On Sunday in Green Bay, Wis., the Raiders hardly looked like a team destined for the playoffs, while the Packers looked everything like the defending Super Bowl champions.
The Packers rolled over the Raiders 46-16 to run their record to 13-0 this season, while Oakland suffered its second consecutive defeat and dropped into second place in the AFC West with just three games remaining.
While Oakland was losing in Wisconsin, Tim Tebow was engineering another miracle in Denver, leading the Broncos to a 13-10 overtime victory over the Chicago Bears, the Broncos’ sixth straight victory.
Denver is now 8-5 while the Raiders are 7-6. Oakland will try to get back on track this coming Sunday against the Detroit Lions at O.co Coliseum, and will hope to return some of its injured playmakers to the field. Once again Sunday, the Raiders were missing running back Darren McFadden and wide receivers Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore.
For the Raiders, Sunday’s matchup with the NFL champs was ugly almost from the start. On their first official play from scrimmage, running back Ryan Grant broke free for a 47-yard touchdown run to give Green Bay a 7-0 lead.
From there, Aaron Rodgers threw for 281 yards and two scores in just three quarters of work and Ryan Grant rushed for 85 yards and two TDs to lead the Pack.
The Raiders, meanwhile, had quarterback Carson Palmer throw four interceptions, two of which were converted into Green Bay TDs. Palmer completed 24-of-42 throws for 245 yards and the four picks but, according to Paul Gutierrez of CSNBayarea.com, had wideouts drop several passes during the game, including three by Darrius Heyward-Bey and one by T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
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The Raiders also again committed too many penalties. The most penalized team in the NFL was flagged 11 times for 89 yards.
Green Bay has won 19 consecutive games, just two shy of the NFL record held by the New England Patriots.
