(My Sportsbook) - If the late Howard Cosell was announcing Monday night's Raiders game he would have had plenty of opportunities to utter the words, "Down goes Walter!"

Cosell's famous catchphrase was about Joe Frazier, but Smokin' Joe was only knocked to the canvas six times in his 1973 fight with George Foreman while Raiders quarterback Andrew Walter was sacked nine times in Monday's loss to the Seahawks. The 16-0 setback ended a two-game winning streak for Oakland (2-6) and dropped the club into a tie for the worst record in the AFC.

Oakland's inability to hold off the constant onslaught of Seattle's pass-rushers rendered Walter and the Raiders offense ineffective, and was the biggest factor in the shutout loss on a rainy night in the Pacific Northwest. The only good thing you can say about Oakland's O-line after this travesty was that it only gave up two sacks after halftime.

It's no secret that the Raiders' offensive line has been a weakness for the team over the past few seasons. The recent high draft selections of tackles Robert Gallery (1st round, 2004) and Langston Walker (2nd round, 2002) and center Jake Grove (2nd round, 2004) have done little to solve the problem.

Gallery has been the biggest disappointment for the Raiders because he was the second overall pick in the 2004 draft and was supposed to fix this situation all by himself. And while Gallery has clearly struggled, it is unfair to place the blame squarely on his shoulders. The sacks were coming from all directions and it is clear that Oakland, as a team, is simply unable to block.

This terrible play of the offensive line is extremely hard to swallow for Raiders head coach Art Shell, who made it to Canton as a result of being one of the best offensive linemen of his generation.

"As you saw we did not play well," said Shell. "We did not do a good job of protecting the quarterback. Man on man you have to block people, one on one, and we just didn't do that."

The thing that seems to bother Shell the most about his team's problems at protecting the passer is the fact that he believes it is a matter of his club simply not competing hard enough and failing to execute as a result.

"They blitzed us and we had people in position to block the blitz, but those are the one-on-one battles," Shell added.

Oakland's offensive line debacle is an issue that is nearly impossible to fix in the middle of the season, so what are the Raiders to do about it? The only real solution is to wait until the offseason and try to add some talent through free agency or the draft.

Only this time, the Raiders' front office better make the right choices in personnel, or there could be a few more nine-sack games in the Silver and Black's future.

TOSS IT TO MOSS

It's a credit to wide receiver Randy Moss' amazing talent that in a game where his quarterback is sacked nine times, he is still able to catch six balls for 76 yards.

Still, it is impossible for Moss to be truly effective when his quarterback has no time to throw the ball. The 6-foot-4 Moss likes to go downfield and out-leap smaller cornerbacks for huge gains, but it's hard to do that when Walter, or whoever is under center, gets dropped even before he is able to complete a three-step drop back.

Moss put up such great numbers in his seven years with the Minnesota Vikings that last season, his first campaign with Oakland, seemed like a disappointment despite the fact that he hauled in 60 catches for 1,005 yards and eight touchdowns.

This year Moss will be lucky if he exceeds those heights with only 32 receptions, 447 yards and three TDs at the midway point of the season.

KNEE, JERK REACTION

Playing for the Raiders must be extremely frustrating, so maybe Tyler Brayton was just coming up with a creative way to get out of a few games.

Brayton, a starting defensive end for Oakland, was ejected from the game late in the fourth quarter when he became involved in a pushing match with Seattle's Jerramy Stevens and ended the tussle by kneeing the Seahawks' tight end in the groin.

"He will be disciplined by the league for sure," said Shell of Brayton.

The encounter will be seen by virtually everyone in the country over the next few days, and many people will give their opinion on if Brayton should be suspended and for how long. My guess is a three-week vacation for Mr. Brayton.

UP NEXT

The Raiders will return home next Sunday when they battle the Denver Broncos. Oakland played the Broncos tough in the Mile High City last month, dropping a 13-3 decision.