Happy 50th season Raider Nation!!!

It started off with a nice little tailgate. Two guys, lots of meat. Awesome, game time starts, and the Raiders are off to a good start. Darren McFadden and Michael Bush were workhorses, and Zach Miller worked the field, finding open zones...Then Jamarcus throws the pick.

Eventually Michael Bush scored a touchdown in the first. The defense led by newly acquired Richard Seymour and a rejuvenated Michael Huff held the Chargers.

Eventually Jamarcus started sucking. He was over throwing receivers by 15-20 yards, causing the crowd to boo. The game stayed fairly low scoring, and Philip Rivers snuck a quick pass behind Nnamdi Asomugha. It was clear that the Raider O's constant 3 and outs were taking its toll on the Defense. 

The game got close, and trailing 17-13, Jamarcus unleashes a 57 yard bomb to Louis Murphy on 4th and 14 with 2:40 to go. The score was now 20-17. Great all the Raiders had to do was hold the Chargers. But Philip Rivers led a steady 90 yard touchdown drive to drive the Raiders and the Raider Nation back into misery.

Ironically, at the end of the day, I'm not surprised. The Raiders have given it up in the end several times in the past. This is actually progress, the Raiders didn't get embarrassed like last year's 41-14 loss to Denver or 3 seasons ago in a shutout against San Diego. This is a tough loss to start off the season with. 

Defense

The Raiders don't blitz, they just don't. Thomas Howard did fine when covering Antonio Gates, but Gates did good in zones where Ricky Brown was assigned on him. The Raiders did a better job squeezing the middle, and pursuing to the outside on run plays. Other pass plays looked bad, the Raiders would leave the middle wide open. Safeties would be too deep, and linebackers were out in the flats, allowing medium drags, and Gates to run some posts to the inside. 

Offense

The Run game is great with Bush and McFadden, however, the lack of a true passing game draws 8 defenders into the box. At times, it becomes predictable. Zach Miller knows how to find a hole and sit. He makes great catches especially in the middle, and makes good adjustments to Jamarcus' balls. The reverse to Johnnie Lee Higgins was great. Aside from the reverse everything was more or less basic. I only noticed maybe a dozen or so plays that had 3 receiver sets. With Russell's arm, and the speed on the outside, I think it's worth a shot spreading the field. 

Let's pick 3 Raider winners and 3 Raider losers. 

TOP RAIDERS

Richard Seymour-In just 2 days, he's already made a big difference helping the defense hold the LT-Darren Sproles combo to just 77 yards. The Ex-Pat also had two sacks.

Michael Huff-Looks like he's on a campaign to remove the bust label. Huff had a fumble recovery and an interception.

Louis Murphy-Robbed of a touchdown, but put on a nice double move to haul in 57 yard bomb. 

BOTTOM RAIDERS

Ricky Brown-Weaker link among linebackers, was getting blocked, and letting defenders run underneath.

Cornell Green-2 False starts, and a holding call for the starting right tackle.

Jamarcus Russell-Ended the first drive, a promising one, with a bad interception. He still stares down receivers. Jamarcus has no touch, consistently over throwing wide receivers, he did make a good deep ball to Murphy on the 57 yarder. Aside from that one play, he sucked for most of the game. Just imagine, if he had connected on half of those bad high passes, the game wouldn't have been that close. He's lucky, Zach Miller makes him look good.