Bad Mistakes Cost Raiders a Victory Against Tennessee
Oakland (1-2) 10 - Tennessee (3-0) 16
Tennessee, TN (Week 3, 2006) – In a game pitting an inconsistent Oakland Raiders against a good-looking Tennessee Titans, fans were unsure as to what kind of game would be played. What they watched was anything but well-executed football, though it made for a surprising and exciting finish.
The game started off very slowly as both teams were able to gather first downs, but would inevitably be forced to punt after each offensive series. There were five punts before Oakland was finally able to put the first points on the board, on a 25-yard field goal by K Herb Mallory, with 9:58 left in the second quarter. The game slowed down again as both teams traded more punts, though Tennessee K Rob Bironas missed a 46-yard field goal attempt as the second quarter wound down.
As the second half got underway, the Titans were able to string together a 14-play drive which enabled Bironas to tie the game on a 30-yard field goal. As the third quarter began to wind down, it was the Raiders’ turn to get some offence going as they worked a 10-play drive during which the Raiders mixed up their passing and running plays effectively for the first time all game. The Raiders took the lead on a 1 yard touchdown run by RB Lamont Jordan.
Fans groaned as the game again settled into a punt-fest, before the Titans started to threaten late in the game. After an 8-play drive spanning 62 yards, Bironas attempted to get the Titans close with a 22-yard field goal, but missed to the right. This left 3:03 on the clock. With the ball back and only a 7 point lead to work with, it was expected that the Raiders would start to grind time off the clock, but instead had a six play series, of which five were passes. Oakland was only able to knock 1:03 off the clock, giving the Titans the final two minutes to attempt to tie the game.
QB Steve McNair wasted no time going to the air, as he first hooked up with RB Anthony Thomas for an 18 yard pass, then found WR Tyrone Calico for a 15 yard pass. After two incompletions, McNair found Calico again, this time for a 39 yard pass and a touchdown. The Bironas extra point tied the game, and gave the Raiders the ball back with 27 seconds left in the game. QB Kerry Collins worked fast as well, finding WR Ronald Curry for a 24 yard pass, putting the Raiders on the Tennessee 45 yard line. Then the surprising happened, as none of the Raiders used a time out, of which they still had all three, and Collins threw another pass, this one a 4-yarder again to Curry. Time expired as they again failed to use a time out.
The game moved into overtime, where Tennessee won the coin toss and started out with the ball. The Raiders’ defence were up to the task early, as they forced the Titans to punt. However, as P Craig Hentrich punted the ball, the Raiders’ special teams took a horrible penalty, Roughing the Kicker. Tennessee got the ball back and continued their drive, this time working down field successfully. The final dagger was driven into the Raiders’ hearts as RB Travis Henry ran the ball in for the winning 7-yard touchdown, pushing the Raiders’ record to 1-2.
While the game saw some decent performances by the Raiders, as Collins went 20 for 34 with 232 yards, and Lamont Jordan had 94 yards on 23 carries with one touchdown, everyone was talking about the strange decisions to not run the ball late, to not use any of their time outs, and the devastating roughing the kicker penalty in overtime. Raiders Head Coach Brent Marlin did not have much in the way of excuses.
“This is what being a head coach is all about,” said Marlin, in a press conference after the game. “When you make a decision, it is either applauded if things go well, or criticized if things go wrong. Unfortunately, things went wrong in this case. We felt that Kerry could throw some short routes which would keep the Titans off-guard, and still allow us to run down the clock. Obviously, that did not work. As for the time outs, we felt that with the way momentum had shifted, it was more important to get to overtime without giving anything up. Kerry threw the passes in those situations because he saw them there, but out intention was to get to overtime at that point. The roughing the kicker penalty is a penalty that you never want to take, and in this case, it cost us the game. That is something we will have to talk to our special teams about, and it most definitely will be addressed. This is the type of game that you need to learn from quickly, then forget about. We have another road game next week to prepare for, so that is where our focus will now be.”
With the inconsistency the Raiders have shown so far this season, this game did nothing to help the questions surrounding the abilities of Coach Marlin to lead a team to a winning record. Raiders GM Barrett Blade did his best to defend his head coach. “Brent is a good coach, but this is a new team for him. There is a growing process that has to happen on both sides. The results of this game are unfortunately, but it is only the third week of the season. There are a lot of games to go, and we are confident that things will get better.”
The Raiders continue their extended road trip against the Cincinnati Bengals, and they will hope to erase the bad taste this game left, as soon as possible.
Box Score
Attendance: 66,500 (67,700).
Weather: 91 degrees, fair.
2Q: 09:58 OAK - Herb Mallory 25 field goal.
3Q: 07:38 TEN - Rob Bironas 30 field goal.
3Q: 00:27 OAK - LaMont Jordan 1 run.
3Q: 00:27 OAK - Herb Mallory extra point.
4Q: 00:34 TEN - Tyrone Calico 39 pass from Steve McNair.
4Q: 00:34 TEN - Rob Bironas extra point.
OT: 11:25 TEN - Travis Henry 7 run.
Game MVP: TEN 9 Steve McNair
Oakland 0 3 7 0 0 - 10
Tennessee 0 0 3 7 6 - 16
Team Statistics OAK TEN
First Downs 17 17
Total Rushes 24 31
Rushing Yards 97 122
Yards Per Carry 4.0 3.9
Pass Attempts 34 36
Completions 20 23
Passing Yards 232 227
Yards Per Attempt 6.8 6.3
Sacked 4 2
Yards Lost 28 15
Interceptions 0 0
Fumbles/Lost 0/0 0/0
Total Plays 62 69
Total Yards 301 334
Yards Per Play 4.8 4.8
3rd Down Plays 5/15 7/17
Avg. YTG on 3rd 10.4 6.9
4th Down Plays 0/0 0/0
Penalties 8 6
Penalty Yards 60 45
Avg. Drive Start OWN 24 OWN 29
Time Of Possession 29:55 33:40
Oakland Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
34 Jordan 23 94 4.0 27 1
22 Kuehler 1 3 3.0 3 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
5 Collins 34 20 232 6.8 34 0 0 4
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
84 Porter 5 48 9.6 19 17 0
81 Curry 5 57 11.4 11 24 0
85 Gabriel 3 51 17.0 4 17 0
34 Jordan 2 10 5.0 10 5 0
83 Anderson 2 7 3.5 11 4 0
80 Distel 2 37 18.5 3 34 0
89 Rackers 1 22 22.0 2 22 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
34 Jordan 1 -6 -6.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
25 Walker 1 26 26.0 0
84 Porter 1 16 16.0 0
27 Washington 1 24 24.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
9 Lechler 8 311 38.8 47 2
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
2 Mallory 1 1 25 1 1
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
55 Clark 7 1 0.0 0 0 0
21 Asomugha 7 1 0.0 0 0 0
91 Burgess 6 0 1.0 0 0 0
56 Davis 6 4 0.0 0 0 0
30 Schweigert 6 2 0.0 0 0 0
95 DeLoach 4 1 0.0 0 0 0
98 Hamilton 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
24 Foley 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
35 Williams 3 2 1.0 0 0 0
59 Grant 2 2 0.0 0 0 0
51 Brayton 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
27 Washington 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
25 Walker 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
45 Robinson 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
58 Rainer 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
76 Gallery 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
57 Cooper 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
89 Rackers 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
71 Rucker 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
54 Williams 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
44 Grier 0 0 0 0 1 1
76 Gallery 0 0 0 0 2 1
68 Williams 0 0 0 0 0 1
67 Stone 0 0 0 0 1 1
70 Badger 0 0 0 0 2 0
62 Treu 0 0 0 0 2 0
Tennessee Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
20 Henry 21 81 3.8 14 1
9 McNair 4 15 3.7 4 0
25 Thomas 4 21 5.2 9 0
44 Johnson 2 5 2.5 3 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
9 McNair 36 23 227 6.3 44 1 0 2
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
44 Johnson 9 37 4.1 25 8 0
87 Calico 4 70 17.5 2 39 1
84 Troupe 3 24 8.0 3 11 0
82 Roby 2 61 30.5 4 44 0
38 Douglas 2 6 3.0 0 3 0
89 Warrick 1 5 5.0 0 5 0
25 Thomas 1 18 18.0 0 18 0
81 Jones 1 6 6.0 6 6 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
89 Warrick 2 2 1.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
20 Henry 3 67 22.3 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
15 Hentrich 7 277 39.5 48 3
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
2 Bironas 1 3 30 1 1
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
53 Bulluck 10 1 0.0 0 0 0
31 Bashir 8 1 0.0 0 0 0
28 Thompson 6 2 0.0 0 0 0
47 Doesburg 6 0 0.0 0 0 0
92 Haynesworth 3 1 1.0 0 0 0
54 Stewart 2 3 1.0 0 0 0
93 Sullivan 2 3 1.0 0 0 0
94 Hohlt 2 2 1.0 0 0 0
32 Jones 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
51 Ellard 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
22 Fuller 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
23 Harris 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
52 McKinnon 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
75 Olson 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
20 Henry 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
43 Nash 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
95 Peters 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
37 Baxley 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
61 Williams 0 0 0 0 2 1
69 Piller 0 0 0 0 0 1
58 Gammon 0 0 0 0 2 0
67 Fabini 0 0 0 0 2 0
75 Olson 0 0 0 0 1 0
84 Troupe 0 0 0 0 1 0
59 Weber 0 0 0 0 1 0