For the past 12 years, Raiders fans haven't had much to cheer about, but that could all be changing thanks to a trio of emerging stars who could start giving Oakland the same kind of hope the NBA's Warriors have given to the city recently.
Thanks to Derek Carr, Amari Cooper and Latavius Murray, the Raiders might actually be a team that the Broncos, Chiefs and Chargers all have to worry about this season.
It's easy to laugh at a statement like that, but if the Broncos lose to the Lions on Sunday night, the Raiders will be tied for first. I repeat: THE RAIDERS COULD BE TIED FOR FIRST PLACE.
That's a big deal for a team that, before Sunday, hadn't won a game in the Eastern time zone in six years. That's also a big deal for a team that, before Sunday, hadn't started 2-1 in four years. Oh, and the Raiders hadn't won ANY road game since November 2013 or won consecutive games of any kind (road or home) since 2012.
The Raiders didn't just beat the Browns to end those streaks either, they dominated them, which something Oakland doesn't usually do on the road, especially in the Eastern time zone, where the Raiders had been 0-16 since December of 2009.
Carr had his way with the Browns defense, going 20 of 32 for 314 yards and two touchdowns. If you're a Raiders fan, the most impressive thing Carr did on Sunday was that he was able to keep Oakland's offense on the field. The Raiders had five drives of 70 or more yards that all ended in scores.
Those drives ate up clock and kept Cleveland off the field, something that showed as the Raiders had the ball for five more minutes than the Browns (32:29 to 27:31).
The Raiders were able to control the pace of the game thanks to Murray, who rushed for 139 yards and averaged 5.35 yards per carry.
Murray was a workhorse for Oakland, carrying the ball 26 times, but that didn't stop the Raiders from fitting plenty of Carr-to-Cooper passes in their gameplan. Cooper ended up catching eight passes for 134 yards.
The Raiders 469 total yards marked only the third time since 2012 that the offense has topped 465 yards.
Are the Raiders for real?
It's too hard to say for sure, but you have to like their chances of competing in the AFC West. If Oakland can win its next two games (at Chicago, vs. Denver), that would guarantee that the Raiders would be in first place going into their Week 6 bye.
The Raiders haven't had a winning record since 2002, when their current starting quarterback was just 11-years-old, which almost makes him the perfect person to end the streak.
| Team | Grade | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Broncos 24, Lions 12 | ||
| B | It looks like Gary Kubiak has finally realized the only way the Broncos offense is going to be functional this season is if Peyton Manning's in shotgun (or the pistol). After taking a lot of snaps under center in the first two weeks, Manning spent Sunday night in shotgun formation and the plan paid off. The Broncos quarterback looked calm, cool and collected as he threw for 324 yards and two touchdowns. | |
| C | There's a lot of blame to go around in this loss, but we're going to focus on the Lions special teams. After Detroit had an extra point blocked in the first half, the Lions had to go for two after their next touchdown, a conversion attempt they missed. The special teams also gave the Broncos a free field goal when the Lions lined up illegally on a missed 53-yard field goal by Denver. The Broncos got another chance from 48-yards and nailed it. That's five big points in a game where the two teams were only separated by one score for all but the final 2:28. | |
| Raiders 27, Browns 20 | ||
| A | Any time the Raiders win in the Eastern time zone, they get an 'A'. That's what happens when you do something you haven't done since 2009. The Latavius Murray-Amari Cooper combo is going to be a scary one for a long time. The two players combined for 273 yards of offense and a touchdown against Cleveland. | |
| D | We're not trying to start a quarterback controversy here, but if the Browns are going to lose, watching them lose with Johnny Football is way more exciting. Josh McCown threw 19 incompletions and the Browns offense looked ugly in the first half, punting on its first three possessions. | |
| Falcons 39, Cowboys 28 | ||
| A | No one can stop Julio Jones. The Falcons receiver caught 12 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns and now has 34 receptions on the season, which is the most anyone's ever had through three games. | |
| B- | The fact that the Cowboys almost won with Brandon Weeden starting is kind of a moral victory. Even though the Cowboys lost, they now know they can be competitive while Tony Romo and Dez Bryant are out with injuries. | |
| Colts 35, Titans 33 | ||
| C | Andrew Luck and the Colts offense got bailed by a defense that forced two pivotal turnovers. One of the turnovers was a pick-six in the second quarter, while the other turnover was a fourth quarter interception that put the Colts on Tennessee's 11-yard-line. The Colts eventually scored a TD that gave them their first lead of the fourth quarter. Both picks came courtesy of Colts defensive back Dwight Lowery. | |
| C | The Titans led this game 27-14 with under eight minutes left and could've caused the Colts season to implode if they had held on. Instead, the Titans imploded with three straight possessions in the fourth quarter that went punt, interception, punt. The Colts scored after each of those three possessions. | |
| Bengals 28, Ravens 24 | ||
| A | You can't stop Andy Dalton in a 1 p.m. game, you can only hope to contain him and the Ravens couldn't do that. Daytime Dalton threw for 383 yards and three touchdowns in the win. A.J. Green was also impressive with a career-high 227 yards, including 101 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter when Cincy needed him most. | |
| D | For the first time in franchise history, the Ravens are 0-3. The only reason this grade isn't an 'F' is because Baltimore came back from a 14-0 deficit to take the lead. The Ravens had zero running game against Cincinnati, which is bad news for two reasons: Flacco has to carry the team and the Ravens don't win when they can't run. Baltimore is now 0-8 all-time when rushing for 40 yards or less. They're also 3-7 when Flacco throws 49 or more passes. | |
| Patriots 51, Jaguars 17 | ||
| D | A win over New England would've put the Jaguars on their first winning streak since 2013 and that must've been too much pressure for the Jags because they came nowhere close to their first winning streak since 2013. The Jaguars will probably want to burn the film from this game, except for maybe the 59-yard TD pass that Blake Bortles threw to Allen Hurns in the third quarter. | |
| A+ | Just when you think the Patriots offense can't play any better, it plays better. After putting up 28 and 40 points in the first two weeks, the Pats put up 51 on Sunday, thanks in large part to Tom Brady, who notched his 400th and 401st career TD passes. Only three other players have thrown 400 or more touchdown passes in NFL history (Dan Marino, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre). | |
| Panthers 27, Saints 22 | ||
| C+ | Sean Payton must've forgotten that Drew Brees was injured because for some reason, he kept calling pass plays. Luke McCown tied a career-high with 38 pass attempts. McCown actually looked good at times, but he blew any shot at a comeback when he threw a pick with just 1:17 left and the Saints at the Panthers 23-yard line. | |
| B | The last time the Panthers started 3-0, they ended up in the Super Bowl and they got to 3-0 on Sunday thanks in large part to a ridiculous game from tight end Greg Olsen. Olsen tallied a career-high 134 yards and also added two touchdowns. Cam Newton wasn't bad either, throwing for 315 yards and two TDs while also tacking on a rushing TD. | |
| Eagles 24, Jets 17 | ||
| B | Chip Kelly's offense is still struggling, but that didn't matter against the Jets because the Philly's defense and special teams came through. Darren Sproles returned a punt 89-yards for a score and the Eagles got another touchdown after their defense set them up with good field position following a fumble recovery in the second quarter. | |
| D | The only winner for the Jets on Sunday might've been Geno Smith. If Ryan Fitzpatrick has another three-interception game, like he did against the Eagles, coach Todd Bowles might be ready to give Geno a chance. The Jets totaled four turnover against Philly after only turning the ball over two times total during the first two weeks combined. | |
| Texans 19, Buccaneers 9 | ||
| C | Hopefully Bucs kicker Kyle Brindza is renting his place in Tampa because he might not be around much longer. Brindza missed three field goals (41, 33, 57) against Houston AND an extra point. That's 10 points right there, which is probably going to be tough for Lovie Smith to swallow in a 10-point loss. Brindza was so bad, J.J. Watt complimented him after the game. | |
| B | We knew going into the season that the Texans would only be good in 2015 if their defense and running game were both good and Houston got a taste of that on Sunday. Alfred Blue ran for 139 yards and the Texans defense limited Tampa to only 1 of 12 third down conversions. | |
| Vikings 31, Chargers 14 | ||
| D | For most of the first half, the Chargers played like they forgot what time the game started. By the time San Diego was about to get back in it, the Vikings iced the game with a pick-six of Philip Rivers. Rivers ended San Diego's comeback attempt against the Bengals in Week 2 with a pick and did the same thing on Sunday. The Chargers quarterback has an interception in nine straight games. | |
| B+ | It looks like the Vikings might have figured out their recipe to success for 2015: Give the ball to Adrian Peterson, watch him run over people. Peterson rushed for 126 yards and scored his first two touchdowns of the season, a total that included a bruising 43-yard score in the third quarter. | |
| Steelers 12, Rams 6 | ||
| B | The Steelers managed to hang on for the win despite the fact that they played the final quarter and a half without Ben Roethlisberger, who injured his knee in the third quarter. And really, that's the only thing that matters in Pittsburgh right now. | |
| B- | The Rams definitely have a good defense, the problem though is that the same thing can't be said about their offense. The Rams were 2 of 10 on third downs and couldn't get anything going against a Steelers defense that was ranked 25th in the league going into the game. | |
| Cardinals 47, 49ers 7 | ||
| F | Forty-Niners fans probably wish they still had Alex Smith after sitting through Colin Kaepernick's four interception performance. The 40-point loss was San Francisco's worse since a 41-point loss in 2006. | |
| A+ | Back in March, Chris Johnson was in a hospital having a bullet wound treated. Six months later, not only is he back on the field, but he's terrorizing other teams. Johnson ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns. It's almost unfair to only point out his performance because everyone on the Cards' roster was pretty amazing in the blowout win. Arizona has now scored 40 or more points in back-to-back games for the first time since 1969. | |
| Bills 41, Dolphins 14 | ||
| A+ | Winning a game on the road in the NFL is big, winning a division game on the road by 27 points is something that's almost unheard of Buffalo. The Bills haven't beat a divisional team by 27 or more points on the road since 1992. The Bills won big because Tyrod Taylor looks better and better every week. The Bills starting QB threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns. The offense also got a big boost from Karlos Williams, who averaged a ridiculous 9.2 yards per carry. | |
| F | Ryan Tannehill basically gave the Bills 13 points with three first half interceptions. One of Tannehill's picks was returned for a touchdown by Bills LB Preston Brown. On the other two, the Bills used a short field to kick a field goal. It's a big reason why the Dolphins were down 27-0 at the half. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is probably regretting that huge extension he gave Tannehill after watching Sunday's game. | |
| Seahawks 26, Bears 0 | ||
| F | There were a lot of teams that looked bad on Sunday, but no one was worse than the Bears. Chicago had the ball 10 times against Seattle and here's how those 10 possessions ended: Punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt. Six of those punts came after three-and-out possessions. | |
| A | Getting Jimmy Graham involved in the offense wasn't a problem for the Seahawks this week. After only catching one pass in Week 2, Graham rebounded with 7 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown. The only bad news for the Seahawks on Sunday is that Marshawn Lynch had to leave the game early with a hamstring injury. | |