This post is long overdue. That was a cornerstone win the Raiders achieved in San Diego. They were in jeopardy of sliding back into a bottom-dwelling team in the division. They could have gone one of two ways: they could have curled up into a ball after two consecutive hapless defeats, or they could have scraped themselves off the turf, regrouped, and made something of the rest of the season. It looks as if they did the latter. It still remains to be seen if they can finish above .500, but Sunday was definitely the right step to get there. They had to have this victory, if not for getting back to .500, then proving to themselves that all the demons in the past are all but gone. Gone are the days of getting over-matched by their division foes 6 times a season, now they are the ones packing the punches. The reason: the running game. They used to get run over by the likes of Larry Johnson, LaDainian Tomlinson and whoever Denver ran out there. This year, however, has been a different story. Through four division games, Oakland has 160 rushes for 802 yards and nine touchdowns. The Chargers, Chiefs, and Broncos, have 83 carries for 291 yards and one touchdown combined. That is a big difference from the year's past. Let's take a look at some points from the 28-13 victory over San Diego:
The two-headed monster worked to perfection. Bush and McFadden ran for 192 yards combined on 42 carries. That's exactly what you want to see in a recipe for success. They both ran hard and with a purpose all day. In 52 runs, the offense had 45 for positive yards, 4 for zero yards and only one for -3 yards. If you get that kind of production week-in and week-out, you are going to win a lot of games.
Campbell plays much better when there is no one looking over his shoulder to take his job away. In the four games this season that Jason has played extremely well, they were games that Gradkowski had no shot of playing because of injury. With Grad being out for the season, maybe Jason will relax and we can go on another long winning streak.
Rolando is starting to get a feel for what it takes to play in the NFL. McClain was drafted as a game changing MLB for a defense that was struggling to stop the run. He is starting to prove to everyone that he is the man they drafted to do exactly what they needed him to do. He played really well in gap coverage and on the outside against RB's in the flat. His future looks very bright.
Physicality is Raiders football. The two games they lost to Pittsburgh and Miami, they just weren't aggressive and physical in the trenches. When they were winning, they were able to control the line of scrimmage and that's exactly what they did against the Chargers. They were constantly in Philip Rivers' face, sacking him 4 times and hitting him another 16 times. The corners were pressing the receivers and throwing off the timing. They need to continue this trend in order to win out and get a playoff spot.
Hue Jackson is a tremendous Offensive Coordinator. The reason for the Raiders offensive resurgence lies directly in the hands of Hue. He has implemented a system that works for this team. He hasn't tried to make them something that they aren't. In the last several years, there were plays the Raiders would run that would just make you ask yourself, 'why?' Reverses would go for negative yardage and the deep ball would be called when there wasn't even the slightest hint of a running game to keep them honest. Now everything they do on offense works off each other. The play-action pass is called when the defense is keying on the run. The reverse is called when they have 8 men in the box. Everything has a purpose and it all works because of the success the execution.
What were some things you took away from the game? Did you ever see them starting out 4-0 in the division and sweeping the Chargers? Post your thoughts and comments.
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