Raiders vs. Jaguars: Oakland pulls off ugly win thanks to defense

The Oakland Raiders did not look as good as they did in their loss to the Atlanta Falcons, but they were able to pull off a win this week against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Despite turning the ball over three times and only forcing one turnover, the Raiders were able to come back from a 17-6 deficit at half and a 23-13 deficit in the 4th quarter to get a win that should have come much easier. The Jguars only had one win coming into Sunday and did not look very good. On top of that, their star running back, Maurice Jones-Drew missed almost the entire game after suffering a foot injury early in the first quarter and quarterback Blane Gabbert left the game in the second quarter with a shoulder injury.

The backups were only able to pick up two first downs in the second half, but we're still able to put six more points on the board and hold off the Raiders' rather slow come back long enough to force overtime. The game would not have been nearly as close had the Raiders not made big mistakes at critical points in the game, turning the ball over once after they had marched into the red zone and once giving the Jags the ball just outside of the red zone. Carson Palmer did not have a very good game, but the more concerning issue is that Darren McFadden continues to struggle and averaged less than three yards per carry on 19 carries and no touchdowns.

The defense did what they were supposed to do against an inferior offense, but you cannot help but wonder what would have happened if the starters for Jacksonville had played the entire game. Maurice Jones-Drew is one of the games' best backs and the Raiders are still having issues in their run defense. Plus, Gabbert hit a wide open Cecil Shorts for a 42 yard touchdown before leaving the game, exposing the Raiders depleted secondary. The fact of the ,after is, all that matters at the end of the game is the score, but if the Raiders continue to play like this, the score will be a rather painful thing for them to look at.