Oakland Raiders Opponents Victimized By Black Eye Or Black Cat
Back in the day, part of what made the Oakland Raiders so tough for their opponents was the hangover they had the week following.
A lot of teams would get up for "Raider Week" knowing they had to give it their best shot when they played the Raiders. They also had to prepare for the physical punishment they knew was coming their way from facing the Silver and Black.
Sometimes the Raiders opponents won, many more times they did not. Most of the time the Raiders opponents lost their game the following week.
This was the basis for what was called the Raiders mystique. It indicated when Oakland was playing Raider football.
So far this season, Oakland's opponents are 1-7 in the week after facing the Raiders.
These days its harder to draw a straight line from one week to the next in the NFL. Partly due to the parity in the league, partly due to the conditioning of modern athletes, there seems to be less correlation between a team's results from week to week.
But injuries do happen. And dominating results have lingering effects.
So is the current trend for the Raiders opponents the result of carryover from a black eye handed to them by Oakland or just the curse of the league's black cat?
Here's a look from week to week.
Victim One Tennesse Titans
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Week One: Tennesse Titans 38 Oakland Raiders 13
In their season opener the Tennessee Titans easily handled the Oakland Raiders. Titans RB Chris Johnson ran for 142 yards and 2 TDs.
Week Two: Pittsburgh Steelers 19 Tennessee Titans 11
In Tennessee's second home game the Pittsburgh Steelers returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and shutdown the Titans, who committed 7 turnovers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are 14-3 as visitors in September games to the Tennessee franchise since 1970.
The Exception: St. Louis Rams
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Week Two: Oakland Raiders 16 St. Louis Rams 14
In Oakland's home opener the Raiders recovered from a poor first half by bringing backup QB Bruce Gradkowski in to ignite the team.
Darren McFadden finished with 145 yards rushing and Sebastian Janokowski hit 3 field goals to give the Raiders a victory.
Week Three: St. Louis Rams 30 Washington Redskins 16
The Rams ended a 14 game home losing streak by beating the Redskins in St. Louis. The Rams outscored the Redskins 16-3 to bring home the win.
Next Victim: Arizona Cardinals
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Week Three: Arizona Cardinals 24 Oakland Raiders 23
In a sloppy game in Arizona, the Cardinals defeated the Raiders by outplaying them on special teams. The Cardinals ran back a kickoff return for a touchdown while Raider kicker Sebastian Janokowski missed three field goals including a failed game winner from 32 yards out.
Week Four: San Diego Chargers 41 Arizona Cardinals 10
The Chargers dominated the visiting Arizona Cardinals on both sides of the ball. San Diego tight end Antonio Gates had 7 receptions for 144 yards and 2 touchdowns while the Charger defense recorded 9 sacks and 3 takeaways.
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Next Victim: Houston Texans
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Week Four: Houston Texans 31 Oakland Raiders 24
The Houston Texans came in to Oakland and dominated the host Raiders on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Houston ran for 249 yards on Oakland's defense. Oakland lost running back Darren McFadden to a hamstring injury in the first half.
Week Five: New York Giants 34 Houston Texans 10
The New York Giants came in to Houston and dominated the Texans through the air on offense and on the ground on defense. Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks racked up 2 touchdowns on 12 catches for 130 yards as the Giants built a 24-3 halftime lead.
Perhaps the Texans running backs were still exhausted from running all over the Raiders as they managed just 24 yards rushing against the Giants.
Victimized: San Diego Chargers
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Week Five: Oakland Raiders 35 San Diego Chargers 27
The hosting Oakland Raiders built up an early lead on the Chargers blocking 2 punts and returning an interception for a touchdown.
Raider running back Michael Bush ran for 104 yards and a touchdown.
San Diego quarterback Phillip Rivers kept the Chargers in the game with 431 yards passing for 2 touchdowns until his 4th quarter sack/fumble was returned for a touchdown by Raiders safety Tyvon Branch to seal the victory for the Raiders.
Week Six: St. Louis Rams 20 San Diego Chargers 17
The St. Louis Rams returned home to defeat the Chargers for their 3rd consecutive home win a week after getting blown out in Detroit by the Lions 44-6.
The Rams contained San Diego's league leading offense by sacking Charger quarterback 7 times.
San Diego's special teams continued to haunt them as a 4th quarter field goal attempt was blocked.
Victimated: San Francisco 49ers
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Week Six: San Francisco 49ers 19 Oakland Raiders 7
San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith finally threw two second half touchdowns and running back Frank Gore piled up 149 yards rushing to put the visiting Raiders out of their misery.
Week Seven: Carolina Panthers 23 San Francisco 49ers 20
The Carolina Panthers recorded their first win of the season against visiting division rival San Francisco 49ers.
Maligned Panthers quarterback Matt Moore threw for 308 yards.
Starting 49er quarterback Alex Smith left the game with a shoulder injury and backup quarterback David Carr threw a 4th quarter interception that set up the Panthers game winning field goal.
It Burns, It Burns: Denver Broncos
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Week Seven: Oakland Raiders 59 Denver Broncos 14
The visiting Oakland Raiders set a franchise record scoring 59 points in Denver. The Raiders piled up 328 yards rushing.
In his return from a hamstring injury Raiders running back Darren McFadden scored 4 touchdowns (3 rushing, 1 receiving).
The Raiders passing defense stifled Denver's vaunted passing offense, recording 4 sacks.
Week Eight: San Francisco 49ers 24 Denver Broncos 16
Making a long week longer, Denver flew to London, England following their loss to Oakland to take on the "home" team San Francisco 49ers.
Former Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Troy Smith got the start for the 49ers and went 12-for-19 and 196 yards passing.
Running back Frank Gore logged 118 yards rushing on 29 carries against Denver's last ranked rushing defense.
Denver had two touchdowns taken away on penalties.
Oh The Humanity: Seattle Seahawks
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Week Eight: Oakland Raiders 33 Seattle Seahawks 3
The Seattle Seahawks came into Oakland with the second ranked rushing defense and got run over.
The Raiders offense finished the day with 545 yards total offense.
The Raiders defense notched eight sacks against the Seahawks.
Week Nine: New York Giants 41 Seattle Seahawks 7
The New York Giants came off their bye week to travel to Seattle.
For their part, the usually tough at home Seahawks limped back from Oakland missing their starting quarterback, Matt Hasselback out with a concussion as well as missing 2 starting offensive linemen and 3 out of 4 starting defensive linemen out with various injuries.
The Giants offense dominated Seattle with 201 yards rushing for 2 touchdowns. Giants quarterback Eli Manning finished with 290 yards for 3 touchdowns on 21-of-32 passing.
Victim In Waiting? Kansas City Chiefs
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Week Nine: Oakland Raiders 23 Kansas City Chiefs 20
In a sloppy match up featuring the two top rushing offenses, the Raiders escaped with an overtime victory at home to go into their bye week at 5-4.
The difference in the game proved to be Raider rookie wide receiver and kickoff returner Jacoby Ford who returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown to spark the Raiders and finish with 148 yards receiving to set up kicker Sebastian Janokowski's game tying and game winning field goals.
The much maligned Raiders rushing defense held the Kansas City ground attack to 104 yards rushing for the day.
Week Ten: Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos
The Kansas City Chiefs bring their AFC West leading record 5-3 into Denver following the Broncos bye week.
Will Kansas City be the next victim of the Curse of the Black Pearl.
The Raiders will be watching to see if they can take the AFC West division lead in their bye week.
This Week Its Go Broncos!
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Whether its due to the black eye the Chiefs got in Oakland or the curse of the black cat, hopefully we see lots of Thunder in Denver this week!
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