This site has been outspoken in its ridicule of the Oakland Raiders and many of the personnel moves the team has made over the last couple years. I’ll stand by that criticism and add that I think their trading a first round pick for Richard Seymour didn’t make any sense for the long-term.

It just doesn’t make sense for a team that is a couple years away from being a contender to trade away first round picks for high-priced veterans who are pushing 30 years old. That most likely will be a top 10 or 12 pick they gave up for the former Patriot.

That said, after taking a few days off before reporting to play for the Raiders, Seymour is playing inspired football tonight against San Diego and it seems to be firing up the rest of what otherwise would be an undermanned team against San Diego.

Seymour hasn’t recorded a sack and hasn’t been credited with a lot of tackles, but he’s been lining up all over the defensive line, getting penetration, causing havoc and generally frustrating Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers.

It’s rubbing off, as well. Tommy Kelly, often criticized for lazy play after signing the big extension last offseason, has been just as active as Seymour. Gerard Warren has been in the mix several times as well. The Raiders’ defensive line is so controlling the game that three San Diego offensive linemen – Marcus McNeill, Louis Vasquez and Nick Hardwick – have left with injuries and their replacements have been called for at least two penalties.

It’s the most impressive, spirited football to come from Oakland in what, a half-dozen years? The only reasons they’re not winning the game by a couple touchdowns are a questionable reversal on what appeared to be a touchdown catch toward the end of the first half by rookie Louis Murphy and absolutely inept play by JaMarcus Russell, who has a cannon for an arm but seems to be just tossing the ball downfield and hoping that someone in a similarly-colored jersey is standing wherever the ball happens to land.

As this is being published, the Raiders just took a three point lead on a field goal early in the fourth quarter. I still expect the Chargers to find a way to eke out just enough to pull this game off in the end.

But if the Raiders can maintain this kind of spirited defensive play and get something even pushing average quarterback play from Russell (or one of his backups – yeah, in my mind he looks that bad), then the Raiders might make things more interesting than most experts predicted they would this season. How weird would that be?