Raiders vs Packers 1st Half Summary: Raiders shrug off early turnovers, trail by one at half

The Green Bay Packers started with the ball today in a cold, damp day in Oakland. The Raiders had a ton of energy on display as they caused two straight 3 and out's with their defense, including a sack on one of the 3rd downs by Khalil Mack. Unfortunately, the Raiders offense couldn't get into scoring range the first time they got the ball, and then the 2nd drive ended with a Derek Carr interception.

Micah Hyde returned the interception down to the Raiders 1 yard line but an unsportsmanlike personal foul pushed the Packers back to the Raiders 16. The penalty didn't matter though, the Packers got a first down and then surprised the Raiders defense with their fullback John Kuhn who ran over a would be tackler for the touchdown to make the score 7-0 Green Bay.

Things got worse quickly, the next Raiders drive ended even worse than their first possession. This time it was another interception but they didn't get stop on the return this time. It looked to be another misunderstanding between Carr and Seth Roberts as the ball went past Roberts and right into Packers rookie cornerback Demarious Randall's hands where he easily returned it for a touchdown to take a 14-0 lead.

Thankfully Oakland's next drive was not a disaster. It started with a long pass interference penalty where the GB corner had to hold Amari Cooper's arm to prevent an even bigger play. Then they followed that with another target to Amari Cooper who caught the ball and got the Raiders into the Packers red zone. Seth Roberts dropped an easy, wide open touchdown after that though and the Raiders ended up having to settle for the 23 yard field goal which made the score 14-3.

Oakland's defense was up to the challenge again on the Packers next drive when they failed to get a first down outside of one that they got via Raiders penalty. When the offense for Oakland came back on the field they were again in a rhythm thanks to strong running from Latavius Murray and a couple of nice Michael Crabtree catches. Unfortunately again they faltered inside the red zone and settled for the field goal to make the score 14-6.

The two teams traded punts back and forth before the next time either team did anything on offense. The team to break that trend was Green Bay, despite starting at their own 2 yard line thanks to a beautiful 60 yard punt from Marquette King. A couple of Raiders penalties let the Packers out of the hole they started out in though. They got all the way into long field goal territory before Charles Woodson and Benson Mayowa teamed up to force a fumble from RB James Starks which the Raiders recovered.

The Raiders then started their drive with just over 1 minute left in the half from their own 21. Their first play on the drive was a 29 yard screen play to Marcel Reece, followed by another 1st down play to TE Mychal Rivera, which was then followed by a 17 yard quarterback scramble from Derek Carr. Then they capped off the great drive with a 19 yard touchdown to Amari Cooper with just 20 seconds left in the half.

The touchdown made the score 14-13 Green Bay, and the Packers tried to move the ball yet before the half but the clock ran out before they could accomplish anything. The Raiders played outstanding defense throughout the first half and their offense regrouped after two early turnovers put them in a 14 point deficit. Oakland will get the ball first to start out the second half.