Silver and Black Report

It seems like every year the Oakland Raiders (2-6) hit rock bottom.

Well, sometimes, there are a few instances during a season that Raider fans point to as the final straw. 

Today in Oakland, the first – and what fans hope is the only – of those moments occurred, as the Atlanta Falcons dismantled the Silver Black 24-0.

The abysmal display put forth by Tom Cable’s bunch was painful to watch. And in comparison to a team that went 4-12 last season, had to deal with the Bobby Petrino fiasco, the Michael Vick scandal and that is starting a rookie quarterback with the burden of turning the page on a disastrous 2007, the Falcons appeared light years ahead of the Raiders in their effort to rebuild, reload and turn themselves into a functional football organization.

On the field, the Raiders were manhandled and the numbers throughout the game nauseated even in the most optimistic die-hard.

After the first quarter, the Falcons had a 14-0 lead, compiling 12 first downs, 180 total yards (81 on the ground), and a 12:19 to 2:41 time of possession advantage.

Oh, it gets worst.

At the half, Oakland was down 24-0 and Atlanta had a 20-0 lead in first downs converted. They had amassed 319 total yards of offense as oppose to the negative 2 yards posted by the Raiders. Ryan led them to 184 passing yards and Michael Turner paced them towards a 135 rushing effort. In total, 48 plays of total dominance, in comparison to Oakland’s 13 meager plays.

Oakland did not get their initial first down till the 9:26 mark of the 3^rd quarter.

And at that point, did it matter?

If the Raiders wanted to go out with a bang, they could’ve just gone the whole game without any pulse and it wouldn’t have mattered for the dejected fans that had to sit through that thrashing.

What was most disappointing was the disparity of play between the youthful quarterbacks tabbed to carry these clubs in the coming years.

Ryan appeared poised, making the right audibles at the line of scrimmage which helped the Falcons move the chains, directing his team effortlessly while showing great accuracy in total control of his team in his 17-of-22 for 220 yards and 2 touchdown effort.

In contrast, JaMarcus Russell ran for his life, looked tentative, indecisive and appeared to be the passer with the lesser of experience and upside during his 6-of-19 for 31 yards and 1 interception performance.

It didn’t help that Russell’s tackles couldn’t protect him from a terrorizing John Abraham, who tallied three sacks against Kwame Harris and Cornell Green. But Russell at times couldn’t even pump fake without losing his grip on the football or hit streaking targets when they were open down the field.

Atlanta even found ways to haunt former teammate DeAngelo Hall, who boasted before the game how he taught Falcon receivers a thing or two, and they in turn, returned the favor by torching the cornerback on the game’s opening score and throughout the afternoon.

The Raiders were bad today. Historically horrid!

During this six-year stretch of misery, you can make the case that this has been the worst they have looked at home.

Raider fans hope it doesn’t get any worse. Heck, after today, it would take some inhumane humiliation to surpass the level of embarrassment achieved today.

GAME STATS

                                                   ATLANTA                           OAKLAND

1^st downs                                      30                                             3

3^rd down conversions                  9-17                                        1-9        

4^th down conversions                     1-2                                        0-1

Total Yards                                    453                                         77

Passing                                            201                                        10

Rushing                                           252                                         67

Penalties                                         4-40                                        7-55

Turnovers                                        1                                                2

Time of Possession                      45:15                                            14:45

 GAME NOTES

• Oakland couldn’t even unveil their version of the ‘wildcat’ formation. In the 2^nd quarter, Ronald Curry was lined up at quarterback, but a false start penalty on Robert Gallery nixed that surprise play.
• The lone positive before the half was Gerard Warren’s strip of Ryan, and Kalimba Edwards fumble recovery with 16 second remaining, which ended their drive at the Raiders 16 yard line.
• Russell did show some moxy, going down with the sinking ship with some fight, especially after bruising his left ankle in the second half. The Raider passer appeared more comfortable when he was let loose and finally showed some decisiveness with his mobility, taking off twice on runs of 22 and 24 yards.
• Derrick Burgess and Darren Mcfadden were notables on the inactive list.
• The victory was the first ever for the Falcons in Oakland, as their road victory versus the Raiders was in Los Angeles in 1988.
• Robert Thomas, who started in place of Ricky Brown, sustained a hamstring injury, Tyvon Branch was also injured, and Tom Cable stated after the game he didn’t know how long either would be out.