Friday morning reaction; Broncos at Raiders

The one part of this team that I do give a lot of credit to is the redzone defense. They held a team that scores touchdowns 62% of the time in the redzone to only 33% last night.

Of course before the redzone the defense allowed the Broncos to consistently and demoralizingly drive down the field. The Raiders defense just can not get off the field on 3rd downs, like ever.

The defense in general played with a lot of heart but they did not get much help from the offense. Outside of their one methodical drive near the end of the half the Raiders offense was mostly ineffective.

A big part of that ineffectiveness was the dismissal of the idea of getting Marcel Reece his touches. After what he had done in DMC's absence I really thought he would continue to see the ball. However with only 4 runs and 1 catch, getting Reece the ball was definitely not part of the game plan.

Another big reason for the offense's inability to keep anything substantial in motion was Carson Palmer. Both turnovers of his (1interception,1 fumble) were absolute momentum killers and are completely inexcusable.

I'm tired of these turnovers of his and am starting to wonder how high of a ceiling the Raiders actually have with him. He is immensely talented but it's hard to imagine overcoming the losing culture in Oakland if they can't hold onto the ball. These horribly timed turnovers are getting harder and harder to justify.

Darren McFadden had a few good runs in this game, most of them though were called back by penalties. Then he hurt himself again. I think this might have been the final time we will see him suit up in a Raiders game.

I love DMC but this team isn't strong enough to rely on him. No team can build themselves around McFadden because he can't be trusted to stay healthy. He needs to be on a team that won't rely on him as much as the Raiders do. The Raiders need to get franchise players they can trust or they will never overcome their inconsistency and lack of confidence.

The Raiders needed to score points to win this game and 13 was not nearly enough of them. The receivers still were dropping balls, DMC was still running into the backs of his blockers, the defense couldn't get off the field and Carson was still not reliable. All of that added up to a 6th straight loss.

Dennis Allen really wanted a win in this game but the team couldn't get it done for him. The defense played well enough to win but they needed more help from the offense. I was hoping to see inspired football but instead was let down yet again. Ah, to be a Raiders fan!

I think that Phillip Adams deserves to start next week. He has played very well the last two weeks and I want to see him take on Dwayne Bowe. The Raiders have a ton of player and staff evaluations to make and Adams is intriguing. He deserves the opportunity the rest of the year to max out his evaluations. The Raiders need to find out what they have in him, and if he can turn out to be a starting quality corner that would be great.

The Raiders now have a longer layoff until they play again. It will be interesting to see what type of game plan they will have against the Chiefs after 10 days to figure it out. It will be another divisional rivalry and therefore another tough game. Hopefully they can win and keep themselves out of last place in the division this year.