After a first half that saw several failed scoring attempts, a failed fourth down attempt and a miss by Sebastian Janikowski, Tom Cable made the call to replace Jason Campbell with Bruce Gradkowski at halftime.
The results never looked better. A 3-7 score was turned around and until a late touchdown by the Rams, the team led 16-7 for a good portion of the game. With the late touchdown, the Raiders needed a late game effort to keep the ball and burn up the clock, achieved by a number of plays.
But, once the game was done, the pundits instantly seemed to poke fun at it.
Are the Rams even in the NFL? The way people talk, they seem to compare to a high school football team… and they ALMOST beat the Raiders.
The way they are talking, you'd wonder if the NFL should take the win away from a great performance from Bruce Gradkowski, Darren McFadden, Louis Murphy and Darrius Heyward-Bey.
As it was, sure, the Raiders had a easy team on the schedule. Every team does. Does that make the Kansas City win over the Browns worthless? Or how about the Jaguars' destruction at the hands of the Chargers?
Right now the Raiders are 1-1. They have one more win than eight different clubs in the NFL, including two postseason favorites, the Vikings and the Cowboys.
For the irony, even the club that won last week, the Titans, looked pretty unsettled, replacing their own QB for Kerry Collins… and fell to the Steelers.
At 1-1, the Raiders are tied with nine other teams in the AFC, and a total of 17 teams have one win… tomorrow, if the 49ers can win, there will be one more.
It's...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
