Flat, Listless, Inconsistent, and Uninspiring Raiders

Raiders 9 - Niners 17

"Flat, Listless, Inconsistent, Uninspiring" is how I would describe the performance of the Raider players and coaching staff vs. the Niners. After opening the game with 2 decent offensive drives (13 plays, 79 yards, FG; 12 plays, 55 yards, FG), the offense went into hibernation. QB Campbell's indecisiveness and poor accuracy was painful to watch.

Instead of building on a 6-0 lead, the Raiders allowed the Niners to hang around by playing the worst, unimaginative, unproductive football this season (INT, 3-out, 3-out, 3-out, 3-out, 3-out, FG, 3-out, INT). After taking the lead early, the Raiders produced only 2 first downs in the final 9 possessions. For the day, the Raiders accumulated only 69 net yards passing.

When the Raiders offense was stuck in neutral, the team desperately needed OC Hue Jackson to make some critical in-game adjustments, get more creative with the playcalling, and attempt to light a spark in the offense. The offensive calls from the 3rd possession to the end of the game were predictable, stale, and completely vanilla. Why not stir the pot and give Boller a shot? Why not attempt a few trick plays or deep strike pass plays? The offense was in a rut yet there seemed to be no attempt to shake things up.

Although the Raiders defense can hardly be blamed for this loss, it lacked the big play ability to create more separation. LB McClain and CB Asomugha both had opportunities to come up with pivotal interceptions but were unable to secure the ball. Creating zero takaways kept the Niners on life support until they were finally able to get in the end zone largely on 3 plays (Crabtree 32 yd TD reception; Gore 64 yard run that led to Davis 17 yd TD).

This loss was the equivalent of a slow water torture. Personally, I'd rather see a team pull out all the stops in an attempt to win than dial it down to an auto-pilot comatose and try to hang on to a win.