On Sunday, Raiders coach Hue Jackson didn’t use receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey and tight end Kevin Boss as extensively as Jackson normally would. The boss claims that Boss and Heyward-Bey weren’t benched, but the facts suggest otherwise.
And it left Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey scratching his head. “I was totally confused,” Bailey recently told Adam Schein and Rich Gannon of SiriusXM NFL Radio. “They did the exact opposite of what I expected. I didn’t expect [T.J.] Houshmandzadeh to play as much as he did, being that it was his first week there. You know, I was prepared to match up with Heyward-Bey because he had been playing so well the last few weeks and he didn’t even start the game. He might have played 12 snaps total in the whole game. . . .
“I mean, he’s their best guy getting off the bump. He’s one of their fastest guys. I’m like, I don’t understand why he’s not playing.”
Bailey suggested that perhaps “something happened during the bye week” regarding Heyward-Bey. The more pressing question heading into Thursday night’s game between the Raiders and Chargers is whether whatever happened with Heyward-Bey and Boss will cause them to continue to receive limited reps.
“I was surprised,’’ Boss said Monday. “Coach’s decision.’’
It’s another coach’s decision that is making some wonder whether the coach is making the right decisions.