Whew

I managed to lose my voice watching a game at home, but that was a lot of fun. Seemed like a game dominated by the Raiders but that was agonizingly always within reach for the Broncos. Some observations:

• Passing game - yeesh, Campbell needs to get the ball down the field to the WRs. Although I must say it was "funny" to see DHB emerge as the go-to guy. He's improving.
• Pass defense - iffy, but not too bad. It's nice to be picking on the pass defense instead of the run defense (which was terrific) for once.
• Right tackle - whether it was Barnes or Heyer, seemed like the RT was the guy getting the flag more times than not. Improved by the end, though.
• Penalties - once again!
  
• DMC - this guy is the real deal. How fun is it to watch him get to the corner?
  
• D-line - didn't get to the QB as often as I'd like to see, but at times they were dominant, and whether it was Seymour or Kelly or Houston or Shaughnessy, these guys were making the big plays.
• Lechler - 77 yard punt. Pretty good, but...
• Sea Bass - record tying 63 yarder. We've been waiting for this day since he was drafted, and it ended up being the difference in an opening night win vs. the Broncos. Beautiful.

Apparently the Raiders had lost their last 8 season openers, the longest streak in football. So yeah, this is a big win. 1-0.

Fat Kicker Toss: WTF?!

Here's a round-up of reactions to what will now be known as "Fat Kicker Toss:"

We'll start with Kawakami, since he's the one who coined "Fat Kicker Toss." He calls Cable an "amateur" and compares the interim coach's soon-to-be-brief tenure to the Gong Show.

Lowell Cohn: Nice knowing you, Coach.

Jerry Mac: No excuse.

Ratto: "I mean, in what universe does a play that relies on an 17-yard scamper by Janikowski make sense?"

Jason Jones: It wasn't the drunkenness; you saw that.

Gutierrrez: Silly? Dumb? Nah. It's the Raiders.

Peterson: Cable's mad, not a genius.

I'm sure there are more out there, but I'm kind of sick to my stomach after reading the above-linked pieces.

Coop: Worse than Art Shell Year.

Jarrod Cooper is on Dan's favorite post-game show (by the way, the Raiders lost, although congrats to Seabass on breaking Blanda's record). He just said that he's in contact with a lot of guys in the locker room, and that what he's hearing is that it's worse than 2006, because at least then there was some consistency. Consistently bad, but it was consistent. When O'Donnell asked about the Harbaugh rumors, he said, sure, Harbaugh's a great coach, and Al Davis loves him, but Al loved Lance Kiffin when he hired him, too. If nothing else changes, Harbaugh doesn't stand a chance.

By the way, Kawakami thinks JaMarcus should tank along with the rest of the Raiders good players, and scoops Sllaacs by coining the phrase, "blown to alexsmithereens."

Wha? 6-0 Us After 1.

I don't know what's going on. Johnny Lee opened with a 68 yard kickoff return. Javon Walker caught two straight passes to open the game. The defense has two sacks, one by DeAngelo Hall.

Yes. Cornerback DeAngelo Hall, with Gibril Wilson, a Safety, blitzing with him.

Lane Kiffin was right, they need to blitz.