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.