Carson Palmer & The Raiders Take Charge In San Diego. Oakland – 24 San Diego – 17

What’s up sports fans? What a difference a new quarterback makes. After picking up Carson Palmer the Raiders suffered a couple of losses and it was looking like getting Palmer wasn’t a good acquisition. Palmer made the critics rethink that idea. Carson Palmer went 14 of 20 for 299 yards, which is a much better than the last two games he’s played. I had a feeling once he got into the Raiders system, he would calm down and start having fun. Fun is what he had against San Diego. “We had a real good rhythm going,” Palmer said. “There were some great play calls at the right time. We still have some things to get better at, but it’s just good to come into this environment and get a win.”

Michael Bush ran for 157 yards, and he also caught the ball three times for 85 yards. You can tell this Raiders team is coming together. They’re doing it at their own pace, but they are coming together.  Obviously some of the offensive linemen went down and we smelled blood and we just went after him,” Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour said. “All week our defensive coordinator said, `Hey, they can score from anywhere on the field and it’s going to be up to our defensive front to get pressure on the quarterback,”’ Seymour added. “We knew we could get it done but it was going to be a collective effort.” With Hue Jackson’s acquisition of Palmer you were wondering how this team would respond. Sometimes in NFL they are chemistry issues.

The team lost Jason Campbell who seemed to be the guy for Oakland. When he got injured it left the team looking for answers. When Palmers first two games didn’t pan out well for the offense it made you wonder if they would still have to find a quarterback who could lead them to a playoff berth. Obviously Hue Jackson is glad to see Palmer succeed. “I know the man, I know what he is and what we have,” coach Hue Jackson said. “We haven’t seen the best of him yet. He’s just warming up.” For the Chargers it was yet another time they had a chance to get back in the playoff race and couldn’t capitalize on the situation. Phillip River was intercepted in the end zone by Matt Giordano. He had 3:22 left on the clock . Had he completed that pass it would’ve tied up the game. Instead Rivers threw his 15th interception for a career high low. He went 23 of 47 for 274 yards with 2 TD’s and a int. , but he fumbled  in the final play which allowed the Raiders to seal the win.

One of the Chargers biggest problem was allowing the Raider defense entry into their back field. Rivers was sacked 6 times during this contest.“We’re in a rough stretch right now. We get a few days off to take a deep breath,” Rivers said.  The Raiders do have some kicking issues. First Sebastian Janikowski has a sore hamstring so getting him to kick in this one was like pulling teeth. Shane Lechler was 0 for 1 and had a dismal 39.6 rating punting the ball. So the Raiders thought, heck! why not go for the fake punt while they were on the Chargers 37 yard line, which I thought didn’t make any sense, and neither did the outcome. Shane Lechler threw a pass to Jakoby Ford which didn’t do any good because Quentin Jammer took Ford out before he could do anything with the play. On the next drive Michael Bush scored on a 2 yard pile jump to finish off a scoring drive. The Raiders ran the ball well despite not having Darren McFadden with a 191 yards on the ground.

Oakland appears to have regained focus. No question this win shows a resurgence by a team that when they were down didn’t quit. They kept on bringing the best of what they have and when it was time to find answers they produced in a year that they’ve lost the essence of this franchise Al Davis. They’re 5-4 and have a half game lead on the Kanas City Chiefs. Think they can keep it going? What do you think? Drop me a line and give me you thoughts. Remember folks it’s ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. Bay Area Sports Magnified!

Raiders Can’t Stop Broncos Run Or Tim Tebow’s Run. Denver – 38, Oakland – 24

 

What’s up sports fans? Well it’s the second week with newly acquired quarterback Carson Palmer, and it still isn’t looking good for the Raiders. What was also interesting is that the Broncos were ready to cash in the whole season because they benched Kyle Orton and started Tim Tebow whose outing last week against the Lions was less than stellar. Raider fans were thinking maybe they could get a redemption game. Fat chance. Raiders drop another one in their race for the AFC West title by losing to the Broncos 38 to 24. Carson Palmer did have a better performance then he did against Kansas City.  He finished 19-35 passes 332 yards, 3 TD’s and 3 inerceptions. He is doing what he means to do and that is to perform, and produce. He did that, it’s just that as a team the Raiders continue to flounder. One of the reason is they continue to sputter when it comes to stopping the run.

The Broncos had a combined total of 298 yards on the ground. Part of that arsenal came from Tim Tebow. He wasn’t about to allow the idea of him being replaced at the quarterback position be on his head coaches mind. He had other ideas. By taking his frustration on on the Raiders. “Honestly it doesn’t necessarily matter too much how you drew it up as long as you get this feeling at the end, because it was pretty special,” he said. Tebow ran for a 117 yards. It hurt the Raiders because it allowed the Broncos to gain a win that put them within a game of first place.  Willis McGahee had 163 yard rushing and part of it was a 60 yard touchdown run.  “As long as it worked, that’s all I care about,” McGahee said. “He did a great job as far as reading the ends on what he had to do as far as keeping it or giving it. When I got the ball it was my job just to get some yards.” Tebow’s performance was what he needed to stay at the starting quarterback position, the problem is it came at the Raiders defense expense.

“We knew exactly what they were going to do and we just didn’t stop it,” Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour said. “We knew exactly what was going to happen, and they ran exactly what we thought they were going to run and we didn’t get the job done. That’s the disappointing part.” Being able to stop the run is a concern head coach Hue Jackson has to answer. Raiders have been giving up way to many points. Most of their games are close on either side with the loss or win column. The reason why is the defense isn’t capitalizing on defensive stops. Denver get 3 interceptions on the Raiders and the Raiders get none off of the Broncos. When you add the almost 300 yards on the ground it adds up to bad defense. That bad defense was okay for Denver head coach John Fox. He was also happy with Tebow’s performance.  “I thought he improved throwing the ball,” Fox said. “I think he’s always run the ball pretty effectively. He’s very competitive by nature. You see evidence of that. Now it’s just learning how to be an NFL quarterback. In my opinion he’s gotten better each time out.”

One thing is for sure Tebow bounced back and changed Broncos fans minds about him quarterbacking the team. Palmer is changing the Raider fans minds slowly also, he just needs to fine tune what he’s doing. “It’s kind of a crash course the last couple weeks,” Palmer said. “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.” I got a feeling that soon as Palmer relaxes and focuses on what he’s doing the Raiders will play better, or is he? Tell me what you think. Remember folks it’s ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. Bay Area Sports Magnified!

Not Even Carson Palmer Can Help The Raiders Offense. The Chiefs Exploit Raiders Quarterback Quandry With 6 INT’S. Kansas City – 28 Oakland – 0

What’s up sports fans? Well what can you say about last Sunday? I’m actually shocked at what I saw. The Raiders had quarterback issues. They just lost Jason Campbell to an injury in his collarbone, and Kyle Boller had to assume the position at starting quarterback. So they had to come up with something. So while the week is going by they find a solution, Carson Palmer. You remember Carson Palmer. The long time Bengal that when he came into the league caused all kind of problems for the Raiders. Well now he’s giving up his Bengal stripes to don the silver and black. Now if your a Raider fan your thinking at first, great acquisition. Carsons a veteran plus he knows the AFC, this is a win win for the Raider Nation. But after the game against the Kansas Chiefs your thinking activating Carson Palmer that soon probably wasn’t a good idea for Hue Jackson’s offense. It seemed in this game it didn’t matter who was quarterbacking for the silver & black, they just weren’t going to put up any good statistics.

Kyle Boller came in like he should, he is the starter. But against KC he sputtered. Kansas City defense intercepted him three times. At this point Hue Jackson might have thought, “Kyle can’t get it done, let’s put Carson in and see what happens.” Actually, he didn’t want to see what happened. The Chiefs defense took one look at Carson and gave him the same dose of medicine. Another 3 interceptions. I’m a Niner fan, but I don’t like to watch the Raider Nation take a loss like last Sunday. For Carson Palmer it wasn’t the beginning he had envisioned while representing the Raider Nation.  “It was just an awful feeling walking off the field to be beat like that in the fashion that we were beat,” Palmer said. “We need to regroup.” Regroup! Carson you haven’t been a Raider long enough to say that. Palmer needs to get more time working with the offense. Obviously Hue wanted to have Palmer go out and save the day for Raiders in this game. It didn’t work out primarily because Palmer doesn’t know the offense that well yet.

“I was excited to be playing again, but there was such a limited playbook with little to no experience with the receivers, it definitely is an uncomfortable position to be in,” Palmer said.  Boller’s interceptions didn’t help either what’s worst is the Raiders fumbled the ball two times and were penalized 14 times for 120 yards. With Jackson not being sure who he was going to start on Sunday, it allowed Kansas City’s defense to exploit Oakland’s offense.   “We knew that they had a quarterback controversy,” Lewis said. “We studied film and studied their routes and that they were going to give him a limited playbook. When we had the opportunity to make big plays and capitalize, that’s what we did. And we did a good job with it.” And according to the Kansas City defensive back Lewis and the Chiefs  were just lying in wait for the Raiders. What was also interesting is that based on statistics, the game was evenly matched. The Chiefs led on first downs with 22 to the Raiders 19. The Raiders led in total yards with 322 to the Chiefs 300.

Time of possession was close with the Raiders at 26:23  giving up about 7 minutes of time to the Chiefs at 33:37.  Matt Cassel was intercepted twice. The Raiders even had more rushing yards than the Chiefs with 139 for the Chiefs and the Raiders with 157 yards on the ground. So if the game was even why did the Raiders loose the game? Because they had two quarterbacks who gave up a total of 6 interceptions, and they couldn’t rally back when they were down. Kyle Boller threw a pass to Jacoby Ford that Kendall Lewis saw as a gift and he ran it back 59 yards for a pick six the beginning of a nightmare in the day time. “I’m just extremely frustrated,” Boller said. “I had an opportunity to go there. It just didn’t go as planned. Definitely not my best outing. I feel bad for my teammates. I feel like I let my teammates down. There’s not much to say. The play speaks for itself.” I’m sure Hue Jackson will be sure who’s starting on Nov. 6 vs. Denver. But after Sunday the Raiders are ready for their Bye week. Think the Raiders can rebound against Denver or is the game against Kansas City sign of a chink in the Raiders armor? Tell me what you think. Remember folks it’s ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. Bay Area Sports Magnified!

The DNA Of The Raider Nation Has Died. All Of Us In The Sports World Will Miss The Heart That Bled Silver & Black Al Davis.

Al Davis A Life Long Commitment To Excellence

 

 

I received sad news like everyone else that the man that loved football and brought his brand of it to the NFL has died.  Allen “Al” Davis was born on July 4 1929 in Brockton Massachusetts. He died October 8 2011 in his favorite place in our Bay Area Oakland. I could write a novel about Al Davis. He was a owner of a team that was well represented and well liked, but a lot of people wanted to see him go. I heard a lot of people say that in his latter years he hindered the franchise from becoming a great franchise. But what is a great franchise? Some will say “the Pittsburgh Steelers are a great franchise because the have the most championships.” Some will say the Greenbay Packers are greater because they have the most.” Really when it comes down to it a great franchise does win championships but also represents the city it is in on and off he field. I feel that the Raiders do that well.

They have to thank Al Davis for that. Even though they went to Los Angeles  they will always be the Oakland Raiders. Especially to Al Davis. He loved the city of Oakland. That’s why when he left to go to L.A. he made sure he kept a ace in his sleeve to come back to the east bay. But how do you sum up and guy like Al Davis? He’s been a Commissioner, an assistant coach, a head coach, an advocate for the AFL and eventually a owner in a league he once battled against. But no matter what anyone said at the end of the day it was his team, and he like Sinatra he did it his way. He’s been called a Maverick, a Tyrant, a in your face type owner. If you worked for Al Davis and he didn’t like what you were doing he would let you know right away. But you still had to respect Al Davis. Why? Because he was in charge of a major organization that had to succeed. History has shown that every great leader has had both friends and enemies. Mr. Davis was no exception to the rule. But whether they liked him or not Al Davis, and I say it again,  like Frank Sinatra did things his way.

He left an enormous mark on this league that not many can match. What was also interesting about him was even though he was born in Brockton Massachusetts as a boy he ran down the streets of Flatbush Brooklyn. He attended Eramus High School. It would eventually be Oakland where he would make his home. He came to the Bay Area with his east coast accent calling Oakland “The Raiduhs.” With his Elvis style slick back hair and a passion for winning football games he would not stop until the unique team of Silver & Black became a champion. He was the one who coined the term “Just Win Baby!” I don’t even think the NFL knew what they were getting when they bargained with Al Davis. I could remember seeing a poster of him wearing a Levi’s jean suit. That suit he wore was the signature way he approached the game of football. Unique, outspoken, a rebel. But even he as much as he battled against the NFL, even he saw the benefit it could have if the AFL and the NFL merged. So in July 1966 the two leagues merged. That was also the same year the Al Davis resigned as AFL Commissioner.

But as an owner Al Davis made sure players, coaches and the NFL as a whole knew that at the end of each work day the Raiders belonged to him. He proved that when he moved the team to Los Angeles. They captured a championship that year. The city of Oakland realized it also. Al Davis is and will always be the essence and DNA of The Oakland Raiders.  We thank him for the John Madden years, the Tom Flores years, the years the defense used stick em on the field. The years of the Snake, and we thank him for building what would become the Raider Nation. Goodbye and farewell to Allen “Al” Davis. I would love to get your comments on this article. Tell me what you think. Remember folks it’s ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. Bay Area Sports Magnified!

In Our 100th Post, New Season Brings First Win For the Silver & Black & The Raider Nation.

 

 

What’s up sports fans. ALLBAYAREASORTS.COM. Hit a milestone today. We are posting our 100th post right now. We are estatic about it, and it’s funny we were just thinking how were going to get this thing up and running and now we’ve posted 100 articles about your Bay Area sports. Today were focusing our attention on the Raider Nation. You know, are cross town cousins from across the bay. They’ve always been a franchise that was always slightly different than the rest of the NFL. In that age old saying, “Once a Raider, always a Raider.” They’ve always found a way to keep you watching them, and their fans. I respect the Raiders, and they Raider Nation. You gotta like their silver and black appeal. Don’t get me wrong I’m not being assimilated into the borg. I have red and gold blood in my veins. I’m a true Niner fans from the days of Gene Washington.

I can’t ever change. But I still like and respect the Raiders and the Raider Nation. I’d love to see them play us in the Superbowl. That would be like a couple of decades ago when the Giants played the A’s in what was dubbed “The Dream Series.” I was nice to see Oakland beat the Denver on their home turf. This was a game where on paper Oakland shouldn’t have won this game, but when you have a field goal kicker in Sebastian Janikowski how can you loose? Sebastian showed Bronco fans why. Right before the half Janikowski boots a 63 yard field goal gives the Raiders a 16-3 lead and Sebastian can’t believe what he saw when the ball went over the uprights for the score.    “To be honest, I didn’t hit it that good,” said Janikowski,  “It barely got over the bar.” In any rate it went over, that’s what mattered to head coach Hue Jackson, “It’s phenomenal, both of them,” Jackson said.

“What Sebastian did was unheard of. I think we have two of the best kickers in the league. I trust those guys, believe in them. What a kick. Obviously, a lot of people think that was the difference in the game.” It was a momentum shifter. When you look at the game on paper Denver should’ve won the game.  Jason Campbell was 13-22 for 105 yards. Kyle Orton was 24-46 for 304 yards. What the Raiders gave up in the air they compensated on the ground. Oakland held Knowshon Moreno for a mere 22 yards. While Darren McFadden rack up 150 yards  rushing. Brandon Lloyd had 89 receiving for the Broncos, while Darius Heyward-Bey pick up 44 yards from Campbell. The Raider are like us right now in San Francisco. Our offense could use a pick me up. Our special teams is playing well and are defense is still stingy. It’s the same with the Raiders. Their special teams is playing well.

They need to do something with their offense and their defense held a talented Kyle Orton offense to just 20 points. In one word “Stingy”. Still I’m glad to see them win. The Raider Nation should know what happened at “The Stick” in preseason is not part of the 49er Faithful. It was just some young guys out there who had to much to drink and supposedly representing the Faithful and they weren’t. The real 49er Faithful play this game with class. We respect our cross town cousins and hope they prevail. Who knows maybe we’ll see each other in the Superbowl. Until then I say Raiders take the AFC, and we in San Francisco will deal with the NFC. Nor-Cal baby all the way. Raiders win 23-20, beat the Broncos and are preparing for those big bad Buffalo Bills. Think the Raiders can get win number two? Or was this a fluke win? Tell me what you think. Remember folks it’s ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. Bay Area Sports Magnified!