PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : RAIDERS : Brown Cries Foul on Calls, Penalties

Raider receiver Tim Brown called NFL officials “terrible” on Tuesday, but stopped short of saying they have a vendetta against the team.

Angered when it was ruled that he had fumbled a crucial punt Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, even though replays seemed to indicate otherwise, Brown lashed out at officials.

“I hate to say there’s a fix out on the Raiders, but we’re struggling right now,” he said. “It definitely doesn’t help when you get (four) holding calls and you don’t call but one on the other team.

“I know they’re going to tell me, ‘Don’t talk about the refs,’ but, right now, it’s got to be something going on toward the Raiders because the calls we’re getting are terrible and you’ve got to beg and cry to get them to make a call for you.”

The Raiders were penalized 148 times for 1,181 yards last season, one penalty short of the league record, set by the Houston Oilers in 1989.

This season, the Raiders have been called for 53 penalties for 442 yards as opposed to 35 penalties for 259 yards for their opponents. The league average is 43 penalties for 348 yards. Although they were penalized six times for 49 yards on Sunday, Coach Art Shell was infuriated.

“You’ve got to see it both ways,” he said of a game in which Miami was penalized three times for 20 yards. “If you wanted to be technical, you could call holding on every play. There were a couple of good calls. . . . But I look at the film and I see things going on that are not being called. I just want the playing field to be level.”