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.

Feeling Good

Hopefully Al Davis can say the same this weekend. It's been a long time since the Raiders have been 5-4. I've found myself marveling at the unfamiliar look of that combination of numbers all week. Raiders, 5-4. Nice.

What's also nice is this SI article courtesy of Jerry. Definitely a feel good article about Richard Seymour and the resurgent Raiders defense. The maturation of Matt Shaughnessy and reemergence of Tommy Kelly have turned around the run D 180 degrees. When reading the article, though, I do get that funny feeling that something doesn't add up. How can they just try a little bit harder and suddenly be a great D? Despite my previous distaste for him, Warren Sapp's analysis of the run defense continues to echo in my mind. Scheme must be important.

But then I remember Rich Gannon. Gannon came into the challenging organizational world that is the Raiders and willed that team to greatness. Perhaps Seymour is doing the same with the defense?

For the past 8 years or so, bye week has been welcomed by saying, "Well, at least the Raiders aren't going to lose this week." This year we can simply say, "5-4."

32-17

Last night's preseason win over the Bears has me feeling pretty good about the Raiders. Main observations:

• The pass rush and defensive front looks incredible
• O-line - not bad
• Wide receivers - we still need help here

If Kamerion Wimbley plays anything like he did last night during the regular season, the Raiders are in excellent shape. Four sacks in the first half. The whole D-line looked great, with Tommy Kelly in on the action as well. The complete revamp of the LB corps looks outstanding right now, and moving up Trevor Scott and Wimbley to rush the passer in nickel situations is paying off. McClain can tackle. Sure, he overran the play that looked disturbingly similar to last year's run defense (Forte for 89 yards), but when he hits guys, they go down.

The O line is a big question mark, but looked pretty solid against some good players on the Bears. One of my favorite plays of the game came in the second quarter when Henderson stood up Julius Peppers in a 1-on-1 situation, then Gallery came over to help and put him on the ground, hard. Despite a couple of dumb penalties on the opening drive - which the Raiders overcame, a great sign in itself - Gallery looks terrific.

As for the wide receivers, it's a good thing we have Louis Murphy. No one else looked good. Even JLH, who had a nice catch, still looks a bit lost out there. Hopefully Schilens and DHB are not really hurt and we're just saving them for the regular season. Otherwise Zach Miller will be way overworked. It looked to me last night like Campbell was skipping an open Zach on several plays to try and get the ball to WRs. At least I hope that's the case...

So far this year my least favorite guy is #23, Jeremy Ware. He seems to have that rare blend of overconfidence and incompetence that leads to fourth down TD passes like the Bears' second score.

Of note, Bo Jackson was at the game last night and he told Greg Papa that his best ever 40 time was a 4.14. He looked even faster than that with pads on.

Overall, relatively dominant game by the Raiders. Jerry points out the success they had with the screen play on offense. That was another good thing to see.

Hello From Texas

I'm in College Station, Texas for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Like Dan, I'd also become a non-practicing Raiders fan after the Gannon-is-a-terrorist debacle.

But I just heard Jim Nance say that Janikowski's field goal with 15 seconds left was good, and the Raiders won 20-17.

So Gradkowski is 1-0 as the Raiders starter, and threw 2 Touchdown passes. For the first time all season, I didn't receive a "Fuck Russell" text message from Kristi Hauenstein. Instead I got an "Asomugha and Seabass rock" text message from Kristi Hauenstein.

I like those much better.

Now I'm going to go and try to find some highlights.

Halftime: 15-0 Raiders

There was a beautiful long ball over the middle to Miller for a TD. Cornell Green's holding penalties are Killing us, one nullifying a TD run by Bush.

Kiff sent Seabass out for a 76 yard field goal attempt as time expired.

That was funny.

Kalimba Edwards is dominating. So is the rest of the defense, even with Chris Johnson getting most of Nmamdi's time.

This is fun.

Heard from Dan, he's at the Fox Sports cafe at O'Hare. He got there just after the Miller TD.

What is this Strange Sensation?

It's a positive feeling on a Sunday afternoon after a Raiders victory on the road in Kansas City.

Outstanding.

The defense had pressure all day. The corners covered their receivers. There were a lot of offsides penalties, but they didn't seem to be consequential.

I'll probably be back to hating tomorrow; especially if Corkran's reportage is true.

But today?

Victory.