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Ravens Lock In Playoff Berth Beating Oakland “Great
effort by our team; we certainly had a chance to win
Could the Oakland Raiders play spoiler as they took on the Baltimore Ravens Sunday afternoon at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum? This was a must win for the Ravens and playing spoiler would be just another payback for Oakland. Although it was nine years ago, the memory of Baltimore accepting the AFC championship trophy on the Raider home field is almost as fresh as if it were yesterday.
The Ravens were first up on the scoreboard on a 3:18 drive culminating with a Willis McGahee 2 yard run and the 7-0 lead. Oakland finished the quarter with 92 total net yards, 81 of them passing yards and a single penalty. The Raiders kept stride with Baltimore kicking a 37 yard field goal in the second quarter for a 7-3 Raven lead. Baltimore would extend that lead when Willie McGahe took the ball up the middle for a 77 yard romp into the end zone giving the Ravens a 14-3 lead. The Raiders continued to play hard driving downfield finishing the series with a 12 yard pass to Zach Miller in the end zone. The score at the half was 14-10 when Baltimore missed a last second field goal attempt of 37 yards. On thing that was certain in the first half was the fact that the Oakland defense was making life rough for Raven quarterback Joe Flacco. The third quarter began amid a symphony of boos and hisses as it was announced that Charlie Frye’s return was questionable due to some back issues and that #2 JaMarcus Russell would be in at quarterback. Russell wasn’t half bad, finishing the game with 9 of 14 for 102 yards. He was able to move his team into field goal range in the third quarter as Sebastian.Janikowski split the uprights on a 39 yard field goal attempt to pull within one point, 14-13. As the third quarter came to an end, Russell made his first mistake of the game throwing an interception that was intended for Zach Miller. As the fourth quarter got underway, Baltimore turned that mistake into seven points to take a 21-13 lead. Oakland got right back on board driving downfield deep into Raven territory before the second miscue of the game occurred. Quarterback JaMarcus Russell fumbled the ball putting an end to a nice drive, seven possible points and giving Baltimore a chance to extend their lead. Baltimore drove downfield but was forced to attempt a field goal when the stingy Oakland defense held them once again. When the Ravens missed Oakland had yet another chance to try to tie up the game. It was just not to be and the final score for the final game of the season for Oakland was 21-13. This was a winnable game for Oakland. We will never know if Charlie Frye could have pulled this one out. He was certainly on a roll as the first half came to an end. He had already thrown for 180 yards with one touchdown. The lack of a rushing game was more than likely one of the Raiders downfalls as was being unable to stop the run. Oakland had 51 rushing yards to the Ravens 240. Special teams also had a rough time allowing long returns by the Ravens setting them up in nice field position a number of times. The total net yards however tells a different story. It was almost dead even with the Ravens producing 330 and the Raiders 325. Once again, the Raiders could have taken this game. It will be back to work for the coaching staff as they take little time off during the off-season. There will be many tough decisions to be made. Coach Cable has had a glimpse of what this team has the capacity to be and is determined to get them there. “Great effort by our team, we certainly had a chance to win the dang thing the whole way,” said Cable after the game. “I am thinking about our effort and the disappointment I have over not being able to score some points in the second half.” Will Cable be with the team next season? Cable himself feels quite confident that he will be coaching the team in the 2010 season. “I see where this team is going and what we’ve been able to accomplish, and where we are offensively. The Cincinnati game spoke volumes. I am as sure as I can be,” he said again in reference to his job as head coach. It will be a long off-season for Oakland Raider fans. It has been so painful for so long. There is some light at the end of the tunnel and there were some bright spots this season. Unfortunately many of these bright spots were road games and not here at home. And so the building continues for the Silver and Black as they look forward to the 2010 season.
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It
would be a tall order for the offensively challenged Silver and Black, a
unit that has been tested all season. The offense is looking for a
leader and he is no where to be found. When it seemed that they had found
some direction with quarterback Brad Gradkowski at the helm, injury reared
its ugly head. In came Charlie Frye who had some measure of success, and
that’s where it stands today. As this game progressed, it became evident
that indeed the Oakland Raiders could handle the Baltimore Ravens.