Brooks trying to get Raiders’ offense back on the right track

Aaron Brooks believes he can be a spark in what remains of a season that has featured few highlights for the Oakland Raiders.

He knows he has no choice but to do something positive now that he’s the starting quarterback again.

Brooks helped Oakland make noticeable strides in last Sunday’s 17-13 loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City, his long-awaited return after being sidelined for seven games with a strained muscle in his chest. Brooks will start again today at AFC West-leading San Diego.

“We needed the energy, we needed the enthusiasm,” Brooks said Wednesday. “We just haven’t had that. So, it was important for me to bring that and show that to my teammates. But, as the course of the game went along, it was all even-keeled.”

Still, Oakland (2-8) has managed only one offensive touchdown in the second half all season -- and it wasn’t last week with Brooks behind center.

While the mobile Brooks was able to avoid the type of punishment from opposing defenses that did in second-year pro Andrew Walter, he made a costly mistake late. Brooks led the Raiders on three consecutive first-half scoring drives before throwing an interception in the end zone in the final minute.

Randy Moss was the intended target, and the star receiver just watched and dropped his hands to his sides as Brooks got picked off. Only three balls were thrown in Moss’ direction and he is coming off a game with no catches for just the second time since he joined the Raiders before last season.

Clearly frustrated with Oakland’s lack of success, Moss has hinted he wants out.

While his teammates know what they’re getting with No. 18, defensive tackle Warren Sapp figures Moss should suck it up until the end of the season and then deal with his own business.

“I told you all this a month and a half ago, you have to take Moss with Moss. You have to take everything that comes with it,” Sapp said Wednesday. “You get way more positives than you get negatives. ... You’re not going to get him to understand that there’s 57 other guys in here trying to get this job done, too, so if you have an issue with upstairs or whatever the hell it may be, you have a month and a half. That’s six weeks. Sit down, shut up and let’s play football, and then go talk to those people about whatever you got going. But you’re not going to get that, so, so be it....

“One guy don’t make my world go ‘round.”

Coach Art Shell didn’t mind Sapp’s outspokeness.

“That’s not all bad,” Shell said after practice. “It’s good. Players should take care of each other. That’s part of being a leader, and part of accountable for what you do.”

As expected, the Raiders’ offense took another hit Wednesday, when starting running back LaMont Jordan said he won’t play again this season because of a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee that won’t require surgery. Shell said he probably would be placed on injured reserve soon.

“I have to get ready to return to the football team next year,” Jordan said. “Not to be selfish, but right now I have to take care of myself and make sure I’m in the best position to help this team win next year.”

Receiver Jerry Porter, at odds with Shell all season, was held out of practice and listed as doubtful for today’s game with a surprising hip injury. He only played for two snaps against the Chiefs.

Shell is perplexed as to how Porter got injured, saying Porter arrived at team headquarters Wednesday and complained to the trainer that he had a hip flexor problem.

“So that was it,” Shell said. “No, I don’t have any idea [how it happened].”

Starting left tackle Robert Gallery will miss two or three weeks with a dislocated left elbow, but an MRI exam showed there was no ligament damage.

All of this makes Brooks’ job tougher as he tries to regain a rhythm within the offense.

“When you get in that game, you’ve got to make something happen,” he said. “You’ve got to take control right then and there because tomorrow is not promised, you might not get another shot and you might be labeled a backup for your whole career. That’s why it’s always important as a quarterback to have that command in that huddle, be deliberate, demand a lot of things and perform well at the same time.”

Everyone in Oakland’s locker room knows that today certainly will be another challenging day on both sides of the ball. Only once this season has each unit played well enough to win in the same game.

“Aaron did a good job for us with his legs and some of his decision making,” Sapp said. “He had the boys playing well. If we don’t lose our running backs, we’ve got something going with that too. But it’s like when we take one step forward we drop two back.”