3rd Quarter Observations

Its all Defense, Defense, Defense.........

 

Seattle's opening possession ended with 4 plays. The secondary is playing tight, and Matt Hasselbeck is putting the ball where it needs to be, but his receivers are not getting the job done.

 

One concern that I see with the Raiders is their tight coverage. They seem to getting their hands all over the receivers close to the time the ball gets there, I just hope the penalty calls stay consistent. They seem to be calling the game fair.


Seattle's second possession gets going with a long pass to Golden Tate, who rolled his ankle. With the rush game non-existent, Seattle started to throw the ball down field and guess who shows up in a bad way, STANFORD ROUTT. God, I hate that dude! The Raiders are starting to bend, but they are not breaking. Holding Seattle to a 29 yard field goal attempt which went just left of the upright, and the Raider Nation went crazy in the stadium. 

With the ball on the 35 yard line, Seattle tried to go short routes to get some sort of rhythm going, but the defense was not having any of it. Stopping the run today has been key and the Sea Hawks cant move the ball what so ever on this line. With a high pass that floated over the anticipated receiver, the Seahawks had to punt. They are 0-10 on third down conversions thus far.

Offense-

 

Stupid penalties are putting the Raiders in bad field position. The Raiders had the ball on the 12 yard line to start the 3rd quarter after the punt, until the illegal block in the back pushed them back to the 6 yard line. After a rush to the right, DHB made a nice route to get the ball on a hook route for the first down.

 

Darren McFadden, the game breaker, torched the defense with a 49 yard scamper putting him closer to the century mark for the afternoon, at this point of the game with 14 carries for 80 yards. Great blocking opened up a gaping hole on the left side of the line. 

 

 Jason Campbell laid the wood on a pursuing defender on the reverse to Jacoby Ford, which allowed for continuation of the drive and another first down. Showing his involvement in the offense is more then just throwing the ball. The Raiders get a 36 yard field goal by Sea Bass for a 13-0 lead with 9:12 to go.

The Raiders picked up where they left off with a 51 yard play action pass screen to Marcel Reese. Wonderful execution and great down field blocking really opened that play up and Reese put his foot on the accelerator making the big gain. Nick Miller had a ball hit him right in the face mask on the 2 yard line, which could have been a huge difference, with Sea Bass falling on his Keister on a 45 yard attempt. Not so pretty.

Talk about luck, wow, what a catch by Michael Bush on the deflection that put the Raiders on the 30 yard line of the Sea Chickens. I love the mis-direction for McFadden on the pitch putting the Raiders at first and goal on the 9. After a 4 yard pickup by Darren, the Raiders self destruct and get a holding call, but make up for it by passing it to Darren for the possible score to open up the 4th. This should get really good if the Raiders can pour it on and shut this team out! Lets make it happen boys! 

Chaotic View