Nov 30th 2008 9:20PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Chiefs, Raiders, AFC WestIf you were fired up for this rivalry game, well, I give you credit. The Raiders and Chiefs entered Sunday’s game with a combined four wins on the season, and the play, as you would you expect, reflected that lofty win total, as the Chiefs pulled out a 20-13 win.

The biggest highlight reel play of the day was the Raiders hilarious attempt of a fake field goal, which resulted in Shane Lechler lateraling the ball to, uh, nobody, while Chiefs rookie Maurice Leggett (Valdosta State, representing) picked it up and raced 67 yards for a touchdown.

Other than that? Not much else took place.

A week after throwing only one incomplete pass, the good news for JaMarcus Russell is he completed the same number of passes. The bad news is, he did so on 28 attempts, as opposed to the 11 he threw a week ago. Even more incredible, for the fifth consecutive game, the Raiders again only had one wide receiver catch a pass, as Ronald Curry hauled in one pass for a whopping zero yards. That was it for Raiders receivers. One catch. Zero yards.Continue Reading

Nov 29th 2008 1:35PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders, AFC WestNo team in the NFL has completed fewer passes this season than the Oakland Raiders, and frankly, it’s not even close. That’s probably not all that shocking to you, seeing as how JaMarcus Russell is a second-year quarterback, and the Raiders are, for the most part, a running team blessed with a deep backfield including Justin Fargas, Darren McFadden and Michael Bush. Naturally, like any team, they’re going to stick with their strength.

Still, Russell has struggled at times, while also showing flashes of the potential that made him the No. 1 overall pick a year ago. Perhaps one of the problems he’s dealing with this season is the fact his wide receivers are, well, for lack of a better word — terrible.

Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee pointed out today that the Raiders haven’t had more than one wide receiver catch a pass in a game in four weeks, and that Michael Bush, a 245-pound running back — who is now playing fullback — is second on the team with 18 receptions.

Sounds pretty bad. But it gets worse.Continue Reading

Nov 26th 2008 12:56PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Bengals, Chiefs, Lions, Raiders, Rams, SeahawksLooking at the NFL standings, there is an interesting trend forming. Right now, 20 of the NFL’s 32 teams have a record at or above .500. That is 63% of the league. There are three divisions who don’t have a team with a losing record.

To feed wins to all those teams you need some really, really, really bad teams taking all the losses. That’s the issue with the NFL this season. Detroit (0-11), Kansas City (1-10), Cincinnati (1-9-1), Seattle (2-9) and St. Louis (2-9) are a combined 6-48.

It is so bad that the freakin’ Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers have three wins apiece and the Denver Broncos can actually lead a division. The Arizona Cardinals have all but won their division already and will host a playoff game for the first time since 1947.

Cats and dogs living together. Mass hysteria!Continue Reading

Nov 25th 2008 12:00PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: Bears, Bills, Broncos, Browns, Chargers, Colts, Cowboys, Packers, Raiders, Rams, Redskins, Steelers, AFC East, AFC North, AFC South, AFC West, NFC East, NFC North, NFC West, NFL RefereesFirst of all, my apologies to those legions of loyal Zebra Report fans. Last week some things arose personally which prevented me from compiling my report. I do, however, still have listed most of the plays I was going to cover for last week, so we’ll just tackle both this week in a double-issue of sorts. Does that sound good? (You do realize I don’t care about your answer, since officials don’t listen to fan feedback, right?)

Week 11

- The Troy Polamalu . This has been covered everywhere. There’s no real need to rehash it much. With an illegal forward pass, as long as it didn’t hit the ground, the Steelers should have been able to either accept the penalty or the result of the play (which would have meant declining the penalty). Obviously, they’d take the result of the play since it was a touchdown.Continue Reading

Nov 25th 2008 12:20PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders, AFC WestIt’s amazing what a blowout win over your arch-rival can do for your morale and outlook on the season. On Sunday, the Raiders marched into Denver and absolutely crushed the division-leading Broncos, in what was perhaps their most complete game of the year. The win improved the Raiders to 3-8 on the season, three games behind Denver in the AFC West.

With five games remaining on the schedule, the Raiders are, technically, still mathematically alive, and that’s leading to some surprising optimism around the club.

From David White of the San Francisco Chronicle:”Things are wide open,” Raiders nose tackle Gerard Warren said. “We’re not looking ahead, but if we were able to run the table, we might be able to squeak into the playoffs.” Don’t laugh. Lots of things became fathomable when the Raiders straight-up thumped the Broncos 31-10 Sunday. Hurray for optimism! Normally, a three game deficit with five games remaining would be almost insurmountable, but in the AFC West this season? Maybe not.Continue Reading

Nov 25th 2008 9:00AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders

As I went through the stat lines from all the box scores from last weekend’s NFL action, this one stood out above all the others:

JaMarcus Russell: 10-11, 152 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions

Really? JaMarcus Russell? The Raiders’ quarterback who had barely completed half his passes this season? The guy who had a game earlier this month when he threw the ball 19 times and only had six completions for 31 yards to show for it? That guy completed more than 90 percent of his passes in a game, for almost 14 yards a pass? And the Raiders beat the Broncos 31-10 after getting blown out 41-14 in the season opener? How is this possible?

To find out, I watched the Raiders-Broncos game for this week’s Every Play Counts.Continue Reading

Nov 23rd 2008 7:15PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: RaidersEntering this season, the biggest positive with the Oakland Raiders was a strong running game that was, presumably, going to be bolstered by the addition of No. 4 overall pick Darren McFadden. Thus far, thanks to injuries to McFadden and veteran Justin Fargas, the team’s ground attack has taken a small step back from a year ago.

Entering today’s game against Denver, the Raiders had not scored a rushing touchdown since their Week 2 win against Kansas City, and had only scored three touchdowns on the ground all season, good enough for last place in the NFL. Even worse, Oakland hadn’t scored an offensive touchdown of any kind in 13 quarters, a streak that ultimately extended to 15 quarters today in Denver.

Fortunately for the Silver and Black, both dubious streaks came to an end in the third quarter, as McFadden ran around the left end of the line, scoring from three yards out to give the Raiders a 17-10 lead. In what is an offensive explosion of sorts, the Raiders added another offensive score as JaMarcus Russell connected with Ashley Lelie on a four-yard touchdown.

Nov 23rd 2008 7:55PM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, Raiders, AFC WestIn baseball, every team, no matter how pathetic, is guaranteed a representative in the All-Star Game. It often means a deserving player has to miss the game so that a member of the Pirates gets a moment in the sun. It’s an understandable rule, although one that cheapens the game a bit.

Why am I talking baseball? Because the AFC West is going to have the same effect on the NFL Playoffs that those token players have in baseball. Whichever team wins the division will have no business in the playoffs.

If the season ended today that team would be the Denver Broncos. The very same Broncos who were routed, at home, by a two-win Raider team. The same Broncos that allowed three offensive touchdowns to a Raider team that hadn’t scored one in their last three games. It was a 15 quarter streak, in fact, that ended when Darren McFadden scored on a one-yard run in the third quarter.

The Broncos also allowed JaMarcus Russell, he of the 50% completion rate, to connect on 10-of-11 passes. Four of those completions were to former Bronco Ashley Lelie, who finished with 92 yards. He had seven catches and 105 yards all season entering play. Lelie’s 51-yard reception set up McFadden’s streak-breaking touchdown and he extended the offensive explosion with a four-yard grab in the fourth.

I don’t mean to pay the Raiders short shrift. They played their best offensive game of the season.Continue Reading

Nov 21st 2008 4:35PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, Raiders
As Oakland continues to toil along at its four-win-per-season pace, there’s at least one player Raiders fans can be proud to call one of of their own.

The player? Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, who continues to slide under the radar as one of the game’s best defensive backs. Football people in the know recognize Asomugha as an underrated player, hidden in the never-ending chaos that is Raiders football, but Denver head coach Mike Shanahan has taken the underrated label even farther. To an all-time level, actually.

From Adam Schefter of the NFL Network:”He is the most underrated football player in the history of the game,” Shanahan said of Asomugha. “I can’t believe this guy hasn’t been to the Pro Bowl or people don’t talk about him all the time. He is off the charts and as good as it gets. He doesn’t get the attention for the way he plays consistently. He is the most underrated football player that I have ever seen in my coaching career.”Continue Reading

Nov 19th 2008 2:10PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders, NFL Fans, NFL Rumors
Earlier this week, Ryan Wilson passed along the information that former New York Giants head coach, Jim Fassel, was in such dire need to get back into coaching that he would be willing to take on the task of leading the Oakland Raiders. He even, reportedly, wrote Al Davis a hand-written letter expressing his desire to coach the silver and black.

Frankly, if there’s any truth to that report, Davis should probably strike while the iron is hot and hire somebody, anybody, that is willing to work for him. If he doesn’t, Fassel has another potential option, one that’s familiar to guys who can’t find work in the National Football League.

Canada.Continue Reading