The Raiders have placed 25-year old OLB Ricky Brown on the Injured Reserve List with a bum ankle ending his season.  Brown played in 5 games for the Raiders this season and he had 31 tackles, 1 forced fumble and he defensed 2 passes.  He has now played in 41 games in his 4 years with the Raiders and he has made 89 tackles, defensed 3 passes and he forced 2 fumbles.  The Raiders should be able to replace Brown but he was playing pretty decent this year.

The Raiders stole a game today at home against the Bengals.  New starting QB Bruce Gradkowski drove the Raiders to a game tying TD with only 33 seconds left in the game.  On the ensuing kickoff, Bengals’ WR Andre Caldwell fumbled the ball deep in their own territory setting up Sebastian Janikowski for the game winning FG.  Bruce Gradkowski was solid in this game for the Raiders as he completed 17 of 34 passes for 183 yards with 2 TD passes and 1 INT.  He also carried the ball 6 times for 8 yards (1.3 ypc) today.  Justin Fargas led the way on the ground for the Raiders in this game with 8 carries for 32 yards (4.0 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 17 yards (8.5 avg).  Michael Bush pitched in today with 27 yards rushing on 4 carries (6.8 ypc).  Darren McFadden even got in on the action carrying the ball 6 times for 25 yards (4.2 ypc) and he also caught 3 passes for 10 yards (3.3 avg).  TE Zach Miller led the way in the passing game for the Raiders today with 5 grabs for 65 yards (13.0 avg) with a TD.  Rookie WR Louis Murphy only caught 1 pass today for 29 yards but it was the game tying TD grab for the Raiders with 33 seconds left in the game.  The Raiders only had possession of the football for 21:36 of this game but they still had 275 total yards on offense (92 rushing, 183 passing).

The defense did a good job of bending but not breaking today.  CB Tyvon Branch led the way for the Raiders today with 12 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 sack and 1 pass defensed.  Safety Michael Huff pitched in with 8 tackles in this game.  The Bengals finished up with 348 total yards in this game (177 rushing, 171 passing) today.  The Raiders are now 3-7 on the season with this nice home win.

The Bengals are hot as a firecracker right now as they have won three games in a row by a combined score of 80-29!  The Bengals will likely come out running the ball with rookie Bernard Scott against a Raiders’ D that is allowing 155.6 yards rushing per game and 4.4 yards per carry.  Don’t think for a minute though that Carson Palmer won’t be putting the ball up a lot to Chad Ocho Cinco, Laveranues Coles and Andre Caldwell against a Raiders’ D giving up 211.6 yards passing per game.  Carson Palmer won’t let his team overlook the pathetic Raiders this Sunday.

The Raiders will have a new look this Sunday with Bruce Gradkowski taking over as the starting QB.  He doesn’t have the arm that JaMarcus Russell does but he is far more accurate on the short stuff.  That means that TE Zach Miller will likely be his top target this week meaning that Chris Crocker and Chinedum Ndukwe will be challenged.  The Raiders have speed to burn at WR but it’s too bad none of them can catch the football.  Michael Bush will be the main man in the running game for the Raiders and the yards will not come easy for him as the Bengals only allow 83.4 yards rushing per game and 3.9 yards per carry.

PREDICTION:  BENGALS 24, RAIDERS 17

The Raiders have benched JaMarcus Russell and it’s about time.  Russell has started all 9 games for the Raiders this season and he has completed 96 of 205 passes (46.8%) for 1,064 yards with 2 TD passes and 9 INTs (47.7 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 16 times for 39 yards (2.4 ypc) so far this season.  The thing that drives me nuts about Russell is the fact that he just doesn’t get it.  Every time he gets pulled out of the game he acts all surprised!  At least that won’t be a issue for a while.  Bruce Gradkowski will start this week if his hamstring allows him to.  He has played in 3 games for the Raiders this season and he has completed 17 of 30 passes (56.7%) for 163 yards with 0 TD passes and 2 INTs (44.2 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 3 times for 34 yards (11.3 ypc) this year.  Gradkowski doesn’t have the gun that Russell does so look for the passing game to be shorter if he plays.  If Gradkowski can’t go on Sunday the Raiders will turn to Charlie Frye.  Frye has a very similar skill set to that of Gradkowski so look for more short passes if he starts.

JaMarcus Russell and the Oakland Raiders (2-7) looked pretty good in the first quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs (2-7), but it was all downhill from there.  They were up 10-3 after the first, but would not get any more points for the rest of the game.  The running game played well, but Russell was once again terrible.  He went 8/23 for 64 yards before being  replaced by Bruce Gradkowsk.  Gradkowski was even worse, finishing with 2 interceptions and 49 yards on 5/9 passes.  They got 182 rushing yards as a team, with Michael Bush and Justin Fargas leading the way.  Bush had 119 yards on 14 carries and Fargas has a touchdown and 41 yards on 10 carries.  The Raiders offense just doesn’t have a quarterback, so the offense is always at a disadvantage.

The Raiders defense did a solid job most of the game, but one big play was the difference-maker.  Chiefs’ running back Jamaal Charles took the momentum on a 44-yard touchdown game that tied the game at 10 in the second quarter.  Charles finished the game with 103 yards and that touchdown on 18 carries.  If the Raiders stop that big play from happening though, they probably win the game.  They held Matt Cassel to no touchdowns and 216 yards on 19/34 passes, and Chris Johnson intercepted him once.  The one play gave the Chiefs’ the edge and the Raiders offense was nowhere to be found.  The quarterback situation is pathetic for the Raiders and something needs to be done.