By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
Sports Radio Service Writer
OAKLAND, Calif — It’s been a renaissance season for the Silver and Black in 2016.
At 7-2 and getting a chance to get healthy during their by week, Oakland is looking to finish the season off strong in what the team is hoping will end in a playoff appearance for the first time since 2002, also, the team’s last Super Bowl appearance.
Oakland has the fifth-ranked offense led by a quarterback that plays more like a 10-year veteran in third-year pro Derek Carr, a running back with a knack for touchdowns in Latavius Murray, and a stud wide receiver combo headlined by Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper.
Carr is having a career-year as one of the elite passers in the league, ranking fifth in passing yards (2,505), tied for third in touchdowns (17),to go along with just three interceptions this season.
Oakland’s signal had a game for the ages in Week 8, throwing for a career-high 513 yards (breaking a franchise record held by Cotton Davidson, who threw for 427 yards in 1964), and four touchdowns in the Raiders wild 30-24 overtime victory of the Buccaneers in Tampa.
Carr became just the third quarterback in league history to pass for 500+ yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions joining Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle and Ben Roethlisberger according to the Elias Sports Bureau to accomplish that feat.
His 500-yard passing game was just the 20th such game in NFL history.
Carr’s performance earned him the AFC Offensive Player of the Week, joining teammates in punter Marquette King (AFC Special Teams Player of the Week in Week 7 against Jacksonville), and linebacker Khalil Mack (AFC Defensive Player of the Week in Week 9 against Denver) to garner player of the week honors.
King punted five times (for 273 yards) and placed four of those punts landed inside the Jacksonville 20-yard line. King also had a punt sail 60 yards in the air.
Coming into the game, Murray didn’t have a game in which he rushed for at least 60 yards until the fourth-year running back from Central Florida saw the third-ranked Broncos defense, who rank 29th in the league against the run by allowing 128.6 yards to opposing offenses.
Murray ran rough and hard against Denver, rumbling for 114 yards on 20 carries and three touchdowns while being named the FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Week for his first 100-yard rushing game of the season.
Murray’s eight rushing touchdowns are tied for second with Arizona running back David Johnson for the league lead among running backs, only trailing New England’s LeGarrette Blount and San Diego’s Melvin Gordon, who have nine rushing scores a piece.
Oakland’s defense has played better in recent weeks, particularly the last two weeks holding Tampa Bay and Denver to 270 and 299 yards of total offense respectively after giving up nearly 400 yards of total offense per game through the first seven games of the season.
Now that Mack has found his groove at getting to the quarterback, Oakland’s pass rush has seen major improvement.
Mack was unstoppable against the Broncos, registering two sacks, a forced fumble and recovery (all on the same play) in Oakland’s 30-20 victory over Denver that vaulted the Raiders to the top of the AFC West.
Mack also earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors against the Broncos last year in Week 14, tying a franchise record held by Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long with five sacks (all in the second half) in the Raiders’ 15-12 win in Denver.
After a slow start in which Mack only had one sack through five games for Oakland, the ferocious linebacker from Buffalo has recorded six sacks in his last four games bringing his season total to seven sacks after finishing with 15 a season ago.
No longer are the Raiders flying under the radar with the home stretch of the season in the windshield.
With their next three games at home (with the exception of Week 11 matchup against the Houston Texans in Mexico City at the Estadio Azteca, and in Oakland against the Carolina Panthers in Week 12 and the Buffalo Bills in Week 13), the Raiders could strengthen their position in the AFC with more wins for a fan base that is hungry for a winner.
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