McGloin’s efforts look to have earned him the starting spot this Thursday at Dallas, even with the loss. It’s easy to play the blame game, but a lot of wind went out of the stadium when all-pro Sebastian Janikowski (Florida State) missed a 32-yard field goal right before half. Janikowski wasn’t what lost them the game (he also missed a 47 yarder), and in fact may have been what kept them in it for most of the game (he made 52, 48, 24, and 42-yard field goals as well). The large number of field goals may point to what the real issues were. The Raiders kept getting relatively close to the end zone, and then stalling. Conversely, so did the Titans, so Raider fans had to have felt good when Reece hauled in his touchdown.

In my preview of the game, I said the two defenses would be tough, but I didn’t realize Tennessee would give the Raiders that much trouble. Going with the “bend don’t break” philosophy, the Titans bottled up the undrafted rookie and his backfield counterpart, Rashad Jennings (Liberty). Jennings, who had 150 yards in the win last week, was held to 76 today, with over 50 of them being in the first half.

I did say the Raiders would have to bottle up Chris Johnson (Eastern Carolina), and they did. Johnson’s 73 yards were an after thought, he averaged only 3.7 yards per carry and never got to show his speed (his longest carry was 12 yards). But, for Oakland to win, I thought McGloin would need to repeat and Jennings needed another big day to boot. Unfortunately, as well as McGloin played, his one touchdown, one interception performance was not a repeat of the week before.

When I was trying to figure out how Tennessee would win, I said the defense would have to come and play big. And they did. They made the undrafted rookie McGloin, who threw three touchdowns and zero interceptions a week ago, look a lot more like a rookie today. While McGloin could avoid Alterraun Verner (UCLA), he did get picked off by Zach Brown (North Carolina) in the second quarter..

Things Everyone will be Talking About at the Coffee Pot at Work Tomorrow

The Hit on Rivera

Early in the game, Tennessee’s Michael Griffin (Texas) laid a very dirty blow to Oakland’sMychal Rivera (University of Tennessee). Rivera was headed to the ground already and Griffin came in with a literal knock out blow. The head to head collision will likely be reviewed by the NFL. Meanwhile, our thoughts are with Rivera as he recovers from a bad concussion. Rivera tweeted a little after the game that he was ok.

The Ensuing Tweet

The lesser-known story is that shortly there after, celebrity actress and singer Naya Rivera, sister of Mychal, tweeted “Dear Michael griffin, FUCK you. That is all .“ This of course had people on twitter rolling. So if you hear anything about Naya Rivera’s twitter while you’re at the coffee pot tomorrow, you know why.

Why the Field Goal Troubles?

The field goals, namely because of Janikowski’s greatness, have been a point of pride for Raider fans. And after all, why not? It’s no secret the Raiders have had some rough years. But through it all, the 6’1”, 260 lbs place kicker (who came to the US in High School from Poland) has been a positive and a fan favorite. Many are seeking to blame the loss of Shane Leclher (Texas A&M), who had been his holder for many years. In the 5 years before this, Janikowski had made 85 of his 86 attempts inside 40 yards. This season, he’s already missed two.

Tennessee heads back into their division as the Titans head to Indianapolis next week. Indianapolis has had a roller coaster of a season, beating some of the NFL’s most elite teams on the road as well as some embarrassing games on national television. In their last meeting, Tennessee lost 30-27 at home.

Oakland heads to Dallas after a short week to play the ‘Boys on Turkey Day. The Raiders head to the Jerry-Dome, er, I mean AT&T Stadium hopeful. The Cowboys are only one game over .500 over the last several years, and won today. Odds would be that they lose on Thanksgiving to go back to .500. Also, McGloin has to be salivating looking at Montee Kiffin’s defense in Dallas. Dallas’ pass defense ranks 32/32 in yards allowed and 28/32 in passing touchdowns allowed. That wouldn’t be bad, if they had a great run defense. But the run defense ranks 29/32 in rush yards allowed and 25/32 in rush touchdowns allowed. All signs look good for the Raider Offense. The game is at 1:00 PM ET on Thanksgiving Day.

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