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This a little late this week as it took an extra night to watch the game for the second time. Studs Darrius Heyward-Bey  He made a great hands catch and already has nine receptions for 164 yards in three games which surpasses his entire rookie season. Kevin Boss 4 catches for 78 yards. He's proving to be every bit the weapon Miller was in the passing game and he blocks well also. The Offensive Line Without singling out a single player, these guys have been the surprise of the season. Campbell has all day to throw and they are opening holes for the backs as well. Jared Veldheer, Stefen Wisniewski, Samson Satele, Cooper Carlisle, and even Khalif Barnes. Sprinkle in a little Joe Barksdale. No stars here, this group is getting it done together.   Duds Richard Seymour Penalties, penalties, penalties. Complain if you want, but the penalties can't happen. Giving free yards to Tom Brady is a recipe for disaster. To cap it off, Seymour didn't have a very good day putting pressure on...

After the Raiders "bullied" the Jets it is easy to forget the team has inadequacies. Even though the Raiders have a very imposing defensive line and are tied for third in the league with 10 sacks, the defense is still allowing nearly 290 passing yards per game. What is also looked over in the Raiders 2-1 start is the inconsistent play of the kick coverage units. The Raiders were exposed on a couple long kick returns despite recovering a fumble by Antonio Cromartie. The punt coverage has been terrible and is a huge weakness on this team. Stanford Routt and Tyvon Branch are the only healthy members of the Raiders secondary who were on the team last year. With the injury to DeMarcus Van Dyke (knee) coupled with his lack of development, the Raiders are extra thin in the weakest area of their defense. Chimdi Checkwa, is showing why he was drafted and made the roster. After Chekwa's promising performance the starting cornerback position could be his for the taking with Chris Jo...

The Raiders have made official the signing of cornerback Joe Porter via the transactions page on Raiders.com Porter, was a track star at Rutgers and ran a 4.33 40-yard-dash at his pro day in 2007. Porter is 5-10 and weighs in at 205.

One of the major problems with the 2009 Raiders was the struggle in the return game. Fullback Gary Russell became the primary kick returner when Nick Miller was injured for the season. Johnnie Lee Higgins was the primary punt returner, but showed little of the promise in 2009 that he did in 2007 and 2008. The Raiders ranked 32nd in the league in kick return average in 2009 with just 18.2 yards per return and 29th in the league in punt return average with just 4.9 yards per return. There are three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams. The Raiders have two of the best legs in the game to kick and punt, but in 2009 the worst return game. A lot more goes into the return game in the form of blocking than we can cover here and the personnel are so fluid at this point it isn’t worth the effort. One way the Raiders can improve drastically is to give the return duties to a new player. Gary Russell’s lack of speed and agility really hurt the return game. Warren Sapp at one poin...