Mistakes squelch Raiders’ chances in Packers loss

“We’re right where we need to be”, McCarthy said, no doubt considering all three phases of his club rather than just the sputtering offense.

But first, the Packers have a potentially tough road game against Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders. For the 13th consecutive season, the Raiders will finish without a winning record or a playoff berth.

Carr, the Raiders quarterback of the future, has done a lot.

“I am not sure what’s going to happen to the Raiders”, Rodgers said.

“The guys engage with me and I put my hands on him”, Jones said. That would be the Raiders’ first 1,000 yard rusher since Darren McFadden reached 1,157 in 2010.

Cooper cracks 1,000: Amari Cooper became the first Raider with 1,000 receiving yards since Randy Moss did it in 2005.

Prior to that, the back-shoulder throw made a comeback with Jones snagging two for 14 yards apiece. So it’s not really a big thing.

While Del Rio did a great job of not quitting after what was a discouraging starts, the same can not be said for the rest of his coaching staff. For starters, Ken Norton has to take some of the blame for this week’s loss, as his play-calling not only surrendered a lead that the Packers would never relinquish, but also took the crowd out of the game by giving up a score just seconds after Oakland took the lead. But Rodgers said it was only “a little bit” of an improvement and pointed out that while the offense answered with a Rodgers-to-Jones touchdown after Oakland took its only lead of the game midway through the third quarter, the Packers’ longest drive – a 19-play, 92-yarder – ended in an unfulfilling field goal.

The win came despite the Packers’ offense being outgained 372-293 by Oakland, and with Aaron Rodgers only completing 22 of 39 passes for 204 yards, one touchdown and one interception – a 68.8 rating, his second worst passer rating of 2015. At one point well into the ballgame, Green Bay held a 14-point lead despite totaling just 34 yards on offense while going 0-4 on third downs. Despite appearing to be competitive to begin the year, the team has fallen off while losing two straight games and four of their last five following a 35-25 loss to the Washington Redskins Sunday. “But we have some good traits going for us right now”.

The Packers kicked off the scoring in the second half with a 24 yard field goal from Mason Crosby to give them a 17-13 lead.

It was far from a football masterpiece, but the playoff-bound Green Bay Packers weren’t anxious about artistic style points after their 30-20 victory against the Oakland Raiders at the O.co Coliseum on Sunday. Carr’s very next pass was picked off by Damarious Randall and taken 43 yards for the score and a 14-0 lead.

So when Carr threw the second of his two interceptions, it wasn’t as if Del Rio was looking for Matt McGloin to come to the rescue. That set up fullback John Kuhn’s 5-yard touchdown run with 5:08 left in the first quarter.

“It’s all about finishing”, Woodson said. “We gave them 14 points early on in the game”. Quinton Rollins made a nice deflection in the end zone on third and goal to force a 23 yard Sebastian Janikowski field goal.

The Packers couldn’t pick up a first down on their first three plays, all runs, but on fourth and two Rodgers’ pass to Cobb resulted in an easy pass interference call on Oakland’s T.J. Carrie.

The squandered red zone opportunity was costly, as the Raiders grabbed their first lead of the game on the ensuing possession. Green Bay posted its second straight victory last week – a 28-7 triumph over Dallas – to move one game ahead of Minnesota, which has dropped two in a row. Jayrone Elliott left with a quad injury and David Bakhtiari suffered an ankle injury late and had to be helped to the sideline. When getting 15 carries or more in a game, he has run for at least 85 yards this season. Packers starting CB Sam Shields (concussion) was inactive.