In The Line Of Fire

One of the lasting images of the Raiders’ Week 5 loss to the Baltimore Ravens was a video showing an angry Donald Penn confronting a fan just outside of the players’ parking lot at the Oakland Coliseum.

The video, which showed Penn emerging from his car and walking toward the fan before security intervened, quickly went viral for obvious reasons. In this day and age of social media, anything a professional athlete or celebrity does is free game as Penn found out.

At one point, the fan angrily shouted at Penn — “You’re not worth $21 million” — in an obvious jab at the left tackle’s recently signed two-year contract extension.

The entire episode spoke volumes about the frustration from both the Raiders and their fans.

Oakland’s offensive line, which was statistically the best in the NFL a year ago and is the highest-paid unit in the league now, has not played as well as expected and has been an easy target for criticism.

The running game has been sporadically effective and not nearly the dominant force many people thought after the team lured running back Marshawn Lynch out of retirement.

Then there is the pass protection. A year ago, the Raiders gave up 18 sacks all season. Through six games this year, they allowed 13 despite four of the five starters returning and the fifth — right tackle Marshall Newhouse — being an upgrade over his predecessor.