Oakland Raiders’ Winners of Round 1 in Fights For Positions

Aug 29, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden (20) watches from the sideline during the second half against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Darren McFadden

Going into the preseason opener, running back Darren McFadden found himself behind free agent pickup Maurice Jones-Drew on the depth chart. Jones-Drew is still good but there’s no way on God’s green earth that was due to talent as McFadden is definitely that guy. Anyway, head coach Dennis Allen says the competition at running back is open and if that is the case, your past injury history doesn’t count.

In Round 1 of the fight, Jones-Drew started out taking the fight to McFadden with two carries for 10 yards with a 7-yard run called back and two catches for 14 yards. McFadden then found an opening and dropped Jones-Drew with one 23-yard skee-skirt before the bell sounded. On my unofficial scorecard, McFadden won Round 1 10-8 because of the knockdown—not because Jones-Drew didn’t fight well.

Both Jones-Drew and McFadden will have a role regardless but this was a big win for McFadden as being the Champion is what it means. The Raiders are going to need as many big plays out of the running game as possible and a healthy McFadden gives those to the Raiders. And after showing that he still has that game-changing or fight-changing burst, we know that McFadden is always one punch away from a win.