The first half started slow. We had a three and out and let the Bears march down the field (With a referee escort of course but I'll get to that later) to Adrian Peterson untouched TD. But the D and the run game picked up the pace. A couple turnovers and scores later the Raiders were going into half time with a 24-7 lead.
With the beginning of the second half the game looked to be on it's way to being a complete rout but once again dumb penalties, mental lapses, and a few bad calls made this a game when it really should've never been one.
All the stupid penalties week after week is just killing me. I'll talk about the bad calls a little later on but we commit enough dumb penalties on our own to shoot ourselves in the foot. Nearly half of the Vikes first downs came out of Raider penalties. That is unacceptable no matter which way you look at it. In the past we've had great teams that could overcome all the penalties but this year we're just way too short handed due to injury to have that sort of margin for error. Basically these players need to clean it up or the best scenario I can see for us is a one and done playoff appearance.
Now about Hue's post game comments following the game: He definitely made some good points there were some terrible calls in the game and not only this game it's been going on for years.
The first one on Kelly was a joke. He was being blocked into the QB and had one hand free and brought down the QB without grabbing the face mask. Why that was a penalty I'll never know. Then that legal hit Curry put on that guy was deemed a personal foul hitting a "defenseless receiver" even though the guy turned around took a step and made a football move. And that face mask call on Branch was a joke. I've watched the replay numerous times and not once did Tyvon grab the guys face.
But when they flagged Bryant when he jumped on a Viking while he was being brought down that just took the cake for me. Especially when you take into account that Jared Allen did the exact same thing to Palmer early on with no flags thrown. If it was a personal foul then how was it not when the same happened to Carson? These refs are a complete joke and they never seem to hide their bias in any given game they officiate. That being said we committed more than enough dumb penalties on our own without any help from the officials.
The defense played well and won this game. Lito has been great coming in off the street to step in the starting role. He took great angles on balls and made things happen. I have a feeling when he knocks some of the rust off some of those tipped passes are going to turn into picks. And you gotta love those rushing stops he's made. The pass rush was strong bringing down Ponder 5 times and keeping the pressure all game. And my favorite whipping boy Giordano went out and had himself a game.
The offense was great in the first half, but slowed down as they got conservative in the second. Palmer has continued to improve going 17 of 23 with a TD to Schilens. Bush was consistent and was a dependable workhorse all game haveing another 100+ yard rushing game and pounding one across the goaline right through a Viking defender. The offense is still a work in progress but should be absolutely explosive when the weapons start coming back from the injured list.
Bottom line though the Raiders have got to address their penalty problem. I'm not talking about suing the league I'm talking about rectifying the ones they have control over and that's a whole lot. It's become the Raider way to have the league screw you but the last thing this team needs is to continue to screw themselves like they have. Until they address that problem they will not be a true contender for a championship. The talent is definitely there but the discipline needs to be enforced ASAP.
No comments:
Post a Comment