Oops, We Did It Again: Raiders-Broncos Review

With Charlie Frye making his first start since week 6 last year the Raiders seemed to be big underdogs heading into Sunday's game at Denver.  Charlie Frye only had 3 quarters of playing time before going out with a concussion.  Then JaMarcus came in.  Who wasn't thinking here we go again.  Russell was 1 of 4 for 4 yards when he got banged up on a hard hit.  J.P Losman (#7)  came into the game and he had 1 play, an incomplete pass.  Then Russell came back in, after missing 1 play.  He converted a 4th and 10 to Tony Stewart.  Later he put the 10 yard go ahead touchdown pass to Chaz Schilens.  Russell was 5/11 for 47 yards and that TD.  He also had trouble avoiding pressure and he had a fumble that was recovered by Mario Henderson for a loss of 14 yards. 

 That injury to Russell could be the best thing that ever happened to him.  When he came back on the field after 1 play off, he showed he wants to play.  He also showed some fire, its as if that hard hit knocked some ssemotion into Russell.  He looked like he was excited when he got the go ahead pass to Schilens.  Maybe it was because he knew that he wouldn't be heavily criticized tonight and all week, or he is turning a corner.  We could have another QB change this week because of Russell showing a glimpse of hope.  Frye didn't look too good out there.  He was 9/17 for 68 yards and an INT.  He did have a big run go for 25 yards on a first half bootleg so he has some speed. 

  The Raiders wouldn't have had a chance in the 4th quarter if it wasn't for a few things.  Michael Bush didn't play a snap last week, then at Denver he had 18 carries for 133 yards including a 25 yard touchdown run in the 2nd quarter.  That gave the Raiders a 7-6 lead.  Denver could have had 14 points at that point in the game, but a couple of red zone stands by the Raiders held the Broncos to 2 field goals.  Also, Darren McFadden had a nice game.  He took 12 carries for 74 yards but a fumble at midfield that went to Denver.  Bush averaged 7.4 yards a carry while McFadden had 6.2 per carry. 

  So once again the Raiders have upset a very good team.  They have had wins over 3 playoff bound teams and the defending champions.  Lets see if we can finally get back to back wins, we are at Cleveland who is showing some new found talent, they also beat the Steelers.