Pride was Evident in Denver Sunday

by 67MARQUEZ on Nov 24, 2008 10:21 PM PST Comment 15 comments

Who were those guys disguised as our lowly, yet lovable Oakland Raiders, sending a loud-and-clear message to the Denver Broncos and putting an exclamation point on my son’s 16th birthday on Sunday?

Looks to me that for one throwback-kind-of-afternoon those were my father’s Raiders.

I am neither strategist nor statistician so I will leave the analyzing to the more qualified. But I have watched enough football to know that the Silver & Black has been sorely lacking in the all-important pride department, which in this writer’s opinion is at least partly responsible for the number of times this season the Raiders have waken up on the wrong side of the even-more-important point category.

See for all those silver linings where the Raiders were "that" close, there have been the debacles. Denver on opening night. New Orleans, Baltimore, and back-to-back stinkers at home against Atlanta and Carolina. Not that there are any pushovers in that group but when you lose those games by a combined 145-33, it has “forgot my manhood at home” written all over it.

Oh sure it’s a young team, and there is constant adversity and turmoil, and you don’t know how long the coach is staying. And almost every team has a stinker or two during the season. But five?

All of which makes yesterday so shocking. And it wasn’t just the score. It was causing a turnover in the red zone. It was going 2-for-2 in challenges. It was actually getting a couple of calls (although two of the roughing-the-passer flags against the Raiders were so blatantly incorrect that Randy Cross was moved to spout something about physics).

But more than anything there was the pride. Check that. For a day at least, let’s dress it up in caps and call it Pride. Since Week One the Raiders had to live with the stinging sensation of the 41-14 Monday Night Massacre stamped into their memories. And there was emotion. I loved- LOVED- watching Coach Cable run over and embrace McFadden after his first touchdown. I got a kick out of watching Russell point to the sky after his back-footed dart to former Bronco Ashley Lelie. Dare I say there was even a little swagger evident among the troops, especially on defense?

And in the end, the Raiders displayed some class. With an opportunity to run up the score, Russell genuflected on the enemy turf, having gone 2-for-2 on the road against division rivals, a rarity in itself.

Yes, for once the good guys were to the right side of the stinker. It couldn’t have come at a better time, and certainly not in a better place.

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Excellent

summation 67MARQUEZ. It was Old Time Raider Football! That game was the way it used to be all the time. Not just by the score or margin of victory, but by the attacking and dominating on both sides of the ball.

Let’s just hope this is sustainable.

Your team is your child...You love it no matter what.

by TheRaiderWay on Nov 24, 2008 10:43 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

they were the old Raiders and the new Raiders

Old school Raider mentality was dominate without mercy. We did that. But old school Raider mentality was crush the opposing player. Using LB’s to cover receivers causing the receiver to get popped thus losing the ball. It was to grind it out running the ball then attack with the deep pass. These Raiders used speed and athleticism instead of strength and power. There’s nothing wrong with that, but these Raiders are a huge contrast from the old Raiders. Old Raiders were big, fierce hard-hitters. These Raiders use their speed. Thus showing that there is indeed a change in Raider mentality, so maybe Al is isn’t completely out-of-touch with modern football.

"Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward. Whoever cannot take care of themselves without that law is both. For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, 'If I live, I will kill you. If I die, You are forgiven.' Such is the rule of honor." Omerta by Lamb of God

by KA1Z3R on Nov 25, 2008 8:05 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I Hope

The raiders carry this along to the next game. Man, I want to see it live.

Wack To Mack With The General and The Back. (J-Mac and D-Mac)

by Rayder K on Nov 24, 2008 11:17 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

if we play like we did against the broncos

this will be an even bigger blowout than week 2.

by KA1Z3R on Nov 25, 2008 8:06 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

and to the next season.

Let’s build on this.

by Raider76 on Nov 25, 2008 4:44 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

It was not a mystery

The offense scored 3 TD’s and when that happens an entire team looks better. It all starts with the QB. The only difference this time is the Raiders did not play vanilla offense except on short yardage plays where they ran their weakest runner in Fargas. If you look at every game and add 14 offensive points per game you would easily see that the Raiders would now be 7-4 instead of 3-8.
Take the last 6 minutes of the game and you will note the Raiders controlled the ball the entire time. That makes the defense look better than it really is, in fact, although I don’t have the stats, I think the offense controlled the ball about 2/3rd of the 2nd half, damn right that makes a defense look good. Half the winning teams in the league have worst defenses than Oakland but their offenses cover up for their defenses. That is what the Raiders have lacked for 5 years. For once, Cable called passing plays on first downs, threw in a couple of wrinkles, a reverse, a couple of wild cat formations, even Bush threw a terrible pass that Miller made a sensational catch on for a critical first down.
As an aside the best move of the year was releasing D’Angelo Hall. Even the pass defense looks better if they could figure out a way to release Routt. Throw in Huff also. I hate to give up on Huff but 3 years in he still looks lost.
I don’t know what to make of Michael Bush, he should be a sensational back, big, strong, fast, shifty, he should be the perfect short yardage back. He has not been given much of a chance I know, but even in short stints he has done nothing special other than the first KC game. I would really like to see the Raiders give him a good chance, run him a lot and see what he has. I just feel he is a better option than Fargas in those situations.
I assume everybody read that Kelly got one of many game balls which was interesting to me since I didn’t hear his name once while watching the game. He must have been stuffing a lot of guys at the line allowing other players to make the tackles. There was even a Sands sighting in the game, good news for me since I thought he was AWOL.
Lost in this season is the fact the Raiders have a real jewel in Zack Miller.

by Laoren on Nov 25, 2008 9:36 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Huff

My guess is that next year the Raiders will get a veteran free safety and they will move Huff to corner, his natural position, rather than give up on him yet.

Your team is your child...You love it no matter what.

by TheRaiderWay on Nov 25, 2008 9:40 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I hope that's what they do

we’re weak at corner and I personally think Huff has a lot of talent.

by KA1Z3R on Nov 25, 2008 2:53 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

great post

It was when Miller caught Bush’s “pass” that I was convinced that I had crossed over to a Bizarro World.

The key here, as has been mentioned, is sustaining what worked against Denver. Surely one win does not a playoff team make. What I have been ~~clamoring~~ begging for was consistent effort, with a splash of forward progress. But instead we got one step forward, two steps back.

So now that mixed it up and had some success on offense, who called those plays? Cable or Al? :)

I'm here to talk about the past.

by 67MARQUEZ on Nov 25, 2008 12:17 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs