Shell Lets Brown Run Frustration Route

Art Shell brought his fire extinguisher to work Monday.

Too many times with this team, he has seen brush fires become raging controversies. Too many times, he has seen distractions destroy the concentration of his players.

He sat patiently through his weekly news conference Monday, awaiting the inevitable. And when it came, he moved quickly to douse the fire.

“What did you think of Tim Brown’s remarks Sunday?” he was asked.

After Sunday’s 21-3 Raider loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Brown, who had caught only three passes for 21 yards, criticized the play calling, blasting a game plan he said didn’t involve him enough.

“Frustration,” said Shell, speaking smoothly and calmly. “I have no response to that. Tim was just frustrated, like we all are. He wants the ball because he feels like he can make great plays, and he can. . . . He just had to get some things off his chest. That’s the way he felt. You move on. The next game is coming up pretty soon.”

But having said that, Shell indicated that it had not necessarily been in the game plan to exclude Brown, the club’s leading receiver with 66 catches, that Pittsburgh’s smothering pass defense, led by cornerback Rod Woodson, had a lot to do with Brown’s light workload.

“It’s a two-way street,” Shell said. “You’ve got to work to get open and then you get the ball. . . . You call the routes and the individuals are not there, then you don’t force the ball into that area. You are not going to do that.

“But again, it’s all frustration and it’s no big deal. It’s not the first time Tim has ever spoken out and he’s not the first player to ever do it. They all want the ball. . . . Many people have come through here and talked like that. . . . You can make a big deal out of it, but it’s not a big deal to me. Just a player that’s frustrated and wants to win. Like all of us.

“And that’s good on his part to feel that he can make things happen, (to feel) he can be the guy that can get it done. You want all your players to feel that way.”

Shell did dispute his star receiver’s contention that the Raiders stayed away from Woodson because they feared him.

“We weren’t afraid of Woodson,” Shell said. “We respect Woodson. There are certain things you can do on Woodson. There are certain things you don’t try to do on him. It’s like all players. You try to figure out what are their weaknesses and their strengths. You don’t want to play into his strength.”

In his criticism Sunday, Brown specifically mentioned Tom Walsh, the offensive coordinator.

Walsh also refused to be drawn into the controversy Monday.

“(Brown) can say what he wants to say,” Walsh said. “I can’t control that, whether it’s right or wrong, correct or incorrect.”

A few weeks ago, the Raiders were being criticized for throwing to Brown too much, for ignoring the other receivers and making the passing attack one-dimensional.

They had shown they could be effective when they mixed it up more. They had success at New England earlier this season, beating the Patriots, even though Brown caught only two passes.

And besides, there were plenty of extenuating circumstances Sunday. Brown was effectively covered at times by a tight zone defense and the ever-present Woodson; quarterback Jeff Hostetler was looking for any target he could find at times in the face of a relentless pass rush that recorded five sacks; the Raiders were busy trying to establish a running game to slow that pass rush, and Hostetler was dazed and possibly suffering from a concussion for parts of two series, leaving him with blurred vision.