Originally published on Silver & Black Report on Nov. 18, 2013 KRON is reporting that former Raiders linebacker Thomas Howard has passed away after suffering injuries in a car accident on Highway 880. Reports state that Howard, 30 years old, is one of two people killed in the accident early Monday morning. Howard is the reported driver of the vehicle which was moving at high speeds northbound on Highway 880, but then lost control and collided with the back of a semi-truck, according to KRON. Howard was selected in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft by Al Davis and played five seasons for the Oakland Raiders. During his time with the Raiders, Howard played in 76 games while accumulating 390 tackles, four sacks and two interceptions. Howard and the Raiders parted ways as he moved on and played for the Bengals for 2011 and 2012. Howard was most recently signed with the Atlanta Falcons this year but was released when Sean Weatherspoon was activated. Silver and Black Report would like to offer it's condolences to the Howard family and friends and anyone else affected by the accident.
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Originally published on Silver & Black Report on Nov. 17, 2013
With Terrelle Pryor sidelined with his sprained MCL, Raiders head coach Dennis Allen turned to his undrafted rookie Matt McGloin to lead the team for his first NFL start. McGloin filled in admirably for Pryor, showing poise in the pocket and making tough throws en route to the Raiders 28-23 win over the Texans in Houston. But McGloin got some big help from his defense, who were forced to make a goal-line stand to secure the Raiders' fourth win of the season, along with their first win on the road. Much like their last time in Houston in 2011, the Raiders defense came up big late in the fourth quarter as Houston quarterback Matt Schaub attempted to orchestrate a game-winning drive. Down 28-23 and the ball on their 36-yard line with under four minutes remaining, Schaub, who entered the game in the fourth quarter for the benched Case Keenum, was able to carve up the Raiders defense and get the ball down to the Raiders three-yard line before the drive stalled. It looked as if running back Ben Tate would be able to take a dumpoff pass into the end zone but safety Charles Woodson came up to deliver a big hit and drop him at the three, with the ball coming loose before he recovered it to keep the ball for the Texans. Still able to get a first down at the one yard line, Tate tried rushing the ball in but was hit hard behind the line of scrimmage by Raiders linebacker Kevin Burnett, forcing a fourth and two for the Texans. The Raiders defense looked to have come up with the stop the first time but a false start on the Texans kept their hopes alive, though backed them up to the eight yard line for a 4th and seven to keep them alive. Schaub looked for his trustworthy wide receiver Andre Johnson in the end zone, but the Raiders defense was prepared and had the All-Pro wideout well covered as the ball fell harmlessly to the ground in the end zone, after nearly being intercepted by safety Usama Young. The stand was very similar to the 2011 stand that occurred a day after the passing of Al Davis, and ended with Michael Huff intercepting Schaub in the end zone. McGloin and the Raiders were able to quickly jump on the Texans and get out to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter, capitalizing on a couple of costly turnovers by the Texans. McGloin's first drive benefited from a fumble by Garrett Graham (forced by Charles Woodson), giving the ball to the Raiders offense on Houston's 16-yard line. McGloin threw his first pass six plays later, a five-yard strike to Denarius Moore for a touchdown. The young quarterback's second touchdown throw of the day occurred after an interception by Keenum, who was picked off by middle linebacker Nick Roach. McGloin capitalized on the opportunity with a 16-yard laser to Rod Streater to give the Raiders the 14-0 lead. But the Texans weren't going to go down that easily, as Keenum and the Texans scored 17 unanswered points to take a 17-14 lead heading into the locker room at the half. The Raiders retook the lead in the third quarter when McGloin stepped up into the pocket and threw a beautiful ball to his rookie tight end Mychal Rivera in the end zone for the 26-yard touchdown connection. McGloin finished the game 18/32 fro 197 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Rashad Jennings continues to impress in his opportunities with the absence of Darren McFadden due to a hamstring injury. Jennings rushed for 150 yards including a big 80-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to extend the Raiders lead to 28-17. The big back now has two hundred-yard rushing days on the year (two starts), while McFadden doesn't have any. The Raiders return home next week to take on the Tennessee Titans. Originally published on Silver & Black Report on Nov. 14, 2013
According to reports, Raiders starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor appears to have returned to the practice field Thursday. Pryor had been sitting out in an attempt to rest his sprained MCL in his right knee. According to Scott Bair of Comcast Sports Net, Pryor is sharing first-team reps with undrafted rookie Matt McGloin to start today's practice. Pryor back at practice. Looks like Pryor and McGloin and splitting first team reps, in this team drill anyway. #raiders — Scott Bair (@BairCSN) November 14, 2013 With Pryor having missed practice yesterday, it looked as if McGloin would get his chance under center against the Texans on Sunday. The opportunity would be his first-career NFL start. Pryor suffered the injury late in the blowout loss to the Eagles and was largely ineffective against the Giants last week with the lack of speed and athleticism. Could Pryor be on his way back to returning under center for Sunday's game, or are the Raiders just trying to gain the competitive advantage against the Texans? Answers will come soon, whether it's from coach after practice or from the final injury report that is released on Friday. Originally published on Silver & Black Report on Nov. 24, 2013 The Oakland Raiders (3-6) take their two-game losing streak south to take on a struggling Houston Texans (2-7) team who has lost their last seven games. The Texans looked to continue their recent years of relative success by winning their first two games, though have encountered frustration by losing seven games in a row coming into Sunday's matchup with the Raiders. Houston has turned to rookie quarterback Case Keenum to handle duties under center while veteran Matt Schaub is forced to watch from the bench. Keenum has given the Texans an added dimension with his ability to open up the offense and drive the ball down field. Since being named the starter before Houston's week 7 match-up, the young quarterback has thrown for 822 yards, seven touchdowns and zero interceptions in three games. Keenum's strong play has helped veteran wide receiver Andre Johnson re-emerge as one of the league's top wide receivers. The Raiders defense will need to keep an eye on Johnson who is third in the league in receptions with 62, to go along with 850 receptions yards (4th in the league). Oakland's secondary will also need to keep an eye on DeAndre Hopkins, who seems to be developing into the number-two wide receiver that Houston has been desperately seeking for quite some time to alleviate pressure from Johnson. Hopkins has put together a solid rookie year thus far, already with 37 receptions for 539 yards and two touchdowns. The Texans will be facing their first game after star running back Arian Foster has been placed on Injured Reserve after needing back surgery. Third-year running back Ben Tate will get the start instead, having rushed for 455 yards this season and one touchdown, holding a 4.42 yards per carry stat. The Raiders defense is coming off a game in which they were unable to stop Giants running back Andre Brown and their rushing attack last week. Brown rushed for 115 yards and one touchdown on 30 carries last week. Though it isn't Foster back there, Tate is experienced and is hungry to show his worth. The Raiders defense will have to do a better job at defending the rush this week. Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor has remained out of practice this week with his sprained right knee, making it look like un-drafted rookie Matt McGloin will get the nod as the starter in Houston. Pryor tried to play through the injury last week but was largely ineffective without his greatest weapon: his speed and athleticism. Though Pryor returned to practice on Thursday, it will ultimately be up to the coaches to decide if he is ready to return under center. Should they choose McGloin to start on Sunday and rest Pryor's knee, it would mark the first NFL start for the former Penn State quarterback. McGloin looked solid in training camp and preseason, enough so that the team ultimately chose him over fourth-round pick Tyler Wilson to make the final roster. McGloin was also ultimately chosen over Matt Flynn to be the backup to Pryor when the team released Flynn during the season. McGloin made his NFL debut in the blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles after Pryor had left with his knee injury. McGloin settled down nicely in his second drive, finishing 7/15 for 87 yards and leading the Raiders to a late 71-yard touchdown drive. Unfortunately for McGloin, the young rookie will be facing the pass defense in the league statistically, giving up just 166.6 passing yards per game. McGloin does not possess the same kind of athleticism as Pryor, but has good pocket awareness and has the ability to read defenses relatively well while using solid footwork to drive the ball. One thing to watch though will be his ability to drive the ball on deeper routes, as that was one attribute in question during the draft evaluation process. The Raiders make-shift offensive line will need to contain J.J. Watt and the Texans defensive line in order to give McGloin some time to locate an open receiver. Watt has 6.5 sacks on the year but is always a threat to breakout and is capable of batting the ball down at the line of scrimmage. We most likely won't know who is starting at quarterback until the team's final injury report is released on Friday. Running back Darren McFadden appears to still be out with his hamstring injury as well, meaning Rashad Jennings will get the start for the second straight game. Jennings filled in nicely last week with 20 carries for 88 yards, after rushing for 102 the week before. The Raiders and Texans last met in a memorable game at Reliant Stadium on 10/9/2011, just one game after the death of longtime, iconic owner Al Davis. The Raiders were able to hold on to a 25-20 victory with safety Michael Huff intercepting Schaub in the end zone to secure the win. Fittingly, the Raiders only had ten men on the field on defense. Milestones to watch for: WR Jacoby Ford • Needs 20 kickoff return yards to pass George Atkinson for seventh place on the Raiders’ all-time KOR yards list. DE Lamarr Houston • Needs four sacks to enter the top 20 in Raiders team history. K Sebastian Janikowski • Has now converted on 147-consecutive PAT attempts. • Needs just 59 points to reach 1,500 for his career. RB Darren McFadden • Needs 315 rushing yards to eclipse 4,000 yards for his career. • Needs 470 receiving yards to eclipse 1,500 yards for his career. • Needs one rushing TD to move into sole posession of ninth place on the franchise’s career list, and two to tie No. 8 Charlie Smith (24, 1968-74). McFadden enters the game with 22. WR Denarius Moore • Needs 83 receiving yards to reach 2,000 for his career. QB Terrelle Pryor • Is currently first amongst all quarterbacks with 504 rushing yards. Pryor could eclipse the Raiders’ single-season mark of rushing yards by a quarterback with just 26 more yards. Rich Gannon set the mark in 2000 with 529. WR Rod Streater • Needs 493 receiving yards to reach 1,500 for his career. S Charles Woodson • Needs five interceptions to tie Ed Reed for first on the interceptions list among all active players with 61. • Needs one INT-TD to pass Rod Woodson for first on the all-time list with 12. • Needs one defensive touchdown to pass Rod Woodson and Darren Sharper for the most defensive touchdowns in NFL history with 13. Originally published on Silver & Black Report on Nov. 10, 2013
The Oakland Raiders went into New York looking to get back on track against the Giants after their 49-20 blowout loss to the Eagles last week, but found little success. After giving up a record-tying seven passing touchdowns to Nick Foles last week, the Raiders defense was able to step up and hold Eli Manning and the Giants to just 251 yards. Instead, it was the Raiders offense that struggled to get anything going once again, finishing the game with just 213 total yards. Of those 213 total yards, Rashad Jennings accounted for 107 total yards - 88 rushing yards and 19 receiving yards. Jennings was the lone bright spot on offense for the Raiders, coming in and starting for the injured Darren McFadden. Quarterback Terrelle Pryor's struggles continued to struggle as he was just 11/26 for 122 yards and two costly turnovers - one interception and one fumble. Pryor's interception came on a slant patter to wide receiver Denarius Moore but Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas watched as Pryor locked on Moore and jumped the route, returning the ball to the Raiders five-yard line. The interception came when the Raiders were driving to another possible score at the Giants' 33-yard line and already up 20-14. The Giants quickly capitalized on a one-yard touchdown by running back Andre Brown, who had a big day in his season debut after suffering a broken leg in the preseason. Brown rushed a career-high 30 times for 115 yards and one touchdown. Oakland's defense and special teams kept them in the game, contributing to 17 of the Raiders 20 points. Raiders wide receiver Andre Holmes was able to recover a fumble on the opening kickoff when Jerrel Jernigan coughed up the ball, returning the ball down to the Giants' five yard line. Oakland capitalized with a one-yard touchdown run from Pryor, giving them the early 7-0 lead. The defense forced a turnover of their own in the first quarter with Lamarr Houston forcing a fumble on running back Peyton Hillis, giving the Raiders the ball in the red zone again. But this time the Raiders were unable to get the ball into the end zone and had to settle for a Sebastian Janikowski field goal. [caption id="attachment_12073" align="alignright" width="300"]<a href="http://www.sbreport.net/wp-content/porter1.jpg"><img alt="Cornerback Tracy Porter celebrates his touchdown after intercepting Eli Manning" src="http://www.sbreport.net/wp-content/porter1-300x199.jpg" width="300" height="199" /></a> Cornerback Tracy Porter celebrates his touchdown after intercepting Eli Manning[/caption] Cornerback Tracy Porter would help the offense by jumping a route and picking off Eli Manning for a 43-yard interception for a touchdown to re-give the Raiders the lead at 17-14. The Raiders special teams unit did make a mistake early in the game when Jack Crawford missed a block in a punting formation and the Giants broke through the middle to block Marquette King's punt and recover for a touchdown. Pryor's fumble came with the Raiders down 24-20 with just over three minutes remaining in the game and the offense trying to orchestrate a game-winning drive. On 3rd and 10, Pryor held on to the ball for a long time, giving Giants defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka enough time to get into the backfield and strip Pryor of the ball. From there, Brown kept his strong game going as the Raiders defense was unable to stop them from getting two first downs, allowing the Giants to run the clock out and hand the Raiders their sixth loss of the season. The Raiders go back out on the road and head to Houston to take on the Texans next week. Originally published on Silver & Black Report on Nov. 7, 2013
The Oakland Raiders (3-5) head to New York to take on the Giants (2-6) after an embarrassing 49-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles where the defense witnessed quarterback Nick Foles throw for a record-tying seven touchdown passes. Like the contest against the Eagles, the Raiders have not faced the Giants since 2009 when they traveled to New York and returned after a drubbing that day as well, falling 44-7. But that was 2009, and the Giants certainly aren't looking like the same team that they were four years ago coming into the contest with just two wins after nine weeks. The Giants come into the game struggling to find any rushing attack and are averaging just 69.9 rushing yards per game, third-worst in the NFL. After losing Ahmad Bradshaw to free agency in the offseason, the Giants hoped that young running back David Wilson would be able to carry the load. Wilson suffered a herniated disc in his neck and has been out since, forcing the team to turn to veterans Peyton Hillis and Brandon Jacobs. Both Jacobs and Hillis have largely proven ineffective in their place. The Giants will be getting help in their offensive backfield by getting Andre Brown on the active roster for the first time this season after he broke his leg in the preseason. Brown appeared in 10 games last season and averaged 5.3 yards per carry. The Raiders linebackers and defense will need to keep some strong gap-discipline in order to maintain their sixth-best rush defense. Much of the Giants' demise stems from their struggling quarterback Eli Manning and his passing attack. Manning, in his 10th year, has a 55.7-percent completion percent while throwing for 2,167 yards, 10 touchdowns and a league-leading 15 interceptions. Manning's inability to protect the football has helped lead to the Giants' league-worst turnover ratio at -12. Much like they needed to do last week with DeSean Jackson, the Raiders secondary needs to contain wide receiver Victor Cruz and limit any big plays. Ranking just 26th in the league in pass defense, the Raiders defense is susceptible to giving up lots of yards threw the air as became apparent last week. There's no doubt that the Raiders defense needs to be much improved this week after such an embarrassing performance against the Eagles last week, giving up 542 total yards. One way to disrupt the Giants offense is to get into the backfield and disrupt the ball carrier or quarterback, something they were unable to do last week. Despite New York's offensive line has been banged up for much of the season, Manning has largely been able to stay off his back as he has been sacked just 19 times. The Raiders enter the game tied for 13th in the league with 23 sacks on the season. Though the Raiders offense gained 560 yards last week, they were largely ineffective in trying to get into the end zone, scoring just 20 points in the contest. The Giants defense isn't quite what it has been previous years but it still is strong at defending the rush, allowing 102.3 rushing yards a game, ranking in the top ten. To make things tougher for the Raiders, the offense will once again be without running back Darren McFadden who suffered a hamstring injury once again last week. In place will be Rashad Jennings who filled in nicely last week and rushed for 102 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries. Should Jennings be able to revive the rushing attack, things will open up more the Terrelle Pryor and the Raiders passing game. Pryor and his receivers are averaging just 197.8 yards per game through the air, third-worst in the NFL. The Eagles defense is allowing 242.0 passing yards per game, giving Pryor another favorable match-up to get the aerial attack on the right track again. The Raiders will remain on the road and travel to Houston to take on the struggling Texans in week 11. MILESTONES TO WATCH FOR: WR Jacoby Ford • Needs 20 kickoff return yards to pass George Atkinson for seventh place on the Raiders’ all-time KOR yards list. DE Lamarr Houston • Needs four sacks to enter the top 20 in Raiders team history. K Sebastian Janikowski • Has now converted on 142-consecutive PAT attempts. • Needs just 67 points to reach 1,500 for his career. RB Darren McFadden • Needs 315 rushing yards to eclipse 4,000 yards for his career. • Needs 470 receiving yards to eclipse 1,500 yards for his career. • Needs one rushing TD to move into sole posession of ninth place on the franchise’s career list, and two to tie No. 8 Charlie Smith (24, 1968-74). McFadden enters the game with 22. WR Denarius Moore • Needs 128 receiving yards to reach 2,000 for his career. QB Terrelle Pryor • Is currently first amongst all quarterbacks with 485 rushing yards. Pryor could eclipse the Raiders’ single-season mark of rushing yards by a quarterback with just 44 more yards. Rich Gannon set the mark in 2000 with 529. WR Rod Streater • Needs 499 receiving yards to reach 1,500 for his career. S Charles Woodson • Needs five interceptions to tie Ed Reed for first on the interceptions list among all active players with 61. • Needs one INT-TD to pass Rod Woodson for first on the all-time list with 12. • Needs one defensive touchdown to pass Rod Woodson and Darren Sharper for the most defensive touchdowns in NFL history with 13. Originally published on Silver & Black Report on Nov. 3, 2013 A week after Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor rushed into the record books with his electrifying 93-yard touchdown run, history was made once again at O.Co Coliseum, but this time at the expense of the Raiders defense. The Raiders defense just couldn't find a way to contain quarterback Nick Foles and Chip Kelly's fast-paced offense. Foles threw his way into the history books by tying Peyton Manning's NFL record with seven touchdown passes, doing it the 4:38 mark in the third quarter when he found wide receiver Riley Cooper for a five-yard touchdown. Oakland's defense had only allowed 330.9 yards per game coming into the contest, but nearly gave up that in the first half alone as the Eagles went into halftime with 328 yards. Foles himself was 15/19 for 260 yards and four touchdowns, good enough for a perfect 158.3 passer rating. All this after the Eagles had not scored an offensive touchdown since week six. Despite giving up staggering numbers on the defensive side of the ball, rookie linebacker Sio Moore believes the Raiders defense is better than what showed on the field today. "That game is not who we are. They did a good job of executing and making plays when they needed to make plays and taking advantage of opportunities," Moore said. "We're better than that and we've got to work hard to be better." Foles finished the game with more touchdowns than incompletions, ending his night in the beginning of the fourth quarter with 406 yards and seven touchdowns on 22/28 throwing while leading the Eagles to the 49-20 rout of the Raiders "Really, we just got beat today. Really in all phases we weren't able to do the things that we needed to do to have success," Raiders head coach Dennis Allen said of Sunday's game. It didn't take long for the Eagles to get on the board, using just 3:58 to drive 84 yards in 10 plays, culminating in a two-yard touchdown pass from Foles to his tight end Brent Celek. The 3:58 drive was the longest it would take the Eagles to score on any of their scoring drives, while having three scoring drives that took less than one minute. Foles continuously chose Raiders rookie cornerback D.J. Hayden as his victim and found success doing so, at one point finding Cooper for touchdowns on two consecutive plays from the line of scrimmage. The first came when Hayden seemingly stopped his coverage and Cooper kept running down field to haul in a 17-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone. On the Eagles' next offensive play, Foles found Cooper on a post route for a 63-yard touchdown, with Hayden falling in his coverage and blowing the game wide open to give the Eagles the early 21-3 lead. Cooper led all Eagles receivers with 139 receiving yards and three touchdowns. With the Eagles offense running on all cylinders, Terrelle Pryor was unable to get his offense to drive consistently against an Eagles offense that ranked 31st in the league, giving up 401.8 yards a game coming into Sunday. Pryor looked to be off to another big start as he found Rod Streater on a crossing route allowing the second-year wide receiver to use a solid block by fellow receiver Denarius Moore to scamper 66 yards down to the nine-yard line. Though from there, the offense was forced to settle for a 24-yard field goal from Sebastian Janikowski. Streater led Raiders receivers with five receptions for 98 yards. With starting running back Darren McFadden being forced to the bench after aggravating his hamstring injury, the Raiders were able to cut the lead to 21-10 with an eight-yard touchdown run by Rashad Jennings. Jennings finished the game with 15 rushes for 102 yards, and one touchdown. The Raiders offense didn't have problems moving the ball, they just struggled to put up points to show for it. In fact, the Raiders out-gained the Eagles 560-542 total yards. Pryor and the offense's struggles to find the end zone continued into the second half as the young quarterback threw two interceptions as he attempted to get back into the end zone. The Raiders were only able to add three more points with their starting offense, with the other seven coming from Jeremy Stewart and Matt McGloin in garbage time. From an injury standpoint McFadden left with a hamstring injury, Streater injured his hip and Pryor injured his knee. Allen did not know the severity any of the injuries. The Raiders head out on the road for the next two weeks, taking on the Giants in New York followed up by the Texans in Houston. Despite such a lopsided loss, head coach Dennis Allen and his team know they must put the defeat behind them and work to get back in the win column. "Everyday is a new day so you can't sit back and think about what's happened in the past, you've got to move forward and go to the next one," Allen said. "We had a bad game defensively, we've got to put it behind us, we've got to move on and we've got to learn from it, we've got to be better, and we will." Moore is following the same strategy and knows that the defense can't focus on past events, but must focus on preparing for the next game. "Nobody likes to lose, nobody likes to be blown-out," Moore said. "You've got to come back the right way and handle it like a pro, take it to the chin and head back to work tomorrow and swallow the pill. It's a hard pill to swallow but we have to because we've got the New York Giants next week." Originally published on Silver & Black Report on Nov. 1, 2013 Following their first post-bye week win in a decade, the Raiders look to build a winning streak (3-4) as they host the Philadelphia Eagles (3-5) at O.Co Coliseum on Sunday. The matchup marks the first meeting between the two squads since 10/18/2009, when the Raiders were victorious 13-9 on their own turf. Former Raiders running back Justin Fargas eludes Eagles defenders Though Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor struggled throwing the ball last week finishing 10/19 for just 88 yards and two interceptions, his athleticism electrified the raucous Raider Nation in attendance as he scampered into the record books with his 93-yard touchdown run on the first play from the line of scrimmage. Pryor led the game with 106 rushing yards, accounting for 194 of the Raiders 279 total yards. Pryor and the Raiders rushing attack face a tough battle this week the Eagles are ranked ninth in the NFL in defending the rush, allowing just 99.5 yards per game. The good news for Pryor lies in the face that the Eagles allow a whopping 302.3 yards per game through the air en route to being second to last in the league. In fact, Eagles' head coach Chip Kelly's defense is giving up a total of 401.8 yards per game, the second most in the NFL. Pryor and his receivers hope to be able to get the passing game back on track as they are averaging just 176.0 yards per game, the worst in the NFL. Denarius Moore and his fellow receivers will need to find ways to separate from the Eagles corners Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher to allow Pryor a chance to find them. On defense, the Raiders have to prepare for a Kelly's high-powered offense that he brought over from the University of Oregon upon hiring during last offseason. Kelly has built an offense that is ranking fifth in the NFL with 397.1 yards per game, while finding success in the running game and averaging over 150 rushing yards a game. The Eagles rushing attack is led by fifth-year running back LeSean McCoy, who currently leads the NFL with 733 rushing yards on the year. The Raiders currently possess the sixth-best rush defense in the league, allowing just 89.9 yards per game, and the team will have to do everything they can to keep those kind of numbers intact. Nick Roach and the Raiders defense will need to make sure they maintain their gap discipline in order to contain the shifty back. Defensive backs will also have to be quick to come up and help bounce runs outside and limit the amount of yardage to McCoy. In the passing game, Raiders corner Mike Jenkins and the secondary will need to keep an eye on the speedy Cal alum DeSean Jackson and not let him break free for a big play. Though he has been limited this week with a "tweaked" ankle, Jackson is more than capable of exploding for a big play. The speedster has 45 receptions for 673 yards and five touchdowns this season. Jackson's 673 receiving yards on the year is sixth most in the NFL. The Raiders defense will look to apply pressure on Eagles quarterback Nick Foles, who appears to be replacing Mike Vick as the starting quarterback after Vick suffered a hamstring injury last week. The Raiders have found an ability to rush the passer and has tallied eight sacks over the last two weeks, including four against the Steelers last week. Sunday's matchup marks the 11th time the two squads have met during the regular season, with the series tied at 5-5. Milestones to watch for: WR Jacoby Ford • Needs 20 kickoff return yards to pass George Atkinson for seventh place on the Raiders’ all-time KOR yards list. DE Lamarr Houston • Needs four sacks to enter the top 20 in Raiders team history. K Sebastian Janikowski • Has now converted on 140-consecutive PAT attempts. • Needs just 75 points to reach 1,500 for his career. RB Darren McFadden • Needs eight rushing yards to move into seventh place on the Raiders’ all-time rush- ing list. • Needs 470 receiving yards to eclipse 1,500 yards for his career. • Needs one rushing TD to move into sole posession of ninth place on the franchise’s career list, and two to tie No. 8 Charlie Smith (24, 1968-74). McFadden enters the game with 22. WR Denarius Moore • Needs 210 receiving yards to reach 2,000 for his career. QB Terrelle Pryor • Is currently first amongst all quarterbacks with 391 rushing yards. Pryor could eclipse the Raiders’ single-season mark of rushing yards by a quarterback with just 139 more yards. Rich Gannon set the mark in 2000 with 529. WR Rod Streater • Needs 97 receiving yards to reach 1,000 for his career. S Charles Woodson • Needs five interceptions to tie Ed Reed for first on the interceptions list among all active players with 61. • Needs one INT-TD to pass Rod Woodson for first on the all-time list with 12. • Needs one defensive touchdown to pass Rod Woodson and Darren Sharper for the most defensive touchdowns in NFL history with 13. INJURY REPORT Oakland Raiders Questionable: WR Andre Holmes (hamstring), OT Menelik Watson (calf) Out: OL Andre Gurode (quad), S Tyvon Branch (ankle), OT Tony Pashos (hip) Philadelphia Eagles Probable: RB Chris Polk (shoulder), WR DeSean Jackson (ankle), P Donnie Jones (left foot), OT Jason Peters (shoulder/finger), DE Cedric Thornton (knee), LS Jon Dorenbos (groin), QB Nick Foles (concussion), LB Connor Barwin (back) Questionable: WR Damaris Johnson (ankle), LB Casey Matthews (hip), S Patrick Chung (shoulder) Doubtful: LB Jake Knott (hamstring) Out: QB Michael Vick (hamstring) |
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