The Raiders defense brought the pressure and sacked Donovan McNabb six times. The Raiders offense was able to not only break 200 total yards, but with the help of a spectacular catch and run by Zach Miller, Russell was able to surpass that number. For the first time in 2009, the Raiders were able to play a complete game.
(AP Photo/Joe Kikura)
The game started with the Raiders and Eagles trading three and outs, and the Eagles were the first to break through when they kicked a field goal in the first quarter. The Raiders responded with their longest single play since 1983 when JaMarcus Russell hist Zach Miller for an 86 yard touchdown catch and run that featured rookie receiver Louis Murphy blocking two different defensive backs out of the way to clear the path to the end zone.
Neither team would find the end zone for the remainder of the game. David Akers ended up helping the Raiders cause by missing two field goals, whilst Sebastian Janikowski was a perfect 2-2 on the day.
The key to this win for the Raiders was their defense being able to make the plays they needed to make to get the Eagles off the field when it counted. It helped that they were able to get consistent pressure on Donovan McNabb, bringing him down six times. They were able to do this by breaking away from their traditional four man pressure and brought their own blitzes.
Defensive linemen combined for five sacks with Trevor Scott and Richard Seymour each notching two and Jay Richardson adding one of his own. Linebacker Thomas Howard got in on the sack fest by adding one of his how. That pressure combined with coverage that remained strong despite the loss of Nnamdi Asomugha to injury kept Donovan McNabb from completing half of his passes.
Offensively, Justin Fargas was the workhorse carrying the ball 23 times for 87 yards. Zach Miller's 86 yard reception was the highlight and the difference in the game. Miller had six receptions for 139 yards to account for the bulk of JaMarcus Russell's 224 yards passing.
The Raiders were able to find inspiration from the words of Antonio Pierce, and their desire to prove him wrong according to Hiram Eugene, "We went in and we were going to fight. New York had comments about our team as a whole so we just stepped it up, offense, defense and special teams. We put it out that we have to go make a statement for ourselves."
The offensive line played much better than expected as Russell was only sacked once. Left tackle Mario Henderson chalked it up to communication and film study. "I think the key this week was we actually took the time to break down all the stuff that they were doing. One thing is, we communicated. That was absolutely the number one thing. All we have to do is communicate." He did concede that they could have done better, "We didn’t have a great day but we had a good day. This is a lot better compared to what a lot of people thought we were going to do. Philadelphia is a good team. We’ve seen that on films. We knew it was a big challenge, and for us to hang around like we did, that’s great."
You can also find Patrick Patterson on Thoughts from the Dark Side.
Comments
this is good if they be nyj next week if not, well anouther 5-11 season?
I cant explain how happy i am for the Raiders.I can't get my hopes up though after seeing last year how the Raiders do extremely well one game and suck the next.
The Jets(who their facing next week),in my opinion, are not as good as the Eagles.But the Raiders still need to play as well as they did today next week to have a chance.
Oh yea, it's a major shocker that Stanford Routt did great backing up Asomugha.He's usually pretty bad but good for him!
It's good to get a win against a good team. This is the Defense we saw play San Diego. I'm glad the Raiders have the pride and fortitude to turn that embarrassing loss and subsequent call out by the Giants players for having no fire into the motivation needed to win. Good job. Jamarcus played a bit better, except for the 2 interceptions.I think having a better lineup at wide receiver helped him. Zach Miller great catch and run....Louis Murphy great (I Mean Great)blocking and hustle on that play. Richard Seymour and Trevor Scott 2 sacks each, Jay Richardson and Thomas Howard with one each .....Good job guys. We need to play like this every week and win or lose Raider Nation will unite behind you. It's the effort we appreciate and support. As long as you guys are putting it all on the line we will ask no more. The last four weeks were really bad so let's put those behind us play like we now know we are capable of playing. Also props for blitzing on "D" making things happen!Go Raiders!
Hope fully the defensive coordinator (Marshall) can continue with the various Zone coverage schemes and use the array of blitzes in future games. We have talented personnel but AL is screwing everthing up with his old, antiquated beliefs and decision making. Finally (thank goodness), we switched out of man coverage, played some zone, confused McNabb and incorporated an array of blitzes. We all know AL loves man coverage and likes to only generate pressure with the front four D-line men. That's a defense from the 70's and 80's! I am glad the Raiders won today but I am not going to games ever again unless the improvement continues and the organization puts a better product on the field. I hope others do not attend games and force the organization to shape up. Who wants to pay money to see a horrible product? We need changes and hopefully this is nice start!
Great win for the Nation. Everyone stepped up, none bigger than Routt. Nnamdi went out and he stepped up. Previous statement detracted, teams won't be so eager to attack him from now on. If he can keep up with those small, quick guys, he should be solid against anyone else as long as he focuses/plays as hard as he did. Bad call on the PI took another TD from the nation. Refs are gonna get run out of Oakland if they keep this B.S. up.
It looks like we watched so much of the Eagles D on tape we decided to use it ourselves. That was awesome and exciting! I hope Al doesn't nix it. We don't have to use it all the time, but to switch back and forth between man-to-man and cover two would really cause a lot of problems for opposing offenses.
I am very proud of our team but if we don't start producing points we will not win many games. Our D played outstanding, but if Akers connects on the two makeable FG's he missed, we still lose. 13 points ain't gonna cut it most of the time. If Schillens comes back it would be a huge boost, at least he can catch. Russell still looked below average at best. Thank God for Gary Russell. If not for him and Miller unexplicably being able to take a 15 yard pass 86yds, Jamarcus throws up another 100yd, 2int, no TD performance.
This team could win some games if we went with someone else while Jamarcus gets it figured out.
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