Nothing much different. The Texans probably showed about 30% of their playbook, I'm guessing. This was a game where it was obvious the team just wanted to get in, get a W, and get out. Sure they started slowly, but once they got it going, it was obvious they could have scored whenever they wanted. On another note, 2 penalties on 4th downs for the Chargers?? Gotta love the discipline Norv Turner's team demonstrates. The only thing more stupid than that is the fact that the Raiders back-up long snapper can't even get the ball off the turf. Lechler would have been better off just standing under center, and running the ball back himself to punt it.
Just realized the Ravens have 3 former Texans players that used to be key players for us. If the running game doesn't improve next week, I'll be inclined to believe Leach was indeed an important part of what made the running game successful when he was a Texan.
True, but Ben Tate was killer and helped keep Arian more fresh than the previous season. Also, I think the offensive line had a lot to do with our success last year. They had developed good chemistry together.
We play Baltimore right before our Bye. Honestly, our schedule is hell. 12+ wins would be fantastic, but 10 or 11 is probably more realistic.
Well, the Raiders Pro Bowl long snapped was knocked out of the game in the 2nd quarter and needless to say there was nobody else on the team who could fill in. Goethel is a backup LB who hadn't done long snapping since high school and hadn't practiced it since then. Not saying the Raiders would have won if that hadn't happened, but it was a pretty even game, Chargers did a great job recognizing the Raiders didn't have a deep threat on the field and were able to keep Palmer limited to short passes. The Raiders run D was much improved, stifling the Chargers in that respect. I was glad to see that. Also the D clamped down in the red zone, but Rivers missed a usual gimmie TD to Floyd and Gates dropped one. Shows you how important a single player can be to the outcome of a game, but credit to the Chargers regardless for doing their best to contain McFadden.
How does everybody feel about this season where after MNF we only have to wait 3 days for the next week to kickoff?
Some thoughts on the game. Charger's D looked impressive. River's did a great job going down the field, he needs to do a better job in the redzone even though gates dropped some balls he usually catches with his eyes closed. Props to Norv on calling a great game, never abandoned the rush despite the Raider's great Run D. If Run DMC has to do as much as he did last night he will get injured... The Raiders need more weapons on offense. See ya week 17 moes.
Better than listening to Chris Berman attempt to do PBP. My god was that horrendous. I don't think I will ever be able to get his inability to actually "CALL THE GAME" live out of my head every time I see him on "countdown" or whatever they call "primetime" now. What compounded it was him still trying to stick in cute nicknames for every player. Newsflash, Chris... when you completely miss how the fumble happened, who caused it, and where the ball will currently be spotted (without the help of replay)... don't make up a nickname for the free safety who is running off to the sideline happy that his team just recovered the turnover.
I'd still like the option to watch the game without Direct TV in HD and not have to find an illegal stream, you can always turn down the sound on games.
It depends how interesting the Thursday night matchup is. If it's Bears/Packers, great! Browns/Ravens, not so much. Agreed Chris Berman was terrible. It shows the disregard ESPN had for the 2nd game.
Both defenses played pretty well I thought. Rivers is so good at hitting receivers with pinpoint accuracy, he could have easily had 3 TDs. The Raiders D held up extremely well despite having to deal with a short field pretty much the whole 2nd half due to the long snapper fiasco. I was impressed by the way the D line was getting penetration early in the game and the way the team was tackling, didn't see many missed tackles which is uncommon for a Raider D. However, the pass rush disappeared in the 2nd half as the Chargers adjusted their blocking schemes pretty well. Shaughessy is considering one of the top run-stuffing DEs in the league, so its good to have him back. Overall, the pass D still has some work to do, all the CBs from last year are gone, every single one of them so that unit will struggle a bit against a top tier QB like Rivers. As far as the Chargers, I think the defense looked a lot better than I thought. They weren't really able to get to Palmer too much, but they did force him into a lot of quick check-down throws and really didn't allow the Raider receivers to get open much at all. They were able to load the box against McFadden. Donald Butler looks like he's going to be a solid guy for you guys all year long. I picked him in my fantasy league where we start 3 LBs because I think he could get to 100 tackles this year. I'm just happy to see some positives from my team, I'm not expecting them to finish higher than 7-9 at best this season with the huge transition going on, I just want to see them continue to commit to discipline and stopping the run. Also Chris Berman = puke. Mute button good invention.
The Raiders defense kept that game from becoming a blow-out. One thing I noticed the Chargers do continuously was pull a guard up to the second level. It seemed like his only job was to take Rolando McClain out of the play. That, combined with the all check-downs to running backs and tight ends in the flats, and along the sidelines, really took McClain out of his element. Good game-planning by Norv and Co.
