Raiders Run By Jaguars In Home Opener

Tod Fierner / Courtesy – Former Oakland Raiders linebacker and actor in several movies including Rocky Carl Weathers (back left) poses with the Hern Family before Aaron (front left) handed the game ball to Weathers.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Before the Oakland Raiders would kick off their home opener for the 2013-2014 NFL season, they gave one Martinez resident the game ball to hand off to officials. That one Martinez resident was Aaron Hern, who was hurt in the Boston Marathon bombing. Hern attended, what would be the Raiders first win, a 19-9 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars.



The Raiders were headed by running back Darren McFadden who had quite an impressive performance with 129 yards rushing and one touchdown on 19 touches. He also caught four passes from Terelle Pryor for 28 yards.

Tod Fierner / Courtesy – Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden provided most of the offense for the silver and black, and their only touchdown against Jacksonville.

The Raiders offense was simple by design in their week two performance. They ran 34 rushing plays against only 24 passing plays, for a total of 340 offensive yards, 226 which of came on the ground.

The Raiders defense, which only allowed 248-yards was aided in part by an injury to former De La Salle standout Maurice Jones-Drew, who was injured near the end of the first half with an ankle injury. In Jones-Drew’s last appearance at the O.Co Coliseum last year, he was sidelined for the remainder of the season after being injured by the silver and black defense.

"I think our defense is stepping up,” said Head Coach Dennis Allen.

However, the Raiders defense had their own injury problems as Tyvon Branch was helped off the field in the first quarter, in what appeared to be a quite serious leg injury.

"That looks to be a significant injury," said Coach Allen. "We'll find out more later."

Branch is the Raiders highest paid player for the current season making 9.5 million dollars this year, and is one of just two returning starting defensive players from last years squad. The other, defensive lineman Lamarr Houston.

Branch was replaced by Usama Young and Brandian Ross to play along side of Charles Woodson as the Raiders two safety positions.

The Raiders also saw an injury to Lucas Nix, who injured his ankle. Nix was replaced by Andre Gurode.

Despite the injuries the Raiders were able to hold off the Jaguars and earn there first victory of the season, with 13 of their 19 points coming from the leg of Sebastian Janikowski.

Tod Fierner / Courtesy – Oakland Raiders Sebastian Janikowski was 4-5 on field goal attempts in the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2013.

"It's one win. There's bigger fish out there," said Charles Woodson. "It looks like Denver put up a lot of points again, so we've got to get over this one."

The Raiders next matchup takes them a mile high when they travel the Denver to take on the Broncos on Monday Night Football.

The game is scheduled for a 5:40 p.m. kickoff.