The Oakland Raiders had control of their playoff destiny within
their grasp Sunday before they caved under an avalanche of big
plays that left them buried in the land of what could have been.
The Raiders squandered a 10-point lead and wasted a 476-yard
offensive showing, including 209 total yards and three touchdowns
by running back Darren McFadden, in a 38-31 loss to the
Jacksonville Jaguars.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
The Oakland Raiders had control of their playoff destiny within their grasp Sunday before they caved under an avalanche of big plays that left them buried in the land of what could have been.
The Raiders squandered a 10-point lead and wasted a 476-yard offensive showing, including 209 total yards and three touchdowns by running back Darren McFadden, in a 38-31 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“It kicks you in the teeth,” Raiders coach Tom Cable said.
Things could have been much worse for the Raiders. They received word during the long flight home that the San Diego Chargers beat the AFC West-leading Kansas City Chiefs in a win-lose kind of game for the Raiders.
The Chargers’ victory moved them a game ahead of the Raiders at 7-6. The Chiefs fell to 8-5, remaining two games ahead of the Raiders.
The Raiders now need to make up at least one game on the Chargers and two games on the Chiefs if they are to end their seven-year skid of not making the playoffs.
“That makes it tougher because you’re expecting to win (Sunday), and then with what’s going on with Kansas City, you’re like, ‘OK, we’ll be a step closer,’€‰” Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said of the Chiefs being without starting quarterback Matt Cassel. “There’s still hope. … The thing was, we were in position to kind of take control of it. So, now you’re getting to the point where you need different things to happen for you to get in.”
The Raiders no longer hold an edge over the Chargers after working so hard to put them in a hole—the Raiders beat them both times this season and hold a tiebreaker if they finish with identical records.
The Chargers can prevent the Raiders from making the playoffs by beating the 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos in their final three games. Those three teams are a combined 10-29 this season.
The Chiefs can eliminate the Raiders with victories in their next two games, which would render the teams’ regular-season finale in Kansas City meaningless. The Raiders beat the Chiefs earlier in the season.
Raiders safety Mike Mitchell said now is not the time to give up hope, regardless how bleak it might seem.
“I know it’s hard for (fans) to get motivated after watching us blow this one, but we need them more than ever now,” Mitchell said. “We need their support. We’ve got to win out. We will win out. We’re going to the playoffs still.”
Mitchell and many of his defensive mates pinned the blame for Sunday’s loss on the defense.
It’s difficult to argue considering the Jaguars entered the locker room at halftime down 17-7 and still trailed by 10 past the midpoint of the third quarter.
Then came a 74-yard touchdown run by backup running back Rashad Jennings on a third-and-two play, a 10-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-goal play, a 24-yard run by quarterback David Garrard on third-and-three that led to a field goal, and running back Maurice Jones-Drew’s 30-yard, game-deciding TD run 19 seconds after the Raiders tied it at 31.
“Anytime you give up that many big plays and points, you put your offense in a tough spot,” Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour said. “We had way more than enough points to win this game.”
The usually reliable special teams also contributed to the Raiders’ demise.
Rookie Jacoby Ford fumbled during a kickoff return at the 22-yard line late in the third quarter. The Jaguars turned that gaffe into a go-ahead touchdown five plays later.
“Just too many big plays defensively,” Cable said. “The turnover on the kickoff return was big. So, those two things were really the difference in the game.”
Ford said he never saw Kassim Osgood before Osgood knocked loose the ball in the middle of the field.
“I don’t even know where the guy came from,” Ford said. “I just hit the hole and the ball just kind of came out. That’s something I take a lot of pride in. I’m probably not going to let that one go for a while because that was a big momentum swing in the game.”
Through it all, the Raiders tied the game on McFadden’s third touchdown. They were 1 minute, 53 seconds away from overtime.
Eleven seconds later, Jacksonville’s Deji Karim reached the Raiders 30 on a 65-yard kickoff return and set up Jones-Drew’s heroics.
“This was a team victory; offense, defense and special teams,” said Jaguars linebacker Kirk Morrison, who spent the past five years with the Raiders. “We find a way to win. We found ways (Sunday).”
It’s a stark change from what he experienced during his Raiders career, when Oakland lost 60 of its 80 games.
“We found ways to lose games,” Morrison said. “I’ve come out on the short end of the stick too many times on that. It just seems like every time we get in adverse situations on this team, everybody looks at each other and nobody panics. We know that somebody is going to make a play. We just don’t know who it is.”
— Story by Steve Corkran, Contra Costa Times
