Oakland Raiders Keep Winning-Sports Media Fails to Notice!

John Doublin – Nov 30, 2011

It seems that most of the "mainstream" sports media decides before the seasons starts which teams they intend to cover no matter what. Curiously, the Oakland Raiders are never on that list—unless it's negative coverage.

Last Sunday's win over the now 7-4  Chicago Bears is the perfect example. The only thing the "experts" seem capable of saying is "the Bears were missing Jay Cutler, that's why they lost to Oakland." Notice how they phrase that; "Chicago lost." Not, "Oakland won."

Hmmm...that's about what Raider Nation expects from these people.

Last time I checked, the Raiders were missing some key players too—more than the Bears in fact.

OFFENSIVE INJURIES:

The best offensive weapon the Raiders have, Darren McFadden, has been out with an ankle injury since the week seven loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Yet, miraculously no one mentions that when they hand the Bears excuses for losing.

Also missing from this fray against the Bears was rookie sensation wide receiver Denarius Moore and second year star wide-out Jacoby Ford. That means that Oakland's number one and number two wide receivers were missing from the line up. Yet somehow, quarterback Carson Palmer managed to hang over 300 yards passing on a very good Bears' defense.

Despite all the injuries to the Raiders' offense, all the sports-pundits are talking about is how much the Bears will miss Jay Cutler—rather than how well the Oakland offense did against a premier NFL defense.

DEFENSIVE INJURIES:

The most devastated side of the ball for the Raiders is the defense. The injuries are too numerous to count, but let's look at some of the more important ones.

Secondary—The Raiders have lost many defensive backs this season. Opening day starting cornerback Chris Johnson has missed seven games with a hamstring problem, rookie standout cornerback Chimdi Chekwa, (who substituted nicely for Johnson) is now on the injured reserve list.

Seasoned veteran free safety and team leader Michael Huff has been in and out all year long, hard-hitting strong safety and situational player Mike Mitchell has been slowed recently, and special teams stud Hiram Eugene has been placed on season-ending injured reserve.

All this damage to the secondary has left Oakland to rely on occasionally injured rookie DeMarcus Van Dyke, formerly unemployed veteran Lito Sheppard, new to the team Matt Giordano, twice-cut Jerome Boyd and recently signed free agent Brian McCann to cover opposing receivers. McCann also had to return punts and kicks with the absence of the aforementioned Ford and Moore.

The only constants in the Raiders' secondary have been Stanford Routt and Tyvon Branch. Even with all this mixing-and-matching, Oakland still snagged three interceptions.

Linebackers—Second year middle linebacker Rolando McClain left this game twice with ankle problems. It was clear he was not at full strength, and hasn't been for several weeks. What is a huge concern for Raiders' fans isn't even news for the sports media—but throwing Bret Favre's name around to sign with Houston, the 4-7 "Dream- Team" Philadelphia Eagles "still having a chance" and Tim Tebow running a college offense  is!



Defensive line—Starting right defensive end Matt Shaughnessy was placed on injured reserve many weeks ago and he was replaced by Jarvis Moss—who also missed the Bears game with injury. This has forced third-string defensive tackle Desmond Bryant to play defensive end.

Team leader and perennial Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion Richard Seymour was limited in this game as well. Why aren't any of the major sports writers or publications talking about how the Raiders got four sacks on the Bears without their best defensive lineman or starting defensive end?

This doesn't even come close to fully encompassing the extent of injuries that have plagued the Raiders, yet here they sit atop the AFC West at 7-4 and on a three game winning streak. It would seem to me if you're going to allow the Bears the excuse of losing their starting quarterback  as reason for their loss, shouldn't you also consider that Oakland lost their starting quarterback, Jason Campbell—and a bunch more, critical players—but are continuing to win as proof of how deep and how good this team really is?

Apparently not.

A GLIMMER OF SANITY:

As I often do, I search social media and fan sites looking for interesting stories about my beloved Silver and Black. Much to my dismay, most of what I found in the mainstream media was about the implosion of the Eagles, the promise of the constantly over-rated Cowboys and Chargers and, of course, how great Tebow is. Virtually nothing about the Raiders—unless, as I said before, it was negative about my favorite team or the fans I call friends.

Just as I was about to end my futile search for positive Raider reporting, I stumbled upon an article by CBS Sports senior NFL columnist, Clark Judge, (click here to read it in full). Much like the frustration shown by Raider Nation, Mr. Judge appears to have had enough of "Tebow Mania."

Judge puts it this way:

"Look, I love what Denver is doing, too, but Tebow mania has overshadowed what's going on in Oakland, and what's going on is that the Raiders are beginning to flex their muscles."

Wait! Did I read that correctly? Is this an genuine, bona-fied, dyed-in-the-wool, REAL journalist actually giving Oakland some credit for what they've accomplished?

Be still my heart!

Mr. Judge, (who now has my undying respect, and I will promptly follow on Twitter) makes a great case for the rest of the world to start taking Oakland as a legitimate threat to, not only win the division and make the playoffs, but to win playoff games by saying:

"But it's not just Palmer or Bush's play in the absence of McFadden that makes the Raiders so attractive. It's that they win on the road, and, trust me, that's a bonus in the playoffs. The Raiders are 4-1 away from home, losing only when they blew a 21-3 lead in Buffalo the second week of the season, and average 26.8 points per game there. "

Please read Mr. Judge's article in full from the link above. It's fantastic and you won't regret it!

It's nice to see that there are still some objective, professional sports journalists left in the world that can see through all the hype and recognize what's going on in Oakland! Thank you Mr. Judge. You've just earned a new fan!

Follow us on Twitter: @CoachJayDee, @RNTimes. On FaceBook-Raider Nation Times.


 

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