Drops, Wasted Opportunities Cost Raiders In 20-18 Loss - KBLover's Blog

KBLover's Blog

Drops, Wasted Opportunities Cost Raiders In 20-18 Loss

Posted on December 1, 2011 at 01:36 AM.

The Raiders defense really showed up in this game. For the longest, they held down Brady and the Patriots to just a couple field goals. They even picked off two Brady passes before he threw his first TD pass.

However, the offense continually stalled in the red zone, sometimes even inside the five yard line.

Then later...the drops occurred.

The receivers betrayed their QB with drop after drop as the defense kept the game in reach though the Patriots were starting to get into rhythm.

However, with 3 minutes left, the receivers started catching passes and the team moved down the field. McFadden got things started by holding on to the ball on some passes over the middle, then Ford and Bey got in the mix. Denarius Moore made a catch and a couple nifty moves to get tackled at the one yard line. A couple plays later, Moore caught a one yard pass to make the score 20-18.

With only 32 seconds left, the team went for two. Palmer found an open man in the front of the end zone, but, perhaps fittingly, Boss, the most reliable receiver up to this point with 7 catches and 101 yds receiving, dropped the pass that would have likely forced overtime.

The Raiders failed the onside kick and that was the ballgame.

Palmer threw 53 passes, something the team didn't want to have to do. Of course, if the TEN drops hadn't happened, Palmer would have had a great day to show for it. McFadden was strong again, picking up over 120 yds on the ground and tacking on some more as a receiver. Janikowski was 4 for 4 in FG attempts.

The loss drops the Raiders to 1-3. The team faces the 2-2 Texans next.

Injury Report:
The team lost two players to injury, both relatively serious. Rolando McClain will miss the next 5 weeks with a broken collarbone. Lamarr Houston will miss 6 weeks with a torn tricep. The team will not place him on injured reserve.