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With Fitzpatrick and Smith injured, Jets scramble for another quarterback

The Oakland Raiders scored an upset victory over the New York Jets on Sunday, winning 34-20. He hasn’t majorly screwed up, but he’s only one quarter deep into his season. Sunday’s result could be a critical one in the AFC wild-card race.

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The Raiders built a 30-3 halftime lead last week in their 37-29 win at San Diego, and they got off to another hot start Sunday.

“I think we planned well for them”, linebacker Malcolm Smith said. “Yeah, it’s a little premature to be thinking that far ahead, playoff-wise, but there’s no reason you can’t think of yourself as a playoff team”. The team covered and tackled like a Big 12 defense, with an effort more typical of opponents of the Red Raiders of Texas Tech University than the Raiders of Oakland. The Raiders tackled Ivory for a loss four times on the Jets initial possession and held New York’s No. 3 ranked running game to only 74 yards. Oakland dominated both facets. In all, Carr complated 23 of 36 attempts for 333 yards and four touchdowns and Latavius Murray ran for 113 yards on 20 carries.

There is no shortage of storylines and points to talk about as these two teams who have a long history hook up to renew their rivalry.

Del Rio said the Raiders have shown steady improvement. “That’s our No. 1 goal. We continue to take positive steps”.

Following the game, Jets head coach Todd Bowles said Fitzpatrick suffered torn ligaments in his thumb and will have an MRI Monday. Defensively, the Raiders yield 303.8 yards in passing and 84.3 yards in rushing. I know we are sort of in the prediction business, but this is one I really can not call, I have no idea where the future is with the Raiders. They’ve already matched their win total from all of 2014 while Derek Carr continues to assert himself as the franchise quarterback they’ve lacked for two decades running.

Crabtree had the day’s first big highlight when Carr hit him with a pass over the middle. Crabtree broke through two defenders at the 10-yard line and regained his footing to score a 36-yard touchdown.

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In relief Smith played a pretty solid game. Instead, the Jets looked out of sorts and out of sync from the moment they lost their starting quarterback. Taiwan Jones added his first career score on a tackle-breaking 59-yard catch and run as the Raiders (4-3) exposed a New York defense that had been outstanding the first six games. They didn’t play like it. We’ll keep tabs on all of this here at The Jet Press in the next couple days as more information becomes available. To me it’s a no brainer to bring Tebow back to the Jets. Balance has been, and will continue to be the key for the Raiders going forward.

New York Jets Hurt In More Ways Than One In Loss To Oakland Raiders