Missed Field Goals Cost Raiders in Game Against Struggling Broncos
Oakland (7-4) 14 - Denver (5-5-1) 16
Denver, CO (Week 12, 2005) – The Raiders headed into another divisional game with high expectations. Coming off a gutsy win over the strong San Diego Chargers, many figured that an inconsistent Broncos team would be an easy target. Unfortunately for the Raiders, that did not prove to be true.
The weather was a chilly 22 degrees as both teams took the field, and the game turned into a slow and ugly one. Both offences started off sluggish, attempting to establish the run game but having little luck. Denver was able to strike first with two field goals in the first quarter. Before the half ended, Oakland had finally gotten on the board with a five yard touchdown pass from QB Kerry Collins to RB Lamont Jordan, but Denver responded with another field goal to take 9-7 lead into the half.
As the second half got underway, the tempo in the game remained even, with the game becoming a slow grind. Denver ended the third quarter by finally finding the end zone on a 26 yard TD pass from QB Jake Plummer to WR Rod Smith, giving the Broncos a 16-7 lead. Oakland began to show some signs of life at that point by stringing together a solid drive which ended with a 2 yard TD run by RB Justin Fargas.
Oakland continued to get their offence going on a drive that killed off 6:01 of the fourth quarter and set up K Steve Christie with a chance to give the Raiders the lead with a 40 yard field goal attempt, but Christie kicked the ball wide to the left. Not ready to give up, the Oakland defence stopped the Broncos from killing the clock by forcing them to punt with 1:19 left in the game. Collins made a key completion to give Christie a chance at redemption as he attempted a 55 yard field goal. Unfortunately, the aging kicker came up short, and the Raiders lost the game.
“It was not fun to watch,” said Raiders Coach Jorge Shank. “That is the way it is sometimes. But all in all, it is not Steve’s fault. We just did not have a good game offensively at all. We had the game plan down, but when it came to execution, something was very off. All year, our bread and butter has been our offence, but we did not come to play today. We are going to have to address that for next week.”
The Oakland offence did indeed struggle for most of the game, as they tried to establish the run game. The Raiders ran the ball thirty times, but only came away with 98 yards, 75 of them gained by Jordan. The Raiders’ passing game was not a lot better, as they managed only 236 yards, with star receiver Randy Moss only gaining 72 yards. On the flip side, the Raiders’ defence had a better time than they have had over the past few weeks, as they held the Broncos to only 293 total yards, with Plummer barely eclipsing the 200 yard mark.
“We played well, overall,” said LB Danny Clark. “Still, it wasn’t enough. This is a game we have to win, and to lose it will only make things more difficult in the stretch. We will be watching a lot of film this week, and see what we can do to get better. We have a big game next week, and we need to be ready and erase the bad taste of this loss.”
Oakland is now tied for the AFC West division lead with the Kansas City Chiefs, which makes next week’s game against the Chiefs very important. Oakland will definitely be looking to it’s offence to come out firing, and will also be hoping that their defence can match their performance from this week.
Box Score
Attendance: 74,700 (76,100).
Weather: 22 degrees, fair.
1Q: 11:42 DEN - Jason Elam 42 field goal.
1Q: 04:48 DEN - Jason Elam 37 field goal.
2Q: 07:17 OAK - LaMont Jordan 5 pass from Kerry Collins.
2Q: 07:17 OAK - Steve Christie extra point.
2Q: 00:18 DEN - Jason Elam 36 field goal.
3Q: 01:53 DEN - Rod Smith 26 pass from Jake Plummer.
3Q: 01:53 DEN - Jason Elam extra point.
4Q: 11:19 OAK - Justin Fargas 2 run.
4Q: 11:19 OAK - Steve Christie extra point.
Game MVP: DEN 79 Gerard Warren
Oakland 0 7 0 7 - 14
Denver 6 3 7 0 - 16
Team Statistics OAK DEN
First Downs 21 16
Total Rushes 30 26
Rushing Yards 98 104
Yards Per Carry 3.2 4.0
Pass Attempts 35 34
Completions 24 17
Passing Yards 236 206
Yards Per Attempt 6.7 6.0
Sacked 3 3
Yards Lost 24 17
Interceptions 0 1
Fumbles/Lost 1/0 1/1
Total Plays 68 63
Total Yards 310 293
Yards Per Play 4.5 4.6
3rd Down Plays 8/15 5/12
Avg. YTG on 3rd 7.3 11.5
4th Down Plays 0/0 1/1
Penalties 9 10
Penalty Yards 70 86
Avg. Drive Start OWN 24 OWN 33
Time Of Possession 34:08 25:52
Oakland Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
34 Jordan 23 75 3.2 11 0
20 Fargas 4 14 3.5 8 1
5 Collins 2 4 2.0 5 0
18 Moss 1 5 5.0 5 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
5 Collins 35 24 236 6.7 18 1 0 3
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
18 Moss 6 72 12.0 10 18 0
84 Porter 5 47 9.4 10 17 0
34 Jordan 3 22 7.3 17 10 1
85 Gabriel 3 28 9.3 6 14 0
43 Easy 2 12 6.0 2 9 0
83 Anderson 2 22 11.0 0 11 0
81 Curry 1 10 10.0 0 10 0
20 Fargas 1 7 7.0 2 7 0
88 Dudley 1 16 16.0 0 16 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
18 Moss 1 26 26.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
9 Lechler 6 209 34.8 46 3
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
6 Christie 0 2 0 2 2
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
30 Schweigert 7 0 0.0 0 0 0
22 Hill 5 2 0.0 1 0 0
93 Kelly 4 1 1.0 0 0 0
55 Clark 4 3 0.0 0 0 0
59 Grant 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
36 Gibson 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
99 Sapp 2 0 1.0 0 0 0
53 Foreman 2 2 0.0 0 0 0
51 Brayton 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
81 Curry 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
54 Williams 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
52 Morrison 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
95 Jasper 1 0 1.0 0 0 0
25 Walker 1 2 0.0 0 0 0
45 Robinson 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
98 Hamilton 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
20 Fargas 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
83 Anderson 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
96 Irons 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
77 Hawthorne 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
43 Easy 0 0 1 0 0 1
65 Sims 0 0 0 0 2 1
70 Badger 0 0 0 0 3 0
67 Stone 0 0 0 0 1 1
5 Collins 1 0 0 0 0 0
62 Treu 0 0 0 0 1 0
36 Gibson 0 1 0 0 0 0
54 Williams 0 0 1 0 0 0
83 Anderson 0 0 0 0 1 0
76 Gallery 0 0 0 0 1 0
Denver Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
38 Anderson 12 59 4.9 9 0
33 Dayne 11 42 3.8 37 0
16 Plummer 3 3 1.0 4 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
16 Plummer 33 17 206 6.2 26 1 1 3
9 Huntley 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
80 Smith 4 68 17.0 8 26 1
85 Lelie 4 45 11.2 2 18 0
17 Watts 3 46 15.3 2 23 0
82 Alexander 2 24 12.0 7 17 0
38 Anderson 1 2 2.0 0 2 0
33 Dayne 1 5 5.0 5 5 0
88 Putzier 1 8 8.0 3 8 0
39 Johnson 1 8 8.0 3 8 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
27 Williams 1 12 12.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
85 Lelie 3 86 28.6 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
10 Sauerbrun 3 125 41.6 63 1
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
1 Elam 3 4 42 1 1
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
55 Williams 10 3 0.0 0 0 0
79 Warren 6 0 1.0 0 0 0
52 Gold 5 2 1.0 0 0 0
47 Lynch 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
56 Wilson 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
98 Brown 5 1 0.0 0 0 0
24 Bailey 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
25 Ferguson 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
35 Walls 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
36 Cowdrick 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
51 Burns 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
92 Coleman 1 0 1.0 0 0 0
91 Ekuban 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
39 Johnson 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
27 Williams 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
37 Sapp 0 0 0 0 0 2
50 Hamilton 0 0 0 0 1 1
66 Nalen 0 0 0 0 3 0
78 Lepsis 0 0 0 0 2 0
71 Spikes 0 0 0 0 2 0
16 Plummer 1 0 0 0 0 0
52 Gold 0 1 0 0 0 0