While Zeb likely had a good laugh at my expense, I was over here on the Left Coast screaming at the television. Specifically, I screamed at Jason Campbell for some of the throws he made at the end of the first half and afterward. Higher expectations will do that to a long suffering fan Oakland Raiders fan.
I was confident the Raiders would give the New England Patriots as well as the rest of the football world a wake up call and let them know the Silver & Black were back to their bad old selves. They were, except their undisciplined play killed any chance they had to beat up on the Pats like they did the New York Jets a week earlier.
Tom Brady didn’t have one of his better games but Wes Welker destroyed the Raiders secondary by himself and Stevan Ridley nearly rushed for 100 yards. The Patriots were helped by former teammate Richard Seymour, whose two personal foul penalties kept the Patriots’s first drive alive when they should have punted from midfield.
Jason Campbell didn’t help matters late in the second quarter. On a third down play, he should have thrown the ball away. He did by aiming for a guy who was wearing a cast on one of his hands. Give props to Patrick Chung for being in the right place at the right time. That pick hurt the Raiders.
What is Vince Wilfork’s secret to playing pass defense? Not only does he have two interceptions in the past three games but he has as many picks as Nnamdi Asomugha has had in the past three seasons combined.
It was a great game but the Raiders beat themselves, just like they did when they lost the lead in the final minute against the Buffalo Bills two weeks ago.
Congrats on your victory, Zeb. Maybe we’ll get to do this again in the playoffs?
2 comments:
I think you've got it spot on, my friend. The Raiders are some depth, experience and a little discipline away from being truly hard to deal with. The one thing the Pats usually do very well is decide who to take out of the game and it was your running game they took out, but early on it looked like Campbell was up to the task of picking apart a swiss cheese defense. While my team is better than yours, I like the direction (defense and running game) of yours better than mine. THANKS FOR BEATING THE JETS
You're welcome and thanks again for the kind words.
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