Oakland Raiders Play a Rude Host to Tim Tebow Mania

In recent years, it would bring relief to a quarterback making his first NFL start to have the Oakland Raiders be the ones throwing the welcome party.

Go in, shake some hands, have a few drinks and hors d’oeuvres, and go home feeling great about yourself. In other words, it was anything but a daunting task, even for the greenest of signal callers.

That wasn’t the case yesterday for Florida Gators legend and Denver Broncos rookie Tim Tebow, and the days of teams looking at games against the Raiders as nothing more than an lousy scrimmage could be over.

They aren’t “back.” If having a .500 record and needing far too much help in the season’s final two weeks to expect the unlikeliest of playoff berths means you are back, then Oakland has always been a very mediocre franchise.

I think John Madden, Marcus Allen, George Blanda and Al Davis would disagree with that sentiment, but it’s safe to say that the former greats like the direction the franchise is headed after eight seasons of being lost in the abyss.

In Sunday’s 39-23 demolishing of Tebow and the lowly Broncos, the Raiders won the way they have been winning all year long—by running the football. Led by Darren McFadden’s 119 yards, Oakland rushed for 264 yards on 41 carries and three touchdowns. They also won by doing something they haven’t done this season—stopping the run.

Entering Sunday, Oakland was giving up an average of 130.9 yards on the ground, but allowed Denver just 106 on 33 carries, a measly 3.2 yard average. Take away Tebow’s 40-yard touchdown run and the numbers read: 32 carries for 66 yards. That’s impressive even if the Broncos came into the game with the 29th-ranked rushing attack.

The good news is that the win evened the Raiders’ record at 7-7, making next week’s home game against Indianapolis important. That alone is improvement, because we haven’t seen Oakland play an important game in Week 16 since 2002.

The bad news is that by its 4:15 kickoff, it might only be a big game for the Colts. The AFC West-leading Kansas City Chiefs host a terrible Tennessee team during the early slate, and a 10th victory would all but clinch the division title and eliminate Oakland in the process.

I hate to be the one to break it to Raider Nation, but that’s exactly what’s going to happen. The Chiefs are solid and the Titans stink. But look at the present, and for the first time in a long while, you can be excited about the future.

Oakland possesses a fairly steady hand at quarterback in Jason Campbell, one of the league’s best young running backs in McFadden and one of its best tight ends in Zach Miller. The players seem to like and respond to head coach Tom Cable, even though Davis doesn’t always share their affection.

Davis would be a moron to fire Cable after the season because progress is evident and stability is key, something he should know by now since his franchise has had none in recent years and look where that has gotten it. I doubt he’ll do it, but his track record says not to put it past him.

Defensively, the Raiders are middle of the road, but again, pieces are in place. There’s a great front seven led by Tommy Kelly and Richard Seymour, which has produced 40 sacks this season, an improving young safety in Michael Huff and a shutdown corner in Nnamdi Asomugha.

If it is really serious about getting back to winning big, Oakland will have to shore up its run defense, but that’s what the offseason is for.

Until then, Raider Nation can look to Sunday hoping for the best while expecting the worst.

As for Tebow’s first start, there was a lot to like: no turnovers, 138 yards passing—including a 33-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Lloyd—and 78 yards rushing, including the aforementioned 40-yard touchdown scamper.

There’s also much room for improvement, and that’s to be expected.

Tebow only completed 50 percent of his passes and had trouble finishing drives, as Denver had to settle for three field goals.

Considering he received no help from his defense or running game, two key elements for a rookie quarterback to lean on, all-in-all it wasn’t a bad day.

While Oakland was supposed to be a welcome sight for Tebow, he ended up being just that for the Raiders, who will see a whole different animal in town next weekend. His name is Peyton Manning and he’s a pretty rare and dangerous species.

But don’t expect these Raiders to go down without a fight.

For more, visit my website at www.pointbartemus.com, a sports forum. Or contact me at [e-mail].