Raiders - Broncos Game 8

The Natives are growing restless, after coughing up a ten point lead and losing at home to Denver 38-24, the mood has soured in Oakland. I think we can finally put any talk of division or conference championships to rest. Let us focus on some realistic goals. Right about now a repeat of last year's 8-8 record would be considered a victory. The Raiders who after defeating Cleveland, stood at 4-2, now find themselves at 4-4 with a Thursday night game against the San Diego Chargers coming up next.

Tim Tebow was one game away from being laughed out of the NFL, lucky for him, John Fox gave him one more start against the Raiders. If any team can provide the remedy for what ails an opposing quarterback it's Oakland.  The Lions provided the game plan on how to stop Tebow. You can bet every team that plays The Broncos paid attention, except for The Silver & Black. It seems that instead of studying tape on The Lions game, The Raiders watched Denver's game with Miami, from the perspective of Miami. This doesn't say much for Chuck Bresnahan's ability to draw up a game plan for the defense.  

Against The Raiders (and Dolphins) Tim Tebow played like he's the greatest quarterback the game has ever seen (which he's not) Tim Tebow runs like the Incredible Hulk, he telegraphs his every move, whether he's running or throwing. Tim is a one trick pony, the Raiders knew he was coming at them and just couldn't stop him.  The option seemed like a foreign concept to the Raider defense, and you mean to tell me there's not one Raider defensive back faster than Tim Tebow?  I've said it before, either Tebow is sneaky fast or The Raiders were just fucking slow. 

The defensive unit has been suspect since the pre-season, their Achilles heel is now apparent, they can't stop the run. Denver rushed for 298 yds., 163 of which came from gimpy Willis McGahee,  while a plodding Tim Tebow added 117 more to the tally. The Raiders are 29th. in the league in defending the run and the worst in the AFC (5.2 per carry)  We knew this was coming, the truth is this: The Raider defense is slow and stupid, they've tried to bluff their way with imaginary speed and false bravado.  Silly mistakes and penalties have been a Raider  trademark forever, but it's time for Jackson's bully to leave those childish ways behind.

A slew of penalties kept the defense on the field. Oakland racked up 15 penalties, this after they were flagged 10 times against The Chiefs. The Raiders lead the NFL with 84 penalties, 14 more than anybody else. “Some of ‘em are just bonehead mistakes that we need to clean up,” said Richard Seymour. Up 24-14 lead well into the third quarter, Oakland seemed well in control of the game. Then the defense, which had bloodied up Tebow in the first half, went into self destruct mode and the walls came tumbling down. Denver would go on to score 24 unanswered points, and avenge their season opening loss at home to the Raiders.

Carson Palmer who at times moved like he was wearing concrete boots, threw three touchdowns passes, he would finish with 312 yds. on 18-34 attempts. Not bad for a guy who three weeks ago was practically retired and hadn't taken a single snap since last season. After wowing the crowd in the first half Palmer came crashing down to earth in the second. He threw three interceptions, two of which led to Denver touchdowns. Carson Palmer is our quarterback and he will pay dividends, although if the defense plays like it's been, then it's all for naught. Consecutive losses against bad teams, is not how you win championships. The gap between Oakland and the elite teams in the AFC grows wider every week.

Raider Notes:

Did the arrival of Carson Palmer, Aaron Curry, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and the passing of Al Davis,  change the Raider's locker room chemistry? Both Darrius Heyward-Bey and Kevin Boss played sparingly against Denver. Heyward-Bey, was noticeably angry and refused to speak to reporters after the game. Houshmandzadeh contributed little to the Raider offense and at times seemed totally out of sync, but he's Carson's boy. Hayward-Bey has never been what you could call a "go-to" guy, and as an Al Davis project he could be out of the loop now. Boss coming off a concussion against the Browns, is probably better off with less playing time, at least for now.   

Taiwan Jones played a part in a strange series of plays at the end of the first half. As Denver's Matt Prater attempted a field goal from 53 yds., Jones was called for being offsides. Prater re-kicked from 48 yds. out and made the field goal, Jones however rolled into Prater's leg and was called for roughing the kicker. With :17 seconds left, John Fox took the first down instead of the points. After Denver failed to punch the ball into the endzone, Prater came on to kick a chip shot field goal and missed it.  At that point it seemed like nothing could go wrong for the Raiders.

Darren McFadden is healing slowly and probably will miss Thursday's game. Starting center Samson Satele is out with a groin injury, Stefen Wisniewski moves over to center and Joe Barksdale steps in at left guard. Sebastian Janikowski is still not healthy, his shortened follow through was painful to watch. Nonetheless he got the job done, including one gingerly booted field goal in the first half.

Highlights: Carson Palmer, his td.pass to Marcel Reese was a thing of beauty. 

Lowlights: Palmer's interceptions and a shoddy effort from the defense

The Otherside: Is Tebow that good, or is he just that good against us?  Who the fuck would have thought that Willis McGahee (who averages about 2 yds. per carry) had anything left?

For What it's Worth:

“We need to eliminate bad football, and that’s part of the bad football side of it. You won’t win a lot of games, and be where you want to be at the end of the year if we continue to do this.”

Richard Seymour

“Right now we’re not the healthiest football team so I’m sitting them down to play who?”  Hue Jackson (on Heyward-Bey & Boss not getting much playing time)

“When you lose, everybody has a reason why you lost. But when you look at it, that’s not why we lost. We lost because of penalties. We lost because we didn’t do a good enough job of taking care of the ball, and we didn’t stop the run.”  Hue Jackson 

“It’s kind of a crash course the last couple weeks, It’s like you’re jamming or cramming for a final or a test. But I just got to continue to work, continue to study, continue to have it down and learn from every opportunity I get.” Carson Palmer

“The runs were the runs that we saw in practice. We knew exactly what they were going to do and we just didn’t stop it"  Richard Seymour