Foles' Eagles Fly By Raiders

OALAND, Calif. – The Oakland Raiders were looking to get back to the .500 mark with a win on Sunday over the Michael Vick-less Philadelphia Eagles. However, the Raiders second consecutive week against a franchise from Pennsylvania would look much different than their first week, when they edged out the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Raiders would get behind early as former Arizona Wildcat, and current backup quarterback for the Eagles, Nick Foles would have an impressive day. Foles would light up the Raiders secondary in the first quarter to the tune of a 21-3 lead, with three passing touchdowns, two on back-to-back plays to Riley Cooper, in which the Raiders first round draft pick DJ Hayden was burned both times.

The Raiders did have opportunities to pull closer to the Eagles, with a 66-yard pass from Terrelle Pryor to Rod Streater on their second drive, posting up a first and goal down just 7-0, but the offense would stall in the red zone and would settle for a Sebastian Janikowski field goal.

But settling for field goals wasn’t the worst of what the Raiders offense had in store for its fans on Sunday. Running back Darren McFadden would once again hit the sideline with an injury, a hamstring issue, and would not return to the game, making Rashad Jennings, once again the workhorse to the carry the load.

Jennings would have a decent day, carrying the ball 15 times for 102 yards and a score, but most of those came late in the game once the Eagles were up big.

After Jennings score, the Raiders were down 21-10, but the Eagles offense kept on pushing as Foles would hit another former Pac-12 product in former Stanford tight end Zach Ertz for his fourth touchdown of the game.

The Raiders would settle for another field goal late in the first half to pull within 15 at 28-13, but that was as close as they would get for the rest of the game.

The second half started and it was the Eagles who go the ball rolling quickly, not the Raiders. Foles continued to impress as he tossed three more touchdowns in the second half, one of which was a 46-yard pass to former Cal wide receiver DeSean Jackson, on a play in which Raiders defensive back Mike Jenkins was also called for defensive holding.

Foles seven touchdown passes on the day tied an NFL record, that Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning also reached this year in week one of the season. Foles now joins George Blanda, Sid Luckman, Y.A. Tittle, Joe Kapp and the previously mentioned Manning in the seven-touchdown club.

"A couple people came up to me and said that I tied the record with seven touchdowns," said Nick Foles. "It's a great honor. Hats off to our guys for doing a great job."

Just to put this in perspective, the Jacksonville Jaguars through eight games in the 2013-2014 campaign have scored seven touchdowns on offense all season, and those seven touchdowns are more than the Raiders have accounted for through the passing game all year as well.

"When a quarterback has seven touchdowns, we have to sit there and take that personal," said Tracy Porter. "We can't give a guy seven touchdowns in a game, let alone put up 49 points on us. It was flat-out embarrassing that we allowed that to happen."

Down 48-13 the Raiders struggled to get anything going, as they were held without a score in the third quarter.

Then it was time for the backups, as both teams brought in their back up quarterbacks. For the Eagles it was another Pac-12 product in former USC rookie quarterback Matt Barkley, and for the Raiders it was a Penn State rookie, Matt McGloin.

While Barkley would only complete one pass, McGloin would lead the Raiders to s score, albeit in garbage time. The score for the Raiders came on a Jeremy Stewart rush up the middle for two-yards after McGloin had moved the offense 71-yards.

The final score was 48-20 in favor of the Eagles as the Raiders drop to 3-5, and the Eagles raise their record to 4-5 on the season.

"It's embarrassing," said Pryor. "I hate losing. It's not acceptable to me and I don't like it. All the guys in here agree with me. We have to do something about it instead of tanking it."

The next game for the Raiders comes on the road as they travel to face their second NFC East opponent in as many weeks as the New York Giants (2-6) open their doors to host the silver and black.

The matchup will be the twelfth between the two teams, and the Raiders first game in the new MetLife Stadium. The Raiders lead the all-time matchup 7-4, however the Giants have won the last two meetings in 2005 in Oakland and 2009 in New Jersey.

The game is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 10 with a 10 a.m. kickoff.

Raiders Blow Early Lead In Loss To Redskins

OAKLAND, Calif. – The Oakland Raiders looked to get back to .500 with a win over the struggling Washington Redskins on Sunday, Sept. 29, when they jumped out to an early 14-0 lead behind a blocked punt touchdown and Matt Flynn’s first touchdown pass of the year, an 18-yard pass to rookie tight end Mychal Rivera in the first quarter.

TOD FIERNER / Courtesy
Oakland Raiders quarterback Matt Flynn only managed one touchdown in his first start with the Raiders this  season on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013 against the Washington Redskins.

But it was all down hill for the Raiders after the early lead, as the Raiders gave up 24 unanswered points falling to 1-3 on the season and now just 1-1 at home.

"What we did when we were down 14-0, and that's what we've got to do the rest of the season," said Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III.

TOD FIERNER / Courtesy
Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III helped his team to their first win on the 2013 season on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013 over the Oakland Raiders.

For the silver and black, missing quarterback Terrelle Pryor was just the tip of the injury plagued iceberg for the Raiders, who would also be without the services of starting running back and full back Darren McFadden and Marcell Reece, who both left the game before the half, McFadden on the first offensive play from scrimmage with an apparent hamstring injury.

Without their best offensive weapons, and an offensive line that has been struggling, Flynn did not look at ease in the pocket, which collapsed on him several times as he was sacked seven-times in the game.

"I didn't think I wasn't seeing the field well,” said Raiders quarterback Matt Flynn.

"We needed that so bad," said Redskins defensive lineman Ryan Kerrigan. "It really feels good. Seven was kind of the magic number today - we give up only seven points, we have seven sacks, scored seven points on defense. Great feeling right now."

McFadden’s backup, Rashad Jennings, quietly came in and put up 45-yards on 15 carries, but it was masked, as the Raiders were not able to get back into the game, which saw them drop to a previously 0-3 team.

"That one hurt, said Raiders Head Coach Dennis Allen. "I felt the way we were able to start out the game, getting to 14-0, but then we let them back in the game. Give them credit, they continued to fight. But we didn't do enough to win the football game.”

If Pryor is hurt again come Sunday when the Raiders host the divisional rival San Diego Chargers, Flynn might not get a chance at quarterback with Matt McGloin already being named in conversations for starting quarterback, should Pryor be out for any amount of time.

Bay Area and San Ramon Valley High School product Roy Helu Jr. rushed for his first touchdown of the season, a 14-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter giving the Redskins their second win on the road, after being down 14 points in the first quarter since 1991.

The Raiders next game comes on Sunday, Oct. 6, against the San Diego Chargers. The game is at the O.Co Coliseum. Kick off is TBA.

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.