Luck, Skill, or Is It Our Time?: Three Questions for the Oakland Raiders

Going into the Bengals game, it seemed like the task for Bruce Gradkowski was impossible.

They would be playing at home, sure. But against a 7-3 team that had beaten both the Steelers and Ravens, twice?

If you had tried to place a bet on this contest, the bookie might have looked at you like you were crazy. No one bets on the Raiders.

Sure, they beat the Eagles. But that was a fluke with an ineffective quarterback and a good defensive effort.

Come Sunday's start, that was the prevailing opinion around football. The numbers, via Yahoo, had the odds of us winning at 4 percent.

When the Bengals had the ball through the first half of play, it looked as though the Raiders were going to have a long day. Every time the Bengals ran a play, they made first downs and built up a 14-0 lead.

Then, something with the Raiders clicked, as if the entire team said, "Not Today."

After having little success in moving the ball for much of the first half, the Raiders started a drive on their own 29 with less than four minutes remaining. Seventy-one yards later, Zach Miller had both hands on the ball and spiked it.

That gave Oakland had their first touchdown of the game, and Gradkowski his first since 2006.

For Oakland, though, this momentum seemed to carry over to the defense. With 59 seconds left, the Bengals were held to a single yard and punted the ball back to the Raiders, who then got into position for at least a try.

No good. But Oakland seemed to have built a fire for this game.

The second half showcased some tough plays, some strong defense, and some luck. The defense would only give up a single field goal after a fumble by Michael Bush put the Bengals in good range.

The Bengals also had a golden chance to score earlier when Carson Palmer moved them down to the one-yard line, but then on a third down was sacked by Stanford Routt.

If the irony is to be believed, Stanford was called for roughing the passer, setting up the 1st-and-goal series that ended with a missed field goal.

In the fourth quarter, the Raiders, down by seven, had their golden chance to choke. After stopping the Bengals at their own three with a drive that netted -7 yards, Bruce tossed a flutter ball.

This pass, which was picked off and run to the 21-yard line, in essence gave the Bengals another chance to end the game.

With only six minutes left, the Raiders would need two things to go their way: a drive-stopping set of downs, and a touchdown to even think about overtime.

The first one came almost four minutes downfield, when the Bengals just got over midfield and seemed to hit their version of kryptonite.

They would get no further than the 48-yard line and punted back to Oakland, giving the Raiders the ball back with two minutes and 12 seconds left on the clock.

Bruce had botched his last attempt. But, on this drive, the fans who stayed saw him put together his second great drive of the game.

While marching the team downfield, Bruce proceeded to throw a little bit of everything. When he needed a first down on 3rd-and-1, he even handed it off to McFadden. When he had a 4th-and-10, he found Chaz Schilens—and moved the chains again.

When the next pass was attempted, Louis Murphy, draped by a player, was short of the goal line. Twisting and pulling, he fought his way to paydirt, scoring six. With the extra point, the Raiders were tied.

As it was, the Raiders were back in the game. Some would say, "Let's wait until halftime; just stop Palmer from getting a field goal."

With 33 seconds and some great special teams work, Brandon Myers himself made sure they wouldn't be able to.

With a classic stripping move, Caldwell could only watch the ball go free, and the Bengals looked on in shock as the stadium got loud.

Could the Raiders actually win? How?

Three plays later, Janikowski would punch the ball through from 33 yards out, taking the lead and leaving the Bengals with 15 seconds to work with.

On the kickoff, the visitors could only muster two plays, reaching the 43-yard line before a last ditch throw was picked off by Asomugha to end the game.

Now, come those fun questions.

Were the Raiders lucky? Sure, but luck will beat skill every time. We were lucky the Bengals had a case of the fumbles, that Cedric Benson was out, that Caldwell had gotten stripped.

The Raiders are lucky that their own fumbles weren't converted into more points, that the Bengals made it to the Oakland one-yard line and couldn't get any points for it.

Did the Raiders have a measure of skill in this game? To a degree, it looked like the Raiders were slowly trying to set their timing up. They were butchered for most of the first half. But once they found their direction, the entire team was ready for some retribution.

The Bengals had the unlucky task of standing in front of them. Bruce, who had waited for his turn, rewarded Tom Cable with a good win in front of the loyal fans.

Is it our time? The next two opponents will be telling for the Raiders. The Cowboys managed just seven points against the Redskins on Sunday—and won.

The Raiders will be playing a short week, just like the Cowboys. The difference, I think, will be that the Raiders appear to be headed in the same direction for a change.

The second opponent, the Steelers, is wondering about concussions and who replaces Big Ben if he gets hurt again.

Both games are on the road. If Oakland manages a split, they are still going forward. And if they are 2-0, they could finish at 8-8.