NFL 2016

The season began Thursday, with the traditional opening day match for the defending Superbowl champions. The bulk of the remaining teams play on Sunday, with a further 2 games on Monday Night Football.

Been a bit of an unusual off season for me as my Oakland Raiders have been heavily hyped and are the " sexy pick " of many observers. I say unusual as this is a team that has spent 13 years in the wilderness and have not managed a wiinning season since appearing in the Superbowl in the 2002/2003 season. In this run they did manage back to back 8 win 8 loss seasons, but overspent getting there and were forced to rebuild. Last year suggested they were on the way back and the $60 million spent on acquiring new talent ( whilst re-signing all their key free agents ) really should see them in and around the play offs. Still avaiable on 44 on the exchanges, with the usual suspects ( New England, Green Bay, Denver, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Arizona ) prominent

Been way too many false dawns for any Raiders fan to be wildly optimistic, but with a solid nucleus of young players and serious money spent, the reality is they should be winning plenty of games. Tough opener in New Orleans should give us a clue about their chances, but if they are to be seen as true contendrs they do need to win.

Of the other teams I would expect Green Bay ( 10's ) and Arizona ( 12's ) to be in the mix with Jacksonville ( 50's ) as another lively outsider

Oakland 35 - 34 New Orleans. Impossible to mention everything that happened in a wild game, but the Raiders came back form 14 points down and got within a point with 45 seconds to go following a touchdown. Generally in this situation a team would kick the extra point conversion, but here the coach made a ballsy call and " went for two " With a 2 point attempt the ball is placed on the 2 yard line and the team has one shot to get in the end zone. The play was well executed and gave them the lead, but this being the Raiders, the game was not done and they had to survive a late New Orleans 61 yard field goal attempt ( 64 yards being the longest successful kick in NFL history ) but thankfully this missed to the left. Probably aged 5 years in the last few minutes, but a win is a win and I doubt if there will be a more exciting game all season.

Cheers Punt, just watched it now on iPlayer. With the ownership model, history pf the club and the perentage of supporters it is certainly one of the more interesting teams..

Just about recovered from Sunday night and interesting to see the reaction to the 2 point conversion. Tried to explain it as best I could, but there is nothing like it in English sport. Fair to say you are a genius if it works and a fool if it doesn't.

Home opener coming up this Sunday against Atlanta and another scoring fest looks possible. The defence has to play better this time and if they do it should result in a second win.

First of this Year's London's games is currently underway, but the big game of the week is of course the Oakland Raiders visit to Baltimore. Live on Sky Sports 2, with a 6pm Kick Off, the game looks tricky, especially as it is hard to know exactly what to make of the Ravens, who whilst unbeaten, have not really played anyone to date. This will be the 3rd away game from 4 for the Raiders, so a win would be huge and would take them to 3 wins and 1 loss. A defeat would not be fatal, but would put pressure on their upcoming divisional games.

9 Points up and cruising, then got too defensive, allowed a silly Touchdown and compounded this by fumbling the ball away. A quick 2nd strike gave the Ravens a 6 point lead, but to be fair to Oakland they never give up and were able to put a nice drive together and score the go ahead Touchdown. This however left a couple of minutes on the clock, but the Raiders defence held firm for a 1 point win. Another cracking game but as with week 1, no good for the nerves.

Week 5 match with SAN DIEGO, just finished and resulted in a rather fortuitous win. They have won games late on via their offence and their defence, but this time they won it to due a special teams mishap from the Chargers. Down by 3, with 2 minutes to go San Diego lined up for a pretty standard looking field goal, which would have tied the game. The snap ( pass ) back to the holder looked good, but he fumbled the ball backwards and they could not get a kick away.

Better to be lucky than good they say, but the Raiders really do need to start putting teams away earlier as the law of averages suggest they are going to lose one of these tight finishes soon. Do kind of blame myself however as I said after Week 1, that there would not be a more exciting game all season, but they continue to be " Nerve shredders "

Needless to say, most of the talk on Sunday was the return of Tom Brady following " Deflategate " Whilst he looked decent, he was up against the hapless Cleveland Browns and there will be way stiffer tests to come.

Routine loss to the Chiefs, was followed by a routine win against the Jaguars. They therefore went into tonights game with Tampa Bay with 5 wins and 2 losses. Incredibly they were at it again in Florida and I really must stop suggesting that the games can't get any more exciting.

Not sure where to start with this one, though the almost unheard of 23 - 6 penalty count against is as good a place as any. To counter this the Raiders Quarterback Derek Carr, had to throw for 513 yards ( 300 is considered a good game ) and 4 Touchdowns.

Once again he was forced to come back from behind and tied the game up just under 2 minutes to go. The defence was then able to force a stop and the Raiders got the ball back with enough time to win it. With the last play of regulation they set up for a 50 yard field goal ,but it missed left. In overtime they missed another kick, but the defence stayed strong and Tampa never really threatened. With 3:21 left, the Raiders got the ball and made steady ground. This time they shunned a long field goal attempt and ended up winning it when Seth Roberts broke a tackle and made it to the end zone

Struggling a bit with what to say, but what I can say is that this is a Raiders team that does not know when they are beaten and that winning such close games only builds confidence when there back are to the wall in the future.

The Raiders finally make it to Prime Time with their week 9 match against a big divisional foe in the Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football. Sadly for me that means a 1.30 am start, but as usual just not going to bed. Another rival team the Kansas City Chiefs have already won, so its about as big a game as a mid season match up can be. Denver are of course the defending Super Bowl champions, so fair to say its going to be tough.

Surprisingly dominant win for the Raiders, who were arguably better than the eventual 10 point margin suggests. They now head into their bye week at 7 wins and 2 losses and really should make the play offs from here ( though not taking it for granted ) Next up is the Houston Texans, again in prime time, but this time from Mexico City. It is a nominal home game for the Raiders, but they are unbeaten on the road, so forfeiting home advantage is not a huge deal.

The Asteca stadium at way above sea level is hosting the above mentioned game and the altitude will be an issue. A major divisional rival lost on Sunday, so the Raiders fate is in their own hands. Away from the football, there has been plenty of speculation as to how the Mexican crowd will greet " The Star Spangled Banner " and fair to say there could be plenty of booing.

OAKLAND 27- 20 HOUSTON - Outplayed for most of the game, but again found a way to win

Raiders v Carolina Panthers live on SS2 at 9.30pm. Tough match, but hopeful of a 9th win

Not sure how to really describe this one. 17 points up at half time and seemingly cruising, but the momentum shifted when Raider Quarterback Derek Carr, suffered what looked a dislocated little finger on his throwing hand.

The lead of 17, quickly became a deficit of 8 and fair to say things did not look good. However the Raiders got a touchdown and a 2 point conversion to tie things up. After forcing a Panthers punt, the Raiders got the ball back inside thier own 10 yard line and connected with a 49 yard pass to get into a scoring position. Some head scratching play calling followed, but they were able to take the lead with a field Goal.

Carolina had 1 min 45 secs to try and reply, but Khalil Mack managed a strip sack on Panthers QB Cam Newton and this finished the game.

Still longing for a regulation win, but it sure is an exciting ride.

The 10 win Raiders are again on Prime Time TV and the match - up with Kansas City is huge. The Chiefs sit one game behind and with only 3 to go after this, the vwinner will have a huge advantage. The Raiders advantage would of course be a 2 game lead, but the Chiefs advantage, would be that they would hold the tie - breaker should the teams finish with identical records.

Another 1.30 am start for me, but getting used to them and well worth as it means we are finally relevant again.

Obviously not too bothered about any bets, but undrafted free agent Johnny Holton has seen the field for some gimmick plays and did a couple of weeks ago get a pass thrown his way at the goal - line. Certainly has speed to burn and if the Chiefs key in on the Raiders main threats, then could he get a favourable match up, or he could just blaze by somebody and get wide open. 80/1 for first TD scorer and 18/1 to score anytime.

Taiwan Jones, is also getting more involved now back from injury and is 40's to score first. Jalen Richard is another undrafted guy, but he has made plenty of waves and is 18's for the first TD.

A loss to the Chiefs, was followed by a win against San Diego and the 14 year wait is over and the second longest streak of failing to qualify for the play - off's ( only the Buffalo Bills have been absent longer ) has been broken. Win the last 2 games and Oakland will guarantee themselves ( at worst ) the 2nd seed and first round bye.

Obviously the hard work starts here, but pretty chuffed at the moment after years of abject failure.

Final week of the regular season and the Raiders visit the Reigning Champion Denver Broncos. Sadly ( yeah right ! ) Denver will not be defending their crown as they were eliminated from contention last week, but the rivalry runs deep so it will not be easy. Denver has plenty of injuries going into the game, but last week the Raiders, lost their starting Quarterback Derek Carr to a broken leg ( clean break, no ligament damage )

Back up QB, Matt McGloin has experience as a starter and it will be interesting to see how he goes. As stated above the post season is guaranteed, but a win ( or Chiefs loss ) would give the Raiders the number 2 seed. Because of the system used in the NFL, a loss could see them as the 5 seed, but they do have their destiny in their own hands and not sure you can ask for more.

Horrible evening with both results going against Oakland and the Raiders ending up with their 3rd QB on the field. There also looked to be a couple of other Injuries on the offensive line, so fair to sign things could have gone better. Nothing confirmed yet but would expect Oakland's opening playoff game with Houston to be next Saturday.