"It really is too bad that so many of their home games are blacked out. Because win or lose, the Raiders are never dull.

For example, in Sunday's 39-23 victory, running back Darren McFadden's game began with a well-executed handoff to the other team -- by him.

Not by design, of course. McFadden was supposed to take a handoff and start around right end. Then he was supposed to give the ball on an end-around play to teammate Jacoby Ford coming across the field from the other direction.

Easy enough, right? Wrong. Denver linebacker Jason Hunter blitzed and got to Ford's spot before Ford did. A startled McFadden, who had already stretched out his arms with the ball, watched helplessly as Hunter grabbed it away and fell down to give Denver possession.

"Ugly," said Raiders coach Tom Cable, describing that play and several others in the first two quarters that led to him scorching many ears to a crisp during an angry halftime locker room speech.

"It was a pretty good talking-to," McFadden acknowledged later.

In this case, though, ugly eventually led to beautiful.

Because as the game wore on, McFadden got plenty of revenge. He gained 119 yards on 20 carries and pushed himself over 1,000 yards for the season. He is just the 10th Raider in the franchise's 51-year history to surpass that mark.

Considering that McFadden was the Raiders' top draft pick in 2008, the only surprise was that it didn't happen sooner.

"It is a surprise," McFadden said, "but it was well worth the wait. It was a goal coming into the season. The coaches let me know they were going to give me the ball."

Bulletin: The Raiders are not going to the playoffs this season, barring an improbable turn of events. But they are obviously a far better team than they've been the last seven years. For this, you can largely credit McFadden, who is obviously in far better health than he's ever been as a Raider.

At this point, McFadden is also the most important player on the team's roster moving toward the future. The quarterback position is still an issue because just when Jason Campbell looks like he might be the answer, he isn't. And who knows if Bruce Gradkowski will even return?"