Matt Millen

It was a Raider season like any other. They didn't lose many but when they did lose, there was hell to pay. The tolls were often collected before the other guys made it to the safety of their dressing room. On a bad day in the Coliseum, the light at the end of the tunnel under the stands is probably the headlight of an oncoming Raider. So meet the most famous of them, Matt Millen, heretofore known as a run-stuffing inside linebacker, now celebrated as the Raider who belted Pat Sullivan.

Al Davis was an early bloomer and a late riser. The NFL icon, who became the Oakland Raiders' head coach at 33, was known for keeping very late hours and making middle-of-the-night phone calls to football confidants and team employees. Agent Leigh Steinberg remembers getting those calls. "If my home phone would ring after midnight, I knew it would be Al," Steinberg said Saturday, hours after learning that Davis, 82, had died. "He would ask questions about every player I represented, every other team in the league, every college player I knew anything about.

Detroit Lions fans watching NBC's "Football Night in America" coverage over the weekend didn't know whether to laugh or cry when the team's former general manager, Matt Millen, was interviewed by Dan Patrick. "Would you have fired you?" Patrick asked Millen. "I would have, actually," Millen replied. Lions fans wondered why Millen wasn't so proactive when he was employed by the team. "Probably not this year," Millen added, "until after the season."

In the locker room after the game, Al Davis approached guard Mickey Marvin, and the 6-foot-4, 270-pound player -- sobbing like a baby -- smothered him with a bearhug and whispered something in his ear. "You know what he said to me?" Davis said later, smiling broadly. "Just dominate." Nose tackle Reggie Kinlaw, who was deemed "just average" in the pregame analysis by Pro Football Weekly, was considered the game's most valuable player by some experts for his role in shutting down Washington's vaunted running game.

Our Raiders in Wonderland series continues with Matt Millen, who woke up a civilian one day after nine seasons of colorful service and grieved . . . . . . all the way to Super Bowl XXIV. Talk about your magic touches. Al Davis has placed recent former employees on both sides: Denver assistant Mike Shanahan and Millen, now a San Francisco linebacker, making this the first year of the Ex-Raider Mystique.

Three reasons why I believe Marcus Allen: 1) Matt Millen. 2) Vann McElroy. 3) Steve Beuerlein. DAVE LOPEZ Inglewood

So Howie Long says the Patriots have no class. How would he know? C'mon Howie, how much class does it take to start a fight with a guy half your size while you're in uniform and he's in street clothes? How much class does it take for Matt Millen, also in uniform, to grab the same guy by the hair and bash him in the head with a football helmet? JOHN L. SALDE Santa Barbara

After three weeks, I'm ready to cast my vote: Dennis must go. Please, ABC, acknowledge you made a mistake hiring Dennis Miller and fix it now. Miller just doesn't work. His sarcastic, sometimes acerbic, wit; his obscure references (beyond the grasp of most MENSA members) and his over-pursuit of the joke seriously detract from the show. There are many more-qualified broadcasters or other personalities more deserving of the spot, including Matt Millen, Tim Brando, Bill Maas, Mark Malone, Merrill Hoge, Mike Patrick, Ronnie Lott and Joe Namath, to name a few. Pick one!

Washington Redskin linebacker Matt Millen announced his retirement Tuesday to take a CBS football analyst position. Millen said he was "happy with the role" as a situation player for the Redskins last season, but had to look at the long term. Millen, 34, who played on Super Bowl winners with the Raiders and San Francisco 49ers before joining the Redskins as a free agent last season, said the decision was made all the more difficult because he felt he could still play.

Detroit Lions fans watching NBC's "Football Night in America" coverage over the weekend didn't know whether to laugh or cry when the team's former general manager, Matt Millen, was interviewed by Dan Patrick. "Would you have fired you?" Patrick asked Millen. "I would have, actually," Millen replied. Lions fans wondered why Millen wasn't so proactive when he was employed by the team. "Probably not this year," Millen added, "until after the season."

Matt Millen insisted he would stick with the tough job of turning the Detroit Lions into a winner instead of returning to the broadcast booth to make easy money. So the Lions got rid of him. Finally. The Lions fired Millen seven-plus years after the acclaimed TV analyst and Super Bowl-winning linebacker took over as team president for one of the NFL's mediocre franchises and made it the worst.

DETROIT -- The Aaron Rodgers era is looking pretty good so far. Rodgers threw three touchdown passes in the first four drives of his second start, helping Green Bay build a big lead it needed in a 48-25 victory over the Detroit Lions. Green Bay took a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter but fell behind by a point with 7:41 left after Calvin Johnson caught his second touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. The Packers (2-0) went back ahead with a field goal on the ensuing drive, then pulled away again with three consecutive interceptions.

Bill Parcells quit as director of football operations of the New York Jets on Tuesday, saying he's not ready for the commitment needed to make the team a consistent title contender. Parcells leaves only 10 days after coach Al Groh resigned suddenly to coach Virginia, his alma mater. "I feel a long-term commitment is now in order," Parcells said during a conference call. "I don't feel I'm the person to make that commitment. We're moving on."

It's that time of year again. Plenty of NFL television analyst jobs are suddenly available. It's nothing new for coaches to slip in and out of the studio or broadcast booth between jobs, and it wasn't surpris- ing to see Marty Schottenheimer decide to coach again. But reports that Matt Millen will jump from Fox analyst to general manager of the Detroit Lions add a different twist. Millen has never worked in management for an NFL team. But he has dabbled in other areas.

After three weeks, I'm ready to cast my vote: Dennis must go. Please, ABC, acknowledge you made a mistake hiring Dennis Miller and fix it now. Miller just doesn't work. His sarcastic, sometimes acerbic, wit; his obscure references (beyond the grasp of most MENSA members) and his over-pursuit of the joke seriously detract from the show. There are many more-qualified broadcasters or other personalities more deserving of the spot, including Matt Millen, Tim Brando, Bill Maas, Mark Malone, Merrill Hoge, Mike Patrick, Ronnie Lott and Joe Namath, to name a few. Pick one!

DETROIT -- The Aaron Rodgers era is looking pretty good so far. Rodgers threw three touchdown passes in the first four drives of his second start, helping Green Bay build a big lead it needed in a 48-25 victory over the Detroit Lions. Green Bay took a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter but fell behind by a point with 7:41 left after Calvin Johnson caught his second touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. The Packers (2-0) went back ahead with a field goal on the ensuing drive, then pulled away again with three consecutive interceptions.

The San Francisco 49ers Thursday signed Pro Bowl linebacker Matt Millen to a one-year contract, and Coach George Seifert said Millen would play Sunday when the 49ers meet the Buccaneers at Tampa, Fla. Millen, a 10-year veteran from Penn State, was released Sept. 4 by the Raiders. He worked out Wednesday with the 49ers, and his signing came as no surprise. To make room for Millen, the 49ers released second-year defensive lineman Kevin Lilly.

Television has brought us the catcher cam, the goalie cam and the umpire cam. It has brought us microphoned baseball managers and NBA coaches. Sunday afternoon, Fox introduced something heretofore unimaginable in the realm of Reality TV and made-for-TV sports: the commentator-as-official cam.

Three reasons why I believe Marcus Allen: 1) Matt Millen. 2) Vann McElroy. 3) Steve Beuerlein. DAVE LOPEZ Inglewood