One Postgame Take

1. I know it was just the Vikings, but that was an impressive victory in my book. It had all the makings of a letdown game, but the Raiders didn't let us down. They went into a loud hostile environment and took command of the game. Of course, they had to make it unnecessarily close, because that's just what the Raiders do, but when push came to shove, they shut the Vikings down and took command of the divisional lead. Bravo!

2. This Carson Palmer dude, he's all right, eh? Watching him, it's easy to forget that he's been with this team for just four weeks and three games, coming in cold off the couch. I'd say that this bodes very well for the Raiders' playoff fortunes. He didn't have an amazing game, but it was solid enough, and he avoided the big mistakes. Keeping him healthy is so paramount that I can't even think or talk about it, so I won't.

3. Regarding the penalties, I do think that the zebras got some wrong, and that sometimes it smells of vague conspiracy, but it seemed that the worst of them were early in the game, and had little to do with the Vikings scoring so many unanswered points and turning a prospective blowout into a nail biter.

Instead of taking his case to the media, I believe that Hue Jackson should have simply made his case in the locker room. And while he was at it, he could have used the words that BlandaRocked posted in the comments on the previous take: "This has been going on since the 70s. There is absolutely nothing the team, the coaches, the players or the fans can do about it. Al Davis could never do anything about it. It is, quite simply, a fact of life. So how do you instruct a team to deal with this fact of life? You tell them to deal with it. The great Raider teams of the past were well penalized too! You suck it up, and you win right in their faces."

I will say that there is one thing the Raiders can do about it, and that is cut down on the stupid penalties. Even if you remove the questionable calls from the record, it seems to me that we're still a perennial leader in stupid penalties. In other words, control what you can control, and, as BlandaRocked noted, don't get distracted by what you can't control.

4. Michael Bush and Marcel Reese are stepping up, big time. This is what depth looks like, and it's a wonderful thing.

5. Nice to see Kevin Boss with five catches. Overall, Palmer did a great job of distributing the ball, completing passes to seven different players. Now it's time to beat Da Bears and take the divisional bull by the horns.