Air Raid

With the 4th pick in the fifth round, the Raider select DeAndre Washington:

With the 12th pick in the third round, the Raider select Shilique Calhoun:

With the 13th pick in the second round, the Raider select Jihad Ward

With the 14th pick in the first round, the Raider select Karl Joseph:

A long time ago, Sport Illustrated had a front page article about the Raiders rise once more to relevance. It was during the Gannon era and finally this year, I could see them running a similar piece.

Free agents suddenly want to play in Oakland (or wherever we end up) and the team has an amazing young nucleus on which everything is being built.

Add to this the fall of the Chargers and the retirement of Manning and there is opportunity for the team to move up.

A little late to this but last weekend the Raiders dropped to 2-2 in a disappointing loss to the Bears. Not much to say really, the Raiders – if they want to be playing longer than sixteen games – need to find a way to win these games.

Well it’s on to the Broncos tomorrow and Peyton Manning. This Manning should be beatable even if they are 4-0 right now.

Oakland Raiders 27, Cleveland Browns 20.

Derek Carr continued where he left off against the Ravens last week with another breakout performance – this time against the Browns.  Again he favorite target was rookie Amari Cooper, who had over one hundred yards receiving before half time.

What was different in this game however was the Raiders also got their rushing attack going to the tune of 139 yards for Murray and 155 yards total.

But the real thing of beauty in this game was the play that ended a late comeback push for the Browns and sealed the victory. It was the 61st interception for future Hall Of Fame defensive back –  Charles Woodson. The Raiders bated the Browns into throwing the ball and as soon as it was released it was clear what had happened. Woodson’s interception also ties an NFL record – most seasons consecutive with an interception – at 18 seasons. It also moves him into 11th all-time on the leaderboard.

The eleven game streak of road loses is now a memory and the Raiders now sit at 2-1 and second place in the division behind the Broncos.

The Oakland Raiders notched the first win of the 2015 season on Sunday with a 37-33 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. It ends a four game winning streak by the Ravens over the Raiders.

Derek Carr had what many called a breakout performance against a Ravens defense that struggled – just the Raiders defense did – all day to stop (just four punts total in the game – two each).  Carr distributed the ball to ten different receivers including three for touchdowns – the gaming winning TD to Seth Roberts and one each for the Raiders top wideouts (Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper).

Both Cooper and Crabtree ended the day with over one hundred yards receiving (9 for 111 for Crabtree and 7 for 109 for Cooper).

This might also prove to be the game that changed the Raiders fortunes and it was the game winning drive that will be it’s catalyst. The Ravens had tied the game up at 30-30 and then picked off Carr and then thanks to a little luck the Raiders defense held the Ravens to just a field goal and their first lead in the game.  It’s at this point in games that the Raiders of the past decade have folded and started to look forward to next year but not these Raiders.

Carr then marched the Raiders down the field and capped off the drive with a touchdown pass to Seth Roberts on a very well executed play that left the Wideout sitting in a massive hole in the Ravens defense. It was Carr’s second game winning drive and possibly the point in which the Raiders offense turned the corner. Time will tell but it sure felt good.