Oakland Strong Against Kansas City Despite Penalty Trouble
Kansas City (7-5) 10 - Oakland (8-4) 20
Oakland, CA (Week 13, 2005) – The Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs met in the latest round of the dog-fight for the AFC West. Coming into the game, both teams were tied for the division lead, but it was the Raiders who came to play. Led by a strong running game and an improving defence, Oakland were able to control the game, despite a barrage of penalties which helped extend a number of drives for the Chiefs.
One of the most penalized teams in the NFL, the Raiders took another eleven penalties throughout the game, compared to the three penalties taken by Kansas City. “We were undisciplined, plain and simple,” said Raiders Coach Jorge Shank. “It is something we have struggled with all season long, and something we have worked on in practice, but it does not seem to be getting any better. I don’t know if it is a lack of concentration by the players or what, but this is going to hurt us come playoff time if we do not get it fixed.”
Penalties aside, Oakland took control of the game in the first quarter, and did not look back. WR Jerry Porter, playing only his second game since returning from a serious injury suffered early in the year, hauled in the first score of the game on a 5 yard TD pass from QB Kerry Collins. K Steve Christie, criticized after his performance in Week 12 against the Denver Broncos, regained some of his form by kicking two field goals to give the Raiders a 13-0 lead by halftime. Kansas City put up a bit of a fight in the second half, as they finally got on the score sheet with a 4 yard scramble by QB Trent Green, then closed the gap to 3 with a 20 yard field goal by K Lawrence Tynes. The Raiders put it out of reach late, though, with a 1 yard TD run by RB Lamont Jordan.
It was Jordan and the rest of the Raiders’ running game that led the way, as they ate up 133 yards, 112 of them by Jordan himself. Jordan also added another 40 yards receiving. They were able to grind the Chiefs defence down, which took a lot of the fight out of them. The Oakland defence continued that trend, as they held the Chiefs to only 195 yards passing, and held star running back Priest Holmes to 81 yards rushing on 24 carries.
“It was tough out there today,” said Holmes. “Running room out there was at a minimum, and wherever I turned, I was faced by a black shirt. Without our running game, we had problems establishing the pass, and it just went downhill from there. We are getting to a point in the season where every game is important, and divisional games doubly so, and they came to play today. We didn’t.”
The Raiders’ defence did not have to be flashy to get the job done, as they were able to confuse Trent Green with coverage schemes and unique looks, and not on pressure and turnovers, though Green was sacked twice. The Oakland offence was similarly efficient as Collins threw for a conservative 227 yards, while Randy Moss only hauled in 72 yards.
“We have shown that we can be all about the big play,” said Collins after the game. “But today, we showed that we can grind out the wins as well. You have to be able to adapt to what the other team gives you, and I think we have been able to do that pretty well this season. Each game like this only serves to expand your abilities as a team to win in different fashions, to be more adaptable. This game is only going to improve our ability to win in any given situation.”
With the win, Oakland has regained sole possession of the AFC West, and looks to face a struggling Atlanta Falcons team next week.
Box Score
Attendance: 55,900 (62,500).
Weather: 54 degrees, fair.
1Q: 04:47 OAK - Jerry Porter 5 pass from Kerry Collins.
1Q: 04:47 OAK - Steve Christie extra point.
2Q: 09:34 OAK - Steve Christie 35 field goal.
2Q: 00:20 OAK - Steve Christie 28 field goal.
3Q: 02:29 KCY - Trent Green 4 run.
3Q: 02:29 KCY - Lawrence Tynes extra point.
4Q: 05:33 KCY - Lawrence Tynes 20 field goal.
4Q: 02:10 OAK - LaMont Jordan 1 run.
4Q: 02:10 OAK - Steve Christie extra point.
Game MVP: OAK 5 Kerry Collins
Kansas City 0 0 7 3 - 10
Oakland 7 6 0 7 - 20
Team Statistics KCY OAK
First Downs 19 21
Total Rushes 27 29
Rushing Yards 89 133
Yards Per Carry 3.2 4.5
Pass Attempts 36 33
Completions 17 21
Passing Yards 195 227
Yards Per Attempt 5.4 6.8
Sacked 2 2
Yards Lost 12 19
Interceptions 0 1
Fumbles/Lost 0/0 2/1
Total Plays 65 64
Total Yards 272 341
Yards Per Play 4.1 5.3
3rd Down Plays 5/15 8/13
Avg. YTG on 3rd 8.6 8.0
4th Down Plays 2/2 0/0
Penalties 3 11
Penalty Yards 27 80
Avg. Drive Start OWN 24 OWN 38
Time Of Possession 30:18 29:42
Kansas City Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
31 Holmes 24 81 3.3 16 0
10 Green 3 8 2.6 5 1
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
10 Green 36 17 195 5.4 24 0 0 2
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
49 Richardson 3 12 4.0 12 5 0
89 Dunn 3 42 14.0 4 24 0
88 Gonzalez 3 37 12.3 8 18 0
87 Kennison 2 42 21.0 10 24 0
31 Holmes 2 15 7.5 8 9 0
80 Maggard 2 18 9.0 2 13 0
82 Hall 1 17 17.0 0 17 0
12 Thorpe 1 12 12.0 0 12 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
82 Hall 1 7 7.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
43 Ambrose 2 26 13.0 0
82 Hall 2 44 22.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
2 Colquitt 6 240 40.0 55 0
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
1 Tynes 1 2 20 1 1
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
99 Bell 10 3 1.0 0 0 0
29 Knight 8 3 0.0 1 0 0
23 Surtain 6 2 0.0 0 0 0
50 Mitchell 6 2 0.0 0 0 0
56 Johnson 4 3 0.0 0 0 0
43 Ambrose 3 0 1.0 0 0 0
26 Battle 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
25 Wesley 2 2 0.0 0 0 0
21 Woods 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
93 Browning 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
98 Hicks 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
39 Holcombe 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
66 WIlkerson 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
22 McCleon 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
89 Dunn 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
88 Gonzalez 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
27 Johnson 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
94 Siavii 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
65 Black 0 0 0 0 1 1
54 Waters 0 0 0 0 2 0
68 Shields 0 0 0 0 0 1
77 Roaf 0 0 0 0 3 0
62 Wiegmann 0 0 0 0 1 0
21 Woods 0 1 0 0 0 0
29 Knight 0 0 1 0 0 0
23 Surtain 0 1 0 0 0 0
Oakland Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
34 Jordan 27 112 4.1 16 1
20 Fargas 2 21 10.5 11 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
5 Collins 33 21 227 6.8 25 1 1 2
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
18 Moss 6 72 12.0 12 23 0
34 Jordan 6 40 6.6 22 16 0
84 Porter 3 30 10.0 3 13 1
81 Curry 3 50 16.6 3 25 0
83 Anderson 2 22 11.0 10 19 0
85 Gabriel 1 13 13.0 0 13 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
84 Porter 2 19 9.5 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
18 Moss 3 97 32.3 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
9 Lechler 4 144 36.0 50 1
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
6 Christie 2 2 35 2 2
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
53 Foreman 8 3 0.0 0 0 0
36 Gibson 5 3 0.0 0 0 0
55 Clark 4 5 1.0 0 0 0
30 Schweigert 4 2 0.0 0 0 0
22 Hill 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
52 Morrison 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
98 Hamilton 3 0 0.5 0 0 0
25 Walker 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
51 Brayton 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
27 Washington 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
26 Routt 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
77 Hawthorne 1 1 0.5 0 0 0
54 Williams 1 2 0.0 0 0 0
93 Kelly 1 2 0.0 0 0 0
5 Collins 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
62 Treu 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
45 Robinson 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
59 Grant 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
34 Jordan 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
94 Gbaja-Biamila 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
85 Gabriel 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
99 Sapp 0 2 0.0 0 0 0
95 Jasper 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
76 Gallery 0 0 0 0 3 1
62 Treu 0 0 0 0 2 1
67 Stone 0 0 0 0 4 0
70 Badger 0 0 0 0 2 0
18 Moss 1 0 0 0 0 0
45 Robinson 0 0 1 0 0 0
65 Sims 0 0 0 0 1 0
34 Jordan 1 0 0 0 0 0