The Oakland Raiders are coming off of their worst loss of the season. Sitting in the stands as the game wound down, you could hear numerous fans commenting on how this looked like the Raiders of three years ago instead of the 2011 Raiders squad that had impressed up to this point.
With a 28-0 loss to a Kansas City Chiefs team that gave up over 40 points in each of the first two weeks of the season, there is plenty of blame to go around.
Passing Offense: This is not only one of the worst passing performances in the history of the Raiders, it is likely one of the worst passing performances in NFL history. Kyle Boller and Carson Palmer combined for six interceptions. As if that wasn't bad enough, two of those interceptions were returned for touchdowns, giving the Chiefs half of their points on pick six's. It was clear that Kyle Boller is not a starter in the NFL and the Carson Palmer is not close to being ready to start after having sat out the beginning of the season.
Grade: F
Rushing Offense: The running game was surprisingly strong despite the lopsided score. Darren McFadden went down early in the game, giving Michael Bush the opportunity to show the league why the Raiders have one of, if not the, deepest backfields in the league. Bush got 17 touches and put up 99 yards on 5.8 yards per carry. Strong performance that could have been better had the Raiders not been trailing and forced to throw more than run.
Grade: B+
Passing Defense: The pass defense also had a decent day. Matt Cassel went 15 for 30 for 161 yards with two interceptions and only averaged 5.4 yards per attempt. For a Raiders team that has struggled to find consistency in its secondary due to injuries and the departure of long time starter Nnamdi Asomugha, this was a very solid outting.
Grade: A
Rushing Defense: The run defense struggled a little on Sunday, but was not terrible. It was playing against adversity as it was tasked with playing behind and for a majority of the game as the offense struggled to stay on the field. While the Raiders gave up 139 yards on the ground, they came off of a massive 39 attempts and no runningback was able to break the triple digit mark.
Grade: B-
Special Teams: After two consecutive weeks of amazing special teams play, the Raiders special teams were a complete non factor in this game. There were no field goals or field goal attempts and no major returns for the Raiders. On the other hand, they did not give up any major returns to the Chiefs, and Shane Lechler continues to be a monster as he kicks the ball further than a human should be able to.
Grade: B
Coaching: This was by far the worst coaching performance of Hue Jackson's young head coaching career. The entire game was littered with mistakes by the Raiders coaching staff, far too many to get into here. If you'd like to read more on how bad Hue Jackson and his staff performed on Sunday, check out my feature on why the fault for the loss should fall on the shoulders of Jackson, rather than the quarterbacks.
Grade: F
Overall: This was a humilating loss for the Raiders. Most saw this as an automatic win for the Raiders. The Chiefs have been struggling this season and most thought that the Raiders would be able to pull out the win at home regardless of who was playing quarterback, unfortunately, most were wrong.
Grade: D
Up next, the Raiders have a bye week before hosting the Denver Broncos and the infamous Tim Tebow.