The first key to success is being able to watch as many games as possible. The only way to accomplish this by having DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket piped directly to your home. This extreme package is designed with the avid football fan in mind. For those who purchase this celebration of football, regardless of their media market, the rewards of being able to see each and every game of the week are theirs. This is especially advantageous for displaced fans who never see their favorite colors brandished about the office, and don’t have the opportunity of seeing their team’s games on local TV. If you’re a Steelers fan living in Arizona, and I know plenty, you can still see every Steelers game of the year. Their Sunday Ticket package stands alone in the television industry as the most generous television subscription on the market. Fantasy enthusiasts can watch all of their draft picks and monitor the success of their team.

What are the accessories necessary to a legitimate day of Football? BBQ and lots of it. Get that grill fired up well before the games start, because you’re not going to want to tend to it after kickoff. Let’s not forget beer, stocked, cold, and not too far from where you’ll be viewing your gladiators fight. Games for half-time and post-game are a must for any memorable gathering. Cornhole has certainly shot up in popularity, but classics like horseshoes and bocce ball will suffice.

Whatever your Sunday rituals, relish them. Bring out your best in food and game. Gather your friends and watch future lore in the making. For football season is a short and fleeting.

Raiders biggest offseason need? Re-sign Zach Miller. (Photo by Kelly Thomas)

Should Jason Campbell start the 2011 season as the Raiders’ starting quarterback, he’ll face Sports Betting odds that are long when it comes to having success — and for good reason.

While the Raiders made great strides in 2010, going 8-8 for their first .500-or-better season in eight years, the collective bargaining fiasco between the league and its players could end up causing problems for the team this year.

Al Davis was smart to get many key re-signings done prior to the current hold on free agency, but with Nnamdi Asomugha and Robert Gallery on their way out, getting Zach Miller to come back will be huge.

Miller is a critical free agent for the Raiders.

Asomugha, while still great, is 30 this year and that means he’s on the downside for an NFL cornerback. How long the Raiders great will be able to keep up with younger and faster receivers isn’t known, but Davis isn’t going to make the same mistake he made with Terry McDaniel.

From 1992-1996, there wasn’t a better corner in the league. McDaniel was selected to five Pro Bowls during that span, and holds the Raiders’ record for interceptions returned for touchdown (5), and is second all time in interceptions (34) and yards returned by interception (624).

In 1996, McDaniel started 15 of 16 games, had five picks (one for touchdown), for 150 yards, and went to his fifth Pro Bowl. During the offseason, the then 32-year old corner was made the Raiders’ ‘transition free agent,’ and ended up signing a four-year, $13.6M deal — a great contract for 1997.

McDaniel’s 1997 season was his worst as a Raider. The aging corner couldn’t cover a bed with a blanket, starting just 12 of the 13 games he played, and getting one pick for 17 yards. He was let go at the end of the season and played in just nine games, starting none, in 1998 for the 8-8 Seattle Seahawks. His career ended when the season was over.

Robert Gallery, who will turn 31 before this season, has struggled to stay healthy over the last two seasons. Gallery wants mid-level left tackle play ($8M per year), and that’s just too much for a left guard with injury issues. In 2010, the Raiders may have found a player to replace him for backup guard pay — Daniel Loper.

Loper signed a two-year $4.2M contract before the deadline, and will likely be the Raiders’ starting left guard at the start of the season…unless he supplants Cooper Carlisle at right guard. Loper filled in for Gallery in 2010 while the former first rounder was injured, and performed well in his place.

Either way, the Raiders will be covered on the offensive line. Along with Loper, they also have Bruce Campbell, last year’s fourth-round selection in the draft, and the popular thinking is that they’ll be looking for another offensive guard with their first selection of this year’s draft, pick No. 48 in the second round.

Back to Miller. Brandon Myers may turn out to be a capable starter, but he’s not ready to be as productive as Miller — the Raiders’ leading receiver over the last three seasons.

Why? Myers can’t get open when he’s a receiver. Myers started three games in 2010 and four receptions for 20 yards. For the season, Myers had 12 receptions for 80 yards and one fumble. In contrast, Miller had a team-leading 60 receptions in 15 games for an average of four receptions a game.

Over his four-year career, Miller has caught 44, 56,66, and60 passes in each respective season. That’s 226 receptions in 62 games as a pro for 2,712 yards, and 12 touchdowns. His rookie season was the only year he hasn’t led the Raiders in receiving — he tied Jerry Porter with 44 and trailed Ronald Curry, who had 57 that season.

In short, the Raiders biggest need this offseason is Miller. Just ask his quarterback.

Tomlin cited the continuity of the Raiders as one of the factors leading to the resurgence of winning football in Oakland. You may recall that Bruce Gradkowski led the Raiders in a game at Heinz Field last season in which Oakland scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win 27-24.

Thanks to this weeks’ game, Tomlin has gotten the opportunity to relive the experience from last season by watching the game tape during his preparations. That preparation led the Steelers’ coach to confess to reporters, “I’ve got big-time respect for what’s going on with those guys and where they are.”

As far as the Raiders first round pick this year, Rolando McClain, Tomlin admitted that they didn’t bother to even look at him prior to the draft because they were certain he wouldn’t be around when their time came to pick. However, Tomlin had good things to say about the rookie’s performance this season.

“He is playing good football for them. He is the man in the middle and the quarterback of a defense that is playing well. He doesn’t need any endorsement from me. That speaks for itself. He is doing an awesome job.“

The NFL record for most penalties by both teams in a game is 37, and most yards penalized by both teams is 374. Both records were set November 25, 1951 in a game between the Cleveland Browns and the Chicago Bears — before Dick Butkus, (who was eight years old at the time) and Jim Brown (15 years old) were college prospects.

“Twenty seven penalties called on two teams in this league, in a game this big is unbelievable,” said Tom Cable immediately following the conclusion of the game Sunday. During the post game presser, Cable brought up or talked about the officiating three more times; the Nick Miller fumble, the total amount of penalties, and the Verran Tucker touchdown review that didn’t overturn the call on the field.

It’s safe to say that he was angry with the officiating and on Monday Cable’s irritation hadn’t subsided. When asked about the penalties, the head coach said, “Let’s get real about one thing, there are a number of things on film that we will turn in again. For example, when you get it back that [the] Stevie Brown [play] last week should have been a touchdown. Those things are unacceptable.”

Many should remember the play that Cable was referring to. Seattle, in desperate need of a comeback, down 23-3, attempted an onside kick. Brown caught the kick, slipped to the ground, got back up untouched, and sprinted to the end zone for the apparent touchdown. An official ruled Brown down by contact at the spot of the recovery, and because of that the play wasn’t reviewable and the Raiders had six points taken off of the scoreboard. The Raiders ended up with a field goal instead.

Cable, still steamed about that play and others from the most recent game, verified that the league office admitted to the mistake and told the Raiders that it should have been a touchdown. “Those things are unacceptable to me,” said Cable. “We go out there to play hard and to play right.”

He then continued, talking about the latest rash of plays the Raiders would be disputing this week. “There are things from this film that we’ll turn in again. Are we offsides too much? Yes. Do we have to take responsibility for illegal motion or being lined up in the neutral zone defensively? Absolutely. Holding? Absolutely. If your hands are outside, it’s illegal. They’re going to call it. And I’ve got no issue with it. But when someone’s on the ground and the ball’s still in his hands, he’s down. That’s what it is. We have work to do to clean it up. There’s no question. But it’s too many.”

Every week after looking at the game tapes, teams send the league a file of plays they want reviewed by the head of officiating. The plays range from an incomplete pass being ruled complete, all the way up to an onside kick returned for a touchdown instead being ruled down at the 41. So how big was this week’s file? Was it the biggest file Cable has ever turned in? “Yes,” said Cable.

Cable was asked how many of the penalties were warranted and he responded, “I don’t know how much I can speak on that.” When asked to give a number, the coach declined to comment.

Ohhh, my goodness. I have to choose my words carefully here, because I don’t want to lose any money. There were a few plays… I don’t know, I feel like the league should look at ‘em – and like they always do, and evaluate – and see what was wrong. There were some plays – I don’t think I should get in trouble for that. There were some plays that were wrong, that we had good coverage or we had the good play, and they changed it to something else. That shouldn’t get me fined for that. There were some plays they just missed, simple as that.
- Mike Mitchell on the officiating during the game against Kansas City.

Flip Flop?

Say what you want about Tom Cable, but normally he’s a pretty straight shooter. When he replaced Jason Campbell midway through the second game of the season with Bruce Gradkowski, he didn’t flinch when telling the world that Gradkowski was his quarterback going forward.

When Gradkowski went down with a shoulder injury, Cable didn’t hesitate to inform reporters that Campbell would remain the backup quarterback when Bruce Almighty could return from injury. Even after the Raiders gained over a 1,000 yards combined in two consecutive games, Cable was steadfast in his position on Gradkowski being the starter.

Somehow, a fourth-quarter, come-from-behind victory for a third straight win, weakens Cable’s resolve when it comes to his original stance about the starting quarterback situation. Monday, Cable responding to a question about trusting Campbell, said he trusted his current starter, then followed that up with, “Your all getting with where am I going with the quarterback thing, Jason’s our quarterback right now and Bruce isn’t healthy yet, enough to have this conversation, that’s where this is at.”

That response prompted the question of his commitment to his original statement about the quarterback situation. Has he wavered on who his starter will be when Gradkowski is healthy enough to play?

“I really haven’t wavered, but I do have a belief in me about, you know, when you’re dealing it and you got the hot hand, and things are going in the right direction for your football team, you know, why would you make a change? And that’s where I think right now, but in the back of my mind I also say, ‘It’s not really making a change. He was a starter before I made the change with Bruce and he’s kinda’ come back and done a lot of good things for our team.’ What’s the negative of this? Well I have another problem. I got two good quarterbacks healthy again. That’s the only negative I see about it. I’m probably leaning towards staying with the hot hand. That’s just where I’m at.”

The only thing to conclude from that, is that Jason Campbell is his guy…for now. So, in order to clarify that statement, Cable was asked point blank, ‘who will start if they are both healthy?’

“On Monday if you ask me that, I’ll probably give you an answer, but today with Bruce not being healthy enough to do everything that we need him to do, it’s really not a fair question. But Monday, hopefully it will be and I’ll tell you then exactly what we’re going to do.”

GMC praising a FORD?

Am I the only one who thinks it’s ironic that Jacoby Ford has been named a finalist for this week’s GMC Never Say Never Moment of the Week? It’s an award that represents ‘the best moment or play of the week that represents determination and perseverance.‘

The Raiders’ rookie receiver is up against Vikings QB Brett Favre and Jets QB Mark Sanchez, who both led their teams from behind for victories on Sunday. The winner is decided by fan voting. If you want to vote for Ford, you can do that by clicking here.

Ford became only the second player in NFL history to put up more than 140 yards receiving and 150 yards in returns in a game. The only other player to do it was Gary Ballman of the ’63 Pittsburgh Steelers.

For the game, Ford caught six passes for 148 yards and had 158 yards in kick return yardage for a combined total of 306 total yards.

Injury Front

Cable doesn’t expect Chaz Schilens to play in two weeks against Pittsburgh, but he is hopeful that the oft-injured receiver will be back on the practice field and be ready to get some time when the Miami Dolphins come to town. He also said that Rolando McClain suffered a hip pointer in Sunday’s game, but the rookie was, “much, much better,” Monday.

Nnamdi Asomugha, who has a sprained ankle, Zach Miller (foot), and John Henderson (foot) have a, “very good chance,” of playing against Pittsburgh, but he warned that he’d be more certain next week. Louis Murphy (lung) is expected to start working on Tuesday and will be ready after the bye and Tyvon Branch (concussion) may not miss any time at all.

Yeah, we have a shot. We don’t know that yet because some of those things, they’re at the end of the injury or the end of the rehab, so now we’ve got to get them back playing football. And in the terms of Chaz’s case, he’s missed everything thus far. So, to say that he’d be ready to go and all that might be a little premature. But, if we can get him back on the field, then that would put his window at maybe the next game afer that. So we’ll just see. We’ll see what we can get done come Monday.
- Cable on the odds of having ALL of his players healthy for their next game.

Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden runs through the line on his way to 114 total yards against the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, November 7, 2010 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The Raiders defeated the Chiefs 23-20 in overtime. (Photo by Kelly Thomas)

After nine straight weeks without a rest, the Raiders will join Green Bay, New Orleans, and San Diego for the last bye week of the 2010 NFL schedule. In recent years, this off time has come much earlier for the Silver and Black, and some within the organization believe that it sometimes comes too soon.

“We got three in a row and this bye week is going to help us out, get healthy,” said one of the longest-tenured Raiders, Shane Lechler. “In times in the past, if we were healthy right now, the bye week’s falling at the worst time, kind of like what happened in Denver last year. But this one, we really need it this time. These guys need some time off.”

Last year, Denver started the season 6-0, and then took their forced bye week in week seven. After the time off, they lost eight of their final 10 games.

The last time the Raiders took a week off this late in the season was 2004. In ’05, ’07, and ’08, the Raiders had week five off, while In 2006, their bye week came in week three of the schedule. Last season, week nine was their scheduled time off, but whether or not the late bye week was a positive is arguable. Prior to the week nine bye, the Raiders were 2-6. After the bye, they were 3-5, but JaMarcus Russell wasn’t benched until week 11 — leaving doubt that the better second-half record was due to the time off.

After winning three straight for the first time since 2002, the Raiders don’t want to see something like what happened to the ’09 Broncos happen to them this season. “The psychology of the whole thing is the most important thing,” said head coach Tom Cable about getting the week off while on a hot streak. “Winning some games like we have, they can at least take a step back now, and they’re excited about it and they’re hungry for it, so their mind won’t be too far from it.”

Raiders star defensive lineman Richard Seymour is one of the few players on the roster that has been on a winning team in his career. Monday he warned, “If you don’t handle [the bye week] right, it can be bad.” That, Cable said, is something that he’s already addressed with the team. In Cable’s press conference on Monday he revealed, “We talked about what needs to be done in their time away, and if they’ve got injuries or issues like that, how to take care of them and the responsibility that comes with that and challenged them all.”

Despite any challenges or pitfalls, Cable is confident that his team will be able to handle all of their responsibilities — which may attribute to why he’s positive about taking a week off in the midst of a three-game winning streak.

“This is the perfect time for this team to have a bye week,” said Cable. “We have a chance to be as healthy or get as healthy as we’ve been all year, since we went to camp. So, I think it does come at a good time and I think that we didn’t get much break from preseason to the regular season. So I think this gives us a chance to really kind of recharge our batteries, mentally more than anything, but it’ll be a good break for our team.”

Seymour seems to agree. “You can gain a lot from it, and you can lose a lot but I think if we handle this thing the right way – the way things have been going – with the attention to detail and the ways guys have bought into what we’re trying to do, I think it’s going to be a really good thing for us.“

The Oakland Raiders (5-4, 3-0 AFC West) came into their rivalry game with the Kansas City Chiefs (5-3, 1-1 AFC West) on a hot streak after defeating Denver and Seattle by a combined score of 92-17. A victory over the first-place Chiefs would put them just half a game behind the AFC West front-runner, and give them a 3-0 record in the division — a tie-breaker that head coach Tom Cable has said the team is focused on this season.

It didn’t start out well, but it’s all about how it ends.

The Raiders came from 10 points down, finished regulation by kicking a game-tying field goal, and finished the game with a game-winner from Sebastian Janikowski for a 23-20 overtime victory that will go down in history as one of the greatest games played in the storied rivalry.

The Raiders’ offense reverted back to the ineptitude of their 49ers loss three weeks ago and had no resemblance to the one that gained 1,053 yards over the last two weeks. At the end of the first half, the offense had accumulated just 49 total yards on offense — eight of which came in the second quarter — and were down by a 10-0 score in front of a sell-out crowd of 61,075 rabid fans.

It was the first sell out at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum since the Raiders’ 2009 opening Monday night loss to San Diego…and Raider Nation wasn’t happy with the first half performance by the home team.

“There was a couple of times they [the home crowd] were booing us, and rightfully so,” said defensive back Mike Mitchell after the game. “You know, we weren’t doing too hot.”

Mitchell’s comment may be an understatement. The Raiders couldn’t stop committing penalties in the first half. For the half, the Raiders committed eight fouls for 75 yards, but were fortunate that the Chiefs also committed six of their own for 55 yards. Where the Raiders were really fortunate, was the inability of the Chiefs to capitalize on some of the mental mistakes being made by the Silver and Black in the first half.

It was a typical Raiders-Chiefs rivalry game filled with tough defense, big plays, plenty of penalties, and the occasional shoving to go along with exchanging pleasantries.

The Raiders were the first to pull out trick plays by running the wildcat formation with Darren McFadden as the quarterback. The wildcat was used successfully for three runs and 22 yards, but when McFadden attempted a pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey, it was nearly intercepted in triple coverage.

The Chiefs would attempt a fake punt on fourth and six from the Raiders’ 46 by having the ball directly snapped to return man Javier Arenas — it failed. Not to be out done, on the Raiders next possession, the drive would end with an unsuccessful fake punt of their own — a direct snap to running back Rock Cartwright from their own 46. Raiders coach Tom Cable took full responsibility for calling the play.

“Bad call on my part,” Cable admitted at his post game press conference. “Really felt like we knew  if we had a two-man side we could do it and if it was a seven-box we wanted to get out of it. I called it, it’s on me but we didn’t execute it so it’s on me.”

The great field position, (Raiders 47 yard line), helped the Chiefs get into the red zone quickly with a little help from officiating. Kansas City quarterback Matt Cassel threw deep down the left sideline to Chris Chambers, but Raiders corner Chris Johnson had such good position on the ball, the pass nearly appeared to have been thrown to him. The official didn’t agree with that assessment and threw the flag for pass interference on Johnson — giving the Chiefs a 30-yard penalty and putting the ball on the Raiders’ 14.

Three plays later, Cassel threw a slant pass to tight end Tony Moeaki for a six-yard touchdown pass, or so it was ruled on the field. Replays showed that Moeaki’s knee touched the ground before he crossed the line, so Cable threw his first challenge flag of the day. After the play was reversed, the ball was put on the Raiders’ one. On the next play, Cassel would roll to his right and run it in for a score, but a holding call on Kansas City would put the ball back on the Raiders’ 11.

For Kansas City, the third time was a charm. With first and goal from the 11, Cassel lofted a pass to the left corner of the end zone to Verran Tucker, who caught it over Johnson for the touchdown. Again, the review showed that Tucker’s knee touched out of bounds before his right foot could touch in bounds. In some reviews, it also looked like Tucker’s right foot landed out of bounds, so Cable threw his second challenge flag of the game. The play stood, giving the Chiefs a six point lead and depleting the Raiders’ final challenge.

That challenge would come back to haunt the Raiders later, but not before the next series would.

On the Raiders’ next possession, left guard Robert Gallery was flagged for holding. The penalty put the ball on the Raiders’ own 17 with second down and 19 yards for the first. McFadden would get the call and after a gain of a few yards, linebacker Derrick Johnson forced a fumble the Chiefs would recover at the Oakland 26. The fumble would lead to a Ryan Succop 43-yard field goal and a quick 10-point lead.

The Chiefs could very well have added another 10 points before the end of the half. Succop had a 41-yard field goal called back for holding, turning the try into a 51 yard punt. The Chiefs also moved the ball to the Raiders’ eight with 38 seconds left in the half after a Jason Campbell pass was intercepted. On first and goal from the eight, Michael Huff came on a blitz and sacked Cassel for a six yard loss. The following play, Cassel’s pass was tipped by Mitchell and into the hands of rookie corner Jeremy Ware in the end zone.

“We were just in an all-out blitz. I seen the ball, you know, the tight end running up the seam,” said Mitchell about the play to end Kansas City’s scoring opportunity. “Just making a play on the ball. Tried to pick it, but one hand, it’s kind of tough. But Jeremy was right there, everyone stepping up making a play, hustling to the ball. His man’s running somewhere back of the end zone, he came off of him, hustled and made a play. And that’s our team.”

As the Raiders left for the locker room at halftime, the Raider Nation sounded off their frustration with boo’s. Cable wasn’t happy either. After the game, he described the first half offense as, “not very good,” and said he, “wasn’t very pleased,” with his special teams play.

That all began to change with the opening kickoff of the second half. Rookie receiver Jacoby Ford took the opening kickoff 94 yards for the Raiders’ first touchdown of the game. Suddenly, the game went from a possible blow out to a close divisional contest.

The touchdown revved up the Raiders so much that they were penalized for excessive celebration, forcing Sebastian Janikowski to kick from the Raiders’ 15. The Chiefs would end up starting their following drive from their own 37 and Cassel would lead Kansas City on an eight play, 56 yard drive that would end with a Succop 25 yard field goal. On the drive, the Raiders committed three penalties for 25 yards.

With the score 13-7 in favor of the Chiefs, the Raiders offense came to life. Campbell led Oakland on a seven play, 74 yard drive that ended with a two-yard touchdown pass to tackle eligible Khalif Barnes. Barnes, who a week ago got his first catch since high school against Seattle, caught the ball one yard into the end zone, looked up at the fans in the North end zone and raised both of his arms up in victory before the entire offensive team came over to congratulate him.

“It was slow motion because I was like, ‘Oh, I have it (the touchdown).’ And I said, ‘Oh, I don’t have it,’” said Barnes of his first touchdown catch. “And I was kind of disappointed. I caught it, and I looked at the ground and I was like, ‘Am I in the end zone?’ I’m in the end zone.”

The third quarter would end with the Raiders up 14-13, but seemingly having all of the momentum.

With 9:50 left in the game, Janikowski would kick a 23 yard field goal to extend the Raiders’ lead to 17-13. Seemingly, the Raiders were about to pull away, but then a costly officiating call put the game in jeopardy for the Silver and Black.

Chiefs punter, Dustin Colquitt, punted 53 yards to receiver Nick Miller, who muffed the catch, recovered at the Raiders’ 25 yard line and then returned it to the Oakland 30 before being brought down. In the process of being tackled, the ball came loose and a scrum between both teams ensued all the while two officials came running in pointing to the ground as to call the play dead.

When the tangled bodies were pulled away, it was the Raiders’ Cartwright who came up with the ball, except the officials deemed the fumble recovered by the Chiefs. The replay showed that Miller was down before the ball came out, but Cable didn’t have any challenges and with 9:02 remaining, he couldn’t get the official’s review.

The fumble proved costly. It took the Chiefs five plays to score on a pass to receiver Dwayne Bowe. The touchdown put the Chiefs up by three with a little over six minutes in the game and the stadium fell silent.

The Raiders would have the ball for nearly two minutes and be forced to punt it back to Kansas City with 4:16 to go. Lechler, who had been on the trainer’s table earlier in the game in pain, punted the ball only 34 yards to the Chiefs’ 45 where it was downed.

The Chiefs couldn’t execute their four-minute offense and in turn the Raiders had one last chance to tie or win the game. Starting from their own 25 with 2:06 to go, Campbell turned into George Blanda — who had been honored earlier in the day by announcing his family was in attendance at the game.

Campbell led the Raiders on a series of short passes to the Chiefs’ 41 and had 30 seconds left in the game to get into field goal range. On first and 10, Campbell completed a 19-yard pass to Jacoby Ford at the Chiefs’ 22, but rookie tackle Jared Veldheer was called for holding.

On the next play, with 24 seconds on the clock and no timeouts, Campbell again passed to Ford, but this time a Kansas City defender was poised to end the game with an interception in front of the rookie receiver. Not to be denied, Ford lept over the defender and somehow came down with the catch for a 29-yard gain on the Kansas City 22. Campbell then spiked the ball with seven second remaining and Janikowski was good on a 41-yard field goal to put the game into overtime.

Overtime lasted three minutes. The Chiefs won the toss and took possession first, but after going three and out, the Raiders would get the ball on their own 38. On the first play, Campbell launched a bomb to Ford for 47 yard pick up to the Chiefs’ 15. After a run by McFadden to position the ball on the right hash, Janikowski came on to win it with a 33-yard field goal.

Ford had his best day as a rookie with six catches for 148 yards and four returns for 158 yards with a touchdown. Some of his teammates deemed it the best receiving performance they’d seen. “Jacoby Ford stepped up to the plate today, and to be honest with you, he had…one of the best receiving outings that I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” said starting fullback Marcel Reece. “I honestly can’t think of anyone else who’s had a better receiving day than he has.”

The Raiders will go into the bye just a half game behind Kansas City and the only team in the AFC West with a perfect divisional record of 3-0. The Chiefs will face the Denver Broncos next week and if history is any indicator, the Raiders could come off the bye in first place. Teams are 1-7 this season the following week after playing the Raiders.

GAMEBOOK

KC 20

FINAL IN OT 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT T Chiefs 0 10 3 7 0 20 Raiders 0 0 14 6 3 23

Oak 23

Team Statistics Chiefs Raiders Time of Possession 33:10 29:43 First Downs 21 17 Rushing 6 5 Passing 9 11 Penalty 6 1 3rd-Down efficiency 3-15-20% 3-12-25% 4th-Down efficiency 0-1-0% 0-1-0% Red-Zone Efficiency 2-4-50% 1-3-33% Goal-To-Go Efficiency 1-3-33% 1-2-50% Total net yards 304 321 Total plays 72 64 Average gain 4.2 5.0 Net yards rushing 104 112 Rushes 34 26 Average yards per rush 3.1 4.3 Rushing TDs 0 0 Net yards passing 200 209 Completed-attempted 20-35 19-34 Average yards per pass 5.3 5.5 Passing TDs 2 1 Sacked-yards lost 3-16 4-20 Had intercepted 1 1 Return Yardage 124 202 Punts-returns 3-17 6-30 Punt-Return TDs 0 0 Kickoffs-returns 6-107 5-172 Kickoff-return TDs 0 1 Interceptions-returns 1-0 1-0 Interception-Return TDs 0 0 Field Goals Made 2-2-100% 3-4-75% Extra Points Made 2-2-100% 2-2-100% Two-Point Conversions Made 0-0-0% 0-0-0% Penalties-yards 12-100 15-140 Fumbles-lost 2-1 4-2 Own-Recovered-yards 1-0 2–10 Own-Recovered-TDs 0 0 Opp-Recovered-Yards 2-0 1-0 Opp-Recovered-TDs 0 0

2nd Quarter TD 14:31 Verran Tucker 11 yd pass from Matt Cassel (Ryan Succop kick) Plays: 5 | Yards: 47 | Time: 1:45 FG 11:08 Ryan Succop 43 yd FG Plays: 4 | Yards: 1 | Time: 2:05 3rd Quarter TD 14:48 Jacoby Ford 94 yd kick return (Sebastian Janikowski kick) Plays: 0 | Yards: 0 | Time: 0:00 FG 9:41 Ryan Succop 25 yd FG Plays: 8 | Yards: 56 | Time: 3:26 TD 6:13 Khalif Barnes 2 yd pass from Jason Campbell (Sebastian Janikowski kick) Plays: 7 | Yards: 74 | Time: 3:28 4th Quarter FG 9:46 Sebastian Janikowski 23 yd FG Plays: 12 | Yards: 75 | Time: 4:56 TD 6:13 Dwayne Bowe 20 yd pass from Matt Cassel (Ryan Succop kick) Plays: 5 | Yards: 30 | Time: 2:39 FG 0:03 Sebastian Janikowski 41 yd FG Plays: 10 | Yards: 53 | Time: 2:03 Overtime FG 12:07 Sebastian Janikowski 33 yd FG Plays: 3 | Yards: 47 | Time: 1:32

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The big news, thanks to Campbell’s play the last two weeks, is that both Nnamdi Asomugha (ankle) and Zach Miller (foot) will miss the game with injuries. Here is the list of the inactives and lineup changes for today’s game. Check back after the game for post game quotes and notes.

Raiders Inactives

QB Bruce Gradkowski – 3rd QB
WR Louis Murphy
CB Nnamdi Asomugha
RB Michael Bennett
LB Bruce Davis
DT John Henderson
TE Zach Miller
WR Chaz Schilens

Raiders Lineup Changes

Jason Campbell starts at QB in place of Bruce Gradkowski
Jacoby Ford starts at WR in place of Louis Murphy
Chris Johnson starts at CB in place of Nnamdi Asomugha
Brandon Myers starts at TE in place of Zach Miller

Chiefs Inactives

WR Dexter McCluster
S Kendrick Lewis
CB Jackie Bates
FB Mike Cox
S Reshard Langford
LB Charlie Anderson
LB Justin Cole
LB Mark Simoneau

Chiefs Lineup Changes

NONE

Both Zach Miller and Nnamdi Asomugha could miss the game this Sunday. (Photo's by Kelly Thomas)

As Raider luck would have it, the Raiders are about to face the Kansas City Chiefs in not only the biggest game of this season, but the biggest game in nearly a decade — and there’s a good possibility that they’ll do it without their two best players of recent years.

Tom Cable told the media Friday that Zach Miller (foot) and Nnamdi Asomugha (ankle) are both doubtful for Sunday’s action. In past years this bit of bad luck would spell doom for the Silver and Black, but Cable doesn’t believe it will have a big affect on the game.

He may be right. At the corner position, Chris Johnson and Stanford Routt have shown that they can perform at a high enough level to never be compared negatively to DeAngelo Hall…right?

Asked how the loss of Asomugha might affect the defense, Cable responded, “It doesn’t.” Then he went on to explain, “With Chris [Johnson] back, he and Stanford [Routt] and Jeremy [Ware]. So we’re fine. It doesn’t change anything.”

Starting free safety Michael Huff reiterated the same feeling earlier in the day. “It’s like [Asomugha has] been iron man. He’s been in every game, but obviously if he doesn’t play other corners got to step up.”

While Ware fared well against the Seattle Seahawks a week ago, Cable also said that fellow rookie Walter McFadden will be active for the first time this season. You may recall that during the preseason, McFadden performed well until suffering from a hamstring injury at the end of camp which then sidelined him for the better part of six weeks. Arguably, McFadden even outperformed Ware in the preseason.

While Routt and Johnson isn’t better than Asomugha and either of them, they should fill in and perform well enough against the worst-ranked passing offense in the NFL.

The biggest worry for the Raiders on the injury front will be the loss of Miller. With only two tight ends on the roster, not including offensive lineman Khalif Barnes, the Raiders can not afford any more trouble at the position. Brandon Myers will step in and fill the role vacated by Miller on Sunday — that is if Miller isn’t able to play.

Myers may be a pleasant surprise. In many ways, the second-year pro looks an awful lot like Miller when he’s on the field, although it’s a practice field. Cable was asked if he was confident with Myers in the passing game and he answered, “Yeah. Absolutely.”

Myers is ready to fill the void when called upon. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a while now, so I’m ready,” said the backup tight end. He also has no delusions that he’ll be treated the same as Miller. Asked if he thought he’d also be double-teamed, Myers responded, “Obviously not, no.”

Since he won’t get the same respect as the guy he’ll be covering for, Myers hopes that will give him the golden opportunity to open some eyes on Sunday. Actually, he’s just excited to get the opportunity for meaningful time on the field. “Whatever way the coaches are going to use me. I’m just excited for the opportunity. It’s going to be sold out, playing against the division, so, excited.”

Miller’s injury was thought to be nothing more than a speed bump for the week, but Cable said that his star tight end hasn’t made the progress they had hoped at the beginning of the week. “He has [made progress], it’s just not great progress,” said Cable of Miller’s recuperation. “It started to get better and then it just kind of has mellowed out here the last couple days and not much improvement.”

Notes

• The game will be televised locally. The Raiders were successful in selling out the Coliseum prior to the 24-hour extended deadline.
• Darrius Heyward-Bey (shoulder), Samson Satele (knee), and Bruce Gradkowski (shoulder) were all limited in practice, but they are also listed as probable for Sunday’s game. Cable said that whether or not Gradkowski is the second or third quarterback would be a game-time decision.
• Hiram Eugene (pec) practiced some on Friday, but he’ll be listed as questionable on game day.
• Louis Murphy (lung), Chaz Schilens (knee), and John Henderson (foot) did not practice and have been ruled out for this week’s action.
• Had to cover a story at Cal and wasn’t able to make it to Raiders HQ today. Thanks goes out to Jerry McDonald (Bay Area News Group), Eric Gilmore (CBS Sports), and Paul Gutierrez (Comcast) for relaying the information to me.

On Thursday, Hue Jackson said the offense hasn't achieved perfection and Tom Cable said his guys have bought into the team concept he's been preaching. (Photo by Kelly Thomas)

After each of the last two Raiders wins, Tom Cable has made a point to tell his team, and reporters, that there are plenty of things that still need to be fixed before he’s satisfied. With dominating wins by 30-plus points the last two weeks, it’s likely that the Raiders’ head coach will never quite be satisfied — unless he’s holding the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season.

Cable’s offensive coordinator reiterated much of the same sentiment on Thursday while speaking with the media at Raiders HQ in Alameda. “We’re playing football,” said Jackson as he began to downplay the offensive outburst of the last two weeks. “Our players, they’ve bought into what we’re doing.”

“They’re doing it every day. It shows up here on the practice field and it’s beginning to show up in the game. But those were two games. We hope to get that kind of production every week if we can. But we all know that that’s just execution by our players. They’re playing well, and we need to continue to do so.“

In those two victories, his quarterback has completed 27 passes to eight different receivers and hasn’t tossed a single interception in the process of carrying a QB rating over 120.0 in both games. His offensive line has allowed just four sacks in those games while opening gaping holes for a run game that has yielded 567 rushing yards. That’s what Jackson calls ‘just playing football.’

While it may seem that Jackson it being humble, he did happen to admit that things on his side of the ball are looking the way he’d hoped it would at the beginning of the season. “Over the last two weeks, we’re playing football the way I always envision us playing,” said Jackson before qualifying that statement. “We’re still not where I expect us to be.”

“Everybody talks about the yards, the points and all that. But our players know that there’s still opportunities that we’re leaving out there. We haven’t played that perfect game yet. We’re chasing perfection here. We’re not just trying to do what we do one time, two times. We hope to be what we’re becoming every week.”

Since taking over the position, officially, as the Raiders’ head coach, Cable has had a plan of how to turn around the much maligned franchise. When he’s accomplished another one of his goals, he talks about checking it off of a list that he has that details what it takes before the team has finally reached his goal of being one of the top teams in the league. Two dominating wins in a row seems to have been part of that list, as Cable called them, “another one to check off the list.”

What is Cable’s reasoning for the teams’ latest success? “I think that the most important thing is the true concept of ‘team’ has taken hold here, and that we really go out there for each other and play for each other, in all three phases, and I think we’re all pulling the same direction for once, and it’s a good thing to see.”

According to Cable, this ‘concept of team’ isn’t something that just happened after the loss to the 49ers three weeks ago. Instead, Cable said that the players got on board with the concept of team back in training camp. “We did a lot of things about team building and just simply getting to know each other and learning to communicate with each other,” said Cable.

“I’ve seen it building. That’s why for me personally it was a little frustrating early in the year because I knew we were better than what our record showed. The last two weeks have certainly validated that it’s coming together.”

Now Jackson and Cable hope to prepare their team well enough to get over another hump this Sunday — get a win at home against a Chiefs team that has won seven straight games in Oakland. Along with ending that losing streak, a win this Sunday would put the Raiders over .500 after nine games and give them a step up on winning the AFC West — both haven’t been done in Oakland since the 2002 season.

Players have told members of the media that practice this week has gone well, but their head coach isn’t as easily satisfied. When asked about Thursday’s practice and whether or not this week’s practice has been as good as he’s seen as head coach, Cable responded frankly, “No. I think it’s been good, but there’s always — I mean that’s a coach’s perspective — there’s always things.”

Cable went on to explain what he meant by that statement, and gave some insight into his perfectionism in the process. “We just walked off the field and there’s three things I wrote down on my list that I want to make sure we got done tomorrow, because I didn’t feel great about ‘em today. They were OK, but we gotta’ get better, and really that’s the normal process of the week, you’re putting your game plan in, but  the work’s been excellent. I’m pleased with it, but I don’t know that a coach ever feels like everything’s great and perfect and all that.”

And that may be the formula that puts the Raiders on top of the AFC West.

Notes:

• (WR) Louis Murphy (lung), (WR) Chaz Schilens (knee), (TE) Zach Miller (foot), (DT) John Henderson (foot), and (CB) Nnamdi Asomugha (ankle) did not practice. Of the five, Miller is the only player expected to play on Sunday, but Cable said he’ll be listed as questionable.
• (WR) Darrius Heyward-Bey (shoulder), (OC) Samson Satele (knee), (QB) Bruce Gradkowski (shoulder), and (FS) Hiram Eugene (pec) were all limited in practice.
• Gradkowski will not start (Campbell will), but whether or not he’ll be the backup or the emergency quarterback hadn’t been decided. Cable said Gradkowski is much improved over last week, but he wants to see how the starter looks on Friday before deciding if the sixth-year signal caller from Toledo will be one, or two plays away from playing in the game.
• The Raiders brought in former Raiders center Jake Grove on Wednesday in the event that Satele’s knee sprain would require a lengthy stay on the injury report. As of Thursday, Grove wasn’t signed, signaling that Satele may be healthy enough to play on Sunday.
• Thomas Howard (knee) isn’t listed on the injury report and practiced fully. The former starter at linebacker may have also lost some of his responsibility on defense to Mike Mitchell. In some of the passing formations, Mitchell has been taking Howard’s place and doing well in the process. Cable said he expects Howard to help on special teams and back up.
• Originally, Schilens’ injury was supposed to take three to six weeks to heal. Six weeks was over two weeks ago and Schilens still isn’t practicing. According to Cable, “I just think the procedure that was done was not something real minor or anything like that. It was fairly extensive, so it takes time.“
• The Raiders requested a 24 hour extension in order to sell out the Coliseum and avoid a blackout on Sunday. A Raiders official confirmed this and said, “There are still tickets available.” No further information was given.
• Cable said that he and the players are very excited about the opportunity to play in front of a sold-out home crowd — the first for Oakland since the Monday night opener of 2009. “I’m very excited about that. I know that for the players and everything, that will be a huge step in the right direction of bringing everything together, the team, the fan base, the community and all that. So, it is very exciting news.“

Among the notables here who haven’t been in the past: Pedro Gomez of ESPN, Jim Trotter of Sports Illustrated, and everyone’s favorite Raider Hater — Tim Kawakami. There were plenty of others, but those are the most notable that I haven’t seen yet this season.

When is the last time the Raiders were relevant? 2002, the year they lost in the Super Bowl? 2003, the year of the ‘dumbest team in America?’ Some might say that it was 2004 — the year that Gannon’s career was ended due to a neck injury. Whatever year it was, it has been some time since the Raiders were newsworthy for anything having to do with on-field performance.

Along with a mostly empty locker room, the media was allowed to watch the first 20 minutes of practice, which was an uneventful 15 minutes of stretching. Along with the usual missing players like Chaz Schilens, Nnamdi Asomugha and Zach Miller were also missing from the field.

The Oakland Raiders requested a 24-hour extension on ticket sales in order to avoid a local blackout of the game. In recent years, the request for an extension has led to a sell out and the game being televised locally. No guarantees, and we’ll know for sure by 1:15 pm Friday, but it’s looking good that you won’t have to rely solely on Greg Papa’s radio broadcast, the Red Zone Channel, and NFL.com’s internet gamecast to find out what’s going on in the game.

With Asomugha most likely missing this Sunday’s game and with Chris Johnson returning to fill his place, Jeremy Ware will get the call as the nickel back. The rookie, who up until last week, has mainly watched from the sideline with three starters standing in his way, but he admitted that this week will require a little more preparation on his part.

“I just maybe focus more,” said Ware about preparing with the knowledge of plenty of playing time this week. “Just focus a little more, study a little more. Do a little bit extra.” Whatever that extra is, the Raiders would be very happy if he was able to perform as well or better than he did against the Seahawks.

Ware is getting more comfortable as a pro. He told reporters this morning that with every game, he just gets more and more familiar with his job responsibilities. “All the games just add up,” said Ware. “The more time you get, the more comfortable you get and the better you get.”

It sometimes takes rookies more time to adjust to the Raiders’ type of corner coverage, but for Ware it hasn’t been too much different than college. Ware told the media that at Michigan State, he played, “All man.” That may be the reason that Tom Cable hasn’t been concerned about putting him in — and has had good things to say about him this week.

Another rookie making his way this season is left defensive end Lamarr Houston. Houston, like Ware, told reporters that his recent improvement is due to the experience he’s received from every game. “Every game you get to play you learn something different,” said the rookie from Texas. “I’ve been playing about eight games. It’s fun getting into rhythm and pick up things and  be able to understand what’s going on out there. It makes it a lot easier once you get your feet wet.”

Houston and his defensive line mates will be tested this week with the Kansas City rushing game. Jamaal Charles has two fewer yards than Darren McFadden (666 on 103 carries) on 19 fewer carries — giving him an average of 6.5 yards per carry on the season. Charles and Houston were college teammates for three years and so the Raider rookie has a good understanding of what he’ll have to deal with.

“[The Chiefs] got a lot of speed. I went to school with Jamaal, he likes to get on the edge fast. McCluster he is fast. You have a lot of good skill guys, the rookie tight end and Dwayne Bowe. They have a lot of options and they scheme well. Their offensive coordinator schemes really well for the teams they play. That’s how they’re getting the domination in the scoring.”

Cable is about to come into the press room for his daily update. Check back later this evening for more!