The Oakland Raiders have shown no ill effects of an early start time, as they have taken a 17-7 lead over the Jacksonville Jaguars heading into the the half. After an early back and forth that saw the game tied at seven, the Raiders have gone on a nice little 10-0 run courtesy of timely offense capitalizing on aggressive defense.
After the Jaguars tied the game, the Raiders responded with a 74-yard drive that resulted in three points. The Raiders had gotten the ball to the Jaguars 1 on a Darren McFadden rush, but it was called back to a holding call. The Raiders couldn’t get much closer and had to settle for the Sebastian Janikowski field goal.
On the ensuing Jaguars drive, David Garrard had gotten the ball down to the Raiders 44 and appeared ready to cut the distance to the end zone in half with a 22 yard completion to Mike Thomas. However, there was a holding call that was going to bring back. Even more important, Raiders safety Tyvon Branch did an excellent job stripping Thomas before he hit the ground. Thomas was ruled down by contact, but the Raiders challenged the play and it was succesfully reversed and ruled an interception.
The Raiders then took that interception and marched 69 yards down the field, capping it with a Jason Campbell touchdown pass to Louis Murphy. The drive was a success in part because the Raiders spread the ball amongst their receivers and running backs. The Jaguars could do little to stop the Raiders and they eventually scored the touchdown to take a 17-7 lead at the half.