Callahan Mulls Replacements
For Crippled Raiders

ALAMEDA -- The Raiders, whose defense is already decimated by injuries, will have to play without running back Terry Kirby for the rest of the season and rookie cornerback Phillip Buchanon for eight weeks, coach Bill Callahan announced at his weekly press conference here today.

Kirby, 32, who broke his right fibula and tibia in Sunday's overtime loss to the San Diego Chargers, remains hospitalized at Summit Medical Center in Oakland, where he will spend at least one more night tonight. Callahan said the team did not know if the fractures were compound.

During surgery Sunday night, doctors inserted pins in Buchanon's broken left wrist, which he suffered while leaping high to snare an interception. He was undercut on the play and fell hard on his left arm. The team has not decided whether to place him on injured reserve, Callahan said.

Buchanon, 22, a first round draft pick in 2002, was a key component of the Raiders' defense and special teams. His absence will force the Raiders to re-shuffle players to cover punts and kickoffs.

Callahan said that wide receiver Tim Brown, safety Rod Woodson or injured cornerback Charles Woodson could fill the punt return hole, although he doesn't want to subject his starters to the often vicious downfield hits special teams defenders dole out.

Callahan also spoke candidly about the Raiders' glaring defensive errors in the past two games. "I think it's the run first and foremost that we're adamant about stopping. We're going into a situation where you have one of the best rushing teams in the league and the best back in the league and we have really got to rectify some of the error in our game on that side of the ball," he said.

While Callahan praised his offense for battling back to a 21-21 tie with the Chargers late in the fourth quarter and forcing overtime, he also said that the team has to do a better job of scoring inside the red zone.

"I'm just disappointed that we couldn't go down early in the game and generate the points to get us ahead," Callahan said. "I felt that we had a nine play drive and a 10-play drive go to waste on the first two series [when we] came away from those two series with no points."

Despite falling to third place in the AFC West with Sunday's loss, Callahan said the team is excited about next week's game against bitter rivals the Kansas City Chiefs and Priest Holmes, whom he called the best running back in the NFL right now.

Holmes scored three touchdowns in the Chief's tough overtime loss to Denver on Sunday. He now has 14 TDs for the season, the most through seven games since the NFL started keeping records in 1970.

Tight end Roland Williams said that although the team has faced adversity with all the recent injuries, they are still excited about the upcoming game. And he says that no one should make any dire predictions about the Raiders playoff chances based on their record today. Just look at this year's Super Bowl champion New England Patriots (who started the 2001 season 1-4), he noted.

"In football the only thing that matters is how you end the season not how you start."