It’s taken me a little while to collect my thoughts on the Raiders game, and I probably wasn’t coherent enough to write about it last night. All I keep thinking is, “I can’t believe they didn’t give up.” The first half was REALLY hard for me to watch, and I honestly thought they were about to get reamed worse than I did on the tables this weekend. It looked like Jamarcus threw on a #8 jersey and led the passing attack to 9 yards, but no, that was Campbell’s first half total. His throws were hitting feet and going over receiver’s heads, which made me think we didn’t have a shot. The refs weren’t helping much either botching calls, and making this game pretty stagnant when they couldn’t even figure out why they threw flags in the first place. The Chiefs first touchdown was the direct result of a pass interference call that the Raiders CB, Chris Johnson nearly intercepted. He had his head turned, beat the receiver to the ball, and for some reason there was still a 37 yard PI called. I’m still mad about that call. There were numerous curious calls in the first half that seemed to go against the Raiders a lot, and they were very fortunate to only be down 10-0 at the half. I thought they’d give up with all the bad luck they had, and would lose some confidence when there were some very questionable play selections like a McFadden pass into triple coverage, and a Rock Cartwright run on a punt fake on a 4th and 6, but they didn’t!
Then the second half started, and so did Jacoby Ford’s breakout party. I remember back when I wrote about the draft I thought he’d be a great return man, and yesterday he showed exactly how great he could be. I have no regrets handing over Kirk Morrison for the draft pick where we grabbed him. I thought he was somewhat one dimensional, but yesterday he showed everyone he might not only be a great kick returner, but he could be their best receiver we have. He sure was yesterday catching 168 of Jason Campbell’s 180 total yards passing including the catches that set up the tie in regulation and win in overtime. I’m not going to expect Ford to put up a performance to match this one anytime soon, but it makes me want to see him on the field A LOT more.
The other great thing about our offense yesterday was Darren McFadden. No, he didn’t have that amazing of a game (17 carries 89 yards), but he looked like a man possessed when he had the ball. I’d never really seen him looking for contact the he was yesterday. Any defender that came close to him he loaded up to either dish a hit or he tossed them aside with a stiff arm. I think all of his yards yesterday might have come after contact, okay, probably not all of them, but I’ll guesstimate over 50% of them.
None of the field goals or great plays by Ford would’ve mattered had it not been for our defense. We didn’t even have the services of the best corner in the league (Nnamdi) who sidelined with a high ankle sprain.
We lost middle linebacker Rolando McClain early in the 2nd quarter. We lost starting safety Tyvon Branch early in the third quarter, but none of that mattered as the game progressed. Richard Seymour led the D-line, and completely suffocated the number one rushing offense in the NFL. Our defense also forced two turnovers against a Chiefs team that only has turned the ball over four times all season long with one coming in the redzone, and the other from sure handed Thomas Jones. The bye week couldn’t come at a better time having a few guys get dinged up. Hopefully Gradkowski will be back as well in Week 10. I just find it amazing that I care about this team half way through the year! Even if they don’t win the division, they have already shown that they want to win baby!
By
cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 
November 8th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Nice win, man.
Fun game to watch.
And Jason Campbell? Really?
Whatever works, right?
November 8th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Yeah it was great to see them finally overcome some adversity! I think I’m still on the Bruce Gradkowski for starter campaign when he gets healthy! Campbell is an upgrade over years past, but I’m not sold that the offense is behind him yet…
November 8th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
I don’t know, man.
I liked Gradkowski while he was here but I never had enough faith in his ability to take us to the next level.
I’m not sure either guy is the answer but at least you’re on the winning track.
The NFL is definitely better when the Raiders are winning.
November 8th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
It’s funny over the years my friends have gone from Raider haters, to feeling sympathetic for me because I root for them. I liked it when there were more haters!
I agree, neither are top notch QB’s. The offense just looks more confident to me when Grandkowski is in there. Cable must think so too, because he keeps saying Bruce is the starter when he’s healthy!
November 9th, 2010 at 8:31 am
chappy
You put the points on the board and simply hope the opponent doesn’t better it. In the case of the Raiders they’re now playing some of their best football in years and it’s finally beginning to set in with the players as to what Cable is asking of them and that’s to play consistently and as a team .
tophatal 🙂
November 9th, 2010 at 10:43 am
Yeah man I kind of forgot how much I like football. The past decade I’ve slowly cared less by the year, and now remember what it’s like to be excited for Sundays again! I’m glad we stuck with Cable, he truly does have this team believing! I hope they keep finding ways to win!
November 9th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
chappy
I look at this way Thanksgiving I use to mourn the fact that there were two scheduled games where the Lions would be playing in one and the Cowboys in the other ! Who knew that now we’d all probably want to watch the Lions rather than the freakin’ Cowboys ? LOL,LOL,LOL !!!
How things change eh ?
tophatal ……… 🙂
November 9th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
I was thinking the same thing a week or two ago. The Lions game is going to be much more relevant than the Cowboys! Gotta love seeing Jerry’s billion dollar ship sinking!
November 9th, 2010 at 10:07 am
chappy
Wanna see sloppy simply endure four quarters of either the Bills or Bengals ? I’d swear by the end of it all you’d want to take your own life ! I’d throw in the Seahawks but the jury is still out on Pete Carroll and that team .
tophatal 🙂
November 9th, 2010 at 10:44 am
The Seahawks are a weird team. They blow someone out then get blown out, there’s no middle ground. Maybe Pete is only good at motivating half the time 🙂
November 9th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
chappy
Who knew that in the space of a year Carroll would be able to sink two football programs ? With the Seahawks he’s simply affixed the roster with a bunch of rejects and ex Trojans . Never mind the fact that the team doesn’t have a decent quarterback . One more hit on Hasselback and his a_s will be grass !
tophatal 🙂
November 9th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
chappy81
About the only people I know who enjoy ” blowing” more are hookers and porn stars but at least in their case they seem to be enjoy what they’re doing while making someone happy. In the case of the Seahawks they’re simply making their fans f_cking miserable !
Bengal Tiger …………… No These Are The Cincinnati Bengals A Tiger That Is Of No Imminent Danger To Anyone !
The only thing that Pete Carroll can motivate is his own prostate as he seems keen to shove his fingers up his own ass for self gratification and stimulation .
tophatal 🙂
November 9th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
chappy
In the midst of lambasting the Patriots for their pi_s poor effort against the Browns . Next up for them the Steelers and it could well be that they’ll be on the receiving end of another ass whupping ! Once finished I’ll put the piece up but first I’ve got to get some work done by way of a completing a file and report .
tophatal 🙂
November 9th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Man, what happened to your Pats last weekend!?! I didn’t see the game, but based on the highlights or lowlights, it looked ugly!
November 10th, 2010 at 6:29 am
chappy
Given the choice of seeing Bristol Palin naked and watching the Pats right now I might have to opt for seeing Bristol’s ta-ta’s ! Belichick has become somewhat complacent to my mind and it’s fed on right down to the players .
I see Mayweather has had his ass handed to him by a judge ? If he fails to pa bail ($31 K ) and meet court mandated requirements prior to his trial then he’s looking at major time behind bars for grand larceny , threatening a witness , spousal and child abuse in threatening his ex-girlfriend and his two young sons . The guy is so fuc_ed up that personally I’m no longer interested in seeing him fight anyone at all !
The bout between Pacquiao and Margarito should be great albeit that I don’t trust Margarito one damn bit !
tophatal 🙂
November 10th, 2010 at 6:35 am
chappy
Who’d have thought that on Thanksgiving our NFL choices would be as such watching the Lions and Cowboys grace us with their presence ? The NFL ought to completely revamp this tradition and base it on teams that are competitive at the time . I think I’ll get drunk and have mid afternoon sex with the girlfriend as she’ll be visiting . LOL,LOL,LOL !!!
tophatal 🙂