Category: Oakland Raiders

Raiders take the Battle of the Bay

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By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND-Over the past three weeks, the Oakland Raiders won two games and lost one by 52 points on the road.

Brandian Ross intercepted Colin Kaepernick on the first play of the game, and Sebastian Janikowski turned that into a 57-yard field goal and the Raiders would go on to defeat the San Francisco 49ers 24-13 at a raucous Coliseum.

This was the first time that the Raiders have defeated the 49ers in a regular season game since October 8, 2000, when Rich Gannon found Tim Brown for a touchdown and the Raiders defeated the 49ers 34-28 in overtime at Candlestick Park.

If you want to find the last time that the Raiders defeated the 49ers in Oakland, you will have to go back to November 4, 1979, when they defeated their cross bay rivals 23-10.

The last time the Raiders defeated the 49ers as the home team came on September 29, 1991, a 12-6 Raiders victory at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Following the Janikowski long field goal, the 49ers took the lead for the first time, as Kaepernick found Bruce Miller for an eight-yard touchdown pass.

Derek Carr then proceeded to drive the Raiders down the field to retake the lead, as Carr found lineman Donald Penn for a three-yard touchdown pass.

It was a great day for Carr, as he went 22-for-28 for 254 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Mychal Rivera turned in a career day, as he hauled in seven catches for a career-high 108 yards and a touchdown.

Latavius Murray returned to the field after missing the 52-0 loss to the St. Louis Rams with a concussion, and led the Raiders with 23 carries for 76 yards.

Entering the game, Murray carried the ball 14 times all season.

It was an off day for Kaepernick once again, as he went 18-for-33 for 174 yards passing and two interceptions, as the 49ers lost for the second straight game and are in danger to miss their first playoffs since 2010.

Charles Woodson clinched the game, as he intercepted a Kaepernick pass in the waning minutes of the game and it was the 59th career interception for the 17-year veteran,

Rivera was not the Raiders player either seven catches, as Marcel Reese also snared seven receptions from Carr including the eventual game-winning touchdown pass from Carr with 4:09 remaining in the third quarter.

Linebacker Ahmed Brooks was dressed for the 49ers, but did not start due to missing a team meeting on Tuesday and did not even see the field.

Phil Dawson connected for two field goals for the 49ers, including a 52-yarder with one second remaining in the first half to send the game into the half all tied up.

Following the Carr to Rivera touchdown pass, Dawson missed a 47-yard field goal wide left that gave the ball back to the Raiders.

Michael Crabtree led the 49ers with nine catches for 56 yards passing, while Frank Gore carried the ball 12 tines for 63 yards.

Darren McFadden carried the ball four times and gained just five yards in the victory.

Raiders and 49ers commentary: Coliseum hoping for very few to no fan fights unlike last meeting

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by Daivd Zizmor

OAKLAND–The San Francisco 49ers are headed to the Oakland Coliseum to play the Oakland Raiders and unlike the last time these two teams met this one is a regular season game this Sunday. The last time they also met was there violence that occurred at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in a pre season game in 2011 and they have not met in a pre or regular season since then.

There were a lot of fights in the stands in the 2011 game, there usually is when these two teams meet then there’s the shooting incident in the Candlestick parking lot that didn’t involve the game itself that involved two people but they were not at the game at all. So this shooting incident was misreported at the time.

Obviously were very sensitive to it you never want any violence at the game, we’ve seen a couple of incidents at the new Levis Stadium this season that didn’t involve Raiders fans but it did involve all 49ers fans in a bathroom brawl that sent a couple men to the hospital and the suspects were later caught. You can imagine the security presence that will needed during the Niners-Raiders game at the Coliseum on Sunday.

There is hope with the increased security presence and police presence that will help solve any of the problems that would be a deterrent of them getting into fights or fans looking for fights that could be fueled by alcohol. There is a whole lot you could do besides limit the sales to people who are obviously intoxicated.

That’s always a tough one and by law your not allowed to search anyone who appears intoxicated but I’m not sure if the defenders are going to be as vigilant as their suppose to be as opposed to someone who’s vigilant at a bar. The other thing you hope is the prices of the tickets deter people from doing anything like that.

It really hasn’t been the case at Levi’s Stadium so much, but if you go on line and look at the prices of the Niners and the Raiders it’s really not that much cheaper even though it’s at the Coliseum fans are still paying a lot of money for these seats. There are a lot of people priced out at Levis Stadium.

There’s a number of fans who have decided to go to this game to see the Niners play and the prices are probably less at the Coliseum although their not cheap there still more affordable than at Santa Clara. This game is sold out, there will be a lot of people and there will be a lot of Niners fans present for the 1:25pm start.

The Raiders fans will be out in force in their home stadium with the weather being the way it is lousy you kind of hope it dampens a lot things in the stands with the ticket prices hopefully that calms everything down or at least keeps people from wanting to be crazy because they paid so much for their tickets.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Raiders, 49ers play for Bay Area Bragging Rights

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Sunday’s “Battle of the Bay” match up between the 1-11 Oakland Raiders and 7-5 San Francisco 49ers will feature two teams who are very thirsty to get back into the win column as the season hits the fourth quarter.

The Raiders fell hard last week in St. Louis 52-0, their worst loss since 1961 where the Raiders fell to the Houston 55-0. That season, Oakland finished 2-12.

Quarterback Derek Carr had arguably his roughest day as a pro. The rookie signal finished 24-of-39 for 173 yards passing, with two interceptions, while being sacked by an aggressive Rams defense three times before being replaced by Matt Schaub in the fourth quarter.

Schaub didn’t fare to well either, finishing 5-of-9 for 57 yards passing, including an interception that was returned for a 43-yard touchdown by cornerback, Trumaine Johnson. Schaub was also sacked three times.

“It had nothing to do with what Derek did or didn’t do,” head coach Tony Sparano said after the game. “It was just the scenario. I had to be honest with myself at that point and take him out of the game and not risk him potentially getting hurt. I made the decision, and it was the right decision.”

“I was pretty hot,” Carr said after the game. “I was upset, but (Sparano) explained why. It’s hard, because I’m so competitive. I want to play. He explained we have to be smart, too, and understand we still have four games left. We can’t risk anything with the situation the way it was.”

Defensively, Oakland couldn’t stop a Rams rushing attack that ripped the Silver & Black for 172 yards on the ground, 117 of those rushing yards came from rookie running back, Tre Mason.

Mason’s 89-yard touchdown in the second quarter after a Rams’ false start penalty pretty much doomed Oakland’s day.

“I really don’t have any words to describe what this feels like,” defensive end Justin Tuck said. “If I sound dumbfounded, that’s because I am.”

After being considered a Super Bowl favorite the last three seasons during the Jim Harbaugh era, San Francisco is uncharted territory where they may not make the playoffs and a huge overall could be forthcoming at 4949 Centennial Boulevard in the offseason.

San Francisco is coming off an embarrassing 19-3 home loss on Thanksgiving Night to their bitter NFC West rival, the Super Bowl Champions Seattle Seahawks in front of a national televised audience.

49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick didn’t play well, completing 16-of-29 passes for a season-low 121 yards including two interceptions to 49ers’ nemesis, cornerback Richard Sherman. Sherman’s first interception came on San Francisco’s first possession and his second, came on the 49ers’ last possession.

“We didn’t play well,” Kaepernick said after the loss, “They were bad throws. Our receivers won. I didn’t make the throw on those. Those were my fault…We didn’t execute.”

With the pressure of winning ever increasing for Kaepernick and the 49ers, they better not take the Raiders lightly, even if the 49ers are considered the heavy favorites. Kansas City came to Oakland three weeks ago as heavy favorites and left O.co Coliseum on the short end.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the series is tied 6-6 in the regular season, but have met 39 times in the preseason with San Francisco holding a 20-19 record in those games.

Players to Watch

San Francisco, RB, Frank Gore. Gore is arguably the heartbeat of the 49ers. At 31 when the lifespan of an NFL running back is in decline, Gore is defying the odds rushing for a team-high 712 yards on 181 carries (on pace for his eighth 1,000 yard season; fourth straight), but is only averaging a career-worse 3.9 yards per carry with two touchdowns. With Gore only mustering 29 yards on the ground in the loss to Seattle, Gore should get a lot of carries against one of the worst run defenses in football.

Oakland, RB, Latavius Murray. Murray didn’t play in Oakland’s loss in St. Louis as Murray was recovering from a concussion he suffered in Oakland’s 24-20 victory over Kansas City in Week 12 at O.co Coliseum. Murray provides the Silver & Black with a faster ground game than what veterans Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren McFadden have provided Oakland this season.

 

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Cops say they want something done about Rams “hands up don’t shoot” gesture; NFL says their staying out of it

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ALAMEDA–On Sunday when some of the St.Louis Rams players came out of the tunnel just before their game against the Oakland Raiders (both teams by the way played in Los Angeles once upon a time) with their hands up in the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture. The St.Louis Police have asked the Rams and the NFL to do something about a gesture they find offensive to the department.

The NFL made it clear that they are staying out of the fray and have stated that the league has taken an apolitical approach to the demonstration by the Rams players, “we wanted to show that we are organized for a great cause and something positive comes out of it. That’s what we hope to make happen. That’s our community, we wanted to let our community know that we support the community” said wide receiver Kenny Britt.

Most of the players were not there when the demonstrations were happening in Ferguson and when Mike Brown was shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson not indicted. This was in the community and we may not like what happened and what decided by the grand jury and I can understand that but were country of laws and there a lot of laws that I don’t like and agree with.

Just because I don’t like those laws doesn’t mean I have to break them and most of these demonstrators are people of good faith that are demonstrating. I’m old enough to remember the 60s, when you throw a brick through a convenience store and you stole from that store in the demonstration that has nothing to do with that kid that was shot.

I can see the players and the Olympic athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith in 1968 in Mexico City having their say with raised fists. I like to keep sports away from politics but it’s part of the world and the Rams are professional athletes and if I can be a little sarcastic the Rams and the Raiders are not the best two football teams in the World.

This game unintentionally got a lot of attention on two fronts for the “hands up don’t shoot” gesture by the Rams players and for the Raiders worst loss in 53 years losing 52-0. The Rams are not great shakes either. The only thing that came out of that game was what the Rams players did in their own way of demonstrating.

The thing the Raiders couldn’t do was pass the ball into the end zone, so it’s just ridiculous but that’s part of the world we live in today. The players are citizens they have their rights to demonstrate. I don’t like to see it at a football game but they have the right and there is a lot of stuff I don’t like but were a free country. As long as you don’t hurt anybody you can demonstrate until the cows come home.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez does News and Commentary several times a week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Raiders Commentary: Oakland hoping to extend win streak to two games in St.Louis

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–It’s another tough game coming up for the Oakland Raiders as they face the St.Louis Rams and they have it tough for the rest of the way. Even the teams that are not quite as good are still reasonably one of the decent teams in the NFL. You look at the Buffalo game at the end of December the Bills are one of the best teams in the NFL but they have a really tough defense.

The Raiders offense is where they struggle the most, in this game against the Rams the Raiders could win it. There’s a better chance going into this one against St.Louis than the game they had against Kansas City a game that was played at the Oakland Coliseum the other week and they ended up beating the Chiefs.

The Rams are a weird team because if they were in another division they might be a playoff contender the fact of the matter is their stuck in the NFC West which is really tough and even though they have a really strong defense at least on some level they have a competent offense. Their good enough to challenge some of the playoff teams.

We saw the Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks by two points 28-26 Sun Oct 19th, we’ve seen them beat a decent team the 49ers and the Raiders defense is going to have a real struggle and the Chiefs have a very tough defense and they managed to fall to the Raiders. Anything is possible you have to wonder how the Raiders are going to handle getting this one.

Will the Raiders be too tense? Will they sit back and say “we got our win, we feel good about our selves we’re looking ahead to the 49ers next week. Maybe were not going to pull one off on the road” the Raiders snapped a long losing streak which ran into 23 just overall.

This streak was long but their road losing streak was longer and it’s been over 15 months since they’ve won a road game. This game is going to be tough this Sunday. They’re still not very great at getting prepared for their next road trip and they don’t even know who their going to play next. They had that amazing win against the Chiefs when the Raiders Latavius Murray carried up the middle for a 90 yard touchdown and it was a run that helped avoid a winless season.

The other running backs the Raiders have Marcel Reece and Darren McFadden haven’t really done anything all season long. Without that running threat to keep defenses honest the Raiders are going to have a little bit of trouble especially going against a good defense.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Without

Raiders look to make it two in a row, face Rams in St. Louis

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — No longer searching for the first win 2014, the Raiders will look to pick up their second win of the season as they hit the road to St. Louis to take on the Rams Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome. Kickoff is set for noon CST (10:00 a.m. PST) and can be seen locally on CBS/KPIX 5.

Oakland (1-10) took down their AFC West rival Kansas City Chiefs 24-20 last Thursday in front of a nationally televised audience to kickoff Week 12. With the win, Oakland snapped a 16-game losing streak dating back to last season.

Offensively, quarterback Derek Carr put the Raiders on his back. The rookie signal caller engineered a 17-play, 80-yard, game-winning drive that ended with Carr tossing a nine-yard touchdown to wide receiver James Jones. The drive chewed up 7:21 of the fourth quarter.

Carr finished the game 18-of-35 for 172 yards.

“Amazing. Hopefully there’s many more to come,” Carr said after Oakland’s victory, “because I like this feeling better than the other one, that’s for sure. I’m glad that this finally came. I’ll be able to enjoy it.”

The Silver & Black’s poor rushing attack got a huge boost from Latavius Murray. Murray rushed for 112 yards with two first quarter touchdowns, one from 9o-yards out that gave Oakland a 14-3 lead in the second quarter. The second-year running back was knocked out of the game with a concussion on his fourth carry, so who knows what numbers Murray would’ve finished with if he could’ve stayed in the game.

Defensively, Oakland was led by their 38-year-old leader free safety Charles Woodson.

Woodson, finished second on the team with seven tackles (one assisted) and  a sack, becoming the first person in NFL history with 50 interceptions and 20 sacks. The 17-year veteran from Michigan was also named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts.

St. Louis (4-7), are coming off a heartbreaking 27-24 loss to the San Diego Chargers last week on the road where the Rams squandered a 17-6 third quarter lead.

Rams quarterback Shaun Hill completed 18-of-36 passes for 198 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

Rookie running back finished with 62 yards on 16 carries, after beating up the Denver Broncos for 113 yards yards on 29 carries for a Rams 22-7 victory in Week 11 at home.

Offensively, St. Louis doesn’t score many points, only averaging 19 points per game. But where the Rams lack in offense, their defense can get after the quarterback and make tackles.

Defensive end Robert Quinn leads the team with six sacks, but rookie defensive tackle Aaron Donald is second with five sacks.

Quinn has a knack for getting to quarterbacks, after registering two of the eight Rams’ sacks on San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick in St. Louis’ 13-10 victory in Week 9.

Oakland should not sleep on Rams linebackers James Laurinaitis and Alec Ogletree.

These two linebackers are always around the ball and are sure tacklers, with Ogletree leading the club with 75 tackles (68 assisted), while Laurinaitis is second with 70 (59 assisted).

Players to Watch

Oakland, RB, Latavius Murray. If Murray is able to be cleared to play Sunday, he has to be in the starting lineup. Murray clearly has added life to a morbid running game that was getting absolutely nothing from Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren McFadden. Again if Murray didn’t take a nasty hit from Chiefs free safety Kurt Coleman in the second quarter, Murray might still be running through Kansas City.

St. Louis, TE, Jared Cook. Cook leads the Rams with 37 catches and 473 yards, but just one touchdown. The Rams like using two tight end sets, so keep an eye on backup tight end, Lance Kendricks. Kendricks may just have 22 catches on the season, but he leads the Rams with four touchdown catches.

 

 

Raiders commentary: What a relief to avoid notorious history of being winless team

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–It was great that the Oakland Raiders (1-10) finally got a win under their belts there was always a possibility of the team going winless but let’s be reasonable here in the history of professional football there have been only two teams who failed to win a game all season and that was the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the 2008 Detroit Lions.

Its not easy to go winless, it’s not easy to win every game (hence the 1972 Miami Dolphins) and it’s not easy to lose every game it’s just difficult. I’m in fantasy football leagues and its hard to lose every game. In all the leagues I played fantasy football in and believe me I played a lot there has been one person whose gone winless.

That person has never lived it down we call him Goose for Goose Egg but never the less it’s not easy to do it wasn’t highly likely that the Raiders were going to pull it off. If you watched the Raiders the last few weeks they haven’t won but they’ve been in those games against San Diego and in Seattle.

The Raiders had their chances, it’s a little surprising against the Kansas City Chiefs (7-4), the Chiefs have been playing well they had won five straight before going into Oakland last Thursday night with some very impressive victories. The Chiefs have a very solid team and they have one of the best running backs in the league in Jamal Charles.

But you have to keep in mind that the Raiders always get up for he Chiefs with a long time rivalry the two teams really know each other really well. They don’t take each other lightly they play hard against each other and to contradict that a little bit the Chiefs might have been looking past the Raiders.

The Chiefs have a big game coming up against the Broncos in about a week and that means a lot for the division and the Chiefs were kind of expecting to come in and reel off a pretty easy victory. That wasn’t the case and they did make a game of it and the Chiefs were winning this game late until Raiders quarterback Derrick Carr got a winning pass off for a winning touchdown.

The Chiefs at the end of the game got halfway down the field with less than two minutes on the game clock before the Raiders were able to stop them on that final drive. This wasn’t exactly the Raiders dominating the Chiefs. It was a good win and some of the things you got to like as Carr came through when it counted.

Carr led the Raiders on some pretty good drives early on, they kind of stalled in the second half but towards the end when they needed that touchdown to get that winning margin he put them into scoring position and threw that big touchdown pass to James Jones. The defense held on and he obviously loved Latavius Murray who carried four times only because he got knocked out with a concussion. But boy those were four great carries for Murray.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Raiders end losing streak

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By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND-Well, the Oakland Raiders will not tie the Detroit Lions for most losses in a season and they can thank the arm of Derek Carr and the legs of Latavius Murray.

Carr found James Jones for a nine-yard touchdown pass with 1:42 remaining in the game, and the Raiders defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 24-20 before a rain soaked crowd of 52,865 at the Coliseum.

That final Raiders drive covered 17 plays for 80 yards and took 7:21 to run and the Raiders became the final team in the NFL this season have a drive of over seven minutes.

With the victory, the Raiders snapped their 16-game losing streak, as they won for the first tine since defeating the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium on November 17, 2013, a span of 368 days.

Murray ran for 112 yards on just four carries before being forced to leave the game with a concussion.

The second-year running back out of the University of Central Florida gave the Raiders a 14-0 lead before the Chiefs could even get on the scoreboard.

Murray gave the Raiders a 7-0 lead on their second possession of the game, as he took the handoff from Carr and scampered 11 yards into the end zone.

On the Raiders second series of the second quarter, Murray broke through the Chiefs defense and ran 90 yards for a touchdown to give the Raiders their largest lead of the season at 14-0.

The 90-yard touchdown run by Murray was just the fourth touchdown of 90 yards or more in the Raiders 55-year history.

Terrelle Pryor and Bo Jackson, who did it twice are the only other Raiders players to ever score touchdowns of 90 yards or more.

Since the merger of the two leagues in 1970, the Raiders became just the third team to beat a first-place team for their first win of the season after they lost their first 10 games to begin a season.

The Indianapolis Colts defeated the Green Bay Packers in 1997, and the Buffalo Bills defeated the Dallas Cowboys in 1984.

Following the Carr to Jones touchdown that gave the Raiders the lead, Alex Smith began to drive the Chiefs down the field for a potential game-winning score; however Smith’s desperation pass on fourth-and-13 fell incomplete and the Raiders could celebrate their first win of the season.

Just one play earlier after a Khalil Mack and Sio Moore sack, the two began to celebrate, while the Chiefs ran up to the line and hiked the ball.

The officials threw a flag for offsides on the Raiders; however veteran Justin Tuck was able to get the timeout after telling at his younger teammates.

Smith brought the Chiefs back from two different 14-point deficits at 14-0 and 17-3 to take a 20-17 lead on a Cairo Santos field goal on the drive prior to the Carr to Jones game-winning touchdown.

A 28-yard punt return by Freddie Hammond setup Santos’ second field goal of the game with 9:03 remaining in the game.

Carr went 18-for-35 for 174 yards, while Smith went 20-for-36 for 236 yards passing on a 57 degree night in Oakland.

0-10 Raiders host Chiefs Thursday in primetime

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — With Derek Carr limited in practice with a quad injury, along with several players dealing with injuries, the Raiders will have to get healthy in a hurry with the Kansas City Chiefs coming to town for Thursday Night Football to kickoff Week 12. This will be the first time that the two AFC West rivals have seen each other this season when the ball kicks off at 5:25 p.m. PDT at O.co Coliseum.

The Raiders are coming off a tough 13-6 loss to another AFC West rival, the San Diego Chargers in Week 11 where the defense harassed Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers all day, even injuring the Chargers signal caller at one point.

Rookie linebacker Khalil Mack recorded his first career sack, one of two on the day (the other by defensive tackle Antonio Smith, his first as a member of the Silver & Black).

Safety Charles Woodson led the team in tackles with 11 (three assisted), and Oakland’s 32nd ranked defense kept the Chargers’ 17th ranked offense at bay yielding only 300 yards of total offense, and one touchdown (a Rivers 22-yard toss to wide receiver Malcolm Floyd on the Chargers third play from scrimmage following a Carr fumble).

But, the offense couldn’t muster any type of chemistry.

Carr played a mediocre game, completing just 16-of-34 passes for 172 yards and couldn’t get the Raiders into the end zone. Oakland managed just three first downs and had four 3-and-outs in the first half. Matter of fact, Oakland didn’t get into the red zone until 5:05 left in the fourth quarter, but came up empty what essentially would be the final drive of the game.

The running game? Well, the running game was still a no show with the exception of running back Latavius Murray.

Murray showed flashes of what he could do when given an opportunity, racking up 43 yards on four carries, one for a 23-yard gain. All career highs.

The tandem of Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren McFadden managed just 27 yards on 12 carries combine. According to Raiders interim head coach Tony Sparano, Murray will get more time running the ball.

“He played a little bit more yesterday and he’s going to continue to do that,” Sparano said. “I like what I’ve seen out of him so far. So in a roundabout way, I’m saying yeah, you’re going to see more of him.”

But running the ball could be tough for Oakland, especially against a Kansas City team who hasn’t given up a rushing touchdown all season, and that can be credited to their intimidating nose tackle, Dontari Poe all 6’3″, 346 pounds of him.

“He’s a real handful,” Sparano said. “He really is.”

The Chiefs are coming off a 24-20, come-from-behind victory against the reigning Super Bowl Champions Seattle Seahawks Sunday at Arrowhead.

Quarterback Alex Smith was his usual efficient self, completing 11-of-16 passes for just 108 yards through the air but it was the play off their Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles on offense that set the tone for Kansas City.

Charles ran through the vaunted Seahawks defense, rushing for 159 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. The seventh-year running back out of Texas appeared to find running lanes against a Seahawks team that was missing it’s star defensive tackle Brandon Mebane, gone for the season with a hamstring injury.

At 7-3, Kansas City is tied with the Denver Broncos for first place (with Denver currently holding the tiebreaker over the Chiefs following a 24-17 home victory in Week 2) in the AFC West and with a Week 13 home date against the Broncos, Kansas City better not overlook the Raiders.

Oakland would like nothing more than to spoil Kansas City’s chances at taking sole possession of first place in the AFC West, even if it means helping out the Broncos in the process.

Face it. Oakland is just thirsting to end its 16-game losing streak dating back to last season. It will take more from Carr and the offense to support a defense that has played pretty well in recent weeks.

You can’t win football games in the National Football League by just kicking field goals.

Players To Watch

Oakland, RB, Latavius Murray: It’s no secret that the Raiders running game has been, pedestrian, to say the least this season. Ranking dead last with just 630 yards on the ground as a team, Oakland needs the fresh legs of Murray to provide a jolt, something that Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren McFadden can’t do.

Kansas City, TE, Travis Kelce: Even though wide receiver Dwayne Bowe leads the Chiefs with 41 catches for 508 yards, it’s the second-year tight end out of Cincinnati that seems to be the guy that quarterback Alex Smith trusts the most. Kelce is second on the team with 37 catches for 475 yards receiving, but leads the team with four touchdown grabs. Bowe has yet to find the end zone. Heck, none of Kansas City’s wide receivers have yet to find the end zone this season.

 

 

 

Raiders commentary: Raiders need the full gamut of focus in order to win in San Diego this Sunday

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–When we last talked last week we were saying how the Oakland Raiders (0-9) played a couple of good games they performed pretty admirable in Seattle against the Seahawks. They kept the game pretty tight until late in the game. The Raiders were a little too happy with themselves over this game. They kind of took a morale victory away because they took the defending champions all 12 rounds maybe they lost but they looked good doing it.

The were competitive against a really good team, they felt too good about themselves and then Denver comes in and just destroys them 41-17 on November 9th. It was one of those things where the Raiders were full of themselves. The Raiders kind of let up a little bit and Denver is every bit as good as Seattle if not even better at this stage.

Let’s face it Denver was coming off a game they got walloped by the Patriots they wanted to prove something so they took it out on the Raiders. The Raiders shouldn’t be as complacent this week they played the San Diego Chargers (5-4) about a month ago in Oakland and kept it pretty close. This Sunday their in San Diego and the Chargers ended up winning that one and that was the last game the Chargers won and the Chargers suffered three tough loses in the row.

One of those loses includes a humiliating defeat to the Miami Dolphins 37-0 on November 2 and the Chargers are coming off a bye week. Their getting a little bit healthier their getting running back Ryan Matthews back and the Chargers are a team that still has playoff hopes. The Chargers are not going to sit back and lay down this Sunday.

The Chargers already know the Raiders aren’t going to lay down for them and given how they played in the last game against Denver. The Raiders can play them tough the Chargers aren’t going to take them for granted. The Raiders might have their hands full Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers always throws well against Oakland.

The fact of the matter is because the Raiders already played the Chargers tough their not going to have a close game as they did the last time. Part of the reason why is Tony Sparano the Raiders new head coach in his first game against the Chargers the Raiders were playing hard for him and it was a close finish but a loss 31-28 on October 12th.

The Chargers came in playing pretty well, they were a little bit full of themselves like the Raiders were last week against the Broncos. The Chargers aren’t going to do that now and they had two weeks to prepare for this game never a good sign for the Raiders as the Chargers had last Sunday off.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com