I wish," quarterback JaMarcus Russell said, "we would have taken the points today."

This special-teams call was even dumber than Lane Kiffin's one-finger salute to Al Davis on his way out of town, otherwise known in Silver and Blackdom as the 76-yard field-goal attempt against San Diego that also put Janikowski, Oakland's MVP, in mortal danger.

So really, what better time to run the first fake field goal of Janikowski's nine-year NFL career (and yes, that is sarcasm dripping)?

"I was shocked he didn't kick it; it was really crazy," Leggett said. "When we looked at it on the stat-cam, it was actually a passing play."

The Raiders never said Janikowski was supposed to throw the ball, and the Polish kicker was nowhere to be found in the postgame locker room. But, hey, maybe it works in Poland, and, truth be told, Tony Stewart was on the left end of the line. He was the one who released Leggett to rush in and was open a few yards downfield.

"But when the ball hit the ground," Leggett said, "my eyes got even bigger."

And the weight of Raider Nation on Cable grew heavier.

"That was my decision," Cable said, "and, obviously, it was not a good one."

Silly? Downright dumb? Nah, just the Raiders.

Call The Bee's Paul Gutierrez, (916) 326-5556.