Oakland Raiders Score

Oakland Raiders Score, The Oakland Raiders had a great shot to get to the playoffs if they could get some help from the Kansas City Chargers. They’re getting that help, but they’re hardly helping themselves. After Oakland punted the football, Philip Rivers went right back to work, connected with Antonio Gates for 37 yards and Malcolm Floyd for 16 yards. Nice rushes by Curtis Brinkley helped set up a Mike Tolbert one yard touchdown rush to put San Diego up 14-7.

Oakland drove right back down the field with Carson Palmer connected with Louis Murphy and Darrius Heyward-Bey to help set up a Sebastian Janikowski 52 yard field goal, but San Diego came right back with a Richard Goodman 105 yard kickoff return to put them up 21-10. The teams traded field goals to end the first half thanks to solid passing by both Palmer and Rivers, and another quick Oakland drive with a huge Palmer pass to start the second half helped put more points on the board thanks to Janikowski.

The Raiders would win the AFC West if they win and the Denver Broncos lose–which they are currently doing to the Kansas City Chiefs.

San Diego Chargers

San Diego Chargers, Tim Tebow wasn’t watching as San Diego’s Nick Novak lined up to attempt a 53-yard field goal that would have given the Chargers an overtime victory over the Broncos.

He was praying, of course.

Did Tebow ask for a miss?

“I might have said that. Or maybe a block. Maybe all of it,” the Denver quarterback said with a laugh.

Novak missed wide right. Tebow moved the Broncos down the field and Matt Prater kicked a 37-yard field goal with 29 seconds left in overtime to lift the Broncos to a 16-13 victory Sunday over the Chargers, who’ve lost six straight games for the first time in 10 years.

The teams avoided the first NFL tie since Cincinnati and Philadelphia ended 13-13 on Nov. 16, 2008.

Some people have a problem with Tebow wearing his religion on his sleeve – but he has been a savior for the Broncos, going 5-1 since coach John Fox elevated him to starter in the wake of his performance in a close loss to the Chargers on Oct. 9 in Denver.

Still, Hall of Famer John Elway, the Broncos’ executive vice president of football operations, won’t commit to Tebow because of his low passing numbers and poor rate of third-down conversions.

The Broncos (6-5) have won four straight and trail the Raiders by one game in the AFC West.

Antonio Gates

Antonio Gates, San Diego tight end Antonio Gates is active and is expected to start against New England. He missed practice all week with a foot injury suffered in San Luis.

The Chargers have Gates, even if not at full capacity.

San Diego starting receivers Malcolm Floyd and Legedu Naanee is inactive with a hamstring injury. Buster Davis and Patrick Crayton will start for the Chargers.

Naanee appears as the third quarterback and was able only if the starting quarterback Philip Rivers and backup Billy Volek injured. The team cut No. 3 quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan to make room for kicker Kris Brown.

It will start a game or two, while kicker Nate Kaeding is out with a groin injury.

In other news from the AFC West and related notes:

Kansas City Chiefs receiver Verran Tucker promoted from the practice squad. He is a rookie free agent. To accommodate Tucker, Kansas City cut undrafted rookie Jeremy Horne. He was a star of the preseason, not having an impact on the regular season. Horne could end the practice squad of the Chiefs.

The San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting look at the slow start No. 8 overall pick Rolando McClain. It’s early, but McClain has not made many big plays.

Apparently, the former czar of Kansas City, Carl Peterson has no future with the Dolphins. That marriage has been speculated about Peterson was at the door by the heads of nearly two years ago.

Oakland Raiders

Oakland Raiders, Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable waited only six quarters to turn to Bruce Gradkowski for a spark this season.

Gradkowski replaced an ineffective Jason Campbell after halftime and led the Raiders to three scoring drives and a 16-14 victory over the St. Louis Rams in the home opener on Sunday.

Gradkowski threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Louis Murphy, Darren McFadden ran for 145 yards and Sebastian Janikowski kicked three field goals to give Oakland (1-1) its first win in a home opener since 2004.

Sam Bradford threw two touchdown passes to Mark Clayton but was unable to get the offence moving for much of the second half as the Rams (0-2) lost for the 27th time in 28 games.

Cable turned to Gradkowski midway through last season to take over from draft bust JaMarcus Russell. Gradkowski breathed life into Oakland’s inept offence, leading the team to victories over Cincinnati and Pittsburgh before being sidelined by a knee injury.

Gradkowski never got the chance to win the job this season as Oakland traded for Campbell and made him the starter. Gradkowski tore a pectoral muscle in the off-season and injured his groin early in training camp.

He played well in two exhibition games but Campbell opened the season as starter, even drawing comparisons to two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Jim Plunkett from owner Al Davis.

Campbell struggled in a 38-13 season-opening loss at Tennessee and was pulled at halftime of this game. He was 8-for-15 for 87 yards and an interception on his final pass as Oakland trailed 7-3.

The fans started chanting for Gradkowski late in the first half and the calls of “Bruuuuce!” continued each time he took the field in the second half.

Gradkowski completed his first three passes, building even more crowd support with each throw. His 26-yard completion to Murphy set up a 41-yard field goal by Janikowski that made it 7-6.

After the Raiders stopped the Rams on a three-and-out the next possession, Gradkowski drove Oakland 83 yards to a score on the floater to Murphy.

The offensive success appeared to give a boost to a defence that struggled to slow down Steven Jackson in the first half. St. Louis gained only 17 yards and one first down — on a personal foul by Tommy Kelly — in the first 26 minutes of the second half.

Bradford finally got the Rams moving after Jerome Murphy intercepted a pass from Gradkowski with just over four minutes remaining and the Rams trailing 16-7. It took just 47 seconds for Bradford to drive the Rams 59 yards, making it 16-14 with a 17-yard TD pass to Clayton with 3:18 remaining.

A personal foul on Fred Robbins and a 13-yard pass from Gradkowski to Murphy on third-and-seven helped Oakland run out the clock.

The play in the first half was reflective of two teams that have struggled to win any games in recent years. Both teams missed makable field goal attempts in the first quarter, with Josh Brown missing wide right from 36 yards for St. Louis and Janikowski missing wide left from 46 yards.

Bradford played conservatively in the first half, throwing only four passes to wide receivers. He converted one of those into a touchdown when he connected from seven yards with Clayton to give St. Louis a 7-0 lead.

The Raiders got their only points of the half on a 38-yard field goal by Janikowski on a drive that stalled when rookie Jared Veldheer was beat by James Hall for a sack.

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