Gradkowski Gets One for the Raiders

Coming off a terrible loss to the Titans, I expected the Raiders to come in a team that had studied film and made changes to their game plan. After all, we did get rid of half of what the problem was…or so we thought. The win against the Rams was going to be a piece of cake...or so we thought. Whoever thought that, thought wrong. This week the Oakland Raiders got off to another bad start with Campbell as the starting QB. As I watched the first quarter, I couldn’t help but criticize the offensive line for failing to protect Jason Campbell. It was too easy for the Rams to get into the backfield. However, that was my thinking for only the first couple of series. (and in NO way am I letting the O-Line slide for those sacks/hurries on our QB) I noticed that Campbell was just having a hard time moving the ball and against the Rams and that shouldn’t have been a problem. The Rams have no lockdown corners and Oakland has 2 young and thriving Wide Receivers in DHB and Louis Murphy with great speed and ability to make plays. Almost being able to guarantee a solid performance from Zach Miller each week, there is no reason for the way the first half was played. Campbell just couldn’t establish a good rhythm. With the fumbles and sacks in addition to our penalties, they didn’t look good the first half offensively. Steven Jackson was unstoppable the first 2 quarters taking off lots of the pressures Bradford faced as a rookie QB, things we should have capitalized on. Nevertheless, the Silver and Black welcomed the young Sam with a few sacks of our own. No matter how well the defense plays if the offense can’t eat up the clock, drive down the field and score, the defense is working hard for nothing, and our defense was working hard. I couldn’t believe that this was the performance we were getting from Campbell. Given the way Washington just got rid of him one would think he was ready to prove to them that they made a mistake and especially with the way he looked in preseason.

STOP right there. I know the saying -If the Raiders do well in the preseason…blah blah blah.

We looked a lot better as the second half got underway with Bruce Gradkowski as the QB. I was surprised YET happy that Cable decided to pull Campbell and see what Bruce would be able to do. What would it hurt? We were already down 7-3 and unable to get in the end-zone. The Raiders fans are no strangers to what Gradkowski can do. He came in last year behind Russell and brought energy and leadership to the field. Not to mention wins! The wins last year against the Bengals and Steelers were huge and proved that the Raiders could win given the right tools and leadership. He did that yesterday as well. He stepped on that field and commanded it. In my opinion Campbell and Gradkoswki should compete for the starting spot Sunday, it should not be given back to Campbell easily. Bruce should have had the starting QB job last year, his resume speaks for itself. Injury or not, this year he should have been his too. He gets in and gets the job done. Same offensive line that was blocking for Campbell blocked for Bruce and somehow Gradkowski had the time to avoid being sacked, find an open man and make a good play. He got in the game bringing some momentum and completed his first few passes that set up a field goal by Janikowski. It must have carried over because the defense shut the Rams down with a quick 3 and out. Heyward-Bey, who looked like a potential overpaid draft bust last year continued to make plays for his team. Murphy caught a TD pass, following that 3 and out by STL. The team was now on the same page. We were making plays. The Raiders defense adjusted and kept the activity of Steven Jackson to a minimum forcing Bradford to throw the ball to his receivers. Although Bradford hit Clayton for two TDs, Nnamdi and Routt covered the ST Louis WR well. The Raiders held STL to win 16-14. Let’s see if we can continue to “Just Win Baby”