Del Rio’s decision more about trust in Raiders offense than guts

Enter the Warzone, forever playing bump and run.

▪ While great fun to speculate about the size of Jack Del Rio’s cojones, his 2-point decision had more to do with trust than guts.

Del Rio trusted his own eyes instead of convention. He had more belief that Derek Carr and Michael Crabtree would make a play in that situation than he did that his defense would stop Drew Brees.

The final 47 seconds, when New Orleans drove for what nearly became the winning field goal, were only proof Del Rio was right.

▪ If the Raiders ride this momentum all the way to the AFC West title, as many have predicted, Sunday will be remembered as the pivot point.

▪ Turns out Crabtree is capable of catching fades for touchdowns at the Superdome.

All he needed was a quarterback capable of making that precise of a pass.

▪ During training camp Carr promised his offensive line, at the risk of paying their fines, that he will no longer attempt any stiff-arms.

Somersaults, well, those are apparently still fair game.

▪ Just in case you needed a reminder of Bill Belichick’s sorcery, the Patriots won at Arizona without their two best players.

Apologies to everyone in that state for picking the Cardinals to win the Super Bowl.

▪ Tom Brady spread the news of the Jimmy Garoppolo-led victory by creating a Facebook “newspaper” called the TB Times.

Brady’s box score didn’t add up, but then again neither does the NFL’s handling of Deflategate.

▪ Trent Dilfer is an excellent analyst and entitled to his own opinions on social issues. But when Dilfer claims Colin Kaepernick is “pulling apart the fabric” of the 49ers when by every other indication that’s not happening whatsoever, it’s obvious there’s a hidden agenda.

▪ Twelve months ago, Dilfer told us the 49ers were better off without Jim Harbaugh and still had a playoff-caliber roster.

Believe his 49ers “insights” at your own peril.

▪ Kudos to the Cowboys for continually finding new ways to entertain and amuse.

“I was clearly aware of the time,” Terrance Williams said.

Clearly.

▪ Chason Virgil has been around Fresno State so long (20 months) and accompanied by so much hype that it’s easy to forget he has played in five college football games.

Let the kid develop before rendering a verdict.

▪ Don’t let the conference affiliation or size of the stadium fool you. Toledo is a tougher nonconference opponent for the Bulldogs than Nebraska.

▪ Coming off Fresno State’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since Jerry Tarkanian, fans had every right to expect a better nonconference home schedule.

Until the athletic department is willing to pony up for men’s basketball, the wagon will remain in the barn.

▪ What are Texas-San Antonio, Prairie View A&M, Lamar, Menlo College, Cal Poly and Holy Names?

Six good reasons for folks to stay home until New Year’s Eve.

▪ Three weeks ago some genius wrote, “It’s a given that under (MLB’s) new playoff format, both the Giants and the Dodgers will make the playoffs.”

Even he underestimated the Giants’ capacity for collapse.

▪ First year as Dodgers manager, and Dave Roberts has already made a career of lifting pitchers from perfect games and no-hitters …

▪ Yoenis Cespedes declined to speak to the media after his grand slam powered a 10-3 Mets win.

“His bat will do the talking,” a team spokesman said.

And rather loudly.

▪ For no particular reason: Frostee Rucker

▪ The Visalia City Council voted 5-0 to create a microbrewery district just east of downtown.

There’s a city that knows when hopportunity knocks.

▪ So he can avoid traffic created by the 92,000-capacity stadium he himself built, Jerry Jones bought himself Cowboys-themed helicopter.

“You can do a lot of things out of it,” Jones said. “You can shoot pigs out of it.”

No need for supermarket bacon when you can just go whole hog.

This story was originally published September 12, 2016 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Del Rio’s decision more about trust in Raiders offense than guts."