Chiefs game no lock for shaky Raiders

Today, I was checking out CBS Sports’ Week 8 picks.  Kudos to them getting that done and published even though it’s only Tuesday.  To my surprise, the Raiders were a unanimous pick over the Chiefs, even though the Raiders barely won against Jacksonville, the Chiefs are coming off of a bye, they have one of the premier running backs in football, and the game is at Arrowhead, a notoriously unfriendly stadium to visiting teams.

As I said earlier in the week, the Raiders have nothing about which to be overconfident.  While they showed a lot of heart and resolve in coming back to beat the Jags, it was still pretty ugly.  Carson Palmer is playing well, and he stepped it up with his no-huddle offense late in Sunday’s game.  It’s time for him to completely take over.  I get that the Raiders can’t run the no-huddle offense all game, but they can run it a lot.  Palmer should be trusted to make the right decisions, even if sometimes (the last two games) he’s regressed into trying to force balls, resulting in turnovers.

The biggest area to watch, and biggest surprise to me on Sunday, was the failure of the offensive line.  From the get-go, Palmer was hurried, hit, and sacked.  The line didn’t undergo that many changes from last year, when it was a core strength.  They need to get it together in a hurry.  Ugly win or not, beating the Jaguars was the first step in a possibly streak that could somehow land the Raiders 4-4 before their game against the Ravens, who are suddenly looking quite beatable as well.  Crazy as it is, the Raiders are only one game out of first place right now.  But, they have absolutely minimal room for error if they want to make it interesting.

Week 3 Raiders Power Rankings ’round the web

The Raiders won a hard-fought game vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, improving their record to 1-2.  Last week, of the sites referenced, the Raiders’ average power ranking out of 32 teams was just about 30.  How would they fare this week?

ESPN: 27

ProFootballTalk: 20

NFL.com: 29

Fox Sports: 26

CBS Sports: 20

Average: 24.4 – Round down to 24
My take: 25.  I had decided this before I looked up these scores for the week, so I’m glad to see I’m right around the average.  The Raiders’ win was big, no doubt.  However, they are still a 1-2 team, pegged by some as possibly the worst team in the league just one week ago.  I move them up 5 spots in my ranking due to the big home win, but I can’t go much more than that until I see some consistency.  A win in Denver this weekend would go a long way for this team’s confidence as they head into a bye week.

 

Tuesday links: Less than a week to go

Sebastian Janikowski – Oakland Raiders (Photo credit: planetc1)

CBS Sports’ Eric Gilmore offers a closer look at new Raiders offensive tackle Willie Smith.

Jerry McDonald of the Bay Area News Group says Rolando McClain isn’t worried about a possible suspension stemming from his arrest last year.

Check out Just Blog, Baby! for a look at Oakland’s completed practice squad.

Just Blog, Baby! also has an article about Oakland’s cornerbacks.  There are now no CBs on the roster who were with the team least year.

Vic Tafur reports Jacoby Ford, Denarius Moore, and Sebastian Janikowski all missed Tuesday’s practice.  Janikowski does not seem to have missed due to injury.  Moore seems to be closer to returning than Ford.

Ice Cube has a new Raiders anthem available for download from Pepsi.  I appreciate the effort, but his song “Raider Nation” is better.