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Raiders Host Rams: Someone has to win! Don’t they?
By Greg Lee and Anthony Renteria September 16, 2010 |
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The Raiders host the St. Louis Rams on Sunday, in a battle of teams trying to pull themselves out of the ranks of the NFL’s most futile franchises. Both franchises entered the season with renewed hope of improvement, if not actual critical expectation that either team will show marked gains. Both teams enter Week Two, dropping their first games last week. The good news is that one of these two juggernauts will be assured of shuffling off the talk of 0-16 early this year. On the up-side, both the Rams and Raiders are looking for long-term success, having made changes in the Quarterback position. Of course, the Raiders cast off their former number one draft pick, JaMarcus Russell, to bring in veteran Redskin signal caller, Jason Campbell. On the other side of the field, the Rams new offense features last year’s overall #1 draft pick, Sam Bradford at the helm. Last week the two new QBs took different paths to get to the same result. Campbell (22 of 37, 180 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT) and the Raiders looked at times over-matched on both sides of the ball by the Titans who marched on to a 25-point win (38-13), while the Bradford (32 of 55, 253 yards with 1 TD and 3 INT) led Rams played a competitive, if not turnover heavy, game against the Arizona Cardinals (17-13), that came down to the final play of the contest. Perhaps the most remarkable stat from last week’s comparison is Bradford’s 55 pass attempts. Add to that 22 carries by the Rams’ standout RB Steven Jackson (81 yards total), and the Rams have successfully (well, almost successfully) transitioned back to a pass-heavy offense of the good ol’ days of Mke Martz’ “Greatest show on turf”. However missing from the 2010 version of the show are equivalent weapons in the receiving corps. And while Bradford’s 54 attempts is herculean, the overall results: 1 TD and 2 INT (if you don’t count the last second hail mary) reflect his inexperience, the weakness of the St. Louis O-Line and the lack of viable targets downfield. Despite shirking off their favorite scapegoat, the Raiders did not look like a team that was ready to “turn the corner” or “take the next step”, but instead looked unfortunately a lot like last season’s squad. An inability to protect the quarterback made for an all too-familiar scene for Raiders’ fans. Darren McFadden put on the best offensive performance for Oakland and may be looked to carry the load again this week, as feature back Michael Bush is still uncertain at this time. Barring a seldom-seen, but not unprecedented “tie”… one of these once-proud franchises will emerge with at least one hurdle accomplished: their first win of the season. Odd are it won’t be pretty, but might still wind up being a good game. |
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