National Football League

McFadden, Raiders run past Jags for 19-9 victory

Published Sep. 16, 2013 4:47 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Jacksonville Jaguars were intent on not letting Terrelle Pryor beat them with his legs.

So Pryor was more than content to put the ball in Darren McFadden's hands and watch him run.

McFadden ran for 129 of Oakland's 206 yards on the ground and the Raiders went on to beat the depleted Jacksonville Jaguars 19-9 in their home opener on Sunday.

A week after Pryor set a franchise record for quarterbacks with 112 yards rushing, McFadden capitalized on the increased focus on the quarterback in nearly two years.

''Absolutely, that's why D-Mac probably had whatever he had?'' Pryor said. ''That's why I believe he had a great day. The Jaguars, they were shifting big time on me.''

Here are five things learned from the Raiders (1-1) victory in their home opener against the Jaguars:

1. SEE DARREN RUN: After struggling all last season in Oakland's zone-blocking system, McFadden had the type of performance that made him one of the game's most dangerous backs when he was healthy in 2010 and `11. McFadden had his biggest rushing day since gaining 171 yards against the New York Jets on Sept. 25, 2011, and had four carries go for at least 20 yards as he shows once again he fits in better with a power-running scheme. He had only four long runs all of last season. ''I love being able to run downhill. I feel like I'm a downhill runner, and it's something that this offense allows me to do,'' he said.

2. OFFENSIVE OFFENSE: The Jaguars came within 2:53 of becoming the first team since the 2006 Raiders and Buccaneers to fail to score a touchdown in the first two games before Chad Henne connected with Clay Harbor on a 13-yard score. Jacksonville didn't top the 300-yard mark for the season until the fourth quarter of their second game and have 11 points and 19 punts so far. The Jaguars entered the game without quarterback Blaine Gabbert (right hand), receiver Justin Blackmon (suspension) and tight end Marcedes Lewis (calf), and then lost star running back Maurice Jones-Drew in the first half to an ankle injury, making the problems even worse. ''We can't make excuses regardless of who's out there,'' tackle Eugene Monroe said. ''We just need to execute and not make mistakes, not get panicked and turn this thing around.''

3. SACK OF SACKS: The Raiders faced big questions in the preseason about how they would pressure the quarterback after watching most of their productive pass rushers leave in the offseason. So far, that has not been a problem. After matching a franchise-low with 25 sacks last season, the Raiders have nine through two games after bringing down Henne five times. It took until their seventh game a year ago to record their ninth sack. Five of the sacks have come from the secondary. ''We try to ... send several different guys in different directions and I think our rush has continued to improve. I think guys have continued to get better rushing the quarterback,'' coach Dennis Allen said.

4. PENALTY PROBLEMS: The Raiders are typically the team that is done in by penalties, but they benefited from Jacksonville's mistakes this game. Three scoring drives were aided by penalties with D.J. Williams lining up in the neutral zone on a punt and Jason Babin committing a pair of infractions to give Oakland key first downs. The offense also had its issues with a delay of game on third-and-goal and four other pre-snap penalties. ''Penalties don't even give you a chance,'' Henne said. ''When you have a pre-snap penalty it doesn't even give you a shot at that down and distance. We have to clean that up.''

5. STRUGGLING SEABASS: Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski has been unbelievable reliable from inside 50 yards the last few seasons but has struggled in his first two games since Marquette King replaced Shane Lechler as holder. Janikowski missed a 48-yarder last week in Indianapolis and was wide left from 35 yards against the Jaguars. That ended his streak of 50 straight makes from less than 40 yards.

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