Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Week 11 - Midweek News


No new NCAA Football news.


NFL News:

Bills expect to lose Mario Williams for a significant amount of time.

Colts HB Jacquizz Rodgers ran for multiple TDs to help nip the Jaguars 30-27.

QB Ben Rothlisberger is now 9th on the all-time passing TD list.

Cardinals lose WR Larry Fitzgerald to a relatively minor injury, but he'll miss a few games.

HB Maurice Jones-Drew is now 3rd on the all-time rushing TDs list.

WR Andre Johnson is now 8th all-time in receptions, passing Reggie Wayne.


Raiders News

NFL Standings - Updated: Week 11
AFC WEST	W	L	T
Raiders	6	2	1
Chargers	5	3	1
Broncos	5	4	0
Chiefs	4	5	0

The Raiders' thrilling win last week was only good enough to keep the pace as the Chargers also win. The Broncos notch a win to knock the Chiefs, the only team to lose in the division, to last place.

Elsewhere, the Vikings are 8-1 and Giants have rallied from an 0-2 start to win 7 straight.

Raiders' Next Game: Raiders (6-2-1) @ Jets (5-4) - The secondary needs to work out its issues...Terry Carter is next up. Carter is young, but has a cannon for an arm and is accurate if he gets time in the pocket. He's been sacked 29 times already, so perhaps that's the angle of attack the Raiders need to exploit...


Injury Report

Raiders Injury Report
Pos	Player	Injury Note
CB	Brandon Madison	Out 1 weeks (abs)
LB	Jake Olsen	Out 2 weeks (knee)
C	Sergey Wainwright	IR (fibula)

Finally, a shrinking injury report. The team gets an influx of talent back, DE Keiwone Walters, WR Denarius Moore and WR Sidney Rice.


Roster News:

The team will be without the services of DT Ndamukong Suh, who was suspended one game for his helmet-to-helmet hit against DeAngelo Williams last week. Commissioner Goodell mentioned that "While the play resulted in no foul as a runner is not considered defenseless, the hit was unnecessarily violent and endangered the safety of the player."

Replacing Suh will be Keon Howard.

It might be a little hard to displace Favors and Blackmon right when they are starting to get into a groove, but Lyle has to do just that. However, could he possibly open up the offense to a more wide-open style? Or put 4 WR on the field more frequently?

The return of Walters puts Tevin Ash back at ROLB. Bullock, as expected, remains the starter on the left side.


Notable Progression:

HB Julio Caulder
AWR: 85 to 86

SS Tyvon Branch
POW: 83 to 84

RT Jeff Otah
PBK: 82 to 83

WR Fabian Favors
RTE: 81 to 82

LB Davarius Bullock
AWR: 81 to 82

LB Tevin Ash
TAK: 78 to 79

[JHeyBraves]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

McClain is back! Bullock sending heads rolling - that guy is the real deal.

Who ends up outside with Moore now? Blackmon is en fuego.

Any chance of Charles Johnson getting some more carries?

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

McClain is back! Bullock sending heads rolling - that guy is the real deal.

Who ends up outside with Moore now? Blackmon is en fuego.

Any chance of Charles Johnson getting some more carries?

Bullock is awesome. Definitely will be working with him going forward to round out his game even further. I wish Bobby Wagner could do better - he's along the same lines but with better TAK since he's a MLB by nature.

Right now, it's Rice, but I'm looking at playbooks again to find one that might open up to 3 and 4 WR sets because of Favors and Blackmon. It's clear they CAN make plays. We may have outgrown the Billick playbook offensively, now that there's at least 3 weapons at WR. We might also need to look at overall scheme - is 'Power Run' still the direction to go. Might have to "fire Cam Cameron" in this CCM.

I do think there's some opportunities for Chris Johnson to take advantage of. Just have to get away from leaning on Caulder so much, which is tough.

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Terrible Offense Bailed Out
Schumacher Benched "To Clear His Head",
Returns To Manage Late FG Drive to Win 24-22.

Schumacher's days are numbered. The young quarterback has had some solid games, but his inability to stay calm when things don't go his way continues to show up. He had by far the worst game of his short career.

Fortunately, McClain picked up the slack. The offense could have had a great start to the game. On the Jets first play, McClain forced a Michael Bush fumble. The Raiders recovered, but simply went three-and-out to get only a field goal.

Later, McClain forced another fumble. Raiders start to drive, but then Schumacher is picked off by Darrelle Revis, who had coverage on Moore.

After that, it was a field position...and field goal...battle. Neither offense really moved the ball well. Terry Carter had a nice completion percentage, but it was all short throws. Even his touchdown throw in the 4th quarter was from a few yards out - and it barely was a score. Tyvon Branch made the tackle, but the ball just barely crossed the plane.

Between all that was a horrific 4 for 20 performance from Schumacher, complete with 2 INTs. Osweiler came in, didn't do much better, but at least picked up some first downs and the only TD on the day came on his watch, a powerful, almost angry, 3-yard run on a daring 4th and goal call in the 4th quarter.

On top of that, Rice and Moore both get injured. Again. On their first game back. Rice isn't too big a surprise, but the continued injury-prone nature of Moore is becoming quite concerning, especially when it seems he should not suffer from such an issue.

At the time, that put the Raiders up 21-9. Then the Jets return the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a TD to get right back in it. That made it 21-16. The Raiders offense again stalled, this time losing Julio Caulder to injury. And Steven Grant.

The Jets chipped their way down the field, the defense starting to wear down. Michael Bush started finding a little more room and Carter threw the aforementioned short TD throw. The Raiders stopped the 2-point conversion try, but trailed 22-21.

The offense was clearly out of sorts and at this point, it wouldn't matter who was QB. Ken Stabler could have been behind center - it wouldn't matter.

After another punt, the Jets tried to run some clock. McClain was shooting every gap he could to try to get another forced fumble. However, Bullock wasn't there to back him up this time, and Bush broke free for a first down. He then broke free for another first down, but Tyvon Branch might have just earned that contract. Once again, he forces a turnover.

He stripped Bush of the football and Patrick Peterson recovered the fumble. Again, a non-showing for Peterson until time to make a key play.

With this last chance, Schumacher came back in. He still looked and played terrible, but was able to make enough throws to get the Raiders into field goal range. The Raiders ran down the clock to 9 seconds and kicked the go-ahead FG.

On the kickoff, this time the Jets made a blunder. Janikowski kicked a hard squib kick and one of the upbacks for the Jets could not handle the hard grounder. The ball laid on the ground until K.J. Wright dove on it for the recovery. That sealed the game.

Schumacher's critics quickly took the young QB to task for his terrible performance. One commentator went so far as to say he was a "slow Terrelle Pryor". Another lamented the fact that Lyle didn't go after Luck, Griffin or Wilson...and "got what he deserved", referring to Schumacher's day.

The QB himself looked visibly shaken, as if he just wanted to go home, during the postgame press conference. Lyle didn't help matters by not standing behind the QB as solidly as last time, especially when a high pass clearly got Rice hurt, much like the one that hurt Brandon Lloyd last year.

"I think it's safe to say the Raiders will be scouting for QBs in the coming years. They still haven't found an answer to the position. Schumacher's cracks finally showed up after holding it together most of the season, " a local sportswriter wrote.

On the other side of the ball, McClain was forced to defend Bullock after his disappearance in this game.

"He had a tough day, but so did everyone else. I mean you guys said it, I got 14 tackles, Barker and Wright got, what did you guys say? 14 between them? and no one else got more than 4. Well, there's a lot of people between Tyvon [Branch] and Davarius [Bullock] in there. Why pick on the kid? We gave up 150 yards to Bush, or something like that? That ain't all Davarius. Heck, we didn't have Suh out there - I mean, that's a big guy sucking up a lot of space that's missing, " McClain spoke.

"As far as the offense, " McClain continued, "Thank God for Janikowski's right leg. That's all I have to say about THAT."

Janikowski went 6-for-6 in the game, including drilling one from 58 just before halftime.


Box Score:

Oakland Raiders at New York Jets
Jan 1, 1 2 3 4 F OAK (6-2-1) 3 6 6 9 24 NYJ (5-4) 6 0 3 13 22 Top Performers PASS: QB Terry Carter (NYJ) - 17/25, 160 yds, 1 TD, 98.1 QBR RUSH: HB Michael Bush (NYJ) - 33 att, 140 yds REC: WR Sidney Rice (OAK) - 5 rec, 70 yds	Team Stats Comparison OAK NYJ First Downs 14 14 3rd Down Efficiency 3-16 (18%) 2-13 (15%) 4th Down Efficiency 2-2 1-1 Total Yards 495 482 Passing Yards 226 154 Rushing Yards 101 146 Penalties-Penalty Yards 2-25 4-35 Turnovers 2 3 Time of Possession 26:30 33:30
Oakland Raiders PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Wade Schumacher 9/27 (33%) 114 0 2 Brock Osweiler 6/14 (42%) 112 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Julio Caulder 20 62 3.1 1 Chris Johnson 9 39 4.3 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Sidney Rice 5 70 14.0 0 Justin Blackmon 3 46 15.3 0 Dwayne Allen 2 64 32.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Rolando McClain (2 FF) 14 0 0 0 Steven Barker 9 0 0 0 K.J. Wright 7 0 0 0 Tyvon Branch (1 FF) 4 0 0 0 Lamarr Houston 3 1 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LG Sebastian Janikowski 6/6 58 PUNTING TOT YDS AVG -20 Shane Lechler 5 203 40.6 0 New York Jets PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Terry Carter 17/25 (68%) 160 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Michael Bush 33 140 4.2 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Michael Bush 5 39 7.8 0 Roy Helu, Jr. 5 28 5.6 1 Michael Crabtree 3 37 12.3 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Tom Zbikowski 8 0 1 0 Jacquian Williams 7 0 0 0 Jarret Johnson 5 0 0 0 Darrelle Revis 5 0 1 0 Sherrod Martin 5 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LG Billy Cundiff 3/3 49 PUNTING TOT YDS AVG -20 Chris Kluwe 6 248 41.3 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Mike Thomas 2 121 60.5 1

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Week 12 - Midweek News

No NCAA Football news.


NFL News:

The 49ers and Raiders will be featured in one of this year's Thanksgiving Day games.

Coach Mike Tomlin won his 100th game.

QB Matt Schaub destroyed the Browns defense, posting a 158.3 QB Rating on his way to a 58-31 rout.

Someone thought Julio Caulder fumbled 62 times in a game last week...while putting a picture of Michael Bush and saying he fumbled 3 times (which Bush did). Someone forgot to edit that.


Raiders News

NFL Standings - Updated: Week 12,
AFC WEST	W	L	T
Raiders	7	2	1
Broncos	6	4	0
Chargers	5	4	1
Chiefs	5	5	0

The ugliest 7-2-1 record around is still in first place. The Raiders have outscored opponents by a whopping 3 points per game on average (251 scored, 221 against).

The Giants lost their winning streak, the Vikings actually lost another game, and now a pair of 7-3 teams, the Patriots and Panthers, are the hottest teams with 5-game win streaks.

Raiders' Next Game: Raiders (7-2-1) @ 49ers (5-5) - What does an injured and struggling offense need? A date with Patrick Willis on the road, of course.


Injury Report:

Raiders Injury Report
Pos	Player	Injury Note
WR	Denarius Moore	Out 4 weeks (hand)
LB	Jake Olsen	Out 1 weeks (knee)
C	Sergey Wainwright	IR (fibula)
HB	Steven Grant	Out 5 weeks (abs)
WR	Sidney Rice	Out 7 weeks (shoulder)

So much for the shrinking injury report. Rice and Moore are out again and this time are joined by HB Steven Grant. The team will try to avoid using IR for Rice, but any more injuries to WR might force the team's hand.

Brandon Madison returns, which should help the secondary make more plays.


Roster News:

Madison returns to CB #2 and Cooper is back at CB #3.

Chris Johnson moves up to the 3rd Down HB role with Grant's injury.

Suh returns from his one-game suspension and is starting at DT.

For now, Schumacher is going to start, though some say it's a "game-time decision."


Transactions News:

Tyvon Branch did indeed earn himself an extension. The team signed him for 4 years at nearly $36 M.


Scouting:

RE Uche Jackson (UTEP) picked up some interest from the team with his strength and his ability to power through opposing tackles in the pass rush. His feet move quite well for a big man, and he's not bad at wrapping up running backs when they come his way. He gets off blocks well, though he can be fooled with deceptive plays. The team has Walters already, but Uche would make a nice depth option, especially out of the 4th round, which is where he's projected to go.

The team looked at the corners and quarterbacks, but found little to like.

"For corners, if we don't take one of the top cornerbacks, we shouldn't even bother with the rest. I think the same might be true for quarterbacks. There's a couple names worth considering so far, but again, it might be a case of the top or nothing in the position. I really don't like this draft for us at all, unless we uncover some wideouts or such, " a team scout spoke.

Of course, the linebacker factory might pick up another prospect in Earl Williams. But when the name you like best is a) a 5th round prospect, and b) at a position you're deep in, it does seem to add up to a draft worth trading down in at the very least.


Notable Progression:

LB Rolando McClain
MCV: 73 to 74

DE Lamarr Houston
POW: 83 to 84

FS Steven Barker
ZCV: 74 to 76

DT Immanuel Dawn
POW: 67 to 69

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Run Game and Defense in Control
Schumacher Efficient as the Raiders
Push Past 49ers 27-9.

Schumacher must have heard the footsteps. Or, as his critics are likely to say, 'it was just a bounce-back game, nothing to expect to continue.'

What ever it was, it got the job done as he kept the ball moving for as long as the Raiders were being aggressive with the football on offense. Chris Johnson got a bigger workload as well, and he might be working his way up the food chain after Caulder struggled for much of the game - though both picked up a touchdown.

That was the story, a decent running game that kept pushing and working. Not a lot of flash out there today from the halfbacks, but both produced a touchdown on the ground and did enough to be effective.

Schumacher threw one touchdown, set up by all of that running. He hit Blackmon for a 78-yard catch and run for a touchdown. The pass went about 40 yards in the air and then Blackmon did the rest.

Karl Kruger got back into the mix as well before he suffered a severe injury and had to be carted off the field.

Defensively, McClain picked up his second sack of the season on a blitz and the run defense looked as good as it has all season, holding Gore to under 3 yards per carry.

Alex Smith was looking stable for a while, but then the Raiders continued increasing the pressure after getting that sack. This, combined with having to be more aggressive with the football and making lower percentage passes, steadily made things worse for the 49ers offense. Not helping was Willis going down with an injury, but Bowman and Whitner stepped up to fill his shoes.

It's encouraging to see the Raiders play well on the road, and they run their win streak to four games.

Box Score:

Oakland Raiders at San Francisco 49ers
Jan 1,	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Oakland Raiders (7-2-1)	10	7	7	3	27
San Francisco 49ers (5-5)	0	3	3	3	9

Team Stats Comparison
	OAK	SFO
Total Offense	424	194
Rushing Yards	153	43
Passing Yards	271	151
First Downs	21	12
Punt Return Yards	11	7
Kick Return Yards	89	69
Total Yards	524	270
Turnovers	0	0
3rd Down Converstion	9-15 (60%)	1-11 (9%)
4th Down Conversion	0-0	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	2/1 (75%)	0/1 (100%)
Penalties	1-10	1-10
Posession Time	39:16	20:44

Oakland Raiders PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Wade Schumacher 19/26 (73%) 279 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Julio Caulder 25 77 3.1 1 Chris Johnson 18 76 4.2 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Justin Blackmon 6 136 22.7 1 Karl Kruger 5 58 11.6 0 Fabian Favors 3 24 8.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Rolando McClain 9 1 0 0 Brandon Madison 7 0 0 0 Bobby Wagner 5 0 0 0 Davarius Bullock 5 0 0 0 Ndamukong Suh 3 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Sebastian Janikowski 2/2 52 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Shane Lechler 4 141 35.3 1

San Francisco 49ers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Alex Smith 14/27 (51%) 159 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Frank Gore 17 41 2.4 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Frank Gore 4 21 5.3 0 Ramses Bardin 4 65 16.3 0 Vernon Davis 3 47 15.7 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Navarro Bowman 13 0 0 0 Donte Whitner 11 0 0 0 Dillon Dyles 7 0 0 0 Chris Gamble 4 0 0 0 Aldon Smith 3 1 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Neil Rackers 3/3 48 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Andy Lee 6 253 42.2 0

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Week 13 - Midweek News

No NCAA Football news.

NFL News:

WR Andre Johnson passes Marvin Harrison on the all-time receiving yards list.

QB Eli Manning generated discussion as he continues to climb the career charts.

QB Ben Rothlisberger is 8th all-time in passing touchdowns.

The Jaguars have rushed for 2,000 yards as a team.


Raiders News

NFL Standings - Updated: Week 13
AFC WEST	W	L	T
Raiders	8	2	1
Broncos	7	4	0
Chiefs	6	5	0
Chargers	5	5	1

No rest for the wicked in the division this year. Raiders win, but so do the Broncos to stay 1 win behind, and the Chiefs also win to get back over .500 and out of last place.

The Panthers run their win streak to 6 games, highest in the league. Vikings own the best record at 9-2. The Raiders' tie has them ahead of a quartet of 8-3 teams.


Injury Report:

Raiders Injury Report
Pos	Player	Injury Note
WR	Denarius Moore	Out 3 weeks (hand)
TE	Karl Kruger	IR (chest)
C	Sergey Wainwright	IR (fibula)
HB	Steven Grant	Out 4 weeks (abs)
WR	Sidney Rice	Out 6 weeks (shoulder)

The defense is whole again with the return of Jake Olsen, but the offense suffers it's second season-ending injury. This time, Karl Kruger will see his rookie campaign cut short. He tore is pectoral muscles on a hit by Whitner in last week's game.


Transactions:

TE Karl Kruger was placed on IR.

TE Joel Dressen signed to a 1 year, $910 K.


Roster News:

Chris Johnson is going to get the start this week. Perhaps Caulder is wearing down a bit due to increased workload.

Jake Olsen's return puts the team back into it's hybrid front look. Olsen is expected to play alongside McClain in the middle.


Notable Progression:

LB Tevin Ash
TAK: 79 to 81

WR Justin Blackmon
AWR: 66 to 68

LB Davarius Bullock
AWR: 82 to 83

LB Rolando McClain
MCV: 74 to 75

CB Patrick Peterson
PRC: 81 to 82

DT Ndamukong Suh
AWR: 85 to 86

RE Keiwone Walters
AWR: 80 to 81

CB Brandon Madison
AWR: 69 to 70

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Raiders Defense Works Overtime
Another Near Tie, But Janikowski Gets Second
Chance and Converts. Raiders Win 23-20 in OT.

Here we go with the close/overtime games again. The defense did all of the real work in this game.

The Raiders came out and put the first points on the board when Tevin Ash blindsided Sam Bradford to cause a fumble. Davarius Bullock scooped up the ball and took it in for the score.

From that point forward, the Raiders kept coming with an all-out aggressive style of defense. Various blitzes kept the pressure, and the hits, coming on Bradford. For his part, he avoided most mistakes and still tried to get the ball moving downfield.

Defense was the Jake Olsen show for a while. He was all over Steven Jackson for much of the game, keeping him contained.

Raiders were up 13-3 in after the first half. Then, Schumacher struck. In a bad way. This game was another terrible out for the embattled quarterback, not making his case to his team or his coach that he can lead the team consistently. He threw an interception on a terrible throw that had nothing on it. Courtland Finnegan grabbed it with ease.

The defense kept attacking, but made a mistake in covering the gaps. Steven Jackson took advantage and popped a 68-yard score. Suddenly, the Rams were back in it and had confidence that they could beat the attacking style the Raiders were using.

The running game for the Raiders couldn't do much either. After a good start, the Rams clamped down with Chris Long being the biggest thorn in the side to Johnson and Caulder. Only a few runs could get going, and Schumacher had some success with play action, but nothing big.

The defense kept going after Bradford, pounding him constantly, and then he couldn't take any more. A hit by Bullock knocked Bradford out, and the Rams called on their rookie QB Ron Dunson. Finnegan tried to make a big hit on Caulder, but Caulder gave it back and ended Finnegan's season.

"Serves his cheap *** right, " Caulder spoke when asked about the injury.

No mercy was shown to the kid QB as the Raiders made him move and throw off balance. The Rams offense was largely halted at that point, and Patrick Peterson got an interception to give the Raiders a turnover.

The offense pushed and prodded and managed to get a touchdown on a Chris Johnson run. That put the Raiders up 20-13.

And then another Schumacher mistake. He tried to fire pass into tight coverage and the linebacker, Keith Rivers, picked it off.

Dunson started getting the ball out quickly, beating the pressure, but taking a beating in the process. The drive ended with a 1 yard TD in the waning seconds of the 4th quarter.

Heading to overtime, Lyle showed confidence in his defense and deferred in OT. He was hoping his defense would shut down the rookie after some adjustments and get good field position.

His plan worked. The Rams went 3-and-out, including a sack. The Raiders got great field position. The offense didn't move the ball far afterwords, but got into field goal range. But Janikowski came up short on a 56-yard try, likely due to the pouring rain.

That set the Rams up with good field position, but the defense let them get nowhere.

The teams traded punts and short "drives" for the rest of the overtime period, until the final few minutes.

Rams had the ball and were starting to make progress again. However, the rookie tempted fate one too many times. He was attack Peterson for much of the overtime period, and this time, the pressure made him throw a bad pass into tight coverage. Peterson undercut the receiver and picked it off for his second interception.

The game was down to inside two minutes. Schumacher starting finding a little space in the passing game, utilizing more of a spread look and still keeping the defense off balanced with play action, since the Raiders had time outs and did still try some runs. The big play was a pass to Favors that got the team inside the Rams' 25 yard line. This time, Janikowski split the uprights, and the Raiders came away with a 74-minute win.

The defense played exceptional football, especially considering McClain didn't have much work to do. He only got 4 tackles because Olsen, Ash, and Bullock were getting everything done. The Raiders generated seven sacks, with Tevin Ash coming alive for three of them and the forced fumble. Houston had 2 from the other edge and frequently there was a meeting at the QB from the end rushers, often Bullock and Ash converging.

"Other than the one mistake to Steven Jackson, there's nothing to criticize, " coach Lyle spoke, "I think we might have hit on something defensively."

With Olsen playing like a man possessed, the hybrid defense turned into a pure aggressive 3-4. Perhaps, this is indeed the angle the team needs to pursue.

"I feel like I could play another game. Did I even play today? I got the pads on so I guess I did, " McClain joked in the locker room.

What is no joke is the continued up-and-down play of Schumacher. What looked like him turning a corner has dissolved into the same old inconsistent QB play. Justin Blackmon, though, is doing a big time job of stepping up for the injured starting WRs.

What's also no joke is the inconsistent running game. That is something that needs to get ironed out. Could it be the injury to Wainwright, the big kid that anchored the line last season, making the difference?


Box Score:

St. Louis Rams at Oakland Raiders
Jan 1,	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	OT	SCORE
St. Louis Rams (4-7)	0	3	7	10	0	20
Oakland Raiders (8-2-1)	7	6	0	7	3	23

Team Stats Comparison
	STL	OAK
Total Offense	322	386
Rushing Yards	142	148
Passing Yards	180	238
First Downs	14	21
Punt Return Yards	18	45
Kick Return Yards	102	86
Total Yards	442	517
Turnovers	3	2
3rd Down Converstion	7-20 (35%)	8-19 (42%)
4th Down Conversion	0-0	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	1/0 (100%)	1/0 (100%)
Penalties	1-10	2-15
Posession Time	35:41	43:28

St. Louis Rams PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Sam Bradford 12/23 (52%) 157 0 1 Ron Dunson 7/13 (53%) 73 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Steven Jackson 30 144 4.8 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Clifton Faulk 6 59 9.8 0 Julian Edelman 6 105 17.5 0 Dennis Pitta 3 49 16.3 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD James Laurinaitis 10 0 0 0 Chris Long 8 2 0 0 Pat Chung 8 1 0 0 Charone Watkins 7 0 0 0 Keith Rivers 7 0 1 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Greg Zuerlein 2/2 45 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Chas Henry 9 357 39.7 0

Oakland Raiders PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Wade Schumacher 19/34 (55%) 272 0 2 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Chris Johnson 24 74 3.4 1 Julio Caulder 21 60 2.9 0 Takuei Griggs 2 16 8.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Justin Blackmon 6 100 16.7 0 Fabian Favors 4 66 16.5 0 Dwyane Allen 3 53 17.7 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Jake Olsen 11 0 0 0 Davarius Bullock (1 FR) 6 1 0 1 Patrick Peterson 6 0 2 0 Lamarr Houston 5 2 0 0 Tevin Ash (1 FF) 5 3 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Sebastian Janikowski 3/5 56 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Shane Lechler 6 246 41.0 0

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Week 14 - Midweek News


NCAA Football News:

WR Akia Green played a key role in Utah's upset victory over Texas. This game likely will have teams and scouts buzzing about him.


NFL News:

CB Cortland Finnegan will be placed on injured reserve with a pectoral tear.

QB Jay Cutler threw for 5 touchdowns as the Bears won 45-40 over the Falcons.

WR Santonio Holmes had two touchdown catches for the Chargers.

QB Philip Rivers moved to 8th in all-time touchdown passes this week.



Raiders News:

NFL Standings - Updated: Week 14
AFC WEST	W	L	T
Raiders	9	2	1
Broncos	7	5	0
Chargers	6	5	1
Chiefs	6	6	0

Raiders are on a 5-game win streak and finally get another game in the standings lead to show for it.

Elsewhere, the Panthers have won 7 straight and the Vikings improved to 10-2. The Steelers have come on strong of late to move to 9-3, matching the Jaguars in what looks like a tight race for the top seeds in the AFC.


Injury Report:

Raiders Injury Report
Pos	Player	Injury Note
WR	Denarius Moore	Out 2 weeks (hand)
TE	Karl Kruger	IR (chest)
C	Sergey Wainwright	IR (fibula)
HB	Steven Grant	Out 3 weeks (abs)
WR	Sidney Rice	Out 5 weeks (shoulder)
WR	Bryan Mills	IR (chest)

Add another body to the pile. WR Bryan Mills suffers his second injury, and there's no return for him this season as he's placed on injured reserve with a pectoral tear.


Transactions:

WR Bryan Mills was placed on injured reserve.

WR Steve Breaston was signed to a 1 year contract.


Roster News:

Patrick Peterson will be happy. He's back on KR duty. Breaston will take over punt return opportunities.

Shaquille Carillon will get the nod at nickle corner. Paris Cooper is playing his way off the roster, continuing to underachieve.

Chris Johnson will start again at HB, though another largely even split of carries might be in the plan this week as well.


Scouting:

WR Akia Green (Utah) looks as explosive and fast as originally thought. His hands still seem solid and he has a decent level of route running and agility. Still a mid-round projection, though that might change over time if he keeps gaining attention.

WR Jon McCoy (Houston) seems attractive, but his mind tends to wander at the worst times during a game. This betrays what looks like a physical skill set that could have him be a threat in the red zone. He's fearless when he's focused, the issue is: how often will he be unfocused?

CB Lorenzo Hopkins (USC) might be the answer for who could replace Paris Cooper. Hopkins has high-end speed and agility, which should help him in man coverage. He can read the body of the receiver and has workable ball awareness and overall football intelligence, especially considering how low he's slotted to go by consensus.

HB Bull Griggs (UCLA) may or may not be related to Takuei Griggs, but he is looking like a better version of Caulder - more refined and may be where Caulder is trying to reach. His footwork is much better while retaining the same violent running style that's made Caulder as effective as he is. Given that he's currently a second round projection, he might give the Raiders reason to not trade out of the first round.


Notable Progression:

LB Davarius Bullock
AWR: 83 to 85
TAK: 86 to 87

HB Chris Johnson
BCV: 87 to 88

RG Cale Welch
IBL: 87 to 88

HB Julio Caulder
AWR: 86 to 87

FS Steven Barker
AWR: 79 to 80
PUR: 61 to 62

LB Tevin Ash
BSH: 86 to 87

RE Keiwone Walters
AWR: 81 to 82

QB Wade Schumacher
AWR: 81 to 82

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Team Effort on Defense Wins the Day
No Standout Performance on D, But Unit
Allows Just 3 Points in 17-3 Win over Bengals.

The struggling Bengals had their season get a little worse as they fall to 5-8. Jake Locker, who took the league by storm with 55 TDs last season couldn't attack the Raiders coverage with any aggression and threw two interceptions, one to Peterson and one to turnover magnet Tyvon Branch.

The Bengals' run game had a decent day, holding Alfred Morris to 4 yards per carry, but even that isn't a super day. Tackles-wise, nothing special there either. Olsen and Branch led with 7.

What it was is an effort that had no mistakes on the defensive side. No big plays allowed, not breakdowns or blown coverages, just steady and in control.

The offense even made a couple mistakes. Schumacher threw an interception, and Justin Blackmon lost a fumble. Those two turnovers led to the 3 points the Bengals managed, though they had a couple missed FGs as well.

Schumacher did make up for that interception by connecting with Blackmon on a long pass. He hit Blackmon with another just before half time, but the clock ran out with the receiver tackled 3 yards short of a score.

Chris Johnson had a bit of a tough time against the Bengals run defense. Rey Maualuga was holding the middle early on until Caulder hurt him. Maualuga tried to take the power halfback high as Caulder was running downhill behind his pads and Caulder won the battle.

That seemed to fire Julio up as he put up 65 yards on 13 carries. Johnson had 78 on 20 carries and scored a touchdown.

One interesting thing seems to be the emergence of Jake Olsen. Ever since coming from the injury, he's been fired up and flying around the field. Also good to see is Peterson picking off passes. Brandon Madison has been avoided the last few weeks, reducing his chances of making an impact.

The Raiders won their 6th straight as they look to stay in the running for the top seed in the AFC.


Box Score:

Oakland Raiders at Cincinnati Bengals
Jan 1,	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Oakland Raiders (9-2-1)	0	10	0	7	17
Cincinnati Bengals (5-7)	0	3	0	0	3

Team Stats Comparison
	OAK	CIN
Total Offense	418	228
Rushing Yards	148	81
Passing Yards	270	147
First Downs	18	13
Punt Return Yards	22	1
Kick Return Yards	19	73
Total Yards	459	302
Turnovers	2	2
3rd Down Converstion	8-19 (42%)	6-17 (35%)
4th Down Conversion	0-0	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	1/1 (66%)	0/0 (0%)
Penalties	3-24	1-10
Posession Time	32:48	27:12

Oakland Raiders PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Wade Schumacher 19/30 (63%) 269 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Chris Johnson 20 78 3.9 1 Julio Caulder 13 65 5.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Justin Blackmon 5 131 26.2 1 Fabian Favors 5 55 11.0 0 Marcel Reece 4 20 5.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Tyvon Branch 7 0 1 0 Jake Olsen 7 0 0 0 Rolando McClain 5 0 0 0 Steven Barker 5 0 0 0 Patrick Peterson 5 0 1 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Sebastian Janikowski 1/1 33 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Shane Lechler 4 185 46.3 0

Cincinnati Bengals PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Jake Locker 22/34 (64%) 163 0 2 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Alfred Morris 19 77 4.1 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Alfred Morris 7 29 4.1 0 Michael Dudzik 4 35 8.8 0 Kedron Richardson 4 36 9.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Chris Houston 6 0 0 0 Michael Huff 6 0 0 0 Israel Idonije 5 0 0 0 Freddie Fuller 5 0 0 0 Nate Clements 4 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Rian Lindell 1/3 40 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Cal White 5 211 42.2 0

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Week 15 - Midweek News

No NCAA Football News.


NFL News:

MLB Patrick Willis is back in action for the 49ers.

WR Larry Fitzgerald is ready to go after recovering from his injury.

WR Eric Decker racked up 177 yards for the 49ers last week.

Chargers QB Philip Rivers had no challenge as he put up a 141 QB rating.

Dolphins QB Robb Bell torched the Bears defense, nearly posting a perfect passer rating.

QBs Philip Rivers and Ben Rothlisberger are in a battle as they both move up the all-time TD passes list. Rivers was 8th...until Rothlisberger surpassed him in the same week.

LB DeMarcus Ware is now 9th on the all-time sacks list.

Bengals are going to be without Ravonne Winters for a while as he ruptured a disc in his back last week.


Raiders News

NFL Standings - Updated: Week 15
AFC WEST	W	L	T
Raiders	10	2	1
Broncos	8	5	0
Chargers	7	5	1
Chiefs	6	7	0

The Raiders are on a 6-game win streak and reach 10 wins. The tie is giving them a half game lead over the Jags (10-3) for best AFC record at the moment.

The Panthers have won 8 in a row and are now tops in the NFC at 10-3.

Raiders' Next Game: Chiefs (6-7) @ Raiders (10-2-1).


Injury Report:

Raiders Injury Report
Pos	Player	Injury Note
WR	Denarius Moore	Out 1 weeks (hand)
TE	Karl Kruger	IR (chest)
C	Sergey Wainwright	IR (fibula)
HB	Steven Grant	Out 2 weeks (abs)
WR	Sidney Rice	Out 4 weeks (shoulder)
WR	Bryan Mills	IR (chest)

For once, no new bodies on the trainers' tables.


Roster News:

There is speculation that the team might be putting Jake Olsen in the middle linebacker spot this week. The team has tried this before with McClain swapping and playing the LOLB position. Past attempts didn't seem to work too well, but Jake Olsen is playing about as well as the team has ever seen.

Another change might also be to put McClain on the ROLB spot. Bullock doesn't seem to like the right side very much, and McClain has never been tried in that spot.

Julio Caulder is expected to return as starter this week, though the duo seems to work pretty well when given relatively equal time, so that likely will continue.


Notable Progression:

C Stefen Wisniewski
AWR: 86 to 87

CB Shaquille Carillon
AWR: 77 to 78

WR Justin Blackmon
CAR: 60 to 62

LB Tevin Ash
PRC: 84 to 85

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Raiders Lose Thriller
Janikowski Can't Convert 56-Yd FG for the
Win. Chiefs' Maggitt Stars in 24-23 Loss.

This Chiefs-Raiders clash is a fitting addition to the storied rivalry these teams share. As usual, it was another hard-hitting, injury-inducing affair that came down to the final drives of each team.

The Raiders' pass coverage had no answers for Dwayne Bowe all game long. The physical WR had Peterson's number all day, racking up over 100 yards and a touchdown. Tim Maggitt was also on fire, constantly finding the open man and not giving the ball hawking DBs a chance to make a play.

The Raiders gave up on the idea of using McClain on the outside in the first quarter, and moving him back to the middle paid dividends as he would cause a fumble against back-up running back Graves. Charles was knocked out earlier while Olsen was in the middle, and it looked serious.

That came after Caulder got knocked out, literally. Fortunately, he was able to move and respond to team doctors, but that was the first blow to kick off the full onslaught of punishing hits.

With Caulder out, Takuei Griggs stepped up, and he wasn't ready for the intensity early on. He fumbled twice from crushing hits before starting to get his legs under him. Luckily, the offensive line was aware and pounced on the fumbles each time.

Schumacher, meanwhile, was under duress all game long. Glenn Dorsey was just too much for Jeff Otah to handle. Then Hali started getting involved from the other side and it was a good job by Schumacher to not throw any interceptions and come up with two touchdown throws. His completion percentage was not stellar, but the team will take incompletions over picks any Sunday.

Justin Blackmon is continuing to show big play ability. He grabbed one of Schumacher's touchdowns just before half time. The Raiders were marching in a quick drive with under a minute left, and the team was in the red zone with 6 seconds left. Lyle tried for one more play before the half to the end zone, and Schumacher found Blackmon while Berry was watching an inside receiver coming to him.

The second touchdown game in the third quarter to put the Raiders up 20-14. Dwayne Allen slipped into the end zone to catch a 6-yard toss. Schumacher was injured on the play on a questionable hit by LB Houston. Houston would later be called on a roughing the passer on a similar hit in the 4th quarter.

Down by that 20-14 score, Maggitt continued his strong play, moving the Chiefs down the field. He hit rookie wide out Max Simpson, who made a one-handed grab, to take the lead, 21-20.

The Raiders came back. Schumacher worked the run and pass to get into field goal range, hitting Blackmon as his primary target. Janikowski would convert the FG and give the Raiders a 23-21 lead.

It came back to Maggitt. He moved the ball well again, but the Raiders put up a little more resistance this time. Still, the Chiefs got down inside the Raiders' 5 yard line when a touchdown-saving tackle was made by McClain against the fullback on a reception.

That tackle would indeed save 4 points as the Chiefs could not find a way to get the ball in. The chip shot field goal made it 24-23, Chiefs.

Schumacher had about a minute and all his time outs. He hit Blackmon to get things started, then found Gortman once and Favors finally was able to get involved. The running game also helped as Griggs picked up a key first down and Johnson was hitting them with draw plays as well.

However, the Chiefs defense stiffened once the Raiders crossed midfield. On third and long, the Chiefs protected the sidelines, as the Raiders were down to just one timeout. Schumacher had to take Blackmon on a short drag route and Blackmon couldn't get to the boundary. The Raiders had to use their last timeout and make the FG attempt.

The kick looked like it was on a collision course with the upright. Which way the ball turned would determine the winner. Drawn inside and the Raiders would win #7 in a row. If it slices, the Chiefs pull it out. The ball sliced about 10 yards away, sailing inches wide and no good. The Chiefs' stand was good enough, and the Raiders went down for the first time in 7 weeks (6 games). The Raiders fans booed Janikowski off the field, and cheered when Bullock knocked down Maggitt on the kneel down. It may have felt good, but it couldn't change the 24-23 score.

McClain picked up 8 tackles, as did Bullock. Olsen picked up 6. Looks like McClain might still occasionally pick up 10 or more, but the emergence of his partners is eating into his production - not that he, or Lyle, minds.

"Eight per game is 128 on the season, still a fine total, especially if two, maybe three guys all do it. I mean, if they do what they did all year, that's three linebackers, all with 100 tackles. Not many teams can make that kind of claim, " one analyst spoke, "The 'linebacker factory' is still alive and well."

Many feel the 3-4 is just a matter of time. Lyle is resistant to the idea - for now - but he might just be forced, if only to get his best talent on the field.

"Coaches have to change with their team, or the team will change coaches. He's started to open the offense up some, and it's working when Schumacher is right. It's time he evolved defensively, too, even if it means changing coordinators, " one sports radio host commented.

For now, the Raiders are now 10-3-1. Whether or not they are still in control of their AFC bye fate, as well as their situation in the division, as the team has not clinched that either, is up to the rest of the schedule.

Box Score:

Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders
Jan 1,	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Kansas City Chiefs (6-7)	0	7	7	10	24
Oakland Raiders (10-2-1)	0	10	10	3	23

Team Stats Comparison
	KAN	OAK
Total Offense	374	295
Rushing Yards	71	126
Passing Yards	303	169
First Downs	20	16
Punt Return Yards	26	28
Kick Return Yards	96	106
Total Yards	496	426
Turnovers	2	0
3rd Down Converstion	5-12 (41%)	5-15 (33%)
4th Down Conversion	1-1	1-1
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	2/1 (100%)	2/1 (100%)
Penalties	4-40	0-0
Posession Time	31:57	28:03

Kansas City Chiefs PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Tim Maggitt 25/38 (65%) 318 3 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD B.J. Graves 20 46 2.3 0 Jamaal Charles 7 24 3.4 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Dwayne Bowe 9 125 13.9 2 Jonathon Baldwin 4 42 10.5 0 Max Simpson 3 48 16.0 1 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Eric Berry (1 FF) 9 0 0 0 Glenn Dorsey 8 3 0 0 Justin Houston (1 FF) 6 0 0 0 Brandon Flowers 6 0 0 0 Dwight Lowery 5 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Ryan Succop 1/2 24 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 T.J. Conley 4 175 43.8 0

Oakland Raiders PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Wade Schumacher 19/36 (52%) 204 2 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Takuei Griggs 17 65 3.8 0 Chris Johnson 8 40 5.0 0 Julio Caulder 3 21 7.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Justin Blackmon 8 122 15.3 1 Fabian Favors 4 35 8.8 0 Marcel Reece 2 14 7.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Rolando McClain (1 FF) 8 0 0 0 Davarius Bullock (1 FR) 8 0 0 0 Jake Olsen (1 FF) 6 0 0 0 Tyvon Branch 5 1 0 0 Lamarr Houston 4 1 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Sebastian Janikowski 3/5 52 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Shane Lechler 5 193 38.6 0

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Week 17 - Midweek News


NCAA Football News:

UCLA wins the National Championship again, led by HB D'Cota Bell.


NFL News:

HB Jamaal Charles is expected to miss multiple games with his latest injury.

WR Larry Fitzgerald is cleared to play for the Cardinals this week.

Giants get DE Jason Pierre-Paul back for this week's contest.

HB Adrian Peterson is eager to help the Vikings again now that he has recovered from his injury.

HB Doug Martin led the way for the Bucs' 37-24 win last week.

WR Anquan Boldin is now 9th on the receiving yards list.

WR Andre Johnson surpassed Terrell Owens and is 7th all-time in receptions now.


Raiders News

NFL Standings - Updated: Week 17
AFC WEST	W	L	T
Raiders	10	3	1
Broncos	9	5	0
Chargers	7	6	1
Chiefs	7	7	0

The Jags lost as well last week, leaving the Raiders with the top AFC seed, but of more immediate concern is the fact the Broncos are starting to win again. They are just one win behind the Raiders, and it is possible that the Raiders could end up in second place if they don't win another game. The team needs to stay focused on the division first.

Elsewhere, the Panthers won their 9th game in a row and clinched their division. The Vikings lost, but clinched as well. Not a single AFC spot has been decided yet. There are 6 teams with either 9 or 10 wins, and two more with 8. The Colts at 7-7 aren't totally dead either.

Raiders' Next Game: Raiders (10-3-1) @ Dolphins (8-6). Raiders face the red hot QB Robb Bell in this one...perhaps another tough day is in store for Peterson as teams continue to avoid Madison.


Injury Report:

Raiders Injury Report
Pos	Player	Injury Note
HB	Julio Caulder	Out 2 weeks (jaw)
TE	Karl Kruger	IR (chest)
C	Sergey Wainwright	IR (fibula)
HB	Steven Grant	Out 1 weeks (abs)
WR	Sidney Rice	Out 3 weeks (shoulder)
WR	Bryan Mills	IR (chest)

Denarius Moore returns yet again, and taking his place on the injury list is Julio Caulder. What looked like a more serious injury was "just" a broken jaw at the end of the day. Still, he will miss the last two regular season games.


Roster News:

Moore's return puts him and Blackmon as the starting WRs. It will be interesting to see if Schumacher turns to Moore or stays with Blackmon as his top target.

Takuei Griggs will get the start at HB this week. He'll get a chance to show he's better than Caulder. He thinks he is, he'll have the opportunity to show it.

McClain returns to MLB with Olsen on the right and Bullock on the left. McClain will be gunning for 100 tackles. He needs 11 in the next two games.

Madison and Peterson will swap spots at cornerback. Sources say that the theory is not that Madison is being avoided, but teams are just throwing to the right more. Seems a little bit of a ego-rub to Peterson (instead of saying his coverage is more questionable), but we'll see on the field.


Scouting:

CB Julian Gilbert (Georgia Tech) got more attention from scouts, and they noticed Gilbert's athleticism. He moved quickly on tape and his hips and feet seem very fluid in changing directions and staying with receivers. He can get up to knock passes down or make leaping catches as well. Consensus has him at a late 2nd round projection.

Scouts took a look at the tackles on the board, but couldn't find much of any one that grabs the eye. With Jeff Otah looking like he will hit free agency, the team would take a tackle in the draft readily, but only a few have decent skill at pass blocking, though some, such as LT Kris Sacvone, have exceptional strength.


Notable Progression:

LB Davarius Bullock
STR: 76 to 77

DT Ndamukong Suh
PRC: 84 to 85

LB Jake Olsen
PUR: 85 to 86

FS Steven Barker
AWR: 80 to 81

DT Immanuel Dawn
BSH: 85 to 86

SS Tyvon Branch
TAK: 81 to 82

[Gronk4M13]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Oooh, Rob Bell is tough.

[KBLover]

Re: Rebuilding the Fear - Oakland Raiders M13 CCM

Tale of Two Halves Ends in Tight Game
Raiders Hold On As Defense Rises in the Clutch,
Win 27-24.

The Raiders started out on fire, getting a strong balanced attack from both Taukei Griggs and Schumacher's arm. Denarius Moore looked in usual form and Justin Blackmon was there as well.

Chris Johnson put up a touchdown, the first points of the game. Then, Schumacher found Blackmon for a score. Next was Taukei Griggs getting a touchdown.

After that, the offense went cold. The Dolphins stepped up the pass rush, leading to a lot of hurried throws and off-target passes. Schumacher took a couple sacks as a result and would later throw would could have been a pivotal interception.

In the second half, Robb Bell started warming up. He threw 2 TDs in the second half and started looking better at the end of the first half, when he got a TD on a long pass to make it 24-7 at the time.

The Dolphins closed to 24-17 after a FG and a TD pass to WR Lunior Marsh, who beat Peterson along the sideline and made the catch at the back of the end zone.

The Raiders run game got going again after falling victim to the stepped up pressure from the Dolphins in the second half. Taukei Griggs did a lot to prove he can be reliable, doing most of the work on the drive.

The Raiders picked up a FG to make it 27-17, after Schumacher again faced a stiff pass rush, and then the Dolphins picked up a TD pass to Reggie Bush where he just barely made it in after a McClain hit. This drive came after the aforementioned Schumacher pick.

That made the score 27-24. Griggs continue to run pretty well, helping the Raiders eat the clock. The Raiders defense got their own pass rush going, to slow Bell down. The coverage was also strong again after a few adjustments and that slowed the Dolphins' attack back down. When they tried to sneak in some runs with Bush, the linebackers were on top of it. McClain got revenge coming in on a nickle blitz to smack Bush in the mouth on 3rd and short to stop a drive.

The Raiders, though, couldn't get going consistently, and in their next to last drive proceeded to commit two costly holding calls that prevented any sort of clock management.

Dolphins got the ball back with over a minute left and two timeouts. They also were near midfield, thanks to the penalties backing the Raiders up and a decent return on the punt.

But the defense stepped up and forced a 3-and-out. On the downside, it was just 3 incomplete passes, so the Dolphins still had 2 timeouts.

The Raiders forced those time outs to be used and punted back. Bell tried to get some offense going, but the Raiders' pass rush continued to work. On first down, McClain eyed his second sack. Bell rushed the throw to an open WR and the throw went out of bounds. Davarius Bullock did get the sack to force a 3rd and long situation, coming off the edge from the base defense. Dolphins spiked the ball, and on 4th and long, Ndamukong Suh picked up his second sack of the day to end the game.

"Wasn't pretty, but we held it at the end like we know how, " McClain spoke.

Defense didn't get many opportunities to some hitting with the Raiders coming out to the big lead and holding the ball for much of the first half. It was mostly a game for the pass rush and the corners to do their thing. Shaquille Carillon was the target, and he shined nicely with a team-leading 4 passes defensed.

The offense dropped off immediately after Justin Blackmon left with an injury. There is some concern over the severity of the injury as he did not return.


Box Score:

Oakland Raiders at Miami Dolphins
Jan 1,	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Oakland Raiders (10-3-1)	10	14	0	3	27
Miami Dolphins (8-6)	0	7	7	10	24

Team Stats Comparison
	OAK	MIA
Total Offense	366	278
Rushing Yards	159	19
Passing Yards	207	259
First Downs	20	11
Punt Return Yards	47	43
Kick Return Yards	84	99
Total Yards	497	420
Turnovers	1	0
3rd Down Converstion	8-19 (42%)	5-17 (29%)
4th Down Conversion	0-1	0-2
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	2/1 (100%)	1/0 (100%)
Penalties	3-30	1-10
Posession Time	36:04	23:56

Oakland Raiders PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Wade Schumacher 18/39 (46%) 234 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Taukei Griggs 30 113 3.8 1 Chris Johnson 11 46 4.2 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Denarius Moore 8 118 14.8 0 Justin Blackmon 3 45 15.0 1 Dwayne Allen 2 22 11.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Rolando McClain 6 1 0 0 Steven Barker 5 0 0 0 Jake Olsen 5 0 0 0 Shaquille Carillon 5 0 0 0 Davarius Bullock 4 1 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Sebastian Janikowski 2/2 49 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Shane Lechler 8 328 41.0 2

Miami Dolphins PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Robb Bell 25/46 (54%) 304 3 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Reggie Bush 14 19 1.4 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Jerrico Cotchery 5 91 18.2 0 Reggie Bush 5 13 2.6 1 Glenn Banks 4 95 23.8 1 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Darius Jones 13 0 0 0 Devin McCourty 8 0 0 0 Wayne Thomas 7 2 0 0 Moise Fokou 5 0 0 0 Randy Starks 4 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Terrence Seastrunk 1/1 54 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Brandon Fields 10 435 43.5 1