Raiders Get Boost With Ford's Return To Practice
The Oakland Raiders got a big boost for their offense heading into their must-win season finale when big-play receiver Jacoby Ford practiced for the first time in more than a month Wednesday.
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The Oakland Raiders got a big boost for their offense heading into their must-win season finale when big-play receiver Jacoby Ford practiced for the first time in more than a month Wednesday.
Linebacker Patrick Willis, defensive end Justin Smith, cornerback Carlos Rogers and tackle Joe Staley will start for the NFC from the San Francisco 49ers (12-3), who had only Smith and Willis make the Pro Bowl last year.
With a win at home in the finale against San Diego and a little bit of help from some other teams, the Raiders (8-7) can make the playoffs for the first time since their 2002 AFC championship season.
After spending most of the first two months of the season as Darren McFadden's backup, Michael Bush seemed to have little chance to reach the 1,000-yard milestone coveted by NFL running backs.
With Frank Gore and Marshawn Lynch at the forefront, the 49ers travel north to play Seattle on Saturday in an NFC West matchup thick with playoff implications for both sides.
Darrius Heyward-Bey has been the target of criticism ever since the Oakland Raiders surprisingly drafted him seventh overall in 2009 ahead of more accomplished receivers, but he's finally showing signs of why the Raiders liked him so much coming out of college.
The San Francisco 49ers were lights-out in their return to prime time, riding their top-ranked run defense again and prevailing through a pair of power outages to beat ailing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-3 on Monday night.
A late-game collapse has essentially left the Oakland Raiders' hopes of ending an eight-year playoff drought to this formula: Win their final two games and hope.
Matthew Stafford threw a 6-yard TD pass to Calvin Johnson with 39 seconds remaining to cap a 98-yard scoring drive and Suh blocked a 65-yard field goal attempt by Sebastian Janikowski to seal the Lions' 28-27 win over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.
Almost from the moment he took over in Oakland, coach Hue Jackson vowed to fix the Raiders' perpetually leaky run defense and curb their propensity for penalties.
With Sunday's 46-16 rout of the Oakland Raiders, the Green Bay Packers brushed aside a playoff contender by halftime to win their 19th straight, moved a game away from clinching home-field advantage throughout the playoffs — and at 13-0, they kept the possibility of a perfect season squarely in sight.
A week after clinching the NFC West title, the San Francisco 49ers had trouble holding off the Arizona Cardinals' second-half rally.
San Francisco (10-2) has found creative ways this season to keep opponents guessing about an otherwise vanilla scheme, including throwing to a lineman, letting a nose tackle catch a pass and converting a defensive end into a fullback.
The San Francisco 49ers had just returned to the celebratory locker room after clinching the NFC West and ending an eight-year playoff drought when players immediately turned their attention to several televisions around the room to do some scoreboard watching. They expect to do more of that in the weeks to come.
The Oakland Raiders don't have much time to get over Sunday's lopsided loss in Miami with a trip to undefeated Green Bay this week.
Frank Gore has been chasing rushing records since he first stepped on the field with the San Francisco 49ers six seasons ago.
David Akers figures he hardly deserves mention in the same breath as Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, someone the kicker grew up watching and admiring from afar in Kentucky.
On most NFL teams, kickers and punters are little more than part-time specialists who are rarely seen, almost never heard and mostly afterthoughts until they make some crucial mistake.
Stanford assistant coach and four-time Raiders Pro Bowl defensive lineman Chester McGlockton has died at age 42. Stanford announced the death on Wednesday.
NFL fans on Sunday saw the arrogance of Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson, whose controversial touchdown dance he says cost his team the game against the New York Jets. But his former coaches in Fairfield say that's not Stevie at all.
Sebastian Janikowski kicked a team-record six field goals and the Oakland Raiders took advantage of three interceptions from Chicago's fill-in starter Caleb Hanie to beat the Bears 25-20 Sunday.
