Ford injury puts Raiders' Allen in roster jam

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Dennis Allens first NFL game as a head coach exposed him as a first-time coach in the NFL, short on solutions for bizarre eventualities and with too great a reliance on the plan even after the plan broke down. Typical, reallyto be expected.But the day after got worse.Jacoby Ford, the Raiders game-breaking wide receiver, is off to have season-jeopardizing surgery, thereby thinning out the already shallow wide receiver pool, and that means the looming spectre of Chad Ochenta y Cinco.I mean, at this stage of his career, he is no longer in charge of his name, and since 85 is already taken by Darrius Heyward-Bey, Chad may be seeking out ochenta otro.Another eighty.Okay, enough fun with old nomenclature. Allen is in his first true roster jam, Carson Palmer has subtly agitated for Chad Johnson, he is the best available veteran diva, he has more experience than the rest of the Raider wide receiver roster has in total, and he has been beyond humbled.Thats the up-side. The downside is that Allen needed this year to build his foundation, not paper over the old one, and Johnson is a potential complication as most as a potential solution.And frankly, Allen needs talent without complication right now.Now we dont know if the Raiders are looking for Chad Johnson in any form. He is a handy answer to the question, Whos out there? and he is at least more appealing as a player now than Terrell Owens. Owens, after all, got cut by Seattle for not meeting the Seahawks admittedly low receiving standard, while Johnson got banished from Miami in large part for being an irritant.But these Raiders arent the Raiders who would have swallowed up Johnson well before this. Not Al Davis Raiders, and not Hue Jacksons Raiders. Indeed, this is another revealing moment for Allen as he asks himself the question, How flexible must I be in deviating from the master plan?It must be noted that we do not know how much game Johnson has left. Ignoring the turmoil of his private life, he has played 11 full hard years, four full seasons since his last elite year.Moreover, he wont have the Randy Moss role in San Francisco, because he would be an emergency signing and not part of the overall scheme.But the point is, he could be a help to a team in need of it. Whether Dennis Allen and Reggie McKenzie are game for his kind of help will tell us much about what kind of team they want to buildnot just in the calm of the spring and summer, but the chaos of the fall.Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com

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