A VERY MERRY MULETIDE INDEED

I do love a successful DONKEY week.And how the fans who must wear orange can whine.Many of them are actually putting the loss down to the laser pen incident.Come on girls you had the ball inside the five yard line with a full set of downs to punch it in.The RAIDERS defenders are really tough in the red zone as they proved a few times on Sunday night, in fact but for a couple of plays, particularly the Brandon Stokeley big play, the defense played their heart out all night.The team will always put in a shift at Denver, but if you want them to play any harder why not introduce a play that throws the ball back across the field to your left tackle, which I took to be pisstaking/lack of respect from Josh McDaniels.

In fact Mr McDaniels you and the DONKEY faithful deserve each other, those who are now claiming to have been hard done by in the laser delay, were looking pretty pleased with themselves while it was actually going on.There seemed to be a lot of premature celebrations of a win against the RAIDERS.It was sweet to see the same mule lovers faces staring in dis-belief as the worst quarterback in the league got the team ahead with less than a minute remaining.

The RAIDERS showed more Jekyll than Hyde, the bend but no break defense coupled with some smash mouth running were the foundations for this win.The play of the quarterbacks was enough to keep us in the game, and if whoever is under centre does that the team has shown that it can play for sixty minutes.

Debate will probably surface as to whether Russell could come back into the starting line-up after the come from behind drive.I didn't see anything that suggested he was any better to be honest, there was still lack of mobility, batted balls and under/overthrown passes, and if a DONKEY db hadn't yanked Louis Murphy's helmet to pick up that pass interference then who knows what would have happened.I will give him credit for getting it done on fourth and ten during the drive, but I can't get over excited about what he brings to the team overall.Frye is still the better option if Gradkowski is unable to go in again.

If the RAIDERS can shut down Joshua Cribbs and Jerome Harrison next week, and play hard against the Ravens, a record of 7 - 9 seems do-able.The question is whether the trend can be bucked and Mr Hyde stays away.If indeed 7 - 9 comes to pass, there is the also the question if that is deemed enough of an improvement to see Tom Cable return next season.As much as the Gruden rumours grab the imagination, even the Fassel rumours, with what Cable has had to deal with during the season with Hansen, domestic violence accusations, and the play of Russell, he has done ok.Ok may not be enough for Al Davis or the RAIDER NATION, but the players seem to keep playing for him, and maybe the addition of a good quality OC would be enough to make a real difference.If Davis added the GM that we would all like to see there could be some cause for optimism with Cable still holding the reigns.I can see the reasons that will also cause those to argue that Cable has not done enough, but the coaching turnover in Oakland has to stop some time.

At least since Cable took the decision to bench Russell, the games have been watchable, entertaining even.The DONKEY game had it all.Smash mouth running, hitting, fights ( I do enjoy a good RAIDER vs DONKEY fight ), Tommy Kelly's pants or lack of them, and a come from behind win with Russell at the helm, plus the fact that we have ruined the week for our four legged friends in Colorado.There is a real possibility that the RAIDERS could have put a serious dent in the DONKEYS play-off ambitions.Nice.

McDaniels and his team took the RAIDERS lightly, and got what they deserved.Pride is a word that has long been used by the Silver and Black, but has been in short supply in recent years.Maybe, just maybe, a little of it has been restored in some unexpected wins over teams that we weren't supposed to beat.Everything is not completely rosy in the garden, but it is nice to have some of the RAIDER attitude back.

Oh and hit of the week.Mike Huff on Brandon Marshall at the end of the game.

Well it was either that one, or the hit on JaMarcus Russell by Louis Murphy.