The Oakland Raiders D secondary could not find a way to stop Saints TE Jimmy Graham on Sunday. Quick, Gio (27) – look busy!

Well, Raider Nation… it took me a few days to find the motivation to sit here and write up this recap for you all. We all thought that last week in Baltimore was bad, but I’m convinced that this was like hitting rock bottom. It was among the most embarrassing displays of football the team has demonstrated yet this season, in my opinion.

Defeated is the only word that comes to mind right now as reasoning for what happened (if there is a reason). It takes a sudden rush of adrenaline to get these boys to play with desperation, like in the last ten minutes of the game when QB Carson Palmer posts his yardage for the day (after the opposing team stops playing and starts benching starters).

The team was absolutely flat in every sense of the word:

• The offense didn’t jive together as usual, but whenever they got something going, it was shut down by a Palmer INT in the red/end zone.
• The defense played a bit better, especially the LBs that were able to get some pressure on Brees (Burris, McClain) – the secondary was yet again the glaring problem. There simply was no stopping Saints’ WR Lance Moore or TE Jimmy Graham up the middle.
• Special teams was satisfactory for the most part, but fell apart at times.
• TE Brandon Myers was struggling in the first half with drops, but redeemed himself with a touchdown the offensive drive afterwards.

Ex-HC and now Monday Night Football commentary, Jon Gruden, was invited to O.co Coliseum to light the late Al Davis’ memorial flame

Something we the fans haven’t seen in quite some time also happened – owner Mark Davis “spoke out”. I say this sarcastically, because let me tell you, it wasn’t particularly comforting to see the owner of such a storied franchise joking away right after the Raiders drop to 3-7 on the season. Reports surfaced shortly after the game that Davis was irate, storming in and when leaving Coach Allen’s office, but it certainly didn’t show here. Frankly, it looked as though he really could care less.

Ladies and gentlemen, the most pointless interview from a sports franchise owner possibly ever! Mark Davis says his “piece” on Sunday’s game:

There’s Hope Somewhere, Right?

The first half of this article by Paul Gutierrez of CSN Bay Area describes the only two upsides I was able to find:

OAKLAND — With 312 yards passing against New Orleans on Sunday, Carson Palmer became the first Raiders quarterback since 2005 to throw for at least 3,000 yards in a season.

Through 10 games, Palmer has 3,035 yards passing, the quickest in his 10-year career he has reached the 3,000-yard plateau, and it leads the AFC. The last Raiders quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards was Kerry Collins, who had 3,759 yards in Norv Turner’s second and final year as Raiders coach.

[RELATED: Carson Palmer career stats]

“We just couldn’t keep up,” Palmer said. They scored pretty quickly and we tried to stick with the run game and we did and we were doing a good job, and with our fullback playing tailback to run the ball we did in the first half was really, really good to see, to see the way we moved the line of scrimmage with our offensive line.

Palmer became the first quarterback in Silver & Black to throw over 3,000 yards in a season since 2005

“But when it came down to it, we got beat by a better team today.”

It also marked the first time in Palmer’s career he had three straight 300-plus yard passing games and it extended his franchise record for 200-yard passing games to 16.

***

Marcel Reece’s 193 yards from scrimmage were most by a Raiders player since Michael Bush had 242 yards last season at San Diego. Reece has also set single-season bests for receptions (37), receiving yards (418) and rushing yards (151).

Read the rest of Gutierrez’s piece here.

To add to this, Reece ran like he gave a damn. He was one of the only players in Silver & Black that showed signs of life, like he even might have some heart left in it. Even if he had just faked it, it goes a long way for a fan like myself who watches body language and to see if there is still a sense of urgency or if this ship is sinking straight to the bottom.

Oh, and the Raiders kept penalty flags at bay, so that’s a plus right? :/ It seems to me that the offense almost performs better when penalty flags fly.

Onward and upward hopefully! At least I am hoping this is just a slump and that there is still one more win in the cards before the season’s through. The Oakland Raiders will meet the Bengals of Cincinnati this coming Sunday at 1pm ET/10am PT. The Raiders have played atrociously on the east coast this season, but at this point I think that Raiders fans are simply looking at who will be playing like they want to make the roster next season.

Is the 2013 NFL Draft here yet?!