Raiders notes: Concussed Condo has team scrambling

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ALAMEDA -- Raiders long snapper Jon Condo suffered a concussion when he was knocked out of Oakland's 22-14 loss to San Diego Monday night, Oakland coach Dennis Allen confirmed in his Tuesday media conference.As such, and with the NFL's more stringent rules on concussions and recovery, Condo's availability for Sunday's game at Miami is in doubt."He'll have to be cleared medically so I don't know at what point that would happen," Allen said. "But we've obviously got some plans in place in case he's not ready to play."Such as bringing in a long snapper off the street, so to speak?"That's an option that we're looking at," Allen said, "yeah."Two names that come to mind are former Chargers Pro Bowler David Binn, who famously dated Pamela Anderson, is now 40 and played 17 years with the Chargers, the last in 2010, and Sacramento State product Lonie Paxton, who famously celebrated New England's Tuck Rule game victory over the Raiders with snow angels, signed a big-money contract with Denver and was cut by the Broncos when rosters were reduced to 75 players last month.Or, the Raiders can simply work with Travis Goethel more, or get their two centers -- Alex Parsons and Stefen Wisniewski -- to hone their skills to save the roster spot, right?In any event, Allen bore the responsibility for Goethel's nightmarish game, in which he rolled two of his snaps to punter Shane Lechler and a third snap resulted in a blocked punt. The Chargers got three field goals out of the gaffes."That falls on me," Allen said. "I've got to do a better job of making sure we're prepared for all those different situations. We practiced Travis snapping the ball but we could have probably done a better job of putting him in more live-type situations and giving him the opportunity to do it, kind of representing what he would do in a regular game."The Raiders' issues at long snapper in a nationally-televised game Monday night seem to serve as a cautionary tale for the rest of the league. The Chicago Bears gave their backup long snapper Matt Spaeth extra work in their Tuesday practice.Cornerback Ron Bartell underwent an MRI on his injured shoulder Tuesday, thought the results were not known as of Allen's media conference.Allen, though, said he was "very hopeful" that Denarius Moore (right hamstring) would play against the Dolphins.One of Allen's biggest tests this season is to reduce the Raiders' penchant for penalties. They picked up one against the Chargers on offense for having 12 men in the huddle."It was a little bit of a miscommunication there," Allen said. "We were trying to get a personnel grouping onto the field, and there were some miscommunications on the field as to who needed to be in there, so we have to do better at that. Those are inexcusable and falls on us as a coaching staff, and well be better at that as we move forward."Allen said the competition between Parsons and Wisniewski at center was still ongoing.Technically, the Raiders opener should still be going on. Or, at least, the Raiders should have had one more play because the Chargers touched the final punt first as time expired."I knew the rule that if they touched the ball first that it was illegal touching and we shouldve been awarded another play," Allen said. "I wasnt sure exactly who touched the ball first when it happened in the game and it was later that I realized it was them that touched the ball first."

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