FanHouse 08nflrecap

This week the Oakland Raiders set some special time aside in practice to work on their end zone celebrations. Perhaps this coming week the Raiders could set aside a little more time to work on (1) getting into the end zone and (2) getting a couple of first downs.

Atlanta marched into Oakland today and walked out with one of the most dominating wins of the NFL season, even though the 24-0 score may not totally dictate that. Statistically, this game was never, ever, not even for one second, competitive.

The Raiders finished the game with three, count em, THREE first downs, and were out-gained 453-77. The Falcons held the ball for 45 minutes to Oakland's 15.

At halftime, the Falcons had 20 first downs to Oakland's zero, while holding a commanding edge in yardage, 319 to -2.

Al Davis should give the few loyal fans his franchise has left a refund for sitting through even a second of that disaster of a football game.

Entering Sunday's game in San Francisco, New England had never won a game on the road against the 49ers, while the Patriots had gone four consecutive games scoring fewer than 20 points. Both streaks would come to an end, as New England came from behind on two separate occasions to pull out a 30-21 win on the road, keeping pace in a suddenly competitive AFC East division.

In the process, backup quarterback Matt Cassel had his best game as a pro, completing 22 of 32 passes for 259 yards and a score. He did a throw a pair of picks in the first half, but helped to overcome those mistakes by throwing a 66-yard strike to Randy Moss for the teams first score, and averaging over eight-yards per pass attempt in the win.

49ers Quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan threw two touchdowns in the first quarter -- one to Frank Gore, the other to Isaac Bruce -- giving San Francisco a pair of seven point leads, only to see the Patriots quickly respond and erase each deficit.

For the second week in a row it appeared as if the Raiders were going to pull out a relatively surprising win, only to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the fourth quarter ... again. The Raiders were outscored 28-3 in the second half, including 25-3 in the fourth quarter, as the San Diego Chargers survived an early scare and pulled out the 28-18 win.

If you recall last Sunday, the Raiders entered the fourth quarter in Buffalo leading 16-7, only to be outscored 17-7 in the final 15 minutes. Similar story this week, as Oakland quickly jumped out to a 15-0 lead in the first half, only to seemingly quit playing in the second half.

Second-year quarterback JaMarcus Russell threw for 277 yards on the day -- including a 65-yard touchdown to tight end Zach Miller -- but turned the ball over twice in the second half, leading to a pair of San Diego touchdowns.

Entering Sunday's game at Raymond James Stadium, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers had not thrown an interception in 158 pass attempts. He ended up throwing three on just 27 passes in the Packers' 30-21 loss to Tampa Bay.

Though, to be fair, the first pick wasn't his fault, as it was a perfect pass to running back Brandon Jackson, who just happened to allow the ball to bounce off the numbers on his jersey into the waiting hands of Tampa Bay linebacker Derrick Brooks.

Rodgers did throw a pair of touchdowns to Greg Jennings, but left the game briefly following the second touchdown due to a shoulder injury. The pass was a perfect strike, splitting the Buccaneers secondary and hitting Jennings in stride as he walked into the end zone untouched. After the pass, however, Rodgers walked off the field with his right arm hanging off his body.

The New England Patriots entered Sunday's game having not lost a regular season game since December 10, 2006, a 21-0 loss at the hands of ... the Miami Dolphins. Since that loss, the Patriots went on a run of 21 consecutive regular season wins, dominating just about every team they came in contact with.

By comparison, since that game all the way back in 2006, the Dolphins had gone 1-20. Talk about your polar opposites. Of course, that's what made it hilarious when Miami linebacker Joey Porter had the stones to come out this week and tell the world it wouldn't be all that difficult to prepare for Matt Cassel, and that it "would be nice to get our first win."

Laughter followed from pretty much everyone -- including yours truly -- but nobody is laughing now, except maybe Porter and Ronnie Brown. This game was never even close, and Miami did indeed pick up its first win of the season with a 38-13 dismantling of the Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

Give the Lions credit, they didn't fall down by 21 points this week. Baby steps, gentlemen. Baby steps. Though, in the end, it didn't matter as Matt Millen's hapless bunch of misfits fell, 31-13, to Frank Gore and the 49ers.

Mike Martz was looking for some revenge this week against some of his former players, and he got it as J.T. O'Sullivan finished the game 16 of 23 passing for 186 yards and a pair of touchdowns. O'Sullivan continues to be an early season surprise, and is doing quite a bit to make Martz look like a genius for having faith in him, and proclaiming that he might be the best quarterback he's ever coached. I still think that's a bit much, but, hey, so far so good.

Meanwhile, Frank Gore ran all over the Lions' defense with 130 yards on 27 carries, while also hauling in four passes for 32 yards.

We kind of had the idea the Jags would run wild on the Colts. Matt Forte and Adrian Peterson had their fun against the Colts' porous run defense in the first two weeks, and then Bob Sanders -- one of the leagues most respected run-stuffers -- went down with an injury.

Well, after 236 rushing yards and a downright absurd advantage in time of possession (41:35 - 18:25), the Jags came away with a much needed road victory. Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor, behind quality work from their offensive line, simply owned the game and kept the Colts' offense off the field.

The result was a 70-49 advantage for the Jags in offensive plays, and a game-winning 51 yard field goal for Josh Scobee.

It's hard to draw many conclusions about the Colts' offense, which looked stellar on the first and last drives of the game, with this small a sample against a quality defense. It was so long between possessions all game that it had to be damn near impossible to develop any sort of continuity, though two picks from Peyton Manning is not really included in the usual game-plan.

For 46 minutes and 48 seconds, the Chicago Bears defense allowed only seven points, completely stifled the run, and took the ball away from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers four times. Of course, they only held a 10 point lead and proceeded to stop guarding the pass ... which resulted in a 27-24 overtime loss in the 2008 home opener.

If you didn't watch the game and only looked at the stats, you'd be apt to blame this loss on the defense. While it was ridiculous to allow that last second drive to Brian Griese at home, it shouldn't have come down to that. Twice the Bears took the ball away deep in Tampa territory, and those two takeaways resulted in exactly three points. Kyle Orton also threw a pick-six on one of the worst throws I've ever seen an NFL quarterback make -- seriously, how the hell do you not see a dude who checks in at 6'5" standing right in front of your desired target?

Yes, it was a huge day through the air for Brian Griese. It has to be to garner over 400 yards passing. Of course, that was with only 6.1 yards per attempt (67 freaking passing attempts!).

The Eagles and Cowboys put on one heck of a show last night and entertained football lovers all across America. Dallas came away with the win but Philadelphia showed the country and the rest of the NFL that they're a team to be taken seriously. Terrell Owens and Tony Romo may have the early edge in the NFC East, but it's not the standings in September that matter.

The close game showed that both teams are legit playoff contenders and should surely battle each other as well as the Giants for the division. Winning in Dallas is always a challenge for the Eagles, but if you asked me today who will win their late December meeting in Philadelphia, I'd put my money on the home team. If both teams play through their schedule as most expect them to, last night's battle could set up a huge game in late December in Philadelphia.

On the plus side for Oakland Raiders Head Coach Lane Kiffin, there's a good chance he'll get to keep his job for at least one more week. Unless of course, Al Davis is crazier than any of us could have possibly imagined.

Just one week after Denver mopped the floor with the Raiders on national TV, Oakland responded with a 23-8 win over Kansas City, backing up the talk of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, who assured the football world he would be the same person sitting in front of us after his defense kicked a** this week.

Rookie Darren McFadden had a coming out party for the Raiders, as he rushed for 164 yards on 21 carries, including his first NFL touchdown. Of course, he was just part of the Oakland ground assault, which pounded the Chiefs defense into submission, churning out 300 yards on an incredible 47 attempts. Michael Bush picked up 90 yards on 14 carries, while Justin Fargas ran for 43.