Bare Witness Raider Nation, the "Evolution" has been televised. The "Polish Sausage" has indeed become the "Polish Cannon" and it is on display every Sunday. The San Francisco Giants have "The Machine" who provided the magic that stirred up a World Series victory and now the Oakland Raiders have "Uncle Fester" who splits the uprights and makes footballs explode off of receivers chests when called upon to punt.

That's right, how else do you think that a back-up punter can switch the momentum of a must win Divisional game that was slipping away? It was uncle Fester's exploding powder activated at just the right time that forced Syd'Quan Thompson to drop the ball and let the Raiders recover.

If you don't believe me, just Look at what Sea-Bass can do with a light bulb!

In all seriousness, Sebastian Jnikowski has been a completely different kicker since he missed the game winner against Arizona. To his own admission he wasn't coming in on Mondays and he saw some things when he went back and actually watched tape. Like many of the Raiders that Al Davis selected, the only thing getting between him and being great was his work ethic and concentration...Tommy Kelly...Cough..Cough (That wasn't sarcasm, I actually do have a cold)

My seats are directly behind the Black Hole in the second deck, so I see the field goal kicks perfectly and Sebastian has such control that he can literally split the uprights when he is on. That was the case on Sunday.

He single footed-ly tied the game going into the half. With his team down by 3 and little time left on the clock he, Uncle Fester, sent a spinning punt down the field that was dropped and recovered by the Raiders. He then followed that up with a 49 yard field goal to tie the game before the half. The kick was perfect and would have been good from 70 yards out. This series of events were crucial to get some momentum going before the half, but, it was in the second half that Sebastian truly won Player of the Game. 

His first attempt of the 2nd Half gave the Raiders the lead at 20-17, which soon evaporated as Denver licked one of thier own to tie it at 20-20 with 5:03 left in the 3rd Quarter.

Jano answered back with a 47 yarder to take the lead for good. At this point, Sebastian had tallied 11 of Oakland's 23 points.

A miss at any point would have swung the momentum back to Tebow and the Broncos, fortunately, The Polish Cannon prevailed and the Raiders rolled from there on out.

Good job Sea-Bass, this ball's for you!!!

Every other week Sprint sponsors a post that awards a game ball to a member of each team. This week, I am at a standstill. There were many players and one coach in particular that i feel deserve A game ball, but, I cannot determine who gets THE Game Ball.

So, here are my choices:

Jason Campbell - Jason ran the offense to near perfection. He ran for a touchdown on 4th down and also threw a sweet pass to Jacoby Ford for a score. His only flaw was missing a wide open Ford on a deep pass that would have been an easy six.

Darren McFadden - Darren put to rest all of the talk about him not being a between the tackles runner as he ran up the middle through the right side and took a pitch to paydirt while flattening a Charger safety on the way.

Michael Bush - Bush's day was highlighted by one of the meanest power runs you will see all year. He ran through 4 or 5 Chargers on his way into the end zone and finished an eyelash short of 100 yards.

Rolando McClain - Playing through foot/ankle pain, Rolando had his best game as a Raider. He led the team with 7 tackles, including one that knocked, perennial pain in the posterior, Darren Sproles, out of the game.

LaMarr Houston - Houston, we have lift off!!! LaMarr was as dominant as I have seen him. He was constantly beating his man, sometimes through a double team and then completely dismantled his man and got to Rivers for a key momentum breaking sack in the 2nd Half.

Hue Jackson - Hue was firing on all cylinders last week. I especially love the QB roll-out/sneak on 4th down that scored a TD and the fake hand-off to Bush that went for a deep bomb to Murphy down field to set up the McFadden TD. He also stuck with the run and pounded the ball down SD's combined throat.

Vote below and let me know, who get's this week's Sprint Game Ball?

Every week we are supposed to award a team ball to a Raider Player and I have tried three different times to name one for this week and I have stopped each time with the same resolution. When you lose to the team with the worst record in football and you look like as ill prepared as the Oakland Raiders did last Sunday then, nobody deserves a game ball.

Sure, I could have picked Sebastian Janikowski, who kicked three field goals, none of which even looked close to missing, or Trevor Scott who looks to be thriving in the Elephant role or Matt Shaughnessy who had a good game on the right edge, but the ball wouldn't mean anything to anyone of them. There can be no personal sense of achievement when the team fails as miserably as they did against San Francisco.

Along with the rest of Raider Nation, I do hope to award a game ball after this week's game against Denver. Maybe it will be awarded to Kyle Boller? Hopefully it will go to a healthy-enough Darren McFadden or an inspired Tyvon Branch or Michael Huff.

Let's Go Raiders!!! Crush the Donkeys!!!

I have thought long and hard about who this week's game ball should go to and the more that I thought about it, the more the two John's stood out.

I know that Michael Huff made the game deciding strip, thus earning AFC Defensive Player of the week honors, Hiram Eugene and Tyvon Branch BOTH scored touchdowns, Jason Campbell drove the Raiders into the end zone on their final two meaningful possessions and Michael Bush ran for over one hundred yards with a TD, BUT, Fassel and Marshall were the ones setting up the plays and sending in the packages that succeded.

John Marshall dialed up 15 blitzes in a row in an attempt to stop Philip Rivers and the Chargers. This was an absolute change of heart for an organization that, because of Al Davis' beliefs, hates to blitz. Marshall also freed up Wimbley and Scott to make plays by letting them play the "Elephant" position.

John Fassel, knowing that the Chargers were on their third long snapper of the year set the plays to come right up the middle and the Raiders were able to block two punts early in the game that led to 9 points in the first 5 minutes. The return team also looked vastly improved, Nick Miller had a 45 yard punt return, and the coverage team held the Chargers in check.

So, for two of the most maligned coaches on the Oakland staff, I say, this week, this ball's for YOU!!!

Go Raiders!!!

This is a sponsored post by Sprint

You know, I'd taken this week's loss as hard as I've taken any over the last few years. Even though the Niners were 0-3, I was still let down and didn't feel like talking smack to my co-workers. I was swearing, internally and externally, about Sebastian Janikowski, Tom Cable and even Bruce Gradkowski.

There is no doubt that the entire Raider Nation was stung by seeing the game in Arizona slip by the Goal Post to the left.

Then, this morning, I was talking to my morning coffee guy, who is also a Raider fan, about replacing Bruce Gradkowski, and it was as clear as day that there is no way that you replace a guy who has his team in position to win every game, except for Dallas, that he has started. Period

Bruce drove the field and put the Raiders in position to win! Again! He converted a 4th Down on 4th and 10 and had the ball on the AZ 17 with over a minute and a half to go before Cable decided to lay up for the chip shot.

Bruce's over-exuberance was on full display on Sunday and he should be calmer this week. I expect the touch to return to the passes and the proper calls to be made...Especially Time Out...(Cough Cough Cough)

Then, I started thinking about how well Louis Murphy did, and, the fact that Darren McFadden went off again and Zach Miller went for his first TD of the season.

The Raider front seven had the best game I've seen them have this season and Rolando McClain lived in the AZ backfield.

The creme de la creme of Sunday was Nnamdi reasserting himself as the #1 cornerback in football. He absolutely dominated Larry Fitzgerald.

With better play calling, game management and kicking that game in AZ is a blow-out for the Raiders.

I know that losses don't usually warrant game balls, but, I have to give Nnamdi a game ball for rising back to the top. There is no doubt that Nnamdi is the best cover corner in the NFL BAR NONE.