Silver and Black Report

DeMarcus Davis, Staff Writer/SBReport.net

Sunday December 21, 2008

Oakland, CA – The last game in Oakland for the season and before Christmas, the Oakland Raiders desperately wanted a win and a win is what they would get and in BIG TIME fashion.

Oakland won the toss and elected to receive first and kick returner Justin Miller brings the ball out to Oakland’s 36-yard line. Immediately, the Raiders came out of the gates, first with a brilliant JaMarcus Russell scramble and pass to TE Zach Miller for 21-yards. Then, after a wonderful mix of runs from Justin Fargas and Darren McFadden, the Raiders were yards away from scoring their first opening drive since the last Oakland/Denver game. Then, to the delight of the sparse Raider fans in attendance, Russell finds a wide open WR Chaz Schilens in the endzone to put Oakland on top 7-0.

Regardless of the Raiders opening drive, the Houston Texans mounted a huge opening drive of their own; a mix of misdirections and bootlegs that ha the Raider defense well on their heels. It was clear that former Denver Bronco assistant coach Gary Kubiak knew he has the where-with-all on how to beat this Rob Ryan lead Raider defense. Kubiak would put that knowledge to use as he got his team within sniffing distance from the Raider goal line as he then watched his runningback plow his way into the Raider endzone to even up the game at 7-7.

Oakland later would prove, (at least in this game), that they were not a one-trick pony and found themselves marching down field and once again into the redzone. Because of a missed pass interference and an almost executed counter-pitch out to McFadden, the Raiders would settle for a field goal to pull the Raiders back into the lead 10-7.

Just when you thought it was safe to run to the bathroom or get a popcorn break, the Raiders’ special teams pulled a fast one. An onsides kick with over 3 minutes to go in the first quarter. Rashad Baker would return it for Oakland. Couple that with a first down, the Raiders again found themselves in Texans territory. TE Zach Miller put on a clinic with his clutch receptions and big runs after the catch. Had the Raiders actually had a better offensive line, Miller easily should have been a Pro Bowler this year. His ability is widely evident.

Again however, the Raiders found themselves in the redzone, but couldn’t punch it in and came away with a 13-7 lad following a Sebastian Janikowski field goal.

The Raiders defense then showed it could stop a dive and kill a 3rd down play and forced the Texans to punt after a 3-and-out.

The Raiders subsequently stalled on offense and would punt the ball away.

Now, the Raiders had the Texans backed up on their own 10-yard line. That wouldn’t last long as the Texans stormed 19 yards on one running play as the running back dragged defenders as they tried to strip the ball instead of wrapping him up and brining him down. Then after a 4th and 1 conversion, the Texans strung together enough plays to get themselves to the Raiders’ 35-yard line, but would get no further and would come away with a 53-yard field goal kick that cleared the corner of the crossbar and the upright by a mere couple of inches that brought Texas closer to Oakland with a score of 13-10.

The Raiders would go 3-and-out on their next (9-yard) drive and be forced to punt.

After a booming Shane Lechler punt, the Texans on offense would convert a 3rd down into a 69-yard pass and catch, because of a mis-tackle just beyond the first down marker. The receiver would get taken down on the Raiders 15-yard line. Thanks to some stout run defense from LB’s Thomas Howard and Kirk Morrison, the Texans were limited to a converted field goal attempt that brought the game to a tie13-13 with 38-seconds left before half time.

With 32-seconds left in the 2nd quarter, the Raiders get to just outside of the Texans’ 20-yard line, but because the scramble pass took too long to develop, the clock ran out and so with it an opportunity for Oakland to kick a field goal for the lead. Instead, the game would remain knotted up at 13-13 at halftime.

The Raiders would open the 2nd half on defense and would promptly put a halt to any aspirations of any Texans’ opening offensive drive and forced them to punt.

Oakland, on its first series of the second half was initiated powerful running by Fargas and nimble speed running by McFadden both for multiple first downs. One such run by McFadden got him so pumped that after he ran out of bounds, he could be seen violently pumping his fist and almost taking down Sebastian Janikowski who was practicing kicks. Jano would be fine as would the Raider offense after a couple plays later when Russell hit WR Johnnie Lee Higgins in the endzone to put the Raiders back on top 20-13. An elated Higgins could be seen doing the “Carlton Dance” in a celebratory dance.

On Houston’s next drive, they would find out just how hard the Raiders’ defense hit. Two big hits were delivered in time for Christmas. One would come on a first down reception as CB Nnamdi Asomugha put a lick on the tight end. The other hit came courtesy of CB Chris Johnson as he immediately dropped his man by putting a shoulder in his gut for no gain. The Texans would be forced to punt.

On the subsequent return, punt returner Johnnie Lee Higgins would run the ball back 80 yards for another Raider touchdown in front of a hungry and rabid die-hard crowd chanting “Raaaaaai-deeeeers” after the touchdown. This time, Higgins delighted the crowd with the “Humpty Dance” in the endzone. He also would demonstrate the dance to teammates on the bench. The dance-laden score would widen the Raiders lead to 27-13. The 27-points at this juncture would be the largest amount scored for this season by this 2008 Oakland Raiders team.

The Raiders defense also would tighten and give up nothing substantial on the Texans’ following drive and forced them to punt. (No magical return by Higgins this time)

Oakland’s offense on their next drive sparkled at moments, but didn’t find their way to a score and also would be forced to punt.

The Texans would get the ball next at the start of the 4th quarter. The Texans managed to gain a 1st down on a 16-yard pass due to a slipped Asomugha tackle. From there, Texas would string together enough plays to them into the redzone. With the Texans knocking on the door, Texas offensive lineman Chester Pitts committed a personal foul penalty when he took a big vicious swing of a punch at Raiders defensive tackle Terdell Sands that failed to connect. The penalty that backed them up 15-yards took them out of a touchdown chance as the following pass play was ruled incomplete just outside the Raiders endzone. The Texan who threw the punch was not ejected despite the manner in which he threw the punch. Houston settled for a field goal to make the score 27-16.

Oakland would make its first real mistake of the game when JaMarcus Russell fumbled the ball when an unblocked defender came free and tackled him. The ball was knocked loose as Houston recovered the ball on the Raiders’ 15-yard line.

Texas got the ball down to the Raiders’ 5-yard line and on 4th and 1, the Texans opted to go for it. Oakland’s defense would come up big as they forced the pass to be incomplete on an exceptionally covered pass attempt; much to the delight of the Oakland crowd.

Now, all Oakland had to do was to fight it’s way 95-yards to score another touchdown. With over 7-and-a-half minutes on the clock, Oakland kept the ball on the ground in an early attempt to run out the clock and at the very least, give punter Shane Lechler room to punt if necessary. The Raiders opted for the latter as they would settle on getting to their own 25-yard line as they would be forced to punt.

A low-lying punt from Lechler helped the Texans gain excellent field position as the ball was run back to Oakland’s 40-yard line. No worries though, as CD Chris Johnson picked off Texans’ QB Matt Schaub on their first play of the drive. Johnson got the ball back to the Raiders 45-yard line with over 4-minutes left.

With no time outs remaining for Houston, the Oakland Raiders converted on 3rd and 3 to gain the first down and burn some precious clock time. The Raiders would take the ball to the Texans’ 37-yard line at the 2-minute warning. It would be 3rd and 6 after the mandatory 2-minute warning timeout. Fargas failed to reach the first down marker on 3rd down, but would take their time to run another play on 4th down with 1:22 on the clock and fall short of the down marker (turnover on downs).

Houston got the ball with 1:11 on the game clock amidst a chorus of thankful Raider fans cheering their offensive unit for what they have been able to put together for “The Nation” this one last time at home this season. They put together a mini-drive as they got passed mid-field and to the Raiders 44 yard line. But with 17-seconds left, QB Matt Schaub would go down, SACKED, to end the game as the Raiders are triumphant for the last time this year in the old House Of Thrills.

Oakland would go on to win 27-16.