Silver Mining 10/9: Jon Gruden taking blame for disappointing season Raiders newsThe Morning After: Raiders flat performance falls squarely on Jon Gruden’s shoulders | Silver and Black PrideThis was a divisional rivalry that could have gotten the Raiders out of the AFC West cellar with a victory Womens Derek Carr Jersey , and Oakland just completely whiffed on even making the game competitive. It wasn’t just a loss, it was an implosion. That is on Jon Gruden not having his team ready for this game, he needs to make sure the team is better prepared and motivated for such an important game.Gruden: ‘My fingerprints are all over’ Raiders’ start | NFL.comWhen asked Monday whether he can take anything positive from Oakland’s league-worst 1-4 start, Gruden attempted to put a sunny face on the Raiders’ situation, ultimately placing the most blame on himself.Raiders now tied for worst record in the NFL but it may not be all bad news | Silver and Black PrideThe good news for the Raiders is three of the other five one-win teams are coming up soon on the Raiders’ schedule and the combined record of the teams they face the next five games is 8-17.Marshawn Lynch upset at being denied ball at goal line and ‘cute’ play leads to interception, Gruden says ‘he and I have a lot in common’ | Silver and Black PrideLynch was told the stat that since the start of Super Bowl XLIX, teams with Lynch have now thrown four times from the one-yard line and are 0-4 including two interceptions.Turnover margin weighs heavily into Raiders’ 1-4 start | SF ChronicleThe Raiders’ minus-4 turnover margin is tied for third worst in the league, and four of their five takeaways came in their lone win of the season against the Browns.The Raiders’ offensive woes are (literally) larger than Carr, Gruden | Sacramento BeeStill, Gruden chastised himself for the call, and Carr did the same for throwing the terrible interception — as both should have done — but what wasn’t mentioned in their self-flagellations was the fact that the Raiders’ offensive line was manhandled for four quarters on Sunday.AFC WestBroncos release Marquette King | Pro Football TalkThe Broncos did as expected and released punter Marquette King from injured reserve, Jim Trotter of NFL Media reports.Top Head-Coaching Candidates If Denver Decides To Fire Vance Joseph | CBS DenverGM John Elway could soon pull the plug on the Joseph era in Denver. And when he does, what coaches are out there to replace him?Why the Chiefs won’t fade after another fast start | ESPN.comOddly for a team with little recent playoff success -- the Chiefs have lost 11 of their past 12 postseason games -- 2018 doesn’t feel like early season fortune on the path to eventual slaughter.Andy Reid: Injuries could force Chiefs into market for outside linebacker | Kansas City StarThe Chiefs finished Sunday’s game with second-year pro Tanoh Kpassagnon and rookie Breeland Speaks manning the outside linebacker spots and there are no players behind them on the depth chart.The Chargers’ celebration in front of angry Raiders fans summed up the move to LA | For the WinAs if it hadn’t been made abundantly clear that the Chargers’ move to Los Angeles was a terrible idea, one look at Raiders fans’ turnout at StubHub Center should do the trick.What we learned from the Chargers’ 26-10 victory over the Raiders | LA TimesAt 36 and making his 197th consecutive start, Rivers passed for 339 yards and two touchdowns on a day when he barely stood out. The 300-yard passing game was the 59th of his career and second of the season. He now has 13 touchdown passes and just two interceptions. NFL NewsDrew Brees sets NFL all-time passing record Antonio Brown Raiders Jersey , and he might put that record out of reach | Yahoo SportsBrees has a nice lead on everyone but Brady, and he’s playing as well as ever. Getting to 80,000 yards seems likely as long as Brees wants to play at least a couple more seasons, and a run at 90,000 is a reach but not entirely impossible. Only five quarterbacks have ever passed for more than 53,063 career yards.How coaching not to lose is costing NFL teams | SB NationWeek in and week out, we see coaches outsmart themselves, especially in high leverage situations. We often see coaches decide to be conservative, when aggressiveness is the right call. Maybe it’s panic, stubbornness, a lack of creativity or just plain bad coaching, but it happens often, and we saw more of it this week.Jets safety sets NFL record for longest no TD interception return and you have to see it | CBS SportsMaye needed 105 yards to get to the end zone, but he only made it 104 yards after Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton chased him down and tackled him at the one-yard line. All that work for nothing. Eagles RB Jay Ajayi out for season with torn ACL | NFL.comThe team on Monday placed Ajayi on injured reserve, with NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reporting the 25-year-old tore his ACL Womens Antonio Brown Jersey , a setback that will end his season.Giants to part ways with Ereck Flowers by Tuesday | NFL.comFlowers, a 2015 first-round pick of former Giants general manager Jerry Reese, finally reached the end of his unusually long rope after five weeks that included an embarassing Week 1 performance (broken down in depth by yours truly here) and a benching prior to Week 3. It caps a solid seven months of unrest surrounding Flowers, who was upset by New York’s signing of Nate Solder in the offseason and failed to shift to right tackle successfully. ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — Middle linebacker Derrick Johnson isn’t as troubled as most people seem to be by the Oakland Raiders‘ lack of a pass rush.The way Johnson sees it, there are other ways for the defense to impact games.Yet with only two sacks in two games, Johnson also realizes something has to change.“It’s a lot of ways to contribute to being a really good defense besides getting sacks,” Johnson said Thursday. “Don’t get me wrong, sacks help big time but red zone defense is a big part of being a really good defense. Turnovers for sure. It’s still early.”Oakland’s pass rush, or lack thereof, has been heavily scrutinized since the team traded 2016 defensive player of the year Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears a week before the season opener.Mack has had a sack and a forced fumble in each of his first two games while helping the Bears to an NFL-leading 10 sacks. Mack also scored a touchdown in his Chicago debut against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.Conversely, the Raiders pass rush has been sparse at best. Defensive end Bruce Irvin got to Rams quarterback Jared Goff for a coverage sack in Week 1 while rookie defensive lineman Maurice Hurst dropped Case Keenum in Week 2.Like Johnson, Oakland defensive coordinator Paul Guenther believes there are other ways for the Raiders to be effective. During Guenther’s stint as Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator, the Bengals had more than 33 sacks only twice in four seasons but finished in the top 20 overall three times.“Obviously you’d like to have sacks but if you really look at it, when you look at the statistics year in and year out Antonio Brown Jersey White , the teams that are up there in sacks aren’t necessarily playoff teams. A lot of times they’re not,” Guenther said. “You’d always like to get a number of sacks. of personnel you have. That’s not the most important thing but obviously you want to get after the opposing quarterback.”Oakland has forced only one turnover in two games. The Raiders are also 26th in defensive third-down efficiency, allowing opponents to convert 12 of 27 opportunites.Johnson said there is a sense of urgency in Oakland’s locker room, although the 35-year-old sounds more concerned with the Raiders’ inability to stop the Broncos on their game-winning drive in the final seconds last week than he is about the pass rush.“Really the last two games the first half was pretty good team effort but we have to finish the close ones, win the close ones,” Johnson said. “As a defense we have to be hoping for that situation, saying, ‘Hey, if we stop them it’s over.’ It’s not the whole defense. It’s a play here, a play there. Not being tight enough here or communication. Just a little something on each play of that last drive hurt us.”With nine new starters and a 10th — Irvin — playing a different position than he did a year ago, the argument could be made the Raiders are still going through growing pains.Johnson isn’t buying it.“That’s too easy of an excuse,” Johnson said. “We’ve been together for a little bit. We know the plays. We just have to execute better. Our defensive coordinator knows we can do that. We need to help him out by making some plays. We have to make plays.”__