For the second week in a row, the Oakland Raiders failed to meet their own expectations. A disappointing performance to start the season raised some concerns. But now that the team has played so poorly in consecutive games, fears are starting to arise that perhaps this really is the type of performance that should be expected from this team in 2014.
The matchup against the Houston Texans was supposed to be a winnable game, but the Raiders were never really in it. The final score of 30-14 is misleading as the Raiders didn't score until the fourth quarter, at which time ...
The Oakland Raiders are not just 0-2; they are an 0-2 that stinks worse than the San Francisco bay mud at low tide. In Week 1, the New York Jets thrashed the Raiders in every way except in the final score. In Week 2, the Raiders were bludgeoned in their home opener by the Houston Texans—the worst team in the league last season.
It didn’t take long for the Raiders annihilate all hope of a successful season that owner Mark Davis was already grading on a curve. After 11 years without a winning season, many fans have already disavowed head coach ...
After emerging as the best team in baseball over the first half, the Oakland Athletics have been free-falling throughout August and September. While much of the blame can be attributed to the A's suddenly feeble offense, Oakland's normally reliable bullpen faltered with closer Sean Doolittle on the disabled list, costing the team a few wins in the process.
Doolittle landed on the DL on August 24 with a right intercostal strain and was reinstated on September 12. During that time, the A's went 5-13 and slid out of the American League West race as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim finished ...
After a disappointing start to the season, the Oakland Raiders are looking to earn their first victory of 2014 this Sunday when they host the Houston Texans. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:25 p.m. ET.
The Raiders were dominated in every facet of the game against the Jets, and they were unable to get anything going on either side of the ball.
The defense was bullied, and the offense was dictated to by the Jets' defense. Yet even though Oakland underperformed, the game was close throughout. And the team found itself with a chance to win in the final minutes of the game.
With how ...
Okay, hear me out.
Since the A's signed Yoenis Cespedes in 2012, the team was 228-131 with him in the starting lineup and 43-69 without him in the lineup, including their 15-25 record since the trade.
That's a .635 winning percentage with him vs. .384 without him. Those are, quite simply, staggering numbers. The kind of numbers that suggest that Cespedes had much more of an impact on this team than a player with a career on-base percentage of just .317.
Yes, his arm was a thing of legend. But it's not like he was sterling in the outfield. His fielding percentage and range ...
The Oakland Raiders were hoping to start off 2014 on a better note. It's not just that the team lost 19-14 in the season opener at the New York Jets. It's how unimpressive the team looked in defeat.
The defensive line was bullied and rendered ineffective all game. The offensive line was no better; it was on its heels the entire game. The running backs were completely negated, and Derek Carr was never able to get comfortable in the pocket.
The team's ineffectiveness in the trenches, where the game was really decided, wasn't lost on the players.
Following the loss, left tackle Donald ...
A strange thing happened to the Oakland Raiders in their Week 1 loss at the New York Jets.
Offensively, the Raiders managed only 176 yards of total offense—73 of them on the team's final drive—and a meager 11 first downs for the entire game.
Defensively, they were pushed around for four quarters. Geno Smith finished 23-of-28 for 221 yards, and the Jets as a team rushed for 212 yards while averaging over six yards per carry. Watching the game, it was obvious that Oakland was dominated in every area.
Yet somehow, the Raiders were within a single score of taking the lead the ...
After losing five of their last six games, the Oakland A's have fans wondering if it's still possible to turn things around and retake the AL West lead.
Now eight games back in the division, the A's are struggling to keep hold of a playoff spot at all. They are currently one game up on the Detroit Tigers and 1.5 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners.
Heading into August, this team was on top of baseball. Then they made a huge swap at the trade deadline, sending Yoenis Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox for ace pitcher Jon Lester Jonny Gomes. Many ...
To put things simply, this is not a great time to be an A's fan.
The last two years and leading up to the All-Star break this year, it was wonderful. This scrappy bunch of young players and overachieving journeymen were a joy to watch. Even with two straight first-round exits from the playoffs, each season felt satisfying and fun. This year started out that way as well, with the A's destroying their competition and putting up the best record in baseball and far and away the best run differential.
Oakland made one trade, giving up a key part of their future ...
Derek Carr became the first rookie quarterback to start Week 1 for the Oakland Raiders on Sunday. The start of the Carr era renewed Raider Nation's hope that the team will soon get on the winning track after more than a decade without a playoff berth.
Expectations for Carr were unrealistically high coming into a Week 1 road start against Rex Ryan's defense. Deep down, everyone expected growing pains, but they were a little more painful and plentiful than anyone would like to admit.
Carr was neither bad nor good Sunday, but his growing pains highlight the challenges ahead for both him ...