Check? Callahan Ponders Strategy
As Raider Injuries Mount

ALAMEDA -- The way Raiders head coach Bill Callahan was talking about his battered team yesterday, you might have thought he was referring to chess, analyzing which piece to move next to bolster his defense.

Injuries to two key players in Sunday's 27-21 overtime loss to the San Diego Chargers has coaches scrambling to reorganize even as several other team members are still out.

"We feel we're still in the race in the AFC West," Callahan told the media at the Raiders' training facility here for his weekly press conference.

Despite the optimistic words, the coaching staff knows they are going into the season's eighth week with a struggling defense and a team that's been hit hard in the last couple of weeks.

On the field Sunday, Phillip Buchanon, the rookie cornerback who broke his left wrist in the second quarter, will be out at least eight weeks. The front office has not made a decision on whether to place him on the injured report.

"We never anticipated an injury of this magnitude to a rookie corner on the play that occurred," Callahan said.

But his teammate Terry Kirby is definitely "finished for the season," Callahan said. Kirby broke both bones in his calf at the start of the second half when he barreled into a pile of San Diego players returning the kickoff.

Callahan and the Raider front office are now exploring who to pull up from the secondary and while several names have been thrown around, no major roster changes have been made yet with the exception of running back Madre Hill, who is being brought up from the practice squad.

"We're still continuing to look at some other options as far as bringing some guys in to work out, but you never have enough, especially in the situation and adversity we're under right now in the back end," Callahan said.

Among the other battle-scarred are cornerback Charles Woodson and running back Tyrone Wheatley, who is out because of an injured hamstring.

Woodson, who suffered a right shoulder fracture and is listed this week as probable, could replace Buchanon, but Callahan said he would prefer not to risk further damage to Woodson's injury.

"We will ask him to back up and take reps and prepare himself for that role and that eventuality," he told reporters, signaling just how short of options he is right now.

Rod Woodson, himself suffering a quad strain, filled the corner position on Sunday for Buchanon and told reporters he'd do it again.

"We have to play better as a team on defense," he said.

The Raiders, who had been flying high leading the NFC West, are now in third spot at 4-2. And while the Oakland team may be leading the league in total offense, they rank 29th in defense.

But some players, like tightend Roland Williams, don't make too much of it yet.

"The only thing that matters is how you end the season," Williams said.

The Raiders will face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

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