Live Blogging Game 7

Welcome to The Eye Patch's live in-game blogging of the Raiders 7th game of the season vs the Tennessee Titans.

• (END OF REGULATION) TEN 13 - OAK 9 Warren Sapp yapping it up on at midfield. Apparently losing isn;t that big a deal. What does he care, he still gets paid. Can't tackle anyone, but he still gets paid.

• (Q4 1:17) Culpepper fires a bullet to Mike Williams who drops the ball. It hit him in the numbers, and he dropped the ball. Cut him before the team catches the bus back home. The guy is a bust.

• (Q4 1:21) 4th and 14. Magic 8 ball says "unlikely they pull this was out.

• (Q4 1:45) Culpepper sacked for the 5th time today.

• (Q4 2:00) Barry SIms with his 4th penalty of teh day to back up Oakland another 5.

• (Q4 2:00) Culpepper to Curry over the middle for 24 yards. 2-minute warning.

• (Q4 2:12) Raiders get one last chance to pull this one out. 55 yards to to the win. Can they do it. Odds say no. Let's see.

• (Q4 2:28) Young fumbles the snap on his own 10 yard line, but he recovers. Bad teams get no breaks.

• (Q4 2:35) Culpepper heaves up the ball into double coverage. Chris Hope gets the pick. Ballgame.

• (Q4 5:03) Finally the offense moves forward. Fargas bust the 15 yard run.

• (Q4 5:25) Culpepper is sacked by the facemask. Biggest offensive play of the half for Oakland.

• (Q4 5:31) Raiders defense holds. Raiders penalized again on the punt return. That's nine penalties on the day.

• (Q4 10:20) Another run, only this time for a loss. Forces another long 3rd down, which the Raiders fail to convert on.

• (Q4 10:54) Culpepper fumbles the ball again, but Lamont Jordan has the presence of mind to pick the ball up then vault forward for 4 yards.

• (Q4 11:40) Bironas kicks the ball off to the right side, destined for the side line, but Chris Carr grabs the ball before it has a chance to, then runs out of bounds on the Raiders 28. Do any of these guys understand the rules to the game? They just give up 12 yards, which is as bad a penalty. Brainless.

• (Q4 11:42) Raiders don't give up the TD, but they gift wrap another 3 points, which now requires a TD to comeback. TEN 13 - OAK 9

• (Q4 12:21) Culpepper fumbles on hus own 10, Titans recover. I'd say "unbelievable", but it's not really anymore. This is Raiders football.

• (Q4 12:53) Raiders run again on 2nd & 10...HOLDING. 2nd and 20. BEt they throw now.

• (Q4 13:54) Raiders had Tennessee on 3rd and 5 and they can't contain a gimpy Vince Young. Titans drive continues.

• (End of Q3) TEN 10 - OAK 9 Jeff Fisher finally figures out to run agaisnt the Raiders. Oakland better learn to tackle in the next two minutes or this game is over.

• (Q3 0:50) Raiders respond to Tenessee's touchdown with a rediculous disjointed display.

• (Q3 2:11) Note to Lane Kiffin: The right side of the line is not containing the pressure on that side. 86 the bootleg right. Culepper has been sacked three times today from that side.

• (Q3 2:24) There's the Raiders run defense we all know and despise. 24 yard TD run for Chris Henry. TEN 10 - OAK 9

• (Q3 3:34) Lendell White with another big run. Where are the linebackers?

• (Q3 5:04) Raiders convert on the long 3rd down, but Mike Williams gets called for the illegal shift. Ronald Curry's circus catch is wasted. Raiders run to give Lechler some room and drive stalls. Stupid penalty.

• (Q3 5:38) Barry Sims with his 3rd consecutive penalty. 8th of the day for the Raiders.

• (Q3 7:20) Derrick Burgess with the big sack on 3rd down. Young throws the ball away, so tack on the delay of game penalty. Raiders defense buckled, but didn't break.

• (Q3 9:45) Tommy Kelly injured on a running play. Clutchnig his knee.

• (Q3 11:02) Run, run, run right into 4th down. Bad throw by Culpepper on 3rd down eliminates Williams chance to run for the 1st down. No creativity in that series and the Raiders hand the ball over. I don't like it.

• (Q3 12:45) Three straight runs put the Raiders in a 3rd and 9 situation, but Culpepper runs for the 1st down. Gotta mix this play calling up. It's getting predictable.

• (Q3 14:48) Justin Fargas opens the 3rd qtr with a nice 15 yard scamper.

• (HALFTIME) Raiders defense has finally showed up. They've stuffed the Titans, including 4 three-and-outs.

• (Q2 0:00) Janikowski doing his Rob Bironas impersonation by booming his 3rd field goal of the day. A 54-yarder no less. SeaBass has been impressive today with his field goal AND kickoff play. OAK 9 - TEN 3

• (Q2 0:03) It wasn't pretty, but the Raiders move the ball into field goal position.

• (Q2 1:27) Another Mike WIlliams sighting. The big receiver converts a 14 yard pass play.

• (Q2 3:15) Another big stop for the defense! Raiders will get the ball back with 3 minutes to play in the half.

• (Q2 5:22) Raiders eat up 8 minutes on a sustained drive that fizzles, but Janikowski converts to give the aiders the lead. OAK 6 - TEN 3

• (Q2 6:10) Man, gotta question the play calling at the end of this drive. Run, run after driving the ball down the field.

• (Q2 7:43) Zach Miller with the big 10 yard reception.

• (Q1 1:18) Rob Bironas continues his hot footed ways with a 35 yard field goal. OAK 3 - TEN 3

• (Q1 2:00) Raiders dodge a bullet with Ben Troupe dropping a TD. Young then scrambles on 3rd down and fails to convert.

• (Q1 7:54) Raiders in reverse. Holding, holding, fumble. Ball started on the 35, now on the their own 6.

• (Q1 8:50) Raiders defense holds again, stalling out the Titans. Vince Young chose to run, but Kirk Morrison keeps him contained.

• (Q1 10:38) Of course the moment I comment on the drive, it stalls. What do I know. Sebastian Janikowski cashes in though with the big footed 50-yard field goal. OAK 3 - TEN 0

• (Q1 11:03) Raiders mixing things up on offense. Nice little drive being established as a result. Albert Hainsworth leaving the field with an injury.

• (Q1 14:02) Right Tackle Cordell Green with the false start. First penalty of the game. Jerry Porter answers with the big 22 yard reception.

• (Q1 14:18) First 3rd down situation of the day for TEN. Raiders hold. Vince Young tries to force the throw. Defensive line applies a little pressure. Good sign.

• (2:00 before kickoff) Titans win the toss. Electt to receive.

• (10:00 before kickoff) Oakland Raiders Inactives: QB JaMarcus Russell (3rd QB), QB Andrew Walter, CB John Bowie, DB Chris Johnson, C Chris Morris, LB Sam Williams, DT Gerard Warren, T Mario Henderson

• (10:00 before kickoff) Tennessee Titans Inactives: WR Paul Williams, RB Chris Brown, DB Kelly Herndon, FB Ahmard Hall, C Leroy Harris, DE Sean Conover, WR Brandon Jones

Live Blogging Game 6

Welcome to The Eye Patch's live in-game blogging of the Raiders 6th game of the season vs the Kansas City Chiefs.

• Raiders lose their 17th consecutive game to an AFC West opponent and the 9th in a row against the Chiefs. Raiders also fall to 2-4.

• (END of REGULATION) KC 12 - OAK 10 Raiders were absolute crap in every facet of the game today. Offense couldn't move the ball, defense couldn't tackle, special teams just awful.

• (Q4 0:35) Jarred Page picks off Culpepper! Ballgame.

• (Q4 1:55) Raiders hold with the sack of Huard. Time to convert

• (Q4 2:49) Chiefs just casually moving the ball down field, burning clock. This is where the run defense needs to step up.

• (Q4 5:49) Sebastian Janikowski kicks the field goal to cut the Chiefs leaf to 2 points. It's Janikowski's 162nd career field goal, tying him with Chris Barr. KC 12 - OAK 10

• (Q4 6:17) Close call - Dominic Rhodeslost the ball, but the call is down by contact. Herman Edwards chooses to calls his last timeout of the half.

• (Q4 7:13) Culpepper to Miller on another 3rd down conversion. 1st and 10 on the KC 19.

• (Q4 9:20) Huge run by Jordan on the check down in the flat. 24 yard play to tyhe Cheifs 33.

• (Q4 11:30) Johnson powers into the end zone for the Chiefs touchdown. Kansas City goes for 2 points, but the Raiders only have 10 players on the field. Now they challenge the play. Johnson did get into the end zone, so the TD counts. 2-pt conversion fails. KC 12 - OAK 7

• (Q4 12:54) More mistakes. Burgess gives them a free 5, then Huard converts the 3rd down.

• (Q4 14:04) Noooooooo, Huard slips the sack, then heaves a 58-yard pass to Duane Bowe. Asomugha gets burned. How does Bowe get that far past Nnamdi???

• (Q4 14:27) Morrison just misses his 4th pick of the season.

• (Q4 14:57) Gah! Jeremy Newberry snaps the ball as if Culpepper was under center (he was in the shotgun). The gaff kills the 3rd down conversion attempt.

• (End of Q3) OAK 7 - KC 6

• (Q3 2:30) Stuart Schweigart levels Tony Gonzolez, knocking the ball loose on a would be 15 yard plass play. Defense coming alive?

• (Q3 2:41) Ronald Curry wide open off play action for the TOUCHDOWN RAIDERS! Wow, what a turnaround off the missed field goal. Curry slips past former Raider linebacker Napolean Harris. OAK 7 - KC 6

• (Q3 3:07) Culpepper bootlegs than heaves it down field to Jerry Porter for the big gainer. 60 yards from scrimmage, Holy Cow!

• (Q3 3:28) Rayner hooks a pooch attempt, which is a HUGE break for the Raiders. Thsi game is still within one score, even though the Raiders can't move the ball.

• (Q3 6:40) And there is is, the defensive lapse that busts the big one. Larry Johnson rubmbles 54 yards because the Raiders don't know how to tackle.

• (Q3 7:17) Curry drops another pass, stalling yet another drive. He had nothing but daylight in front of him had he caught that ball. Raiders need to punt on 1st down from here on out. Their defense has a better chance of scoring than the offense.

• (Q3 8:36) Nice interrception by Stanford Routt. Ball is on the Raiders 6 yard line, but it's not Chief points.

• (Q3 9:59) The Chiefs run into Shane Lechler on 4th and 1, but that penalty is offset by Hiram Eugene who is called for running out of bounds. THIS is pathetic. Great teams don't make stupid mistakes like this.

• (Q3 13:00) Warren Sapp bags his 1st sack of the season.

• (Q3 13:30) Another stalled drive. Mike Williams stayed back to pass protect (why?) and let Jarred Allen right by on the way to Culpepper. Why is a wide receiver providing pass protection?

• (HALFTIME) KC 6 - OAK 0 Good god what a stinker offensively. The Cheifs have 71 yards passing, but the Raiders only have 46 through 2 quarters. KC leads in rushing 33 to 19. That's 52 yards comibined between the two teams!

• (Q2 0:19) The battle of futility continues. Both teams stall drives inside of 2 minutes. So neither team can scrap out a field goal. This game could end 6-0.

• (Q2 5:55) Raiders offenive line gets bulldozed and the 4th down attempt fails. Give Kiffin credit for going for it, but man that offensive line should be man handling the Chiefs.

• (Q2 6:14) Ugh, would have preferred a little more creativity on that 3rd and 2 call. Raiders will go for it on 4th down though.

• (Q2 7:45) Two big 3rd down catches for Zach Miller on the drive.

• (Q2 9:50) HOLDING on Robert Gallery on a FREE PLAY! The Raiders convert the 3rd down with a long play and Gallery pisses it all away.

• (Q2 13:01) Shane Lechler's punt is either muffed or the wind does something with it, because it only goes 39 yards, dying on the KC 33 yard line.

• (Q2 13:15) Dominic Rhodes makes his debut in Silver & Black with a short carry. Lousy play calling kills the drive with a draw play that goes nowhere.

• (Q2 14:01) Rayner adds another field goal after the Raiders defense holds. Oakland should be grateful they only gave up 3 on that blundered punt play. KC 6 - OAK 0

• (End of Q1) KC 3 - OAK 0 Chiefs outgain the Raiders 76 to 12 yards in the quarter.

• (Q1 1:14) Chris Carr muffs the punt on the fair catch after getting hit by Nnamdi Asomugha. Chiefs recover onthe Raiders 29. Unbelievable. Special teams has been a joke this season.

• (Q1 1:57) Priest Holmes makes his first appearance in 721 days. Huard feeds the screen to Holmes, who then gets nailed by the Raides.

• (Q1 3:35) 3 and out for the Raiders. Not sure what Culpepper thinks is going to happen with a dump off throw on 3rd and 17???

• (Q1 4:59) Raiders hold on the Chiefs second drive. Michael Huff just missed the pick. Had the ball in his mitts. Gotta hold on to that.

• (Q1 9:06) Heck of a catch by Ron Curry after getting popped. The ball was dilodged by the hit, but he stayed with the play and hauled in the rebound. Curry is hurt the play.

• (Q1 9:40) Raiders trying to establish the run early. First two plays from scrimmage to Jordan.

• (Q1 11:15) The Raiders front 4 force the Chiefs to stall out their opening drive, but Dave Rayner punches the 41-yard field goal right down the middle of the goal posts for the 3 points. KC 3 - OAK 0

• (Q1 12:10) Dwayne Bowe kills the Raiders with the YAC, earning a 1st down on 3rd down and long. Raiders defense looks porous on this drive. Where is the pass defense?

• (Q1 15:00) Sebastian Janikowski booms the opening kickoff into the endzone for a touchback

• (2:00 before kickoff) KC wins the coin toss and elects to receive.

• (22:00 before kickoff) Oakland Raiders Inactives: CB John Bowie, T Mario Henderson, DB Chris Johnson, QB Josh McCown, C Chris Morris, QB JaMarcus Russell (3rd QB), DT Gerard Warren, LB Sam Williams.

• (23:00 before kickoff) Kansas City Chiefs Inactives: LB Keyaron Fox, WR Eddie Kennison, DB Dimitri Patterson, DT James Reed, WR Bobby Sippio, T Herbert Taylor, QB Tyler Thigpen (3rd QB), T Kyle Turley.

• (25:00 before kickoff) Checking in for Game #6 against the visiting Kansas City Chiefs

Live Blogging Game 5

Welcome to The Eye Patch's live in-game blogging of the Raiders 5th game of the season vs the San Diego Chargers.

(END OF REGULATION) SD 28 - OAK 14 That's 16 straight division losses. Network couldn't wait to switch over to the Patriots - Cowboys game.

• (Q4 0:02) Illegal procedure to mercifully end this game.

• (Q4 0:20) 6th Culpepper sack.

• (Q4 0:54) YAHP - Yet Another Holding Penalty. Barry Sims.

• (Q4 1:26) Raiders need two TDs, so they attacke with 10 yard dump offs that stay in bounds to keep the clock running. Who is calling these plays?

• (Q4 2:20) Jordan scampers for 12 on the screen, no facemask call at the end of the play...not that it matters now.

• (Q4 2:43) Put a form in em. Tomlinson rambles for 42 yards for a touchdown. 198 yards total rushing for LT.

• (Q4 3:42) Tomlinson is just running rampant. Can the Raiders tackle anyone?

• (Q4 5:00) Five minutes to play. Raiders need a big defensive stop.

• (Q4 5:20) Phew, Raiders convert on 4th down with the 1 yard pass to Zach Miller for the TOUCHDOWN RAIDERS! That failed conversion to end the first half looms large now. Game should be tied. SD 21 - OAK 14

• (Q4 8:20) Raiders convert on the pass play to Ronald Curry.

• (Q4 8:46) 4th and 12 and Barry Sims jumps the gun. The sloppiness is inexcusible.

• (Q4 9:35) Raiders burn on time out because they couldn't get to the line of scrimmage in time. More poor mistakes.

• (Q4 10:12) Nice conversion by Culpepper to Fargas with the 10 yard pass.

• (Q4 11:28) Culpepper goes down for the 5th time in the game on that bootleg rollout that has been stopped by the Chargers left end every time today.

• (Q4 13:22) Kaeding misses the 50 yard field goal.

• (Q4 13:32) Fabian Washington is celebrating like he actually intercepted that underthrown pass into the end zone.

• (End of Q4) SD 21 - OAK 7

• (Q3 1:10) Awful punt coverage onteh Sprowles return. BAd kick, turns into a lengthy return, assisted by shoddy tackling.

• (Q3 2:42) Questionable call on Cromartie on that interfering with the kicker call there. Raiders finally get a call in their favor, albeit a bad one.

• (Q3 6:24) First NFL INT for Cromartie. Horrible throw by Culpepper.

• (Q3 8:16) Yet another holding penalty.

• (Q3 9:42) Raider opening drive stalls, Tomlinson makes them pay with his 3rd TD of the day. Raiders still can't tackle. SD 21 - OAK 7

• (HALFTIME) SD 14 - OAK 7 Raiders should be tied, but stupid mistakes cost them dearly. Hopefully they can carry the momentum through the 2nd half.

• (Q2 0:03) Culpepper takes ANOTHER sack and fumbles the ball. Unbelievable. Raiders get nothing out of a fantastic drive down to the Chargers 1 yard line.

• (Q2 0:10) THROW THE BALL AWAY Daute!!!! Come on. Ball goes from teh 1 yard line to the 6 on that boneheaded play.

• (Q2 0:20) Oh mama what a play by culpepper to Ronald Curry. Jammer saves teh TD by knocking the Raiders receiver out at the 1.

• (Q2 0:27) Offense coming to life on this 2-minute drill. Can the Raiders convert?

• (Q2 6:54) Thomas Howard with ANOTHER huge pick and a touchdown! 65 yards. Man, where would the Raiders be without Howard and Morrison this season? Those guys are single handedly making the dfensive plays for this team. SD 14 - OAK 7

• (Q2 7:50) Um, if you're going to call a fake punt with a shovel pass, shouldn't the guy that's supposed to be the shovelee KNOW he's supposed to look for the ball? It's 2006 all over again.

• (Q2 8:40) Culpepper has been playing loing enough to know that if you're standing in the pocket, you have to get rid of the ball. Merriman gets the sack and goes into his steroid induced seizure after the play.

• (Q2 10:40) Mike Williams catches a ball and doesn't fumble. Stop the presses.

• (End of Q1) SD 14 - OAK 0 Running game isn't there. Culpepper needs to starts airing it out or this is going to be a laugher.

• (Q1 4:28) The Raiders drive starts on their own 40 yard line and they move teh ball 20 yards...BACKWARDS.

• (Q1 4:28) Three white shirts stand and watch Castillo sack Culpepper on a designed rollout. The 2006 Raiders are back in the house.

• (Q1 5:09) Clipping on an offensive guard???? Guess what folks, the Raiders make some noise in the West and the yellow starts flying. Unreal.

• (Q1 6:51) Bam, just like that it's 14-0. Love the pats on the back to Tomlinson by the Raider defender. They may as well carry him into the end zone. SD 14 - OAK 0

• (Q1 8:19) Here we go. First turnover of the game. Not sure who Culpepper was throwing that ball to???

• (Q1 9:24) Chargers drive the ball right down the Raiders throats for the 80 yard drive. Defense is supposedly the strong suit of this team? SD 7 - OAK 0

• (2:00 before kickoff) Raiders lose coin toss. Will kickoff from east to west. Dressed in white.

• (5:00 before kickoff) National Anthem

• (0:45 before kickoff) Oakland Raiders Inactives: CB John Bowie, SS Jarrod Cooper, T Mario Henderson, QB Josh McCown, C Chris Morris, QB JaMarcus Russell (3rd QB), DT Gerard Warren, LB Sam Williams.

• (0:47 before kickoff)San Diego Chargers Inactives: TE Scott Chandler, WR Legedu Naanee, T Roman Oben, CB Paul Oliver, WR Eric Parker, FB Andrew Pinnock, LB Anthony Waters, QB Charlie Whitehurst (3rd QB).

Game Grades: @ Miami Dolphins

Huge win for the Raiders, although I’ll try to temper my glee with the fact that the win did come against an 0-4 team. Great all around win, although tackling is still an issue. The defense has yet to put together a dominating game, but a win is a win. And with that, here are my grades for week 4:

Passing Game: B+
Do you credit a passing game with running touchdowns by the quarterback? If you do, then the Raiders get an A+ in the passing game, considering that QB Daunte Culpepper ran for three touchdowns and passed for two more. From a passing efficiency perspective, Culpepper didn’t exactly tear it up in the passing department. He only completed 5 of 12 passes for 75 yards, but since 2 of those 5 completions ended up in the end zone, it’s hard to argue with Culpepper’s impact on this game.

Running Game: A
Culpepper’s 3 TD’s aside, the Raiders torched the Dolphins defense with 299 rushing yards. Justin Fargas had a career high 179 yards on 22 carries, and that was after the Raiders feature back, Lamont Jordan, injured his back. Jordan had racked up 74 yards before having to leave, so there’s no telling what he would have done against the banged up Dolphins. Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin made it no secret that he was going to run the ball, and Miami still couldn’t stop Oakland’s ground game.

Pass Defense: B-
Oakland’s defense is still in need of a huge game, but this game was a start. Trent Green was only able to pass for 158 yards and touchdown, and the Raiders picked off two passes to stop two big Dolphin drives. Thomas Howard continued his hot streak by setting up the Raiders first touchdown with a pick on Miami’s opening drive deep in Dolphin territory. Stanford Routt kept the Dolphins from seizing control of the game’s momentum with a pick on the Raiders 2 yard line after Miami marched almost 90 yards for what would have been the tying score.

Run Defense: C-
The one area Oakland is most in need of help is the run defense. Ronnie Brown continued to expose Oakland by running for 134 yards. Brown capped a 51 yard drive with a 9 yard scamper through the Raiders defense. On the next Dolphins drive, Brown kicked things off with a 60 yard run, setup by shoddy tackling. The Raiders have two weeks to solve their run defense ills, before squaring off against Ladanian Tomlinson.

Special Teams: A-
For starters, Sebastian Janikowski did not miss a field goal. That accomplishment was made easier by the fact that the Raiders had no field goal attempts, but we’ll take any positive we can when it comes to Janikowski. The maligned Raiders kicker did have two touchbacks on kickoffs. The Raiders special teams unit also kept speedster Ted Ginn Jr. in check. Ginn had a 33 yard kickoff return, but that was it.

Coaching: A-
Was Lane Kiffin’s game plan setup to run the ball because he didn’t want to throw Culpepper to the wolves in his first start as a Raider, or because he knew the Dolphins run defense was comprised of moldy Swiss cheese? Regardless of the reason, the plan worked. Kiffin now gets to make the fun decision of deciding who his starting quarterback is. Culpepper’s enthusiasm alone gets our vote for a second start.

Intangibles: B+
This wasn’t a playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts, but it was a huge step forward for the Raiders. A road win in the NFL isn’t something that comes easy, but the Raiders got the job done. If anything, this was almost a redemption game for several Raiders. Jerry Porter played a role in he offense and the much maligned offensive line looked like people movers out there. The real test comes in two weeks. The Chargers will have something to prove and Norv Turner will want some payback.

Officiating: C-
There were only two glaring calls that come to mind. The offensive pass interference call against Mike Williams in the 1st quarter was ridiculous. If a defender falls down, it’s not offensive pass interference. Williams was mauled midway through the 3rd quarter by Michael Lehan, but no Williams drew no flag.