Raiders start strong, but fizzle in the 2nd half; lose 20-13
Oakland, CA –The Oakland Raiders elected to start the game on defense. That defense would see a Kansas City offense that looked to pass first with having tightend Tony Gonzalez split out wide. The tactic seemed to work in the beginning of the drive but Oakland would eventually figure out how to defend the new formations and forced K.C. to punt after having allowed them to get just inside of Oakland’s side of the 50-yard line.
On Oakland’s first offensive drive of the game, it was the Raiders’ turn to display some unusual formations. Oakland would line runningback Darren McFadden out as a wideout and paid huge dividends. On one play, McFadden’s speed threat forced the Chiefs’ cornerback to put out an arm bar to keep Darren from getting by him; thus committing a pass interference penalty on K.C. Next, Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell got tightend Zach Miller into the game early by hitting him with an intermediate pass for a big gain. Then, the Raiders would dazzle the crowd and give K.C.’s defensive coordinator fits with a planned hook and lateral that showcased Oakland’s offensive speed. However, with all the razzle dazzle, Oakland could not get into the endzone and settled for a tipped Sebastian Janikowski field goal that still managed to make it through the uprights to put Oakland up 3-0 in the first quarter.
Kansas City would reciprocate on their next offensive go-around with a successful, more conventional field goal drive of their own to tie up the game 3-3 with over a minute left in the first quarter.
The Raiders would start it’s second offensive drive conventionally and after again failing to get into the endzone, Oakland would go with one gimmick too many as they would attempt a fake field goal with the holder Shane Lechler passing the ball between his legs after the snap to kicker Sebastian Janikowski who was running towards the undefended flats. The problem came when Jano failed to hold onto the pitch and fumbled the ball and Kansas City recovered and returned the ball 67-yards for a touchdown to go ahead of the Raiders 10-3 in the second quarter.
Oakland’s QB JaMarcus Russell would march his team back and get his offense no further than Kansas City’s 21-yard line as he failed to connect to a diving Ronald Curry in the endzone on fourth down. K.C. would get the ball back on their own 21-yard line just over 5 minutes left in the first half.
The Raiders defense would then stiffen after yielding only one 11-yard pass by K.C. to force them to punt away. Ironically, the Chiefs’ defense showed some toughness in return and immediately halted and Raider aspirations of an offensive drive by quickly forcing them to punt at the 2-minute warning.
After a forced K.C. punt, Oakland’s offense would try to mount some sort of drive to at get itself back into the game. However, instead of moving forward, the Raiders moved backwards following two offensive penalties and a fumble and recovery on their own 16-yard line to end the half down 10-3 as they then limped back to the locker room to a chorus of boos by the frustrated home crowd.
With Oakland’s offense seemingly stuck on the pause button, it would be up to the defense to spark the team and a spark is just what it gave them. Raider cornerback Chris Johnson would jump the passing route and pick off a Yancey Thigpen pass and returned it 44-yards to the Chiefs’ 1-yard line. Runningback Justin Fargas would clean up with a 1-yard catapult (which looked like he could have leapt clear into the neighboring city of San Leandro with height and distance he cleared the line) into the endzone to bring the Raiders back into a 10-10 tie early in the third quarter.
Both teams would then go 3-and-out on their next two respective drives. With the Chiefs next drive, they would march down the field with help from a hapless Raider 3rd down defense and a propensity to be unable to cover Kansas City tightend Tony Gonzalez (along with some ignored holding penalties against the Chiefs). The Chiefs would stomp their way 91-yards and punctuate their drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Larry Johnson to put K.C. ahead 17-10 minutes into the fourth quarter.
To further compound the reversal of momentum, Raider running back Justin Fargas would fumble the ball on their own 21-yard line by a strip of the ball by a K.C. defender. The Chiefs would then have to settle for a field goal to widen the lead by ten points; making it a score of 20-10.
Oakland’s offensive woes would continue with another 3-and-out that was fraught with wildly errand passes by JaMarcus Russell and more predictable off-tackle running by Justin Fargas that truly was a “Bridge-to-Nowhere.”
Oakland did manage to string together a drive in the waning moments of the 4th quarter, but the all-to-familiar theme of “too little, too late” rang true once again as the Raiders squeezed out three points on a 51-yard Sebastian Janikowski field goal to get them within a seven point deficit by a score of 20-13.
Raider Head Coach Tom Cable elected to kick the ball deep instead of an offsides kick. The tactic backfired as the Raiders’ very generous 3rd down defense leaked like a sieve and allowed the Chiefs to extend their drive and exhaust Oakland’s remaining timeouts. The Chiefs would then kneel on the ball to run out the clock and beat the Raiders with a final score of 20-13.
