After the Raiders exhibition opener, talk of their offense being revitalized by Jason Campbell, new quarterback, and Hue Jackson, new offensive coordinator, has been placed on hold.

The starting offense struggled when it came to moving the ball and wasn’t able to score any points during their one plus quarter of action during Oakland 17-9 win over the Cowboys on Thursday night.

All of the Raiders points were scored during the fourth quarter, including a late touchdown return on an interception by Jerome Boyd, long after a majority of the starters from both teams had left for the night.

Tom Cable, Raider coach said, it’s one here and another guy there.  It appears to be better than what I was thinking after the game last night.  I think we will be able to fix things rather quickly.

During his first game as a Raider, Campbell went 7 out of 13, passing for 49 yards.  A majority of his completions came on short, underneath passes.

During the regular season, Oakland will be relying on a lot more from Campbell.  He was acquired from Washington during a trade on draft day.  Shortly after that they cut loose JaMarcus Russell, the former overall No. 1 pick.

Last year Russell got a majority of the quarterback playing time.  The Raiders were the NFL’s second worst scoring team with just 197 points and also were second to last in yardage.  It was their seventh season in a row with 11 losses at least.

It resulted in owner Al Davis bringing Jackson in to call the plays instead of Cable and to acquire Campbell in a trade.  During his five years with the Redskins, Campbell had fallen from favor.

During the first quarter the Raiders were only to generate one first down with the starting offense and Campbell in the game.  Cable sent the squad out for one additional series.  It was slightly more successful, however the Cowboys by then were resting some of their starters.

Michael Bush ran to get a first down.  Two first downs were also made via passes from Campbell to Todd Watkins and Louis Murphy, with the Raiders moving the ball down to the 20 yard line of the Cowboys.  On fourth down and one, a pass play was called by Jackson from the shotgun.  On Campbell’s last throw in the game, he badly missed Zach Miller, tight end.

During that last drive with Campbell playing quarterback, the Raiders gained 48 yards out of their total 73, offering a sense of optimism to Cable that improvement may still be on the way.

Cable said, the most important thing was the rhythm.  The second series I didn’t like too much.  It felt like we were putting the quarterback and line out there together to see if we could put some kind of cohesive together.  They did do some of that.  What I am encouraged about was one guy here or there.  I think this week we will be better.

Darrius Heyward-Bey, second year receiver, whose rookie year was disappointing with just nine catches, wasn’t able to generate the offensive production that the Raiders were hoping for based on his dramatic improvement show in practice.

Only one pass was thrown by Campbell Heyward-Bey’s way.  It was the game’s first play, however the pass was broken up by Terrence Newman.  When Campbell did throw deep he went to Murphy.  A defender knocked away the first pass.  On the second pass Murphy was led too far outside, resulting in him catching the ball out of bounds.

Offensive bright spots came from Michael Bennett and Rock Cartwright, running back, who are battling for a positions behind Darren McFadden and Michael Bush.  Also receiver Nick Miller, made an impressive leaping touchdown catch off a Kyle Boller pass to score Oakland’s first points.

Bennett a former Viking and Pro Bowler, carried the ball 12 times and rushed for 68 yards.  In addition he had a reception of 33 yards on a screen pass play.  Cartwright carried the ball seven times for 25 yards rushing and had 28 yards receiving on two catches.

The biggest positives came on defense for the Raiders.  They had six sacks and held the Cowboys to no touchdowns and just 263 yards.

The young defensive ends Lamarr Houston, a rookie, and Matt Shaughnessy, brought most of the pressure.  They had two sacks each.

Cable said, it’s exciting.  They were productive, against the run as well as rushing the passer.  There are some things they could do better for sure.  It’s an encouraging start I think, definitely.

Entering into the game today against Oakland, Cincinnati was feeling good about their team. The Bengals had a 7-2 record and led the AFC North, while the Steelers and Ravens, the two leading rivals in their division, earlier this afternoon lost their games.

However, as they are flying home tonight out of Oakland, Cincinnati will be not feeling so great.

In an upset that came as a complete shock and that will serve to reshape the playoff race in the AFC, the Raiders were able to score 10 points during the last 41 seconds of the game to defeat Cincinnati, 20-17

The Bengals had what look to be a safe fourth quarter 17-10 lead. However Louis Murphy was able to reel in a Bruce Gradkowski touchdown pass of 29 yards with just 41 seconds left in the game that tied the score.

On the ensuring kickoff Andre Caldwell, return man for the Bengals, fumbled. The Raiders were able to recover and sent in Sebastian Janikowski without even trying to move the ball to kick the field goal to win the game.

The Bengals now have a 7-3 record and there is still a race on in the AFC North. With a record of 3-7 the Raiders are not in playoff contention. However they are also not the NFL laughing stocks that they are portrayed as sometimes. The Raiders usually do play competitive football.

The Colts may have been the biggest winners. They now lead the AFC by three games.

Since mid 2007, no other NFL team has been as bad as the Chiefs. Somehow all of the mistakes and losing seem to disappear when Kansas City visits Oakland.

On a run of 44 yards, Jamaal Charles scored to give Kansas City their first rushing touchdown this season, and Kansas City took advantage of an interception late in the game to win on Sunday 16-10 for the seventh time in a row on the road versus Oakland.

Dwayne Bowe, receiver said, we have a winning streak I guess. Every time we are playing a division team it is our goal to win the game. But when we play against the Raiders there is the hated rivalry. All week coach stressed it. Hate the Raiders. We have to defeat the Raiders.

It is practically the only thing that the Chiefs (2-7) have been able to get done lately. Kansas City has only managed to win five out of their last 35 games. However three of the wins have been in the Oakland Coliseum. Kansas City holds the longest visiting team winning streak there.

Ryan Succop had three field goals, while the Chiefs were able to pull out a close game once again versus the Raiders playing in Oakland. It was the first game for Kansas City since the release of Larry Johnson, former running back. Charles was able to step in and rush for 103 yards and got the only touchdown for Kansas City on a fourth down and one play during the second quarter. The touchdown was the first rushing one for Kansas City since December 21, 2008 when Tyler Thigpen had one versus Miami.

Charles said, I fell like I am getting a chance to play. I am trying to really take the spot over. I don’t want just to take it over. I want us to win. It isn’t about taking the job over. It is about who can make the plays.

On the opening drive Oakland scored a touchdown, but after that only managed to get three points along with 202 yards. For their second home game in a row, Oakland benched JaMarcus Russell, their former No. 1 overall draft pick due to ineffectiveness.

Last month Russell was benched during the first half playing against the Jets after he committed three turnovers in the first half. This week Russell was able to last until the second half before he was replaced with Bruce Gradkowski late third quarter after he went 8 out of 23 for a total of 64 yards. Russell stated that he was disappointed and surprised by the decision of coach Tom Cable.

Russell said, it was going ok. We were not able to move the ball toward the end as well.

A change didn’t give Oakland any immediate spark. Gradkowski was unable to get the first down following a fumble that gave Oakland the ball on Kansas City’s 49 yard line. Then during the next drive Gradkowski had a tipped pass intercepted by Mike Brown which gave Kansas City the ball on Oakland’s 47 yard line.

Kansas City drove the football all the way to the 11 yard line before they settled for a field goal of 31 yards from Succop, giving them a lead of 16-10 with just 6:17 left.

Gradkowski then led Oakland down to the 26 yard line of Kansas City before Darrius Heyward-Bey, a rookie, bobbled a pass while inside the ten yard line. The ball got intercepted by Brown to seal the game.

Gradkowski said, it is a tough thing to swallow. It kind of summed things up today. There were plays that we needed to make.

Cable stated that before deciding who his starter will be against Cincinnati next week that he wanted to review the game film. He did blame the eight dropped passes for some of their poor play, but also said that Russell did miss receivers that were open too often.

Cable said, the game is all about making the plays. We didn’t do it, whether JaMarcus or Bruce was in there. All I am looking for is the guy who will give us our best chance of winning.

Oakland was playing with an offense that was healthy for the very first time this season and started out fast. The sixty yard run of Michael Bush set up Justin Fargas’ one yard plunge for the touchdown. The only other score for Oakland was a field goal of fifty yards from Sebastian Janikowski, following a muffed punt from Dantrell Savage late first quarter.

Note
There was a play during the third quarter that did provide some comic relief. Following a catch of 12 yards, Dwayne Bowe of Kansas City fumbled the football. Six players at least had a chance of falling on the football. However the ball kept on squirting down the field. Finally Brian Waters, offensive lineman, fell on the ball on Oakland’s 22 yard line to give Kansas City an additional 23 yards. The Chiefs were not able to capitalize after Matt Cassel on fourth down and one threw a pass incomplete. During the third quarter Janikowski missed a field goal from 45 yards which ended his streak of making 20 in a row.

LaDainian Tomlinson was able to do the same things that he always does when he plays against the Raiders.

Shawne Merriman was able to break his “Lights Out” spasmodic sack dance out. The last time that occurred was in 2007.

For the Chargers it was just business as usual, as they defeated the Raiders on Sunday 24-16, with two Tomlinson touchdowns and one of them coming from the wildcat. It was San Diego’s 13th win in a row versus hapless Oakland, to preserve the NFL’s longest active winning streak of one team against another.

San Diego (4-3) have been able to sweep the series six seasons in a row. Many of the Chargers players, including Philip Rivers, quarterback, haven’t ever lost to Oakland (2-6). It was the Charger’s seventh win in a row at home versus the Raiders.

Tomlinson, who San Diego drafted in 2001 said, at first the atmosphere and intensity kind of rubbed me wrong. Beating them 13 times means that their fans had to go home 13 times hanging their heads.

Tom Cable, Raiders coach, said it was a big hump for them to get over. This year we had two great opportunities. We are closer, but you can’t take away from that until we are able to get past the hump.

With Denver losing at Baltimore 30-7, San Diego moved to within two games for the lead in the AFC West. The Chargers are attempting to win their fourth division title in a row.

Merriman was able to get his first sacks since 2007. He was able to sack Russell twice, once late second quarter and then again late fourth quarter. The Chargers outside linebacker is attempting to come back from his knee surgery. Last year he missed the last 15 games of the regular season as well as two playoff games.

Merriman said, it was a long time coming. I don’t put a big emphasis on sacks like everyone else does. They are important though. I know I need to make the plays and get the sacks for us to be a good defense. As long as I do that and pressure the quarterback and force him into doing things he doesn’t want to, we will be better.

The Chargers had five sacks, a season high, and also allowed only 180 yards, a season low. Shaun Phillips, San Diego’s other outside linebacker, had two sacks as well.

Rivers, who only got sacked once, was impressed with his defense.

Phillips said, they have been applying pressure. Still it was great to see. Getting the quarterback onto the ground, there is something to it. I think it is really huge. When it comes to sacks, from what I have seen on the sideline, the guys in some of the games have been a force. But it doesn’t get a lot of attention when there aren’t any sacks.

With sacks it is funny how for a few games you have a spurt and then all a sudden get six or seven. It shows just how huge a pro that he is. The guys keep hammering away.

San Diego didn’t need to rally for a win like the opening game of the season in Oakland where the Raiders beat them up physically but they still got a 24-20 win.

Antonio Cromartie, cornerback, intercepted a pass from Russell when Zach Miller, the tight end, fell down. For Cromartie, it was his first interception in twenty games. In 2007 he had 10 interceptions, but only had two last season.

San Diego’s first play was a pass from Rivers over to Malcolm Floyd of 53 yards. Floyd was in the Chargers starting lineup replacing a struggling Chris Chambers. The play gave the Chargers a first down and goal from the six yard line. Tomlinson took the snap, running to the right to give San Diego a lead of 7-0.

Early second quarter the Raiders tied the game after a pass from Rivers to Vincent Jackson bounced off Jackson’s hands and Chris Johnson intercepted it. Johnson returned the ball twenty yards down to the 27 yard line of San Diego. The short drive was capped by a 3 yard run by Justin Fargas to score the touchdown.

On their next two drives the Chargers scored to make the score 21-7. Rivers connected with Jackson, who was wide open, on a scoring pass of eight yards and Tomlinson also scored on a run of 10 yards.

Rivers went 16 for 25 for a total of 249 yards. Tomlinson rushed for 56 yards in 18 carries. Fargas carried the ball 18 times as well for a total of 59 yards.

During his career of nine years, Tomlinson has had 28 touchdowns versus the Raiders. Twenty two have come rushing, three passing and three receiving.

For the remainder of the game, Oakland only got three field goals from Sebastian Janikowski from 28, 41 and 48 yards.

Russell, who a week earlier was benched at home in a 38-0 loss to the Jets, went 14 for 22 for a total of 109 yards.

Cable said, he seemed today to be very in control. He probably had a few throws he would like to do over. However overall today he did give us the chance to win.

Notes
Chargers inside linebacker Tim Dobbins was taken off the field on a cart due to an injured knee but did return. The Raiders sustained the following injuries: cornerback Chris Johnson (injured groin), defensive tackle Tommy Kelly (injured elbow), defensive tackle Gerard Warren (injured toe), and linebacker Jon Alston (injured shoulder).

Once again, Mark Sanchez apologized for his demeanor on the sideline. Only this time it was for hot dogging. Literally.

Shaking off his worst start in his very young career, Sanchez ran for one touchdown and threw for another one before he took time to have a snack during the final minutes of the Jets 38-0 win on Sunday over the Raiders.

Last week Sanchez was criticized for appearing dejected while on the sideline in the Jets overtime loss to the Bills. He threw five interceptions in the game. This week he appeared quite happy about his performance and was caught on camera trying to snack on a hot dog towards the end of a blowout game.

He said that he wanted to apologize for it. I wasn’t feeling too good and didn’t eat a lot before the game. I was feeling kind of queasy. I should have had a bar or something but somebody offered me a hot dog. I just grabbed it and did try to be discreet. Obviously I wasn’t discreet enough. I should not have done it, and it will not happen again.

The Jets game plan was to take a lot of the pressure off of Sanchez. They were able to do that. They forced four turnovers and also became the very first team in thirty four years to rush for a minimum of 300 yards two games in a row. It occurred after they lost Leon Washington indefinitely due to his broken right leg.

Two of the Jets first three drives started on Oakland’s four yard line following JaMarcus Russell turnovers. They set up runs for touchdowns by Thomas Jones as well as Sanchez.

Sanchez said, it makes it very easy for the offense when the defense plays like that. Hats off to our defense. They had a great game shutting that team out. It doesn’t matter who we are playing. The accomplishment is big time for our team.

Things got so bad for the Raiders that Russell, Oakland’s former No. 1 overall draft pick, got benched during the first half after he committed three turnovers early. The home loss was Oakland’s most lopsided in the Raiders (2-5) fifty year history. It was the fifth home shutout ever. Four of them have occurred over the last four seasons. The 39,354 crowd was the team’s smallest since returning in 1995 to Oakland.

Richard Seymour, defensive lineman, who earlier that week had stated that he though Oakland would make it to the playoffs said, I don’t think that today we could have defeated a high school team.

Shonn Greene, rookie, rushed for 144 yards and scored twice, while Jones ran for 121 yards in 26 carries. The Jets had 316 total rushing yards.

On the very first play from the line of scrimmage, Calvin Pace was able to beat Khalif Barnes, right tackle, to sack Russell and force a fumble. Marques Douglas recovered the ball at the four yard line. Eventually Jones scored on fourth down from the one.

Then Russell, who was being pressured heavily by David Harris, overthrew a pass that got intercepted by Jim Leonhard who returned the ball 44 yards down to the four yard line. Sanchez scored two plays later on a quarterback draw of three yards.

During the second half Sanchez got the passing game going with a 35 yard perfect strike over to David Clowney. But then it didn’t matter much, as the game was already a blowout. Sanchez went 9 out of 15 on passing for a total of 143 yards and didn’t have any interceptions.

Ryan said, Sanchez was great. He played very smart when he had the football. There were times when I think he could have hit the receiver with the ball but was making sure he didn’t get an interception. It was great seeing how he responded.

Coming into the game Oakland was full of confidence after their 13-9 win over the Eagles last week. On Thursday their week got even better when the district attorney of Napa County announced that he wouldn’t file charges on Cable for allegedly attacking one of his former defensive assistants.

However, once the game got under way, the good feelings ended. For the fourth game in five weeks the Raiders lost a game by a minimum of twenty points.

In this third season in the NFL, Russell has had 13 turnovers and only completed 46 percent on passing. The fans have reacted to his horrible start with heavy boos during the last three home games. He finally got benched late second quarter.

Cable said, early on in the game I thought Russell was out of sorts. I didn’t feel at that point that he could give us our best chance to succeed offensively so I made the move. He is still our starter. There isn’t any issue about that.

Russell went 6 out of 11 passing for a total of 61 yards along with a fumble and two interceptions. He didn’t agree with the assessment of his coach, stating that he felt fine but the results just weren’t there.

Russell said, I haven’t been in in that kind of situation before. At first it was kinda shocking.

Bruce Gradkowski, backup quarterback, lost a fumble as well that ended a potential scoring drive. During the closing minutes he also failed converting a fourth down and goal play.

Notes
Last season the Jets lost all four West coast games, including an overtime loss in Oakland. Buffalo was the last team that ran for over 300 yards two games in a row. They accomplished that in 1975.

Sprinting upfield, Louis Murphy laid a defender out with a bruising block. Still not satisfied, Murphy raced down the field to meet up with the play once again, delivering another block to allow Zach Miller to score on a catch and run play of 86 yards.

Given that Oakland’s offense has been criticized for not making big plays and lacking in leadership and intensity, the Raiders rookie receiver provided all three of these in a single play to answer the skeptics.

The score by Miller was the game’s only touchdown. Justin Fargas helped Oakland control the clock with his 87 rushing yards, while the Raider’s defense was able to harass Donovan McNabb throughout the day in their 13-9 win on Sunday versus the Philadelphia Eagles.

Tom Cable, Raiders coach said, we went out there and threw on a fight. We said, enough of this. Let’s play. That’s about all that you can say. There are no magical words for it.

The turnaround was major from the prior three weeks when Oakland (2-4) lost their games by 20 points or more for the very first time in the history of the franchise, capped last week by their 44-7 defeat by the Giants.

Following the game, Antonio Pierce, Giants linebacker, said that it felt like they had been playing in a scrimmage. This week the comments of Pierce were posted up in Oakland’s locker room. The team was able to respond to all the critics in very impressive fashion.

Murphy said, it gave me some extra fuel. You need to look right into the mirror and yourself and man up. The comments were true. We did play flat. We did not play with emotion. We took in those comments and today the game was completely different.

The key factor in Sunday’s game was Oakland’s defense. John Marshall, defensive coordinator, mixed in some additional blitzes and zone coverages to help to combat Philadelphia’s high powered offense that was the league’s second most in points per game.

Philadelphia abandoned their running game early on, Michael Vick was involved in only two plays, and the offensive line gave up six sacks. The Eagles were also the first team to fail scoring a touchdown versus Oakland in three years.

Andy Reid, Eagles coach said, they were able to get in to hit our quarterback. When we had opportunities out there we did not take advantage of them.

With 2:14 left to play in the game, on fourth down and four from the Raiders 44 yard line, the last chance for the Eagles came to an end when a pass from McNabb to DeSean Jackson was under thrown.

Philadelphia kicker David Akers missed two field goals. During the first quarter he missed a 43 yard field goal wide to the left, and during the third quarter missed a 47 yard one wide right that proved to be critical down the final stretch.

McNabb went 22 out of 46 for a total of 269 yards. Jason Peters, left tackle, injured his left knee and left the game during the first quarter which added to McNabb’s struggles.

McNabb said, I am embarrassed by how we played. We are a lot better football team.

Trevor Scott and Richard Seymour each had two sacks for the Raiders. Philadelphia only ran the ball 14 times versus a defense that was missing Nnamdi Asomugha, star cornerback, for most of the game due to an eye injury.

Scott said, they probably watched our game against the Giants and were thinking we are sorry. But coach Cable all week talked to us about persevering, forgetting the past, and moving forward so that we can get where we are wanting to go.

On third down and ten the game was sealed by JaMarcus Russell with a pass of 12 yards to Gary Russell. He ran the clock out, which delighted the fans after they had booed him at the beginning of the game.

Russell went 17 for 28 passing for a total of 224 yards, along with two interceptions as well as the touchdown pass to Miller which was the longest passing play for Oakland in 25 years.

Russell connected with Miller down the middle 16 yards down the field. Then Miller ran along the sideline before getting sprung by Murphy’s big block that flattened out Quintin Mikell. Miller, as he got closer to the end zone, slowed up just enough to give Murphy enough time to block Ellis Hobbs and complete the catch and run play of 86 yards.

Miller said he went over to Murphy and told him it was the best couple of blocks he had ever seen a wide receiver make. I need to buy something for him. He definitely deserves it.

Notes
Miller caught six passes for a total of 139 yards. The last Raiders pass play to go that long occurred on October 7, 1984 versus Seattle on a 92 yard play that went from Marc Wilson over to Marcus Allen. Philadelphia defensive end Victor Abiamiri (injured knee) and linebacker Omar Gaither (injured foot) will be given MRIs on Monday. Michael Vick carried the ball one time and had minus 4 rushing yards for the game and was also involved in one McNabb incomplete pass.

Eli Manning, after he took his opening snap and made the play action fake, dropped back and then bounced his right heel to set up before firing a pass of nine yards to Darcy Johnson, tight end.

Any concerns over the painful right heel of Eli’s got answered on that first play on Sunday in his 83rd start in a row.

Manning threw two touchdown passes, leading the Giants on four touchdown drives on all four of their first possessions, as the Giants defeated the Raiders 44-7, giving New York a 5-0 record and their best start since 1990 when they won the Super Bowl.

Manning said, it was perfect at the end. He went 8 for 10 for a total of 173 yards, playing less than half the game in the Giants’ rout. Get in and just score and score a lot and score quickly. Then rest and make sure not to put any more strain on it than necessary or make it sore tomorrow. That turned out well.

Manning was able to lead the Giants on 77, 79, 94 and 13 yard scoring drives in his most effective, by far, performance this season.

Manning’s touchdown passes came on a 30 yard pass to Mario Manningham as well as a 9 yard pass over to Hakeem Nicks, first round pick. He then played in one additional series before he donned the baseball cap late second quarter to get a rest that was well deserved on a day where the Giants were able to gain 483 total offensive yards.

Justin Tuck, defensive end said, we don’t expect anything less from him. People were saying maybe he wouldn’t play, but we all figured that he would. It is good seeing your starting quarterback is a tough guy and will go out to help his team get a win. That is the kind of leader he has become.

Ahmad Bradshaw, backup halfback, played a large role as well. He rushed for a a total of 110 yards as well as scored twice on rushes of 9 and 1 yard.

JaMarcus Russell, Raiders quarterback, struggled once again while trying to lead the worst offense in the league. He fumbled three times and went 8 for 13 for a total of 100 yards. He got sacked a total of six times while the Raiders had only 124 total offensive yards.

Their only score came on a touchdown run of 5 yards by Michael Bush, following a fumble at the 15 yard line by Sinorice Moss on a return punt.

Mathias Kiwanuka, defensive end speaking of Russell said, we thought we had the opportunity for coming out and getting him early and that would give us lots of chances. He does have flashes of greatness. We didn’t want him flashing that against us.

The biggest concern for the Giants was Manning’s availability. Last weekend during their win over the Chiefs, Manning sustained a very painful right heel injury. The MVP of the 2008 Super Bowl missed practice for two days and on Friday took half of the snaps, indicating that he would play on Sunday.

Manning was out on the field two hour before game time, warming up and showing no signs that the injury was affecting him.

Tom Coughlin, Giants coach said, he really wanted to play. He wanted to all week. A couple times he’s done a really great job using the power of his will.

On the Giants’ opening drive Manning went 4 for 5 for a total of 36 yards, capped by Bradshaw slamming in for the touchdown on fourth down and one.

The following three possessions for the Giants went at lightning speed. Their second drive went 79 yards in only three plays and featured a Steve Smith catch of 43 yards as well as runs of 19 and 17 yards from Bradshaw.

Their third score occurred on a 94 yard, five play drive featuring a screen pass of 55 yards on third down and 24 to Bradshaw. On the very next play Manning connected with Manningham in the end zone. The rout had begun.

Terrell Thomas’ sack and recovery of a fumble by Tuck helped to set up a drive of three plays that was capped by a Manning pass over to Nicks.

Richard Seymour, defensive end for the Raiders said, we could not stop a thing. That is a very bad feeling being out they and the other team is running any play they want to. During the third and fourth quarters they had in their backups and still were doing anything they wanted to do on offense. There isn’t any excuses for that. We all need to look ourselves in the mirror. Say to ourselves, I need to do a much better job.

Notes
Manningham’s bruised chest kept him from playing a majority of the fourth quarter. Ricky Brown, linebacker of the Raiders, sustained a right ankle sprain. The X-rays were all negative. New York had the football for over 36 minutes. They have 27 first downs, while Oakland had only seven.

For the very first time all season, Houston didn’t have to answer any questions regarding their terrible run defense or inability for stopping big plays.

The defense of the Texans instead was able to celebrate their finest performance since the 2004 season as Houston beat the Raiders on Sunday 29-6. Houston allowed only 165 yards, the second fewest in the team’s history and fewest since they gave up 126 yards in a victory over Jacksonville nearly five years ago.

Antonio Smith, defensive end, said we were all having fun. When you have fun is when you have a lot of confidence. You don’t have second guesses. You don’t ease up when you are able to go at full speed. That is when you end up making big plays.

Steve Slaton had two touchdowns while Jacoby Jones scored on a kickoff return to help the Texans win.

Houston (2-2) was finally able to find their running game, figuring out how to shut down their opponent’s, while the worst defense in the NFL was able to hold Oakland (1-3) to only 45 rushing yards. Entering into the game, Houston had allowed an average of 205 rushing yards per game.

The Texans forced three turnovers as well and got their first safety in nearly seven years.

Houston was able to get the victory despite have some struggles with illness. Earlier in the week, they had the first NFL confirmed case for swine flu from Anthony Hill, tight end. On Saturday night as well as Sunday morning the Texans had some of their others players fall ill. However there were no other swine flu cases confirmed.

Eugene Wilson, safety, sat out the game due to illness, while Chris Brown, running back, was available to play but wasn’t feeling well and did not end up playing. Xavier Adibi, linebacker, was ill as well but did play on special teams.

Gary Kubiak, Texans coach said, last night Eugene got really sick. This morning it continued and there wasn’t any way for him to play. We are monitoring this situation. It hit us during the last four days. We just will need to work our way through it.

Eric Winston, offensive lineman, said that Wilson could barely walk he was so sick.

When Kubiak was asked if any of the other illnesses were swine flu cases he said, we do not want speculate. This morning it was scary, just to be honest.

Oakland continued with their struggles. JaMarcus Russell completed only 12 of his 33 passes for a total of 128 yards, while Darren McFadden had minus 3 rushing yards on six carries.

Tom Cable, Raiders coach said, we were not able to run the football. That disrupted our offense a lot. We are killing ourselves. We are shooting ourselves right in the foot everywhere.

The first score of Slaton’s occurred during the second quarter on a run of 32 yards, giving the Texans a 13-3 lead. It was the first rushing touchdown for the Texans this season. Slaton ended up with 65 rushing yards while Ryan Moats had 56.

Slaton’s second score later second quarter was on a catch and run 18 yard play which made the score 20-3. The touchdown was set up by Owen Daniels’ career high 44 yard catch.

The first turnover of Oakland’s occurred during the third quarter when DeMeco Ryans was able to strip the football away from Michael Bush. Antonio Smith recovered the ball, but Houston wasn’t able to capitalize.

However Andre Davis was able to down the punt on the one yard line and Brian Cushing, rookie, was able to tackle Justin Fargas inside the end zone to score a safety, making the score 22-6. It was the first safety for Houston since their inaugural 2002 season.

On the following kickoff, Jones returned the ball 95 yards, scoring the first kickoff return touchdown of his career. Jones does have two returned punts for touchdowns in his career.

During the fourth quarter Mario Williams was able to get to Russell and forced him to fumble. Houston as able to recover the football on the twenty yard line. Houston failed to score when a field goal attempt from 33 yards by Kris Brown sailed wide to the left.

Oakland had several dropped passes.

Russell said we kept getting ourselves in third down and long situations. We keep saying we need to have manageable downs.

The Texans had another opportunity to score late first half. However Chris Johnson intercepted a pass from Matt Schaub at the end zone. Matt Schaub went 11 out of 22 for a total of 224 yards with one touchdown.

Late second quarter Oakland got a field goal which cut the lead down to 20-6. Russell kept the drive alive when he connected on fourth down and nine on a 19 yard pass to Louis Murphy.

Andre Johnson had a 62 yard catch to move Houston down to the seven yard line during the first quarter. A field goal from 26 yards by Brown made the score 3-0. The Raiders tied the score on a field goal of 46 yards by Sebastian Janikowski following a first quarter fumble by Slaton.

During the second quarter Brown had a field goal of 34 yards.

Notes
Late fourth quarter Johnnie Lee Higgins mishandled a punt. Houston recovered the ball and was able to run the clock out. Cornell Green, tackle, of the Raiders has an injured calf, Tyvon Branch, safety, an injured groin, and Zach Miller, tight end, has a concussion. No additional information was provided by Cable regarding the injuries.

Kyle Orton along with Josh McDaniels as well as a newly dominant defense have all helped to quiet the talk of all the dysfunction during the off season in Denver with 3-0 start to the season.

Orton connected with Brandon Marshall on a touchdown pass, while the Broncos defense kept their second opponent in a row from scoring a touchdown as Denver overwhelmed Oakland on Sunday 23-3.

Orton said, we are happy where we are at. Every week we have been improving.

Denver’s performance starting the season has been much different than their off season. An immediate stir was caused by McDaniels after he came in to replace Mike Shanahan as Denver’s new head coach after Shanahan was fired. McDaniels alienated Jay Cutler, Pro Bowl quarterback, who was then traded to Chicago in exchange for Orton. Then during the preseason McDaniels suspended Marshall.

However, once the season got underway, not much could have gone any better for Denver. During their opening game versus Cincinnati they were able to take advantage of a lucky bounce. They followed this up with very convincing wins versus Cleveland and Oakland.

McDaniels said, there isn’t any vindication here because thee is nothing for us to vindicate.

The Broncos schedule will get a lot tougher playing Dallas next week. However with where they are currently standing, Denver has to be very pleased.

Knowshon Moreno, rookie, rushed for ninety yards and also scored, while Correll Buckhalter had 108 rushing yards in 14 carries for Denver. Matt Prater kicked three field goals to give the Broncos their 10th AFC West opening game victory in a row.

Orton once again played error free football. He went 13 for 23 with a total of 157 yards. In three games, Orton hasn’t thrown any interceptions, which is a big change from Cutler, who is more flashy and last season made a lot more big plays but also a lot more mistakes with his 18 interceptions.

Orton said, I thought the game was clean. We were able to get off to a very good start. Once again we didn’t have any turnovers and we were able to make passing plays when we really needed them. That was the type of formula we had wanted this week. We wee able to execute it.

Denver has only committed one offensive turnover this season. Even that one didn’t wind up hurting the team. After Buckhalter fumbled the ball deep in Denver’s territory, two plays later Darren McFadden fumbled the ball right back to the Broncos.

Brian Dawkins’ fumble recovery was only one of many of the big plays coming from the Broncos’ defense, engineered by Mike Nolan, defensive coordinator. Denver has only allowed 16 points the entire season, and during the last two weeks Elvis Dumervil has had six sacks.

For the second week in a row Oakland’s offense appeared inept. The defense this time wasn’t able to keep the Raiders in contention long enough to give JaMarcus Russell the opportunity to steal the game at the end, like he did in Kansas City last week.

Oakland was held to only 137 yards. It was the second week in a row that they had under 200 yards on offense. Since 1993 it is only the third time the Raiders have had two games in a row like this. The other two came during the 2006 season.

Nnamdi Asomugha, Pro Bowl cornerback said, there are some glaring problems we need to fix, They are in every phase of our game. We don’t really have a good read on just who we are. That is concerning. At this point in the season you do want to know the kind of team that you are.

During the first quarter Russell threw two interceptions. He was the main target for boos throughout the afternoon from frustrated Raiders fans, at least the ones who even bothered showing up. Game attendance was 45,602 with the game being blacked out in the local area.

Russell entered the game with only a 35.2 percent completion rate on his passes. He went 12 for 21 with a total of 61 yards. During the second half he had only one yard passing.

Russell said, I know the guys who are in the locker room are all behind me. The fans seem like they are fed up when they get to that. But if we play like we know we can and get things back on track then it will be a totally different story.

Denver dominated the entire first half, but had only a lead of 13-3. On Denver’s first drive on fourth down and goal from the one yard line, LaMont Jordan got stopped and the Broncos settled for just a field goal late in the first half after getting inside the five yard line.

Denver’s other ten points got set up by Russell interceptions. Russell was intercepted by Renaldo Hill after a goal line stand after Darrius Heyward-Bey got his feet tangled up with his defender and fell. The interception set up a touchdown pass of two yards to Marshall. Andre Goodwin got the second interception, setting up a field goal of 48 yards from Prater.

Notes
The game was broadcast for CBS by Rich Gannon after Oakland attempted to ban their ex quarterback from the production meetings before the game. It was the 100th time the two AFL rivals have met all time, including two games in the playoffs. The Raiders lead 56-42-2.

JaMarcus Russell, on one of his career’s most miserable days, got not only a win but also his name put in the history book for the Oakland Raiders.

The former No. 1 pick from the 2007 draft, missed high, low and everywhere else in between, completing just 7 out of 24 passes for a total of 109 yards. However when he really needed to Russell was able to focus and engineer a scoring drive of 69 yards during the final two minutes of the game to give the Raiders a very improbable 13-10 win over the error prone Chiefs.

Kansas City out gained Oakland 409 to 166 yards, and Russell became only the second quarterback since 2007 to attempt over 20 passes with a completion rate of less than thirty percent and still get the win.

It was the first time in the fifty year history of the Raiders that they got a win after allowing over 400 yards while gaining less than 200 yard themselves.

Darren McFadden, who scored the game winning 5 yard touchdown with just 1:07 left in the game said, it was a struggle from the first all the way through the fourth quarter until the final two or three minutes left to play.

It is probably one of our strangest wins. However, a win is a win.

Making his long-awaited debut for Kansas City following a month long knee injury, Cassel gave Kansas City a lead in the game when he connected on a touchdown of 29 yards to Dwayne Bowe with just 2:38 left to play. Cassel threw for 241 yards in the game.

The victory by Oakland didn’t seem improbable to Todd Haley, Kansas City coach.

Haley said, when you incur nine penalties, turn the ball over twice, and a few other lapses, you will not win most of those times. We did not get the result that we wanted. We will be a smart team. Getting nine penalties and a few other things does not reflect having a smart team. We will bet back and work because here we will have a smart team.

Tom Cable did agree that it was strange as it comes.

Oakland’s coach said, it is about as poor offensively as you can play and still somehow find a way in the end to win the game.

Cassel clearly outplayed Russell. However, Russell didn’t have any interceptions and Cassel had two, both winding up in the arms of Michael Huff, defensive back for the Raiders.

Cassel said, things happened throughout the game, whether on special teams, offense or defense that we hurt our team with. Oakland did a great job and were able to make plays when it really counted. That is why they are going home with a win.

Russell connected with Louis Murphy on a 19 yard pass and hit Todd Watkins with a 28 yard pass on the touchdown drive of nine plays. Then McFadden on a pitch play ran around the Chief defense on the right side untouched to score.

Cassel, after missing the opening game of the season due to an injured left knee, connected on a key pass on third down during the 72 yard, nine play drive that gave Kansas City their only second half lead.

Kansas City crowded the line daring Russell to beat the Chiefs’ defense with his arm. Up until the last drive it seemed that Russell was determined to make their strategy work. Going into the fourth quarter, Russell only had 35 passing yards, with the Raiders having only 77 total offensive yards while the Chiefs had 313 yards.

However, a slew of mistakes by the Chiefs, including their nine penalties totaling 70 yards along with atrocious management of the clock and two field goals from Sebastian Janikowski gave the Raiders a 6-3 lead.

Another key play on the winning drive for Oakland was the roughing call against Wallace Gilberry. While Russell was lying on the ground, Gilberry fell on him.

Haley said, the personal foul penalty got them right off the hook when we were in the position to put them into a tough position. In the end they made the plays.

Brandon Flowers, the No. 1 cornerback for the Chiefs, returned to action after missing nearly a month due to an injured shoulder. However, he made one of the Kansas City mistakes during the first half when he allowed an apparent interception to slip through his hands.

Flowers had nothing out in front but open field and would have most likely been able to waltz right into their end zone.

Flowers said, all losses hurt. This loss really kills us.