Raiders- Packers Game 13

Another blowout, this time 46-16 at the hands of the defending Super Bowl champs and still undefeated Packers. There is no joy in Mudville, mighty Carson has struck out. Carson Palmer's four interceptions were key, not that Green Bay needed any help to dismantle a team that's suddenly not competitive. "I'm not going to let this team keep going backward." intoned Hue Jackson in that voice that no longer conveys confidence "The last two weeks we haven't come close to playing or looking like the football team we've been." 

During the pre-season I questioned Hue Jackson's competence. His ready answers for whatever ailed the Raiders struck me as spin doctoring... Huespeak, so to speak.  The Raider's defense was suspect then and it's beyond suspect now.  Hue's bully boy defense is just a pack of undisciplined gridiron thugs, totally incapable of stopping anyone running with a football. When the glaring deficiencies on defense were brought up during the exhibition season, Hue responded "We'll fix it as we go" 

Thirteen games into the season, we are going... going... gone, and the defense is not repaired. In fact it seems to be beyond repair. Now we have Denver, a team that was rotting in the grave, in first place and looking like they can run the table.  The Raiders are broken and there's nothing Hue can do to fix them. Jackson it turns out was pulling levers and puffing out smoke just like the Wizard of Oz, with the curtains pulled back the bully is exposed as a spaghetti armed weakling.  

Oakland must win at least one of its last three games to match last years record, and right now they can't compete much less win. The Raider faithful may ask themselves, "What went wrong" except, it didn't just go wrong, it's been wrong all along. The same factors and bad habits that reared their ugly heads in the pre-season are still killing drives on offense and extending drives (for opponents) on defense. In other words, under Hue Jackson the Raiders are no better now than they were when training camp opened. 

"Today we regressed" stated Jackson in a classic example of Huespeak. "That team (Green Bay) is a very good football team, that's what we aspire to be someday. But we're not there yet." No, The Raiders are not the Packers, nor are they The Chiefs, Chargers or Lions (the three remaining games on their schedule) It will take more than fucking lip service to light a fire under the wastrels of God given gridiron talent that form the Raider defensive unit. The players as much as the fans seem ready to turn off the volume on The Jackson Hype Machine, that same old song and dance is getting old.   

By now you may be asking "Hey Nut! what about the fucking game?" Aw! the Silver & Black.... gluttons for punishment and pain. What divides Raiders fans from all other fans, is that we know everyone hates us. We're not like Cowboys fans, who have deluded themselves into thinking that America loves them. No, we give our legion of haters the double deuce and go about our merry way. When we suck the shit gets piled on us and when we win.... the shit gets piled on us.  

Cue the manure truck... that's good right there. As I've already mentioned The Raiders were not competitive. They turned the ball over five times, four of which came on Carson Palmer interceptions, including one on The Raiders' first possession. Aaron Rodgers went all Aaron Rodgers on our asses and Jordy Nelson continues to be the greatest Jordy since that little French kid that sang "Dur dur d'être bébé !" ("It's Tough to Be a Baby") back in 1992.

Don't let the sixteen points Oakland scored fool you, just like last week at Miami, the points came after the opposing team had stopped trying. Michael Bush finished with 117 yds. on 29 carries, none when they counted. Carson Palmer was 24-42 for 245 yds. passing, making this the second game where he barely completed half of his attempts.  "The good part of this" said Palmer "Is that we're now forced to win the next three games." The repeated blows to the head have made Carson giddy and prone to say silly things.

The Raiders trailed 31-0 at the half and  probably ate, slept and shit during the break, because the coaching staff sure as hell didn't make any adjustments. And ultimately that's who this falls on, this two game streak of utter failure falls at Hue Jackson's feet. Right now offensive coordinator Al Saunders and defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan can't be feeling good about their job security.  These are the kind of results that get coaches fired.

Raider Notes: 

This team is not going to make the playoffs. In order to do that they would probably have to win out. And unlike Carson Palmer, I'm not feeling it.  Regardless, Denver would still have to lose twice and Timmy Tebow ain't having that. 

Kansas City fired head coach Todd Haley and promoted Romeo Crennel to interim head coach. The Raiders have a payback game coming up with The Chiefs on the road, it's too early to tell if this works against them or in their favor. The Detroit Lions are in town next week, they're coming off a close win over Minnesota and since Jim Schwartz's post game hissy fit after they lost to the 49'ers they've gone 3-5

Supposedly every single Raider that's out with an injury will be back next week, except Jason Campbell. Carson Palmer and Darren McFadden have yet to play together, in fact they've never even been on the practice field at the same time. It's easy to point the finger at Carson and say that Jason Campbell would have done any better. The Raider's offensive woes go beyond just Palmer, although his lack of familiarity with Oakland's system compounds the problem.

Highlights: The maid service at the hotel was outstanding!

Lowlights: Name your poison: play selection, poor tackling, penalties, lack of leadership from veterans, Carson's interceptions, inept coaching staff... etc.

The Otherside: Aaron Rodgers is so fucking good!

Cheap Talk:

"We've got to get better and smarter, bottom line" Lito Sheppard

"When we won three in a row, guys were making plays and stuff" Darius Heyward-Bey

"Talk is getting cheap for fast fading Oakland Raiders" Mark Purdy, Oakland Tribune

"I don't know what the problem is, I wish I did, we're just playing different than we did during the three game winning streak" Michael Huff

"It's hard to envision the postseason, for the Raiders have had back to back losses that rival anything from the Norv Turner, Art Shell, Lane Kiffin and Tom Cable regimes in terms of poor football over eight consecutive quarters" Jerry McDonald, Oakland Tribune

"What a tremendous challenge for me, what a tremendous challenge for those men in the room, what a tremendous challenge for the coaches, but we're going to get this thing fixed." Hue Jackson