| Battle Of The Bay Goes To San Francisco “We have the chance to become a very good football team….,”Head Coach Tom Cable
By Larry Garcia
8-29-10 While it might be the pre-season, any time the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers clash an entirely different animal emerges. Known forever as “the Battle of the Bay”, the winner takes bragging rights with them for the rest of the year. This year however, there will not only be a pre-season meeting but also a reguiar season one. Both teams would like nothing more than a sweep. The regular season game will take place in San Francisco giving the 49ers the slight edge.
The immediate difference noticed over the entire 2009 season was the crowd noise. For the first time in a long time, Raider fans had something to cheer about. From the get go, Oakland quarterback #8 Jason Campbell was in charge, moving his team downfield with ease culminating with a one-yard run into the end zone by # 29 Michael Bush and the early 7-0 lead. Not to be outdone, San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith duplicated Campbell’s drive leading his own team deep into Raider territory thanks to the power running of Frank Gore. Unable to find the end zone San Francisco attempted a Joe Nedney field goal which came up empty and Oakland went back on offense. The teams traded possession throughout the quarter and as it came to an end Oakland retained the lead 7-0. It was not until early in the second quarter that San Francisco was able to get up on the scoreboard off the foot of #9 Joe Nedney kicking a 28 yard field goal. The biggest play of the game was all San Francisco when # Philip Adams returned a punt for 83 yards to take the lead 10-7. The opening drive that Oakland had put together was a distant memory. The niner defense was all over Campbell. Midway through the quarter, Campbell received a nasty hit that he was unable to walk away from. After an agonizing wait, he was finally able to walk under his own power to the awaiting cart that whisked him off to the locker room. The initial report was that he suffered a stinger. San Francisco
continued their onslaught as Alex Smith found #84 Josh Morgan wide open in
the end zone for a 61 yard strike extending their lead to 17-7. #5 Bruce Gradkowski took over in the place of the injured Jason Campbell and on the second play of his initial drive threw a textbook perfect pass culminating in a 74 yard romp into the end zone by #18 Louis Murphy. The half ended with the niners leading by the score of 17-14. The third quarter opened with a defensive hold by Oakland. Again Bruce Gradkowski was on the move driving deep into San Francisco territory. #80 Zach Miller finished off that drive with a 27 yard catch for the score giving the lead back to Oakland 21-17. San Francisco’s Shane Andras pulled the niners within one point with a 38 yard field goal, 21-20, late in the quarter. The final seconds of the quarter saw the explosive #11 Sebastian Janikowski kick a 57-yard field goal to extend the Raiders lead to 24-20. With less than three minutes left in the game San Francisco was knocking on the door. The apparent touchdown went into review. The ruling on the field stood and the successful two-point conversion gave San Francisco a 28-24 lead with less than two minutes left in the game. The Raiders were unable to score and the first of two meetings this year between the rivals went to the San Francisco 49ers.
“When I look at the game, a nice start to the football game for our team but at the end of the first quarter and all of the second quarter I think there was a letdown,” said Head Coach Tom Cab le after the game. “I didn’t think we tackled particularly well and special teams got involved in a negative way,” he said. At halftime the things that were discussed in the locker room were addressed on the field and a much better effort came as a result of that. “I think we learned a lot about ourselves tonight. We have a chance to become a very good football team but we have to do it all out all the time.” He felt that tonight’s game and the lessons learned were a good thing and he was happy that it all transpired now instead of later. The Oakland Raiders did a lot of good things in this game. There are a lot of things to work on as well. Special teams were not good at all tonight. The defense that looked so good in previous games came up short much of the time. There may be questions in the quarterback department. Apart from the opening series, Jason Campbell was not as good as Bruce Gradkowski. While it’s good for a team to have a definitive quarterback as the season nears, options can also be a good thing. This is a good time for dwelling on the negatives so they can be replaced with positives. Oakland is on the right track but we are getting awfully close to the station. It was so refreshing to see fans happy again and having something to cheer about. The Raider Nation has waited far to long to enjoy a decent season. With their undying enthusiasm and loyalty, they have more than earned the season that I believe they are going to see in 2010. No portion of this site may be reproduced, in original or modified form, without the express written permission of Bay Area Sports Drive.com-Rdrive. All rights reserved. All BASD-Rdrive trademarks and service marks used herein are the property of the applicable BASD_Rdrive entity. All other marks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright © 2010 All rights reserved.
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The two injuries that
could be of some concern were Jason Campbell with the stinger and Michael
Bush with a fractured thumb.