Oakland Raiders' Second Half Was Too Little, Too Late

This is the second-half wrap-up from the evening's game.

As things went along, it was becoming more and more obvious...our defense needs help. Badly.

Again, another flag-happy ref felt the Raiders were slowing the game down too much and gave an unsportsmanlike flag to Gibril Wilson, and then another for a facemask to Selvin Young. Honestly, if you're going to get flagged for it...make it worthwhile. Dislocate the guy's neck.

To be honest, if earlier in the game I had known the refs were going to be this bad, I would have recomended Hall do a pile driver to Royal on the sidelines instead of helping him up.

One thing that should also be mentioned is that Kiffin needs to get everyone up and on the same page. There's no reason why we should have been 2-for-12 on third-down plays.

Another good example of the progress that is being made: Look at Cutler's rating and Russell's rating. Cutler was lighting it up for a 137.3 rating, and Russell was at 111.1. Both would be nothing to sneeze at.

Play selection proved to be vital in a few cases. For example, on one play, Russell decided to roll out in traffic, losing a ball in field-goal range.

The choice to run it on 4th-and-1, deep in Oakland's side, wasn't the brightest idea though.

All in all, I'd say what the Raiders need to do is fix the defense. If we weren't playing catch-up all day, we could run the offense with Russell and McFadden making gains, and Fargas picking it up, but if we can't stop the opposing team...it's all a moot point.

It'll be easier to see just how bad the defense is against KC. Last week, they had a close one against New England.

As for the Broncos, it'll be interesting to see how they match up against other defensive clubs, like the Ravens or the Chargers...Of course, this first week, it seems the underdogs ruled the day, with no less than four upsets to speak of.

Note to Kiffin: Go find some defensive players. And lose Ryan somewhere along the way.