Can I get an AMEN from the congregation?

Man, what a difference a week makes huh? A week ago we were talking about firing Kiffin, Ryan and anyone who made any decisions in this organization. Now, we are talking about the GREATNESS of Darren McFadden's coming out party and how Michael Bush had a great coming out party himself.

Aside from the ball that bounced into Bowe's arms that led to the Kansas City Touchdown, the Raiders could do no wrong. Even when Tony Stewart touched the ball on a punt inside the Raider 5 and the entire Nation thought that HE was going to be fired, it turned out that he actually made a SMART play and the Raiders got the ball at the spot where Kansas City first touched it.

There is a lot to cover so I'll do a breakdown and grades by position:

QB - I loved JaMarcus Russell's decision making yesterday. Time and again he just threw the ball away if nobody was open and then continued to hand the ball off. His line looks pretty bad at 6-17, 55 yards 0TD, but the most important stat was his 0 INT.

I said it before the season and I'll say it again, as long as JaMarcus can manage the game, ala Philip Rivers in his rookie season, then this team can win on a consistant basis. Yesterday he played a fantastic game and I have to give him a B+.

Grade B+

RB - This is straight A's. Fargas tired out the defense and then McBadass and the Prez took over.

The Raiders ran the ball 47 times. 47 TIMES for 300 yards.

McFadden had me jumping off of my bar stool and high fiving strangers and when Bush sealed the deal with 53 seconds left it was all Happy Day for me.

Grade A++++++++

O Line- I have to give them a A as well. Mario looked a lot more "Super" than all of us, including his coach, gave him credit for. I had a side bet that Mario would have a false start on the first play. I was gladly proven wrong by him throughout the game as he handled his man, straight up for most of the day.

As a group they kept JaMarcus clean all day and opened up gaping holes for the backs. As a unit they wore down the Chiefs and kept their pass rush at Bay all day long.

Grade A+

Wide-Outs- It is hard to grade a group that I didn't see all day. I mean, I did see Ashlie Lelie make a nice catch, Zach Miller too, and I did see a ball go through Curry's hands, but, they were not part of the game plan, so I guess I have to give them a C.

Grade C

D-Line - The D-Line was ferocious and relentless in their pursuit of the triad of QBs that Herm Edwards marched out there.

Burgess, Warren and Edwards were constantly in the offensive backfield and each tallied a sack. In fact, Edwards came within an eyelash of a safety and Burgess had the QB wrapped up on another occasion and was not credited with a sack. The team could have very easilly registered 7 or 8 sacks.

Not to be lost in the pass rush hoopla is the fact that they limited KC to 55 yards rushing and forced two fumbles.

Grade A+

Linebackers- Morrison, Brown and Howard combined for 16 tackles (13 solo), 2 sacks and an interception. Even when KC did complete a pass it seemed that one of these three guys was wrapping the receiver up.

Morrison almost had another interception and this linebacker core is definitely responsible for the defense being 18th in yards allowed and 14th against the rush in the NFL after getting blasted on Opening Night.

Grade A

DBs - The DBs were awesome-muah baby. Just awesome. DeAngelo was stride for stride with his man all game and he actually gave up a couple of catches when they were in some sort of zone.

Nnamdi was as advertised when he was breaking up plays and Huff and Wilson were headhunters out there. I bet they could have each had a pick, but they seemed to be focusing more on decapitating the receivers and knocking the ball around. It was great to see and they reminded me, at least for a day, of the defensive backfield that I used to love watching when I was a kid.

Grade A

Special Teams - Johnnie Lee had his best game as a Raider. He had 8 returns for 121 yards.

Seabass hit an Oakland record, 56 yard field goal and then connected 2 more times to tally 9 points.

Lechler wasn't used much but he did NAIL a ball from his own 15 that flew to the Chief 15.

The coverage teams were solid as well, so the STs won an A.

Grade A

Coaching- This is an easy grade to give as well. Lane Kiffin executed his game plan to perfection. He wore down the Chiefs in the first half and then came out passing in the second half. When the passing game wasn't there he returned to the ground and stayed there to the tune of 300 yards.

Rob Ryan's defense looked like the defense that the team was advertising before the season started. Ryan mixed up coverages and packages and let his dawgs come after the QB all day long. I LOVED IT!!!

Grade A+++++