RAIDERS HOLD OFF CHIEFS IN DEFENSIVE STRUGGLE

Kansas City QB Matt Cassel returned to the lineup for the Kansas City Chiefs and played reasonably well, but didn’t get much help from the rest of his offense.  His Raiders’ counterpart JaMarcus Russell looked downright inept for three quarters before engineering an impressive 69 yard drive late in the game that sealed the victory.  When everything was said and done, the Raiders had managed to outlast the Kansas City Chiefs 13-10 at Mile High Stadium.  Despite the Chiefs dominating every phase of the offensive stat sheet—except the final score—the Raiders somehow managed to take the victory and even their record on the season at 1-1.  The Chiefs, meanwhile, dropped to 0-2 straight up and looked no better with their starting QB back under center than they did with backup Brody Croyle a week earlier.

The Raiders won outright as +1 road underdogs, rewarding their NFL football betting backers with a payday.  The Chiefs have lost both games this year both straight up and against the spread, while the Raiders have taken the money in Kboth of their games this season despite a 1-1 straightup mark.  The 23 combined points scored went well UNDER the posted total of 40.  Both teams evened their O/U record on the 2009 NFL season at 1-1.

After the game, Russell gave one of the least convincing mea culpas for a substandard performance in NFL history:

"I felt really good. The ball was just coming out different for me. Other than that, I felt good."

Oakland running back Darren McFadden made a lot more sense with his postgame recap:

"From the first quarter all the way to the fourth quarter it was a struggle for us, until the last 2 or 3 minutes left in the game. It's probably one of the strangest wins. But a win is a win."

Despite the lopsided edge held by the Chiefs on the stat sheet—they outgained the Raiders 409 to 166 and held the ball for just under 2/3 of the game time—Kansas City coach Todd Haley blamed a lack of team discipline for the loss:

"When you have nine penalties, two turnovers and a couple other lapses, you're not going to win most of the time. We didn't get the result we wanted. We're going to have a smart team here. Nine penalties and a couple of those things don't reflect a smart team. We're going to get back to work because we're going to have a smart team here."

His QB Matt Cassel sounded a similar tone:

"We had things that happened throughout the day that we hurt ourselves with, whether it was offense or defense or special teams. The Raiders did a good job and made the plays when it counted. Therefore, they're going home with the victory."

Oakland coach Tom Cable was still scratching his head trying to figure out how his team had once based on his postgame comments:

"It's as poor as I think you can play offensively and still find a way at the end there to win a football game”

The Raiders will host their traditional rivals from Denver next week as the Broncos travel to Oakland.  They’ll play two straight on the road after that heading to Houston and New York to face the Giants.  The Chiefs will play the Eagles at Philadelphia next weekend before returning home for two very tough matchups against the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.