The Raiders competed to stay close, but the Vikings displayed killer instinct in the fourth quarter to emphatically claim victory. That shows that they just are not quite there yet. Improving their passing game, which has ranked towards the bottom of the league throughout the year and also the defense is ranked in the bottom half of overall takeaways.
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The Packers return to Lambeau Field after dropping two straight on the road to Denver and Carolina, and they will do so with a new starting running back.
An example of this came in the 2nd quarter of yesterday’s game.
The Raiders were shut out in the second half for the first time this season on an afternoon where Minnesota turned the game on Cordarrelle Patterson’s 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown before halftime. It was like a hole being punched into a hot air balloon, they deflated and fell to their death after that. One day soon this team will be able to rebound from a shock like that, but yesterday they could not.
That’s not to say that there weren’t moments for the Raiders even after that kick return touchdown, there were. “So, we can’t just be satisfied with being where we are today”. “I can’t let one play or one hit determine the way I play the next game”.
“I just have to come down with it”, Holmes said. Height is one thing, but experience is another and Terrance Newman knew that the ball was coming his way from the moment it was snapped.
The run, like so many Adrian Peterson runs, started with a small opening, a sliver to the right of the mass of Raiders who blocked where he was supposed to go.
“You have to be sharp the whole game with him”, linebacker Malcolm Smith said.
But the Giants enter the game last in the N.F.L.in total defense, and one has to wonder if they can contain an explosive Patriots offense led by quarterback Tom Brady, who has rarely looked better than he has through the first eight games of this season. That gives us a chance to see what these prospects can do and how they fit the scheme of their teams. It seemed like the Raiders had already arrived, but they haven’t. “He looks as good as he’s ever looked”. Minnesota this year is one of those better teams. On the ensuing play, Bridgewater handed the ball to Peterson, who ripped through the Raiders’ front seven, sped into the secondary and pulled away like American Pharoah down the stretch of The Belmont.
Hudson pushing to get back: Raiders center Rodney Hudson missed Sunday’s game with a sprained ankle, but he tried to sneak into the lineup at the last minute. Despite being the home team with a rolling offense, the Raiders found themselves falling short of expectations once again after a 30-14 beatdown by the Vikings.
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They’re good enough to win their next two, and get to 6-5. Confidence and experience goes a long way and going on another mini streak would reinvigorate everybody. Though these two losses are catastrophic to their chances of making the playoffs they do not kill them outright. Since losing the opener, the Raiders have twice followed back-to-back wins with back-to-back losses.
