It’s been a lot of gloom and doom for the Oakland Raiders’ in the time since Thanksgiving weekend, when the team defeated the Chicago Bears, 25-20. After that game, we’ve seen more than a few players go down with injuries, including the stand-out rookie receiver, Denarius Moore, in the game against the Minnesota Vikings. The worst news was the tragedy in cornerback Chris Johnson’s family, and the player is, of course, having a difficult time with the situation.

Denarius Moore
Wikimedia Commons

But the tables could finally be turning for the Raiders. There are some pieces of good news this week that lead me to believe they could be.

The first, is that it looks like Moore will be back on the field against the Detroit Lions this Sunday. Head coach Hue Jackson was smiling once again during his media conference, and commented that Moore was back out at practice running around and catching some balls, and looking good. He said that his teammates were glad to see him back out there and gave them a little life.

Jackson also reiterated that Moore’s return on the field could be a tremendous boost to the players and give them the added spark they need to win. In his last full game against the San Diego Chargers, he had a total of five catches, 123 yards and two touchdowns. On the season, he’s got 24 catches for 410 yards and four touchdowns.

If you don’t believe that Moore can make the difference, you’re probably asking about the defense, which has definitely been a problem, especially in their two recent losses. Defensive tackle Richard Seymour’s stats create a dim picture. In the Raiders’ first five games, Seymour had five sacks, 15 tackles and three assists. In week five, he injured his knee in the game against the Texans, and he hasn’t been the same since.

In the last five games, Seymour has had just one sack and one tackle. He hasn’t missed a game, and instead has played through the pain because he knew how much the team needed him. He commented, “It’s just been tough for me just because I haven’t been able to practice much. It’s just tough pushing through injuries. Earlier in the year, I felt good, it was going.”

Coach Jackson spoke with Seymour today and feels comfortable that things will be better this Sunday, and Seymour said he is feeling better as well. Hopefully, he will be the boost the defense needs. Both Seymour and all of the players know that it’s crunch time, and I believe they’ll get it done.

The Raiders will be back home at O.co Coliseum for their seventh consecutive sold out game, and as Jackson said the fans bring a certain energy, and a special force to the team. With both the players and the fans in it to win, they can be unstoppable.

K.C. Dermody grew up in the Bay Area of California, and has been anOakland Raiders fan from the time she could walk. She has continued her loyalty to the team through its many ups and downs over the decades, and has been privileged to meet several of her favorite players, including famed quarterback, Jim Plunkett . Follow her at www.facebook.com/KCDermodyWriter or on Twitter @kcdermody.

More from this contributor:

An AFC West Division Win is Still a Possibility for the Oakland Raiders: Fan’s Take

Oakland Raiders Fall to the Packers & Slip in the AFC West: Fan Reaction

Oakland Raiders’ Kicker Sebastian Janikowski Named Special Teams Player of the Week: Fan Reaction

Passion Returns to Aaron Curry with Raiders as it Often Has in the past: Fan’s Look

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

The Oakland Raiders flew out of Oakland on Wednesday afternoon and are headed to face the San Diego Chargers on Thursday night, November 10, at Qualcomm Stadium. Just days after the Raiders loss against the Denver Broncos, the already difficult task becomes that much more challenging against the AFC West rival.

Jacoby Ford, Oakland Raiders
Wikimedia Commons

Quarterback Carson Palmer talked about his short time playing for an AFC West team and is just beginning to realize the significance of the rivalries with all four teams in the division. Certainly not an easy task to be expected to come in where Jason Campbell(notes) left off before he was injured, and face all three rivals consecutively with the Chiefs, Broncos, and now the Chargers.

Palmer has no choice but to try and pass the test against San Diego. Although much of the loss against Denver was not his fault, and can be credited to the defense and exorbitant penalties, it’s likely that until he is able to lead the Raiders to a win, he’ll be taking the brunt of the blame and will continue to be seen as a bad mistake by many.

Palmer commented, “In these types of rivalry games, when you go into a hostile environment where that team is hungry and being a team that’s hungry, any team can win.”

My question is, are the Raiders hungry enough?

After going through so much this season, it seems some of their fire has started to fade. At this point, their only choice is to move on from those difficulties and create the momentum they need to win their battles. If they can do that in San Diego, and, of course, work on decreasing penalties and turnovers, we’ll be on the right track.

A win would put the Raiders in first place in the AFC West, and it would do a lot for their confidence moving on through the remainder of the season. San Diego is a good team, but with quarterback Philip Rivers’(notes) inconsistency they have failed to win since their bye in week 6, losing three consecutive games. They aren’t as hard to beat as they seemed at the start of the season, and the Raiders are capable of a victory here, that is, if they are hungry enough.

Darren McFadden(notes) will not be on the field in San Diego, and the task will go to Michael Bush(notes) once again, who did a great job on Sunday. But it’s not so much the offense I’m worried about, it’s the defense. We’ll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow night, but I hope the importance of this game has sunk in with every player, and they come out to win. We need a redemption here.

K.C. Dermody grew up in the Bay Area of California, and has been an Oakland Raiders fan from the time she could walk. She has continued her loyalty to the team through its many ups and downs over the decades, and has been privileged to meet several of her favorite players, including famed quarterback, Jim Plunkett .

More from this contributor:

Oakland Raiders Fan: Are There Any Positives in the Loss Against the Broncos?

Oakland Raiders Fan Experience at O.co Coliseum

Passion Returns to Aaron Curry with Raiders as it Often Has in the Past: Fan’s Look

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Read More: Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills

With a short week of practice after a big win on Monday evening, the Oakland Raiders are looking forward to their matchup in week two against the Buffalo Bills, a team coming off a big win of their own. With the final preparations underway for the game, head coach Hue Jackson and defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan met with the media and briefly discussed the matchup.

Jackson:

Q: That’s a pretty long list [referring to injuries]. Are you worried?

Coach Jackson: No, I’m not. We’re [going to] get on the plane and go play a game at Buffalo and we’re going to be ready to play.

[...]

Q: Who’s going to return kicks?

Coach Jackson: I’ll let you know that when I make that decision. I haven’t made that decision yet.

[...]

Q: Final thoughts on the Bills.

Coach Jackson: Let’s go. Let’s go. It’s a big football game for us. I’m very excited about it. Our team is very excited about it. We have some traveling to do right now. We have to handle that the right way because as you travel you have to prepare and that’s something I talked to our team about. We’ll get prepared. That’s what it is. This process is ongoing to and through the game, but we’ll be ready to play.

Go get ‘em, Raiders. A 2-0 start to the season would be huge for the franchise, and with the Jets and Patriots coming to Oakland the next two weeks, the team could really use the momentum against two tough, potential playoff teams.

Bresnahan:

Q: What does Buffalo like to do on offense, coach?

Bresnahan: They really have a bunch of things they do. They don’t line up as a traditional offense does and just run a couple things that they get very good at. They spread you out and they try to keep you on your heels and try to set the tempo for the game. So, we’ve go to respond to that, and we feel like we have a good plan. Like I said last week, I’m excited to go out and see where our guys are at and see if we can again, build on the foundation we laid last week, and improve in the areas we need to improve in, and that was the pass coverage.

[...]

Q: Going 8-9 deep in the defensive line, what does that allow you to do scheme wise?

Bresnahan: It’s not the scheme, its keeping it fresh. You see what happens towards the end of the game, you wear them down. The second half we wore them down, in my opinion, on the offensive line, and that helped to dictate the tempo of the game, and helped us get to Orton the entire game. Now if we clean up some of our coverage aspects, we have something special that we can build on, as long as we build on the foundation.

[...]

Q: Is it a plus, Chuck, the way that Buffalo handled Kansas City, in terms of guarding against overconfidence that they dropped 41 points on the Chiefs?

Bresnahan: It is to a degree because I think its an eye opener to everybody around the league, but at the same time, I’m one that preaches in our meetings and on the practice fields, I don’t concern myself with what they do. I concern myself with what we do and how we handle the opponent. If we concern ourselves with everything they are doing, we’re not going to focus on what we need to do to be successful within our defense. I want to dictate the tempo, I want our guys executing our defense based on our knowledge and expertise of what were doing rather than try to react to something they do and not being totally confident and aggressive. I’m more concerned about us.

The Bills might have been the most impressive team in the NFL last week — albeit against a team depleted with injuries — and their confidence will be as high as it has been in years. Oakland will need to limit mistakes against Fitzpatrick and Buffalo’s offense and try to get an early lead. The fans will likely be rowdy and boisterous as the game begins and the last thing coaches Jackson and Bresnahan want to deal with is an early deficit. This is not a team built to exactly score a lot of points in a short amount of time.

For more Raiders news, be sure to check out Silver and Black Pride.

It was a surprising scene following an offseason filled with rumors of Huff parting ways with the team that made him the seventh overall pick in the 2006 draft.

“It was funny because every week it was a different story,” Huff said. “I know everybody associated me with (former Oakland defensive coordinator) Rob Ryan going to Dallas, and I’m from Dallas so everybody put two and two together. The whole time I knew what was going on and the Raiders knew what was going on, so there was really no panic on our side.”

Huff, who earned $5.75 million in 2010, is coming off his best season after struggling his first few years in the league. The sixth-year veteran had 94 tackles, three interceptions, four sacks and three forced fumbles in 2010.

Mike Mitchell and Tyvon Branch have been alternating between the two safety positions through the first few days of camp. Huff’s return likely means Branch, last year’s leading tackler, can remain at strong safety.

“He’s one of the guys that can play several things, but he’s our safety,” Raiders coach Hue Jackson said of Huff. “He’s returning at the position he played and I’m expecting a big season from him.”

There has been talk of possibly moving Huff to cornerback, a need position for the Raiders after Nnamdi Asomugha signed a $60 million, five-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. Huff played there sporadically last season after injuries to the team’s other cornerbacks depleted the depth.

For now, though, the plan is to keep him at safety.

“Whatever the defense needs I’ll do it,” Huff said. “I’ll play dime. I’ll play a little linebacker in there. I’m not really too big but I’ll do anything to help the defense. I just want to win.”

Although Huff was free to sign with another team, he declined any offers to visit and didn’t take phone calls based on previous discussions he had with the Raiders’ front office.

“(Teams) called but I didn’t answer,” Huff said. “I knew I wasn’t going anywhere. They drafted me so I’ve been here through the bad times. I’m looking forward to turning this around and being here through the good times.”

The Raiders had the league’s second-ranked pass defense last season but surrendered 29 touchdown passes, fifth most in the NFL. Improving that unit was a priority in the offseason.

Oakland hired Hall of Famer Rod Woodson to assist defensive backs coach Kevin Ross, signed Stanford Routt to a $31.5 million, three-year contract, and drafted cornerbacks DeMarcus Van Dyke and Chimdi Chekwa. Chekwa dislocated his left shoulder during Saturday’s practice and was wearing a sling on Sunday.

Asomugha’s departure, while certainly not unexpected, left a void Huff hopes to help fill.

“He’s the one that kind of showed me how to watch film and showed me how to study,” Huff said. “I definitely give him a lot of credit for helping me grow to the next step. Now I have to take that next step. What he taught me, I gotta teach the young guys that.”

Huff is the fifth free agent who has returned to the Raiders since the end of the lockout. Oakland also signed eight of its potential free agents before the lockout.

Tight end Zach Miller remains the team’s highest profile free agent.

“I’ve talked to him several times and hopefully that situation will be resolved soon,” Jackson said. “Which way it’s going to go, nobody knows. Obviously, his teammates, his coach and everybody else would love to have him back here but again, no different than everybody else who’s a free agent.”

NOTES: KR/WR Jacoby Ford is sidelined indefinitely after breaking a hand on Saturday but Jackson expects the second-year player to be ready in time for the season opener. Ford set a single-season team record with three kickoff returns for touchdowns in 2010 and was also one of the Raiders’ most explosive wide receivers.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.