Nov. 21, 2010GUTIERREZ ARCHIVERAIDERS PAGERAIDERS VIDEOPaul GutierrezCSNCalifornia.com
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Still trying to figure out what prompted Richard Seymour to drop Ben Roethlisberger with a swift open-palm strike to the facemask seconds after Pittsburgh scored to take a 21-3 lead late in the second quarter?So, too, is Seymour, apparently."Well, first of all, I thought I let my teammates down," Seymour said as he walked to the team bus, surrounded by media. "You never want to do anything to hurt the team. That's first and foremost. It was a lot of ongoing (drama) and you're out there to protect yourself.""It's still no excuse. I'm not sure exactly what happened on the play. I just turned around and he just ran up on me quick. It was just a natural reaction, it just happened quickly. It was what it was."Asked if Roethlisberger said anything to him before the martial arts-worthy blow, Seymour looked straight ahead and kept moving."You heard a lot of stuff going on," he said. "I never complain about what happens in the trenches. You've never heard me complain about anything that goes on. Like I said, my main focus is on the team and not doing anything to hurt the team."Seymour, at defensive tackle, had been getting into skirmishes with left guard Chris Kemoeatu all day."Me and him were exchanging words and punches the whole game," Kemoeatu said. "But of he had something personal with me, he should have took it out on me, and not on Ben."We knew what we had to do to win this game. We had to give it everything we got, whether it was eye-gouging or spitting on each other. A lot of that was going on this game. It's uncalled for, but in the heat of battle, a lot happens."Even the NFL's poster boy for illegal helmet-to-helmet hits was stunned by Seymour's strike. In fact, Steelers linebacker James Harrison, who was fined 75,000 earlier this season for a hit, thinks Richard Seymour should hear from the NFL."I'm playing the game within the whistles," Harrison said. "What he did was way outside."You tell me what the next step is or a guy who blatantly, outside the play, when it's already been done and said, and the guy is celebrating with his teammates, and you punch him on the face."
Don't let Raiders coach Tom Cable's decision to replace Jason Campbell with Bruce Gradkowski late in the third quarter allow you to think there's uncertainty at quarterback again."They turned up the blitz a little bit more on (Jason) and it started to get out of hand a little bit for him," Cable said. "He'll be the starter next week. There is no issue there. We just felt like a change was needed. As we all saw, it didn't make a lot of a difference."Campbell, who was sacked four times and has been sacked 11 times in six-pls quarters by the Steelers, had a passer rating of 26.2 after completing seven of 19 for 70 yards and an interception; Gradkowski's was 46.9 on 13 of 24 passing with an interception. He was sacked twice."Each and every week it's a tough question," Campbell said of being asked who the starting QB will be.Gradkowski seemed resigned when asked if he was disappointed with Cable's proclamation."Yeah, I mean, that's not my decision," he said. "So I mean, I can't do nothing about it."
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Defensive end Trevor Scott was diagnosed with a torn ACL in his left knee after being injured on the final play of the first half covering a punt.Cornerback Chris Johnson (groin) was the only other Raiders player to not finish the game.
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