Raiders try to get a leg up on the competition

All the talk around the Oakland Raiders this week was the team’s new arm.

But a bigger factor Sunday could be “The Leg.”

Largely lost in the hubbub surrounding the trade for quarterback Carson Palmer was that kicker Sebastian Janikowski is nursing a sore hamstring and is listed as questionable for the game against Kansas City. According to the Oakland Tribune, Janikowski was walking stiffly at practice Friday and used a JUGS machine to launch practice kickoffs to returners.

The Raiders on Saturday signed Dave Rayner as insurance, just in case Janikowski can’t play.

“It’s a huge part of our football team if he can’t go,” Coach Hue Jackson told reporters of Janikowski. “I’m not going to make any excuses. If he can’t go, he can’t go. We’ll get somebody who can. That’s the way it goes. We’ll be fine.”

NFL kickers have shown remarkable accuracy from 50 yards and longer this season, and Janikowski is leading the way.

According to STATS LLC, kickers have made 32 of 48 attempts (67%) from at least 50 yards this season, and Janikowski has made five of those, including booming field goals of 56 and 63 yards. He’s missed just once. His personal single-season record is six such kicks, which he achieved in 2007 and 2009.

The record for most 50-yard-plus kicks in a season is eight, held by Jason Hanson (2008) and Morten Andersen (1995).

What a comeback

It’s hard to count a team out these days. San Francisco trailed, 10-0, at Detroit before rallying to hand the Lions their first defeat. That was the 19th time this season a team has come back to win after erasing a double-digit deficit, the most times through Week 6 in NFL history.

What’s more, the 19 comebacks of 10 points or more are already the second-most through the first seven weeks of the season.

Victories after trailing by 10-plus points through Week 7, according to the NFL (*through Week 6):

SEASON No.
1987 23
2011 19*
1989 18
1990 18
1999 18

Toss it, Tim

So how should Miami make things tough on Tim Tebow?

Were he a defensive coordinator, former All-Pro safety John Lynch said he would entice Tebow to pass, pass, pass.

“You’ve got to load up the box against him,” Lynch said. “You’re going to get some form of spread, and they’re going to try to run the football. I’d say, ‘All right, we know what a great athlete you are. We know how big and strong you are.’ But everybody has been saying -- even his coach and general manager -- that he struggles in passing the football, so it would be hard for him to methodically march down the field by throwing it.

“So load up the box and say, ‘We’re going to leave one-on-ones out there and see if we can hold up. You’ve got to throw to beat us. You’re not going to beat us by doing what you do best.’ ”

Lynch, a former Broncos star, said he’s been very impressed, not by the way Tebow looks on the field, but how he somehow can make plays.

“I’ve always had a feeling with that kid,” he said. “I went to practice this off-season and I’m standing there in camp with [John] Elway. And it looks awful in practice. But sure enough the kid’s got something to him. Every time he goes in the game, it’s not always pretty but something good happens. I don’t bet against that kid.”

Tweet of week

From Sports Illustrated’s Steve Rushin (@steverushin): “The league requires someone wins/A game between the Jets & Fins/But that contest was at best a/Football version of Lunesta.”

sam.farmer@latimes.com
twitter.com/LATimesfarmer