Niners defense dominates Raiders in joint practice

NAPA, Calif. (AP) - JaMarcus Russell tried to sneak a pass into Zach Miller in a red zone drill only to have Nate Clements step in front of it for an interception.

On the next play, Russell threw behind Miller and Takeo Spikes deflected the ball into Diyral Briggs' hands for another 49ers interception.

"I love it when they can't compete!" Clements shouted out to his San Francisco teammates.

Bruce Gradkowski then replaced Russell and was picked off by Dre' Bly and Clements again. That's the way much of this joint practice between the Oakland Raiders and 49ers went on Wednesday. The Niners were making big play after big play on defense and making sure the Raiders knew all about it.

"They were feeding us. That buffet was good," Bly said.

"They couldn't respond. We just dominated in all areas. You would think that somebody would have stepped up on their side of the ball, would have been like, 'Let's go,' or a coach would have fired at them, but they were just mellow. I don't know what it was or why. I know on our side of the ball, that wouldn't have went down."

While the 49ers were hooting and hollering, the Raiders offensive players appeared mostly down during the drills. They trudged back to the huddle, had little to say in response to the Niners and struggled to show any semblance of a passing game.

About the only life came from rookie Louis Murphy, who did some trash-talking with Shawntae Spencer in some one-on-one drills before the red zone session. The Niners said Murphy's mouthing off got them motivated for the team drills.

"Murphy got things going, and from that point on we just dominated practice," Bly said. "This is my 10th year, going into my 11th camp. I've never been a part of practice like that where it was just total domination. And I'm dead serious. It was total domination today. We had a great day."

For the Raiders, their first full day of practice without injured receiver Chaz Schilens couldn't have been much worse. There were five interceptions in all during team drills, including three by Clements. Most of the pass plays that didn't end up in the hands of the 49ers were simple checkdowns or incompletions.

"You play football, things happen," Russell said. "It's not like it's the end of the world. If it is, you show me. But other than that, just go from it and go to the next play."

Raiders owner Al Davis couldn't have liked what he saw from his prime position near the corner of the end zone in his golf cart.

Coach Tom Cable took much of the blame for the offense's performance, saying he wanted Russell to "cut it loose" near the end zone and that those risks turned into bad plays.

What disappointed him most was that the Raiders had no response to the big plays or big talking from the Niners.

"Those kinds of things happen to you game, so you've got to be able to handle those adversity moments and just get back on the horse and go again," Cable said. "I didn't think we did a very good job of that, but I may have put them in a negative situation, too."

The Oakland players took the blame on their own shoulders, saying they were unable to match the intensity of the Niners.

"Today they came out fired up, and it showed out there on the field," Raiders running back Darren McFadden said. "They got the best of us, especially the last two periods that we had. They really got us."

Things were much quieter on the other field, where the 49ers offense worked against the Raiders defense. Oakland got the better of the play on that field, although Shaun Hill and Alex Smith avoided any interceptions against the Raiders' tight man coverage.

Hill did manage to throw two short touchdown passes, but the 49ers were unable to complete much down the field.

"Part of it was the rush and the pressure," 49ers offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye said. "As well as, we're not used to their bump-and-run style of coverage."

NOTES: Cable said Schilens will miss four to six weeks with the broken bone in his foot, meaning he could miss all of Oakland's opening three-game stretch against AFC West rivals. ... Raiders rookie DE Matt Shaughnessy sat out and is day to day with a foot injury.