Sebastian Janikowski’s 57-yard field goal supplied Oakland with
16-13 win against New York
OAKLAND
Brett Favre could barely hold back his emotion. He was spent, mentally and physically.
“One of the toughest losses I’ve ever been a part of,” he acknowledged, red-faced and thoroughly frustrated that he couldn’t pull this one off the way he’s done so many times before.
What a completely different day for Favre than his last visit to Oakland.
Favre went without a touchdown pass for the first time since joining the Jets and said he couldn’t watch as Sebastian Janikowski’s 57-yard field goal sailed through the uprights in the Oakland Raiders’ 16-13 overtime victory over New York on Sunday.
The Raiders picked up just their second win and did so in interim coach Tom Cable’s crazy, entertaining home debut. He called a timeout that negated Jay Feely’s missed 52-yard field goal in the final seconds of regulation, then Feely wound up nailing it on his next chance. Oakland also committed a season-high 14 penalties.
But Janikowski came through with the biggest of his three field goals on the afternoon. The 57-yarder bettered the team record he set earlier this year by 1 yard.
“As soon as I hit it, I started celebrating because I knew I hit it good,” said Janikowski, who was mobbed by his teammates after the kick. “Just seeing those guys in the locker room, just laughing and smiling, feels good.”
The Jets (3-3) were just too inconsistent to beat one of the NFL’s worst teams.
One late drive for Favre and the New York offense summed it up: incomplete pass, sack for a loss of 8 yards, then an interception. It was a far cry from the spectacular performance Favre put on nearly five years ago in his first game at the Coliseum.
Favre never found any rhythm, never got in sync. As in 21-of-38 for 197 yards with three sacks and two interceptions.
The last time he was here, Favre dazzled one day after the death of his father, Irvin, from a heart attack in December 2003. Favre passed for 399 yards and four touchdowns in that 41-7 Monday night victory for the Packers, moving into second place in NFL history for career touchdown passes in the process.
In another shade of green and in his first season with New York, Favre wasn’t nearly that sharp after completing his first five passes.
“I came here to win games like that,” Favre said. “So that’s what’s disappointing for me. I’ve been in a lot of those. You don’t win them all, but I felt like being the first time in that situation, I would pull us out. Mistakes were made. I made mistakes. As a team we made mistakes. I’d love to sit here and make excuses, but that’s not going to get it done.”
When Janikowski’s field goal went through, his teammates immediately jumped on him. Many of the Jets fell to the ground in shock. Oakland (2-4) won its first overtime game since beating the San Francisco 49ers in 2000 – and did so in dramatic fashion on a day when more than 100 former Raiders were in attendance for a weekend tribute to the late Gene Upshaw.
“We believe now, whereas before, we would get in the fourth quarter and it would kind of fall apart on us,” cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. “We needed this to spark our success.”
Especially after the Raiders lost 34-3 at New Orleans in their last game, Cable’s first since taking over from fired coach Lane Kiffin.
The Raiders hardly helped their own cause – and talk about a sloppy game for Cable’s first home appearance on a sunny, warm fall day in the Bay Area.
At least some of the fans probably missed all the Raiders’ first-quarter mistakes. The crowd was delayed arriving because of a power outage in the area that halted public transportation and caused traffic jams but didn’t affect anything in the stadium.
The Raiders committed seven penalties in the opening quarter, including an illegal formation that nullified a touchdown. They settled instead for Janikowski’s 29-yard field goal and had to be happy going into halftime at 3-3.
Many Oakland players actually celebrated the win twice. Some rushed onto the field after Feely’s first try from 52 yards hit the upright. Coincidentally, Denver used that strategy successfully against Oakland last year and Kiffin’s first win came when he used it the following week against Cleveland.
“I heard the whistle before I started, which is an advantage to the kicker,” Feely said. “If you’re going to do that, do that before he kicks. I can kick it down the middle, see what the wind does and adjust. It helps the kicker tremendously.”
Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell went 17-for-30 for 203 yards with no turnovers and threw a TD pass to Javon Walker. He came through with the two big completions in OT to help make sure the teams didn’t finish in the NFL’s first tie in six years.
“The way we won it today, the way we went out, it brings us closer together as a team,” Russell said. “It took a lot – five quarters. We just kept fighting.”
Notes:
The Jets’ Thomas Jones ran for 159 yards on 24 carries. … Raiders rookie DE Trevor Scott, playing for the injured Derrick Burgess, had his first two career sacks. … Oakland CB DeAngelo Hall had his third interception of the season.
