In Al we trust...a Raiders dynasty

[Aurabolt127]

With a week to go till our rematch with Denver, approval sits at 93, and Al Davis is happy we've fought to a 6-4 record. He won't be happy, however, if we get swept by the Broncos, who are also 6-4. San Diego dropped their last game, and both Oakland and Denver only trail the 7-3 Chargers by a game. San Diego's next game is vs Indy - so the game between the Raiders and Broncos takes on extra signifigance now.

DT Ed Johnson has approached me abut a new contract. However, he's looking for around 3.5 million a year over 6 years. While I love having a strong 3 man rotation at DT...we're still paying for the past regime's mistake with those monster contracts of Terdell Sands and Gerard Warren causing some serious cap damage. Ed's going to have to wait on this one a while, not sure I'm ready to committ to that yet.

RB Samkon Gado has also approached me about a new deal, and while it's not some mega-bucks contract, a 6 year term might be more than I care to do. I'll think on it.

CB DeMario Minter has been resigned to a 2 year deal worth 1.66 million dollars. Also included was a $250k signing bonus, and a couple of megatough incentives that could add 2 million dollars to the value of the contract. Minter's been one of the guys trying to keep my secondary together after Hall's season ending injury. I can't see him being lower than 3 or 4 on my depth chart depending, so I feel good resigning him.

LG Adam Kraus has been resigned to a 2 year deal with $530k. There was no signing bonus, but there is a $500k incentive should he start 16 games. Considering his pot and incumbant LG Robert Gallery's huge contract...who knows?

Coach decided this week to let reserve CBs Michael Waddell and Justin King handle the kickoff and punt returns, and made Johnnie Lee Higgins a healhty scratch this week. Higgins has been good, but not great - and I think this week I want to dress 5 cbs instead of 5 wrs. It seems Denver is pretty healthy, the only notables are WR Brandon Stokely and RB Travis Henry - although Selvin Young seems to be the starter anyway. I was kind of hoping they gave Albert Haynesworth the day off, but I'm not so lucky.

Looks like it might be snowing...my kind of game!

[Aurabolt127]

The weather cleared up, and we're ready for some serious AFC West football!!

We win the toss and elect to receive.

Daunte Culpepper comes out throwing, but a dropped pass on 3rd down leads to an early punt. Denver takes over, but they are also forced to punt. I don't remember the wind gauge saying anything out of the ordinary, but the passes on both sides are all over the place.

Both sides trade punts one more time before Oakland manages to mount a serious drive. The passing game is still spotty, but we get close enough for Sebastian Janikowski to hit a 33 yard field goal as the first quarter comes to an end. 3-0 Oakland.

The second quarter starts off with Denver throwing bombs down the field. Cutler misses on first down, and Brian Smith sacks him on second. His pass on third falls incomplete as well, and Denver is forced to punt yet again.

The next Raiders drive reminds me of the week one meeting between the two teams, as on first and second and goal, DT Albert Haynesworth drops Michael Bush for a loss, then sacks Culpepper. On 3rd down, however, Culpepper hits Harry Douglas for a 12 yard TD. Sebastian Janikowski somehow misses the PAT and we lead 9-0. SeaBass has been terrible this year. Just terrible.

On the Broncos next drive, Selvin Young sidesteps Leon Hall on the edge and races 68 yards for the score. Just like that, Denver's back in this 9-7.

Oakland takes over on their own 21 with a little over 4 minutes left in the half. Still trying to maintain a strong aerial attack, Culpepper hits 4 different targets on the drive. With 2:44 left in the half, Daunte Culpepper scrambles from pressure and runs 17 yards for the score! This time Janikowski hits the PAT, and we lead 16-7.

With the clock ticking, Denver calls a run to get to the 2 minute warning. On 2nd and 3rd down, however, Cutler 1 hops it to the receiver, and with 1:39 left in the half, we get ready to start one more drive.

Culpepper hits Zach Miller and Justin Fargas as we get well within Janikowski's range. On 1st and 10, Michael Bush catches them offguard with a big run up the gut. Unfortunately, we can't hang onto the ball, and on 4th and 5 from the 15, Janikowski's back in the game to make it 19-7 with 36 seconds left.

Denver gets the ball back, but Tommy Kelly sacks Cutler on first down. On second down, Cutler scrambles for the first anyway. His next pass is low and incomplete. His next pass finds Glen Martinez for 17 yards and with 14 seconds left, they're still driving. Denver calls it's last timeout, and on 1st down Cutler is sacked by Thomas Howard. They can't regroup in time, and we head to the half ahead, 19-7.

We manage to force Denver to a 3 and out, but on our next drive, Culpepper throws an INT to a wide open Champ Bailey, and Denver takes over on our 28 yard line. They can't get any closer than our 12, however, and a Lindell chip shot makes it 19-10.

Justin King takes the ensuing kickoff all the way to midfield, and Coach C does a little dance on the sideline. Culpepper hits Miller for a big gain, and then again to the one yardline before he finds Mark Bradley on a short curl route and a 1 yard touchdown! 4:31 left in the third, and the lead increases to 26-10!

Cutler to Marshall is still deadly, as they connect twice on the next drive. Selvin Young busts out another long TD run, this one 37 yards to keep Denver in the game. Frustration doesn't even begin to describe how I feel at my seconday and their tackling. 26-17.

As the 4th quarter gets to the halfway mark, I notice Culpepper is scrambling and getting hammered too often. I go a little conservative with a couple runs, and let Sebastian Janikowski go for a 49 yarder. He nails it, and we're up 29-17.

I don't understand why they're having Champ Bailey return kicks, but the game's not smart enough to know better. He's tackled hard after a meager 13 yard return, and Cutler starts firing pass after pass to Marshall, whether they are complete or not. They're driving, but in small chunks and we're under 4 minutes to play. 4th and 7, and Jay Cutler finds Glenn Martinez for 31 yards to our one yard line. But he didn't score yet, and the clock is still ticking... Selvin Young walks in for the score, however, and Denver is back to within 5 with 3:09 left.

With a run by Fargas and Bush, we hit the two minute warning with a fresh set of downs. Gado runs for 8 and Denver calls its first timeout. One second down, Justin Fargas picks up the first down, but is lying motionless on the grass. We are forced to burn a timeout, but I'm more worried about his health. On the next carry Irons only gets a yard, but Bush follows that run up with a 13 yarder of his own. Injury report is in on Fargas: Left arm injury - out for the game. I'm reminded we just rushed for over 200 yards, but it's kind of hollow feeling. Michael Bush runs over Champ Bailey and we get the first down. We take a knee, but Denver calls a timeout. Fine. Michael Bush runs up the gut for a couple, and we'll bring Janikowski out for practice. He misses an easy 40 yarder, and might just have sealed his fate. I can't understand why he's so maddeningly inconsistant.

A small matter, as we are triumphant!! 29-24!

Oakland

Culpepper 13/21 177 2-1

Fargas 13-66, Bush 11-84, Culpepper 7-42-1, Irons 3-3, Gado 3-17, O'Neal 1-6

Miller 4-73, Douglas 3-38-1, Fargas 2-25, Bradley 2-6-1, Madsen 2-35

Howard 2 sacks, Kelly 1 sack.

Denver

Cutler 15/26 155

Young 11-140-3
Cutler 4-10

Marshall 4-60, Ambrose 4-19, Martinez 2-50, Graham 2-10, Simpson 1-9, Scheffler 1-7

Crowder 2 sacks, McKinley 1 sack, M. Douglas 1 sack
Bailey 1 int

HUGE WIN for the Oakland Raiders. Biggest win all season. Time to see if San Diego was able to beat Indianapolis or if the Colts avenge their 2007 playoff defeat.

[Aurabolt127]

With that win, Coach C's approval inches up a notch to 94!

First things first.

Oakland has decided to resign FS Rod Avery to a 2 year, $1.21 million dollar contract. Also included was a 250k signing bonus. The contract issues with Lechler, among others, caused my approval to dip to 93 again, and Avery's been a nice surprise for a desperation signing. We'll evaluate him more as the season goes on.

Justin Fargas lacerated his hand and is only expected to miss 2 more days. I have 4 till my game with KC, so he "should" be back. We'll see.

We are "tied" with San Diego at 7-4, with the Broncos a game behind at 6-5 and KC at 4-7. San Diego still has the tiebreaker thanks to their earlier defeat of us, but we still have a chance for revenge. Even more important we win the rest of our division games to try to build an edge against the Chargers any way we can.

We decided to resign reserve LB Stephen Nicholas to a 3 year, $2.3 million dollar contract. Included is a $500k signing bonus, as well as two million dollar incentives that his agent insisted on, even though they are extreme longshots to achieve. He's too valuable right now, backing up 2 linebacker spots, plus it's not really that expensive considering.

Gameday, and I see that Derrick Burgess only needed one more day to get healthy. Not only that, but he's joined by rookie LE Trevor Scott, who hurt his toe and is going to miss one day. Seriously. I hate to sign someone for one week to play backup, but my Dline gets gassed so easily it seems...I can't only have one backup defensive end. So...the Oakland Raiders have announced they have released QB John Navarre and signed DE Simeon Rice. I have to admit, this is a Fan turned Coach turned Fan signing. I wanted to give the old guy a game or two in uniform before he undoubtably retires next year. Since he'll only be needed later in the game on passing downs, maybe he'll get a chance to notch one sack for the Silver and Black.

So, Oakland is set for a home turf battle with the Chiefs for a chance to keep a grip on the AFC West. A loss here would eliminate the Chiefs from any postseason discussion for sure, and Oakland can't afford to lose this one either - San Diego plays Atlanta this week, and Denver's only a game behind. A 4 game win streak is on the line as well - gotta keep that momentum rolling!!

[Aurabolt127]

Gameday folks! Kansas City at Oakland! It's raining cats and dogs, but it still looks like we're in for one heck of an AFC West battle! The season is winding down, and the Raiders suddenly find themselves in a dogfight for the AFC West crown, while Kansas City is struggling to right the ship as their season slips away...

Kansas City wins the toss and elects to receive.

I can see the rain is going to be a factor in this one as Damon Huard throws three straight incompletions. Hopefully we'll do a little better in the passing game than that. Of course with weather like this, the key is run, run, run.

Four straight runs, including a 20 yarder by Michael Bush, get us driving; but an incomplete pass leaves us with a 4th and 2 from the 32 yard line. Rain be damned, we send Sebastian Janikowski out for a 49 yard kick. Playing for his future, he nails it. 3-0.

Kansas City is forced to go three and out once again, and a nice return gives us first and 10 on our 43. They're keying into our run game, and Culpepper pauses when he sees a wide open receiver and his late throw his nearly picked off. 3 and out.

HUGE punt pins them at the 2. First play, LJ for nothing. Second play, LJ stuffed for -1 yard. Defining moment pops up - umm, yes we are going to blitz, thanks for asking. Larry Johnson manages to get one yard. We go full on for the block, and we are so close...in all my years playing this game, playing every game, that is the closest I have ever come to blocking a punt. Man!

First play of the drive and Michael Bush fumbles. We recover, but this is getting old. Culpepper is sacked on 2nd down, but on third he hits a minibomb to Zach Miller for 34 yards. First and 10 on the 14! Culpepper hits Harry Douglas to the 3! Kenny Irons is stuffed on first down, but on second down, Daunte Culpepper hits Zach Miller for a 4 yard touchdown! SeaBass hits the PAT and we're up 10-0!

Damon Huard gets sacked by Akeem Jordan and is down. Matt Ryan is in the game, and we'll see what the rookie's all about. He misses his first pass, but hits Jesse Chatman for a 9 yard pass. Short of the first down, but a completion nonetheless. It could be 9.99 yards, as long as I get the ball back.

A couple nice passes and a pass interference call gets us to the 21 yard line. Justin Fargas rushes 20 yards to the 1 yard line, and I have him carry it the last few feet. 17-0! Sadly, starting C Jake Grove hurts his left arm and will miss the rest of the game. Rookie C Adam Spieker is in the game...

After forcing Kansas City to punt, Oakland starts another long drive, hoping to put the nail in the coffin. Daunte Culpepper, however, throws an 79 yard pick six to Patrick Surtain to get KC right back in it. As we hit the 2 minute warning. 17-7, Oakland still leads.

Just! Like! That! Daunte Culpepper throws a short pass to Mark Bradley, who spins out of Surtain's grasp and races 69 yards for the touchdown! PAT is good! 24-7

KC's next drive is kept alive by a nifty Ryan to Gonzalez pass. I subbed Simeon Rice in for a couple plays, and both times he was right there in Ryan's face. No sacks, but good pressure. They're forced to punt, and land a boomer right on our 1 yard line. 42 seconds left, and we're not going to take any chances. I let JaMarcus sneak it forward and let time run out in the half.

We take the opening drive of the half, and march down the field, doing our best to control the clock. Finally, with 8:23 left in the quarter, we're forced to try a 47 yard field goal. Janikowski shanks it. Kansas City takes over on their 37 yard line.

Matt Ryan to Jerheme Urban is the theme of the next drive, and they take the ball all the way to the 1 yard line. Kirk Morrison drops Larry Johnson for a 3 yard loss, and LJ is hurt. 2nd down and goal from the four, and Jesse Chatman breaks a tackle and scores a touchdown. 24-14 with 3:38 left in the 3rd quarter.

We go three and out, and KC takes over on their 28 yard line. A 1 yard run, and two incompletions and the third quarter ends with a punt. It's funny, I'm really rooting for Simeon Rice, and on the 2nd down incompletion, it spun right aroud the Chief's left tackle and almost had Ryan before the LG picked him up. Old man's still got some moves!

Our next drive stalls on the KC 26, time to send out Janikowski. He hits the 43 yarder and the lead increases to 27-14 with 9:13 left in the game.

Doesn't look like Huard or Johnson are coming back, but with Ryan able to hit Urban on the same curl route at will, they don't need them! Ryan hits Tony Gonzalez for 8 yards and the score. 27-21 with 3:39 left in the game.

We start the drive looking to burn some clock, and it starts off Gado for 11, Fargas for 10, Fargas for 6...things are looking good. Fargas carries again for 8 yards, and we hit the 2 minute warning with a first and 10 from the KC 29. A couple plays later, and it's 4th and 1 from the 20. SeaBass is in to seal the game and with 1:06 he hits it and the lead is 9!! 30-21!

Kansas City can't complete a pass, and on 4th down, DeMario Minter just misses out on a perfect pick 6 opportunity. We take a knee and start the celebration!

Culpepper 9/16 180 2-1

Fargas 18-100-1, Irons 9-41, Gado 4-22, Culpepper 3-5, Bush 2-19, Russell 1-4, O'Neal 1-3

Bradley 3-112-1, Fargas 2-14, Miller 2-38-1, Douglas 2-16

Ed Johnson, Akeem Jordan, and KGB each had a sack.

Huard was 0-3, Ryan 17-27 198 1-0
Larry Johnson was 12-21 and Jesse Chatman was 8-16-1
Jerheme Urban caught 6-76, Tony Gonzalez caught 3-48-1, Bowe 3-45
We gave up 2 sacks and a pick

I can't wait to see the standings now...

[Aurabolt127]

War in the West

Oakland prepares to head to San Diego with a 5 game winning streak and looking for more. San Diego was able to win their game vs Atlanta and remains in a tie with Oakland at 8-4. Denver also won its game, and is only a game back at 7-5. It sure looks like this is the game that decides the AFC West: should San Diego win it will have a one game lead and the tiebreaker vs Oakland with only 3 games left...if Oakland wins, it gains a game lead and splits the series with the Chargers.

As we get ready for our first Thursday night game, approval sits at 94. Time to get ready.

Quick update on the Chiefs...Larry Johnson will back in the lineup Sunday for the Chiefs, but Damon Huard tore his triceps and will miss the rest of the season. It's Matt Ryan's team now...and probably from now on too.

The Patriots clinched their division Sunday, and the Vikings are one win away from clinching too. Nnamdi going to Cinncy really did have an impact, as they sit atop their division with a 9-2-1 record. Next best is Pittsburgh at 6-6.

Oakland resigns CB Michael Waddell to a 2 year deal worth 980k and no bonuses. This essentially just buys me time to evaluate my secondary without players getting all angry I haven't resigned them.

Gameday inactives - this is the healthiest we have ever been, as we have to sit 8 players this week. Curry, Rucker, Higgins are definite. Michael Bush is going to sit too after his fumble last week. After that, Gerard Warren will probably sit inactive for the 3rd straight week, and Kenny Pettway will also be inactive. Definitely excited to have Derrick Burgess back. Couple more inactives..hmm...probably Tracy Porter (who's even Al Davis has to admit isn't working out) and probably reserve G Adam Kraus.

For the Chargers, they only have 3 people injured, and lucky for me one of them is All-World linebacker Shawn Merriman (92). The weather is always beautiful in San Diego, and after a short week, Thursday Night Football is ready for kickoff with the AFC West on the line!

[phenomenal_waffles]

I'm jealous of your run game. I have the full house formation in my playbook and running for me is still futile.

And how dare you consider getting rid of not only Lechler, but Janikowski too? Two Al Davis mainstays. Shame on you

[Aurabolt127]

I know, Lechler and Janikowski are so good in real life, but they're so expensive, esp for a Raiders franchise that struggles so much with the cap. I certainly can't afford to pay them both forever...not with expensive dead weight still on my roster...

Thanks...I definitely try my best with my runners.

[Aurabolt127]

Sigh...Just got the whole game typed up when it doesn't post and comes up with some error about my laptop and the internet. I try to back up from the error screen, and everything I typed, I lost.

Sadly - we lost in OT - 26-23. Culpepper tossed a TD but two picks, Rivers tossed two as well. We "held" LDT to 101 yards, Fargas managed 77. The tight ends ruled the day - as Gates had 100 yards and TD, Miller had 130 yards but no score. Scoring was light all game till the 4th quarter, where we combind for 30 points. Janikowski hit the kick that sent us into overtime, but I couldn't stop them once they got the OT kickoff. It was like Gates for 17, LDT run for 13, LDT run for 8, Chambers for 12, etc... Overtime was over before you knew it. I was so frustrated watching them glide down the field.

This is a big loss for us, as it puts us a game behind the Chargers with 3 to go, plus they have the tiebreaker. Time to check out the standings as we head back to Oakland...