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Considering the large number of teams around the NFL in need of a quarterback, it's not surprising that Jeff Garcia found himself a job. It's just surprising he couldn't find a better one than Oakland. The Associated Press is reporting that Garcia, an 11-year veteran, has agreed to a deal with the Raiders, according to team executive John Herrera.

Garcia started his NFL career across the bay as a member of the San Francisco 49ers and spent five seasons there before moving on to Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen seems mild-mannered enough. But apparently, there are only so many times you can accuse a guy of bearing false witness before he snaps. Or maybe that just applies to Al Davis, who appears to take great joy in refuting Raiders-related rumors, no matter how obvious or innocuous they may be.

Yesterday, Gretz pointed out that the Raiders disputed Mortensen's report that Davis was attempting to sell off a portion of the team. Seems harmless enough, right? WRONG.

Raiders executive John Herrera said that "once again, for reasons known only to him, Mortensen has fabricated a story which has no basis in fact." And then he punched an unsuspecting media member in the face to bring home his point. Okay, that didn't really happen, but it might've tempered Mortensen response if it had.

In an e-mail to the AP, Mort offered this:

A couple of weeks ago, reports surfaced that Raiders owner Al Davis might be interested in Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride to take over the team's head coaching duties. It had to be shockingly bad news for Raiders fans, seeing as how Gilbride's only head coaching experience was a 6-16 run with the San Diego Chargers during the 1997 and 1998 seasons.

Of course, it was just a report of a name that might interest the Raiders. Well, on Saturday, Davis and Gilbride apparently had a 90-minute phone conversation, which has to have fans in Oakland throwing papers in the air and screaming for the return of John Madden. So, does this lengthy phone conversation mean the Raiders are interested in Gilbride's sevices? If you ask John Herrera, the answer is no, no it does not.

"Mr. Davis has known Kevin for a long time and was more than willing to oblige and have that conversation," Herrera said. "They had an interesting hour-and-a-half conversation Saturday at Gilbride's request. End of story."

I realize Gilbride, like any current assistant, is probably looking for an opportunity to become a head coach -- it's more glamorous than being a coordinator, obviously, and it's certainly better for your bank account -- but is it really a wise career choice for him? Is it better to be the offensive coordinator for a consistent playoff contender, or attempt to take over what has to be considered the worst coaching job in the NFL right now? Frankly, if I were Gilbride I'd stick to the former, at least until Davis hands the keys to the Raiders over to somebody else.

It's been a few weeks since the Oakland Raiders front office put themselves in the news, so I guess they figured it was a good time to bring us all some entertainment on Wild Card weekend, with a little help from ESPN's Chris Mortensen.

On Sunday, Mortensen passed along some inside information that Al Davis, owner of the Raiders, was attempting to sell a portion of the team to billionaire Dean Metropoulos. This did not go over well in Davis' lair, according to Steve Corkran of the Oakland Tribune.

Keep in mind, during Davis' bizarre press conference following the firing of Lane Kiffin, Davis referred to Mortensen as "a professional liar," so I'm guessing if Mortensen reported the sky outside his office as being blue, Davis would probably find a way to dispute the report. Anyway, here's what John Herrera had to say on the matter after speaking with Davis.

"The report from Chris Mortensen which states that the Raiders, Al Davis and Amy Trask are in negotiations with Dean Metropoulous to sell the team is totally unfounded and false," Herrera said. "Once again, for reasons known only to him, Mortensen has fabricated a story which has no basis in fact."

So while most of us were trying to enjoy Tony Kornheiser's wall-to-wall Brett Favre homage (the Chargers took exception, apparently, and commenced "Operation Beatdown" shortly after kickoff), the Raiders were busy making news of their own. And, as usual, not the good kind.

You see, it appears that owner Al Davis is interested in getting rid of head coach Lane Kiffin. You may have heard some mention of this. Well, it hasn't happened, but it's inevitable, and Davis' minions are doing their part to make sure Kiffin's canning becomes reality. Which leads to, as San Francisco Chronicle's Nancy Gay writes, "a Raiders official - once low-level but now high-ranking - verbally assault[ing] a reporter" after a Kiffin press conference.

You can view the hilarious awkwardness here, but know that the official, John Herrera, was really bummed at the Mercury News' Tim Kawakami for intimating that Herrera had earlier distributed an ESPN.com story critical of Kiffin. Funny story, via Gay: