Multiple sources are reporting that Oakland Raiders QB Jason Campbell has suffered a broken collarbone and is likely to miss the rest of the season. Campbell suffered the injury in the second quarter of Oakland’s game against the Cleveland Browns.
This is bad news for the Raiders as they attempt to catch the San Diego Chargers for first place in the AFC West. Despite losing Campbell, the Raiders went on to beat the Browns to move to 4-2 on the season.
Campbell’s primary backup is Kyle Boller, who completed eight of 14 passes for 100 yards in relief duty.
More after the jump.
While it certainly won’t hurt Kansas City’s chances that the Raiders are down their starting QB, don’t think the Chiefs will be able to waltz into Oakland to get an easy win. I watched Oakland’s entire game today and they are a very dangerous team. Their offense is well designed and does not require the QB to put the team on his shoulders. The Raiders use a lot of creativity to get the ball into the hands of their play-makers in space.
Oakland also proved they can manufacture points in other ways, scoring on a kickoff return by Jacoby Jones and a fake field goal.
The Raiders defense also played very well against a strong Cleveland running game. Oakland kept the box stacked with defenders and harassed QB Colt McCoy all day long. The Browns QB was often forced to dump the ball off for short completions to avoid the pressure. Cleveland was never really able to get things going on the ground.
The Raiders are a good team with or without Campbell. The Chiefs will need to protect the football on offense and tighten up their special teams play to ensure the Raiders don’t get any surprise TDs or kick returns. If the KC defense can keep a grasp on Darren McFadden, perhaps in the way they held Adrian Peterson in check earlier this year, they might be able to steal a road win next weekend.