#28 Latavius Murray
Chorus
Excuse and disregard,
If I make you uneasy or come off hard,
My only intentions are, to let you know it's over.
The Oakland Raiders led throughout the game in their win over the Cleveland Browns. The high power passing game opened up the running game. Running Back Latavius Murray, breaking off a 54 yard run, had 139 total yards rushing and rookie Amari Cooper had 134 yards receiving. Coop had a fumble, but the young man brings so much explosiveness to the team that one bad play can't negate his positive contributions. #89 Amari Cooper is the cog that propels our offense. AC/DC Baby!
QB Derek Carr was 20/32 for 314 yards and 2 touchdowns. The passing game is the Raiders strength. The defense had 5 sacks but are not quite there yet as a top unit. They were getting close all game and put enough pressure on the quarterback to effect many throws.They're still jelling together.
Old man Charles Woodson, playing with a sore shoulder, came up with a clutch, game ending interception of a Josh McCown pass as the Browns were marching downfield to tie up the game in the final minute. Woodson appeared out of nowhere to snatch a would be catch and run to the end zone by Browns receiver Travis Benjamin. Instead of a tie game with the threat of overtime, the Raiders would take over and run out the clock for the win.
As much as I enjoyed seeing the Raiders show their domination on the road, I keep reminding myself that it was "just" Cleveland. An improved Cleveland perhaps, but still.
The Raiders, with a 2-1 record, are looking like a legitimate professional football team. I'd like to see them tighten things up on defense and work on eliminating penalties overall. And as explosive as the passing game is, there's still work to be done with everyone being on the same page. I love what my boy #10 Seth Roberts brings to the receiving corps, but he can't continue dropping passes. Seth's 13 yard touchdown catch made up for his early drops.
Shout outs to Michael Crabtree, Andre Holmes, Marcel Reece, Malcolm Smith, Aldon Smith, Khalil Mack, Neiko Thorpe, T.J. Carrie and the entire Offensive Line. Oh yeah, punter Marquette King was good on 3 of 4 punts. King took one for the team when Browns rushers incurred a running-into-the-kicker penalty. The Raiders would go down and score a touchdown to give them a 10-0 lead.
In our wtf moment, my jaw dropped when I realized the Raiders putting Amari Cooper at risk returning punts. That experiment needs to just stop now. What, risk injuring the cog? Come'on coach Del Rio, you're smarter than that. The risk vs reward scale weighs heavily on the risk side.
Raiders 27
Browns 20
Raider Mikey at Raider Central pops off another hot rap only the way Mikey can. I'm really liking the Raider Central host kicking it to the beat 'Game Over."
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