Raiders win 17-9 in Dallas

The Oakland Raiders opening game went exactly as I predicted it would. The defenses were dominant throughout the game as the Raiders and Cowboys went into halftime with a score of 3-0. The Raiders first string offense struggled against the Cowboys defense, but it is not to worry about too much because I have a feeling that there will be many teams this year that have trouble with the Cowboys defense.

The Raiders opening drive was a three-and-out, the Raiders second drive of the game was a three-and-out, but on the third drive, the Raiders finally got their first first-down of the year on a hook-up between Zach Miller and Jason Campbell. Very soon afterward, the Raiders gave up a sack on second down, which was followed by a screen pass on which Anthony Spencer made a nice tackle of Michael Bush.

On the first three punts of the game, classic special teamers came up big. Jon Condo made the first two punt tackles and Sam Williams came up with a nice tackle on the third punt. Johnnie Lee Higgins also looked really shifty on his two punt returns from the Cowboys, but later dropped a crucial pass from Kyle Boller when he was lined up as a wide receiver. Higgins ended up with three catches on six targets.

Meanwhile, the Raiders new first string rush defense held the Cowboys first string fill-in halfbacks to just 16 yards on eight carries. The Cowboys offense stayed on the field through their passing game, but the Raiders tightened up the passing defense after the Cowboys opening drive, in which the Raiders allowed a 24-yard pass where the Cowboys beat Chris Johnson on a hook-up between QB Tony Romo and WR Miles Austin. That pass set up the Cowboys for a 41-yard field goal from David Buehler.

The Raiders defense picked up five sacks in the first half. Rookie defensive end Lamarr Houston chalked up two, last year’s third round pick, Matt Shaughnessy, garnered two, and Trevor Scott pulled one out of his hat playing along the defensive line in a nickel package on a long third down. Scott, by the way, needs one of those rookie haircuts. Perhaps he is waiting to get into double-digit sacks before he cuts his hair again.

Jason Campbell played well into the second quarter. He ended his day 7-13 with 49 passing yards. Louis Murphy and Zach Miller were the main targets of the Raiders offense, Miller ended up with 3 catches and Murphy had only one catch. Though Murphy has another nice catch on a deep ball where he almost got both feet in bounds. If the throw had been a little more towards the inside, Murphy might have scored a huge touchdown.

Running back Michael Bush was surprisingly active, getting seven carries for 31 yards. But the surprise of the day for Oakland’s backfield was Michael Bennett, who had 12 carries for 68 yards rushing. Although Raiders radio announcer, Tom Flores, said “I think if you take into consideration special teams Rock Cartwright has advantage (for 3^rd running back position).” Cartwright played the role of the second team running back vs. Cowboys.

On the Raiders fourth drive, the Raiders went for a first down from Cowboys 30 on 4^th and 1, but the throw was too high for Zach Miller. Wade Phillips brought in first team defense again for the play. Interestingly enough, when the first team offense was finally pulled from the game, Brandon Myers ended up being the second team tight end, a spot formerly held by Tony Stewart.

Later on, Shaun Bodiford lost a fumble, which will not look good when the final roster cuts are made. The fumble occurred on a punt return and allowed the Cowboys to recover the ball at the Raiders’ ten yard line, setting up the third field goal from Dallas that gave them a 9-0 lead in the game.

Rookie MLB, Rolando McClain, finished the night with one tackle and one assist. As far as the other rookies, don’t expect to see Jeremy Ware’s nameplate very much, because his dreadlocks were covering his name on the back of his jersey. Evidently, he missed the rookie-hazing haricuts. Rookie offensive lineman Jared Veldheer got most of his time playing at left tackle, although he did get in some center time during the fourth quarter. Rookie converted fullback, Alex Daniels barely got any playing time at his new position, despite the desire to see him coming from Raider Nation.

The second team linebackers did not include any rookies, but were: Will- Quentin Groves, Mike- Ricky Brown, and Sam- Thomas Howard.

Kyle Boller played most of the second quarter and most of the second half for the Raiders. Kyle Boller made a nice corner route throw to Nick Miller that was originally called a touchdown and then reversed by the officials. Once again, there questionable call by the officials against the Raiders; it was another question of possession of the catch reminiscent of the San Diego Chargers game on opening night in 2009; a call that was made against Louis Murphy’s favor. The Raiders ended up sending their PAT team onto the field only to find out the officials had reversed their original call which was a Nick Miller touchdown. The Raiders had to challenge the call, and they won the challenge. Suddenly, they were within a field goal of victory with just under five minutes left to play.

On the ensuing PAT, kicker Swayze Waters was roughed to the point that he couldn’t kick the ensuing kickoff. Sebastian Janikowski came in and kicked a floater, which hit the ground live, but was ultimately recovered by the Cowboys. The Raiders defense needed a big stand.

The defense forced a three-and-out series on the ensuing drive. Nick Miller fair caught the punt from the Cowboys on the Raiders 40-yard line with 4:28 left on the game clock. Kyle Boller remained in the game and attempted to lead a come from behind victory. Boller hit a huge gainer screen to Michael Bennett which put the Raiders well into the field goal range of Sebastian Janikowski to the Cowboys 18.Wade Phillips may have considered bringing in the first team defense again at this point. This drive led to a Janikowski field goal which gave the Raiders a 10-9 lead with little time left in the fourth quarter.

During the kickoff, Cowboys returner Kevin Ogletree made a bad decision to bring the ball out of the endzone. He was tackled at his own ten-yard line. There was also a holding call on the play that backed the ball up half the distance to the goal. The Raiders defense needed just one more big stand to win the game, and the two minute warning came very soon after the kickoff.

Lamarr Houston came back into the game to help the Raiders defense stop the Cowboys offense. At that point, it was obvious that the Raiders wanted the win desperately. A deflected pass was nearly picked by “Mr. Two Minutes” Stevie Brown. The Raiders forced a 4^th down on the Cowboys 30-yard line with 1:21 left on the clock. The Cowboys converted to their 35-yard line.

The following pass was deflected off a Cowboys wide receiver and intercepted by Jerome Boyd. Boyd returned it for a touchdown that gave the Raiders a 17-9 lead with 33 seconds left in the game. “The Raider defense tonight, just outstanding,” said play-by-play man Greg Papa

This 50-yard return by Boyd was the deciding factor in a very defensive game. The Raiders come away with the victory, in spite of their early troubles.

Team Stat Comparison

Passing Leaders

Rushing Leaders

Receiving Leaders