National Football League

Oakland Raiders notebook: Incentive to fire up team misquotes nemesis Marty Schottenheimer

Published Oct. 8, 2010 10:55 a.m. ET

foxsports

A flier posted in the Raiders' locker room quotes longtime nemesis Marty Schottenheimer as saying the "Raiders would eventually fold" and "that is still the perception around the league."

One small problem: Schottenheimer never said those things earlier this week on Sirius NFL Radio as the flier states.

The flier quotes Schottenheimer as saying:

"The one constant you can count on in playing the Raiders is that they don't finish. They don't finish plays, and they don't finish games. I always told my players that if they kept playing hard against the Raiders, they would eventually fold. That is why I knew we would always win. That is still the perception around the league."

Schottenheimer, who coached the Kansas City Chiefs from 1989-98 and the San Diego Chargers from 2002-06, posted a 27-6 record against the Raiders. The retired coach did nothing to hide his disdain for the Raiders, who play the Chargers on Sunday.

Here's are some of the remarks Schottenheimer made about the Raiders on Sirius NFL Radio a day after they lost to the Houston Texans 31-24:

"Well, from my perspective "... I've always saw in that football team, they don't finish plays very well. And I'm not going to sit here and tell you that "... they don't care. But, I do think that losing over an extended period of time produces guys that tend to "... they don't finish plays the way you need to finish plays. "...

"And that was always the thing that I felt about the Raiders and why I felt we could always beat them is "... I always would tell our players, if you just hang in there with the Raiders, they will find a way in the end to lose themselves."

Linebackers Rolando McClain (personal), Quentin Groves (hamstring) and Thomas Howard (knee), wide receiver Chaz Schilens (knee), running backs Darren McFadden (hamstring) and Michael Bennett (hamstring) and left guard Robert Gallery (hamstring) were among those who missed practice Thursday.

McClain is the only one likely to play against the Chargers. He was absent from practice because of a death in the family.

Coach Tom Cable said McFadden and Bennett are "very questionable" for Sunday's game. Cable is holding out hope Gallery makes enough progress that he can play Sunday for the first time since Sept. 12.