Oakland Raiders Film Room: Week 6 (SD)
By Evan Ball
Oct 12, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers cornerback Jason Verrett (22) intercepts the ball against Oakland Raiders wide receiver Brice Butler (12) during the fourth quarter at O.co Coliseum. The San Diego Chargers defeated the Oakland Raiders 31-28. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
The Oakland Raiders belong in the National Football League. That may not sound like a crazy statement right now, but for the last 5 weeks sports journalists and pundits have often suggested otherwise. The Oakland Raiders can be competitive against the better teams in the league. They still clearly have problems to work out, but at least on one Sunday, Raider Nation was able to get a glimpse of what this team could be when things actually start clicking right.
Let’s start with some context for the Week 6 matchup. San Diego was 4-1 going into this game. Oakland was 0-4. San Diego was either at or near the top of most power rankings. Oakland was almost unanimously 31st or 32nd. San Diego was seventh in DVOA after Week 5. Oakland was 30th. Vegas had Oakland as a 7.5 point underdog in most casinos. This game should have been a blowout. Instead it was a very close, physical game, with overall excellent QB play, solid play in the secondary, and a 3 point loss on a Colin Kaepernick-like game losing fade route interception (more on that later).
Although they didn’t get the win, Oakland proved to the league and to themselves that they can successfully execute against good teams in this league. They’ll have a lot of work to do to prepare for Arizona in Week 7, but this was a big step in the right direction. There’s a lot of positive to get into on the game tape so let’s get into it.