Penalties and Interceptions Beat Oakland

“Right now we are a very inconsistent team,”--Head Coach Hue Jackson

By Barbara Mason 11/06/11
Raiderdrive.com/Bay Area Sports Drive

Sunday’s game pitting the Oakland Raiders against the Denver Broncos will be a very real indication of just what the Silver and Black can expect as this season reaches the mid-way point of the 2011 season.  The spotlight will be focused on the first start of quarterback Carson Palmer in his first start as an Oakland Raider.  Last week’s bye could not have come at a more opportune time giving not only Palmer but the entire team a chance to re-group after an ugly showing against the Kansas City Chiefs two weeks ago.

With a Kansas City loss earlier in the day and the Chargers losing to the undefeated Packers, the door was open for the Raiders to maintain their position atop the AFC West.

The first score of the game was a 48 yard Sebastian Janikowski field goal for the early Oakland lead 3-0.   A 27-yard Tim Tebow pass to Eric Decker in the end zone gave Denver the 7-3 lead as the first quarter neared completion. 

A second quarter pass by Carson Palmer to Michael Bush diving into the end zone put the Raiders back into the lead 10-7.  Oakland finished the second quarter Raider style with a 40 yard pass from Palmer to Marcel Reese for the touchdown and a 17-7 lead.

The Broncos opened the second half with a scoring drive that culminated in a 26 yard pass from Tebow to Eddie Royal for the score, Denver now trailing by the score of 14-17.  Oakland answered with their best drive of the game, an 80 yard drive.  Carson Palmer found Jacoby Ford in the end zone for an 18 yard strike extending their lead 24-14.

The Broncos were unable to find the end zone in their next drive but Matt Prater did kick a 43 yard field goal and Denver was within one touchdown of a tie game at 24-17. 

That tie came to be in the final seconds of the third quarter when Willis McGahee romped up the middle for 60 yards into the end zone.  The Broncos went into the fourth quarter clearly with momentum on their side. 

Denver’s Eddie Royal broke that tie with a punt return for 85 yards to take back the lead they had had in the first quarter 31-24.   With just over five minutes left in the game the Raiders had their work cut out for them.  Unable to convert Oakland had to turn the ball back over to Denver who moved downfield scoring one more time courtesy of Willis McGahee who ran roughshod over the Silver and Black in this game for a final of 38-24. 

“I’m bringing a commitment to this team to eliminate unnecessary stuff.  I’m an energetic linebacker, and energy spreads,” said OLB Kamerion Wimbley. “That energy could change the whole face of the defense.  It could be the difference between letting the offense score or not.  It’s just that simple,” he said.

“We can’t turn the ball over, we can’t keep having penalties,” said Jacoby Ford after the game.  Oakland had 15 penalties for 130 yards in this game.  “We shot ourselves in the foot a lot.  We’ve just got to get back to the drawing board and get back to practice tomorrow and correct the mistakes,” he said.

“We keep giving teams opportunities and until we learn to do things better we’ll be sitting talking like this and I’m tired of it.  I told the team that we didn’t get it done,” said Head Coach Hue Jackson.  “Right now, we are a very inconsistent team .”

It’s a short week for the Oakland Raiders as they travel south to take on the San Diego Chargers.  They have to clean up those excessive penalties.  You just can’t expect to win with 15 penalties, 3 interceptions, 2 sacks and giving the opposing team free license to romp downfield on punt returns and pass completions.  Tebow who had been having miserable games rushed for 117 yards.  The Raiders seemed to have this game in hand in the first half and came out in the second half a different team.  If they want to have any chance in Thursday’s game against the Charger they have a lot to clean up.  This was a winnable game, Kansas City was a winnable game and losing those two was a real blow to Oakland.    The Raiders are now tied for first with the San Diego Chargers and Kansas City.  One thing that is certain right now is that next Thursday night there will be only two teams atop the AFC West.