The banged up, one win Raiders played their butts off to pull off a courageous 23-21 comeback win over the Arizona Cardinals. They did it by utilizing some 13 or more rookies, including young kicker Daniel Carlson out of Auburn. Carlson went 3-for-3 on the night, nailing a 35-yarder as the game clock expired.
Not only is Carlson a rookie, but so are special teams place-holder #5 Johnny Townsend (Florida) and long snapper #47 Trent Sieg (Colorado State), not pictured in above photo.
The silver & black looked like a team that would not quit and was not gonna be denied their second win of the season. They outdid the Cardinals in first-downs, time-of-possession, total yards and would you believe it, less penalties (4-20)?
It was a gutsy showing by a team riddled with injuries and scoring droughts. Hats off to Jon Gruden and his coaching staff for giving the squad a chance to show they haven't quit on him or us fans.
In the post-game press conference coach Gruden said they'd talked about winning one for the California fire victims. Tight end Lee Smith said it best when he talked about trying to perhaps put a smile on the faces of fire victim families who lost precious pictures of their kids in the fires. Prayers to those families.
Congratulations and thank you Oakland Raiders for giving us air-quality challenged Californians something to smile about this sports Sunday. And now, back to Smoke Mask Monday!
Win, Lose or Tie!
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