Oakland Raiders Lose Miserably To Pittsburgh Steelers: Will They Begin To Fade?

The Oakland Raiders put up the first points of the game off of a field goal, failing to score for the rest of the contest.  Ben Roethlisberger was too much for the Raiders defense to handle, and Oakland's offense could not seem to get anything going.  

The Steelers went scoreless in the first quarter, but once they found the endzone Big Ben and company had complete control of the game.  Roethlisberger threw no interceptions for the second time this season which was the key to the Steelers offense being so effective throughout the game.  Besides the one fumble by Rashard Mendenhall the Steelers offense was pretty much flawless.  

Although you never want to lose a football game the Raiders can certainly learn a lot from this loss.  Oakland was expecting their winning momentum to carry them throughout this football game but the truth is the Pittsburgh Steelers are too good of a football team.  

Jason Campbell was benched in the third quarter because off poor performance. Bruce Gradkowski than came into the game and things didn't turn much better, completing 13 out-of 24 passes for 98 yards, zero touchdowns, one interception and a 46.9 QB rating.

Prior to this upsetting outing Campbell was performing pretty effectively, leading the Raiders to three straight wins.  In each of those three games Campbell completed over 55% of his passes and scored a total of 5 touchdowns while only throwing one pick.  This benching was most likely just to send a message, since the game was pretty much out of reach trailing 21-3 at the half.  

Looking ahead, the Oakland Raiders have six games remaining on their schedule with three being against divisional rivals.  This game will prove to be lesson learnt down the road when they face a similar team in the Indianapolis Colts.  In Week 16 expect the Raiders to give Indianapolis a run for their money.

Oakland's last game of the season is against the Kansas City Chiefs, which could have playoff implications with both teams currently being atop of the AFC West division.  It will be an extremely tough game since there playing on the road, where they are 1-4 so far this season, but the Raiders will prevail victorious clinching the playoffs for the first time in seven years.