A Quick Post Game Wrap and Rant:

From Jerry McDonald’s Blog:

Cheffers: We had a situation where the receiver caught the pass in the air and as he is coming down to the ground, he is actually going to the ground. That’s a defined term in our rule book, a player, a receiver who is going to the ground. The rule book says, if a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass, with or without contact by opponent – so that can be on his own; In this case, he got hit by an opponent – he must maintain control of the ball after he touches the ground, whether in the field of play or in the end zone. If he loses control of the ball, and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete. If he regains control prior to the ball touching the ground, the pass is complete. That wasn’t the case. What we ruled, what we saw in replay, was that he was going to the ground, as he came down the ball came loose, he lost control of the ball, the ball skidded along the ground, he eventually completely lost control of the ball. So, by rule, by what we saw in review, it’s an incomplete pass.

Q: So, this has nothing to do with him having both feet down – it has nothing to do with that, it has nothing to do with making a football move? It’s just what you said there?

Cheffers: Yeah, he was up, I think if I remember, (on) one foot, he was getting contacted prior to his second foot coming down. By definition in our rule book, he’s going to the ground and has to maintain possession of the ball throughout the entire act of the catch. And in this case, he lost possession and the ball hit the ground. Therefore, it’s incomplete.

THIS IS COMPLETE BS!!! He cuaght the ball and it NEVER came loose until he hit the ground. It didn’t even move as the DB made contact. ABSOLUTE GARBAGE!!!

Here’s the conversation that went on with Raiders beat reporter Steve Corkran and the man that considers himself an NFL referee, Carl Cheffers:(source RaiderBeat.com)

Cheffers: OK, so what’s the question?
Corkran: "We just want the ruling on why you decided to look at the play at the end of half on when you called touchdown for Louis Murphy, then you said that you wanted to review it, and then it got overturned. What was the ruling on that?"

Cheffers: "OK, great, let me just grab the (rule) book here, and I’m going to read you what the book says. We had a situation where the receiver caught the pass in the air and as he is coming down to the ground, he is actually going to the ground. That’s a defined term in our rule book, a player, a receiver who is going to the ground. The rule book says, if a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass, with or without contact by opponent – so that can be on his own; In this case, he got hit by an opponent – he must maintain control of the ball after he touches the ground, whether in the field of play or in the end zone. If he loses control of the ball, and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete. If he regains control prior to the ball touching the ground, the pass is complete. That wasn’t the case.

What we ruled, what we saw in replay, was that he was going to the ground, as he came down the ball came loose, he lost control of the ball, the ball skidded along the ground, he eventually completely lost control of the ball. So, by rule, by what we saw in review, it’s an incomplete pass."

Corkran: "So, this has nothing to do with him having to – he got both feet down – it has nothing to do with that, it has nothing to do with making a football move? It’s just what you said there?

Cheffers: ":Yeah, he was up, I think if I remember, (on) one foot, he was getting contacted prior to his second foot coming down. By definition in our rule book, he’s going to the ground and has to maintain possession of the ball throughout the entire act of the catch. And in this case, he lost possession and the ball hit the ground. Therefore, it’s incomplete."

Corkran: "It was pretty clear-cut?"
Cheffers: "Pretty clear-cut."

Corkran: "Carl, thank you for your time."
Cheffers: "My pleasure."

What a load of crap! This was not even a controversial call, it was just plain and simple a terrible call that never should have been made, shouldn’t even have been reviewed. And even with a review, there is no way that in any angle of the review, that wasn’t a reception and a touchdown.

In other cases, the ball carrier is dives towards the end zone with the leading tip of the ball a nose-hair crossing the paint of the goal line and the ball being knocked out after and THAT is a touchdown but Murphy’s wasn’t. Just incredible. It seems that every time the refs need to screw the Raiders, they are able to dig deep, deep down into the rule book and somewhere in the fine print they will find a way to interpret a way to blow a call for the Raiders. You had to know that when it happened that it was going to be the difference in the game. At a minimum, we should have been in overtime.

The NFL is still making the Raiders pay for the Holly Roller!

I just wanted to say “Good game” from Bolts From The Blue.

I’d be lying if that game didn’t scare the hell out of me. The consensus in our game thread was 1) That was definitely a TD catch and 2) Tom Cable is a heck of a coach. How the heck can you take a team that was so lifeless and turn them into a battering ram in one offseason?

Just like the Broncos took the victory in the “Hochuli game” last season, Chargers fans will take what we can get out of this one. However, karma has a way of fixing these situations later in the season.

I will say that I’m happy that I called the Raiders for 2nd place in the AFC West all along. That’s a good gameplan you have there, you just need a more accurate QB. I’ll also thank you for leaving some of our players with the ability to walk.

We almost beat the Ravens….just like you almost beat the chargers. Ravens have a way better defense/team than chargers and OUR backup QB had 3rd highest qb rating. Although we did give a lot of yards up on defense. Your running game scares me. Lets hope for raiders sake that Russel doesn’t throw too much. Your defense looked awful tired in the 4th quarter. Oh, and raiders have a short week. Good luck!

Chiefs fan here that saw the entire game. You guys got robbed!!! I was pretty pissed. Anyway, good game tonight and best of luck.

Did anyone here notice the defense we were running the last two Charger drives?

Prevent defense………..

It is now clear that if we have any sort of lead, no matter how much time is left in the fourth, Al Davis will keep using prevent D. This WAS NOT Marshall who was calling a truly magnificent defensive game. It’s clear now that Davis does in fact call some plays because Ryan and Marshall have been forced to put a prevent D on the field and it’s killed us countless times.

:=8(

I am a Steelers fan (not here to squabble) and a BIG Maryland Terps fan and alumnus. I only caught the 1st quarter last night because it was on late for me. I just wanted to come over and ask about D. Heyward-Bey, “Hey Bey Bey”.

I saw in the box score he had no recs at all. Did he even suit up or see the field? What are your guys expectations for him?

is actually what we were playin and really it isnt a bad defense in that situation but there was a couple of times that when they did that famous dump off pass to sproles and our linebackers would try to come up and SLIP on the field…. its all about givin up 4 to 6 yards at a time, not the 15 they were makin every time. what we should of done was play a man with whoever was in the backfield with rivers

Tonight’s game was really a rollercoaster of emotions for me. Prior to the game I was extremely nervous about the Chargers winning streak, and I was having flashbacks of last year’s MNF debacle.

Those nerves subsided as the Raiders ran rampant over the Chargers defense in the first half and the Raiders defense was applying natural pressure and forcing Rivers to make perfect throws while forcing LT and Sproles to run sideline to sideline rather than endzone to endzone.

The Murphy catch was a tough one to call. My pseudo-biased opinion says that while the point of the ball certainly hit the ground and caused the ball to move, it didn’t appear that Murphy actually dropped the ball until the play was over and he was standing up. The angle the official review relied on doesn’t show the ball in his hand very well, so from an “indisputable visual evidence” standpoint, a very tough call. I can see why the refs called it the way they did, I’m just not sure I agree with it.

Still, at the end of the day many of the things that haunted the Raiders in ‘08 came back to get us again last night. 1/3 in red zone efficiency, three 3-out drives in the 3rd quarter, switching to cover 4 defense without spying Darren Sproles (I’m looking at you John Marshall and Thomas Howard). The Raiders must feel gutshot after making a really ballsy play on 4th and long to take the lead to giving it up just 2 minutes later.

In the end, I think if the Raiders can be competitive against the Chargers without JaMarcus Russell having a very good night it is a positive sign. Hopefully as Schilens and Walker get into the game more the passing game will develop further and the Raiders can win more close games like this one. I like our chances against KC next week.

call in the 2nd and you are all talking abt it. didnt get to see all the games only the first half but oh god that run offense was taering it up, and Seymour and Ellis got the job done, both had a sack in the game which means theyre getting pressure. cant wait to see them next week verse a far more inferior team than the Chargers.

And my god, was it a entertaining game. You have to see Seymour live to believe what you are seeing. That TD pass was a catch and we were robbed. But, If you haven’t seen a Home Opener, you don’t know what you are mssing. I love the Raider nation.

You guys really should’ve won that game, but your team is headed in the right direction. Hopefully you can steal that one back at the Bolts’ house later on in the season.

The defense looked really good the first 3 1/2 quarters, but the linebackers gave up way too much yardage to the Bolts on 3rd and 12, that really decided the game.

The offense looks to be the biggest concern. The D gave Russell plenty of opportunities to put the Chargers away, but didn’t cash in on them. He has that great arm, but he’s so inaccurate…not a good sign for someone who’s in his 3rd NFL season.

Based on the Raiders overall play last night, I think the team will get more respect this season.

We should fire the DC and we should run the triple option because JR couldnt hit the ocean if he was standing in it. I stayed up till 2am to see an 86 yard losing TD drive. Damn, I was mad!

It appears the zebra got it right, but he did a terrible job of explaining it to the crowd (and the TV audience). From Peter King’s column this morning (someone who actually looked up the rule in the book):

Here’s what the NFL Rule Book has on this call on page 51: “If a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass (with or without contact with an opponent), he must maintain control of the ball after he touches the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone. If he loses control of the ball, and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete.”

I maintain that the Raiders did not lose because of a call in the 2nd quarter, but because they allowed the Chargers to walk down the field with little opposition at the end of the 4th quarter.

Just wanted to say that the game last night was awesome. I was one of many who thought the Chargers were going to dominate.

I was very impressed with your defense. As always your run game looked good and even your qb had some good things going for him. I was really hoping for the upset and it was so close.

I can’t believe you got robbed on that TD. Were the refs trying to give one to SD for the Ed Hocculi call last year or something? That was flat out wrong, I thought they were going to be better this season about having indisputable evidence to overturn a ruling on the field. Very disappointing in the officiating.

Overall though I think as a team, the Raiders looked so much better than most people expected. I am looking forward to week two, I hope that with the game being in KC we get the real home field advantage. I know it will be a great game. Good luck on your season!

You need to take into consideration that Jamarcus executed a gamechanging drive with less than 3 minutes left. On top of that, it was 4th and long that they scored to take the lead. I dont know about you, the past Jamarcus never could make that kind of play in that situation and that can onle be good for the Raiders. If the D could of stopped the Chargers on the last drive, we would be sitting here praising Jamarucus saying how amazing that play was instead of picking apart his performance and complaing about the overturned Murphy TD. That play was the exact reason that the raiders drafted Jamarcus in the first place. Sometimes it just happens that whoever has the ball last wins, time has to run out sometime. The bottom line is he gave the Raiders a chance to win at the end of the game and according to Steve Young that is what seperates good qb’s. Of course, there was some rough patches in the middle of the game but Jamarcus isn’t capable of flawless play for 60 mins. He is not Drew Brees and probably never will be. I would of like to see the Raiders implement the run further. They started off with robust running between the tackles and it started to trail off. The Raiders offense ran the ball the first qtr and the chargers team was barely on the field. The Chargers will have a hard time scoring if they are on the bench along with any other team. Maybe even more short passes to Mcfadden like screens or swing passes and checkdowns because he can explode for the big play anytime. On the first jamarcus pick, what an awful route by the WR, you have to come back to the ball. Most of the game the WR didn’t look too good and mixed with a few badly thrown balls it was a little painful to watch. That is why I would like to see Jamarcus to start the game with some short throws to the WR then go deeper. Jamarcus plays a lot better with confidence and you can tell that it incrementally goes up everytime he’s on the football field. After seeing the TD drive, he should have some success against KC and the Raiders will not have to play nearly as well to win that game especially if Cassell is injured.

Football is situational which correlates into the game being determined by a handful of plays. Right after the Raiders scored the go ahead TD, you have to think wow theres a lot of time on the clock and they might not get the ball back if SD scores. I would like to see Jamarcus be able to construct one of those 12 play 80 yard drives that ends a the game with 1 second left with the Raiders going ahead at some point, that is the mark of a good qb. This is the season where Jamarcus’s future will be determined because Al Davis isn’t getting any younger and his patient will snap. Inside of Russel’s head he must know he has to perform this year or his guarantee of being a everyday starting QB will be tested in the offseason.

 All that being said, the Raiders still have the potential for a good season especially if they can take advantage of the mediocre compeitation which includes the lowly chiefs twice, broncos twice, bengals, houston, washington, cleveland which are all possible victories in the making. If they go 2-5 against the dallas, eagles, jets, pitt, giants, chargers, ravens part of the schedule then they can finish with a winning record. The key is beating all the non-elite teams consistently because if they drop a few games to the weaker part of the schedule expect another losing year.

But I was pissed off at the end of the game! We should have won that game by 20 points! Whoever called the defense on the last drive should be taken out back and shot, (I will buy that bullets). The only thing the prevent defense prevents against is winning! The play calling in the whole second half was suspect. Why they went away from the run when it was working so well, (not to mention demoralizing to the bolts). All in all a very good job by most of the players screwed up by some bad coaching.