Today the Raiders got their first win of the season by not being as bad as Jacksonville. That's not to say the win isn't a good one; all wins are good no matter who they're against or how they come about. And while the Raiders didn't blow the Jags out, they did win comfortably, which is what should have happened. At this point that's good progress, and that's all Raider fans can ask for.
Rushing Offense
McFadden showed up big time today, something he hasn't done since last year against the Steelers in Oakland. Today, the O-line gashed holes in the Jags defense which allowed the Raiders to rush for 226 yards at a 6.6 yard per attempt average. Marcel Reece ran six yards for the only Oakland TD. It was a damn good day on the ground against what is easily the most wretched team the NFL has seen since Detroit went 0-16.
Passing Offense
The Jags starting cornerbacks were an undrafted rookie free agent and another guy that only joined the team a couple of weeks ago. Against this fearsome tandem, Terrelle Pryor went 15/24 for 114 yards. As always, the offensive line isn't the greatest in the world but at times Pryor's accuracy was downright spastic. Often he didn't see wide open targets and when he did he missed them badly. The 15/24 statistic is somewhat misleading because a lot of Pryor's passes were dumpoffs to backs or useless throws that gained three yards or less. But like last week in regard to his picks against the Colts, it's totally okay.
Raider offensive coordinator, Greg Olsen needs to open up the playbook. Running for almost twice as many yards as you throw for is the stuff of college football. Back in the day the Nebraska Cornhuskers would blast opponents for 400+ yards on the ground while throwing for for 50. That was fine then but the wishbone offense doesn't even work in college anymore.
On the other hand, when you have Denarius Moore dropping passes for first downs and possible touchdowns, it doesn't make your quarterback's stats look very good. Whatever; the passing game has to get opened up if Terrelle Pryor is to continue his development.
Defense
They gave up some painful 3rd down conversions but overall they kicked ass, including one play that's already been incorporated into Charles Woodson's career highlight film. Woodson leaped over two players and clothes-lined Maurice Jones Drew. That play kept a TD from being scored and unfortunately for the Jags, it put MJD out of the game for good. Not that I wanted to see the guy get hurt, he's been a workhorse for his team over the years; I'm just digging Woodson's acrobatic smash move.
Special Teams
Janokowski missed an easy field goal but then went on to make four in a row. Let's hope we're not seeing the first signs of deteriorating accuracy in what has been a rock steady placekicker for so many years...
"One day Pop-pop was fine and the next morning we found him sitting naked in the yard with a giant spoon, a gallon of milk, and the cat's litterbox between his knees."
I'm sure it's not as bad as all that.
Besides Janokowski's miss, the coverage teams were nails and we even had a good punt return that set us up for an opening drive TD.
Overall
This game went how it should have gone. Last week against the Colts the Raiders showed they might have a little more under the hood than anyone capable of drawing stick figures gave them credit for. So the expectations were upped for this game and Oakland came through. Five field goal attempts is worrisome and it might be a preview of how teams plan on defending against Terrelle Pryor. This means (as already mentioned) that the Raider passing game must improve.
Next week the Raiders play against a bunch of insufferable assholes in some stadium located in the superfluous second anus of the nation. It's going to be ugly.
Thanks for reading.
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