Tom Cable may be piloting a sinking ship.
The Oakland Raiders had hoped to be 2-2 after their first four games, but they finished that stretch at 1-3. In the first game of their toughest stretch of the season, which began in New York, the Raiders seemed to have failed to make the trip to the Big Apple.
The New York Giants started fast and didn’t let up as they defeated the Raiders 44-7 on Sunday at Giants stadium.
While JaMarcus Russell has taken the brunt of the blame for the Raiders’ cold start to the season, it was the Raiders’ defense that proved to be even more inept than the oft-criticized third-year starter.
The Giants’ offense scored touchdowns on each of their first four possessions of the game as they sprinted out to a 28-0 lead with 12:37 remaining in the first half.
JaMarcus Russell wasn’t any help to the cause. During the 28-point stretch, he was 2-5 for seven yards with a fumble at the Raiders’ own 13, which resulted in the Giants’ fourth touchdown. On every incompletion, Russell was off target, throwing behind, high, and low, giving his open receivers little shot of making the catch.
The Raiders’ defense finally got a stop after the score had gotten out of control, when the Giants chose to run on on three consecutive plays without getting a first down. After the punt, the Raiders started from their own 19 and Russell finally completed a pass for a first down–to tight end Zach Miller.
On a punt by Shane Lechler, following the end of the Raiders’ series, Sinorice Moss misplayed a bounce with Jonathan Holland recovering the fumble at the Giants’ 15 yard line. After getting a first down due to a pass interference penalty at the five, Justin Fargas was ruled down due to forward progress prior to coughing up the football which would have become a Giants touchdown return. On the next play, Michael Bush steamrolled through the line for a touchdown, making the score 28-7 with less than three minutes to go in the half.
The touchdown was only the Raiders’ fourth touchdown of the season. Even with the Raiders first score, it didn’t stop the Giants from resting their star quarterback Eli Manning. David Carr would come in for the ailing starter, who had been questionable coming into the game with a plantar fasciitis injury. Carr would have little trouble moving the Giants’ offense, but after a near perfect strike to Hakim Nicks inside the Raiders’ 20 was ruled out of bounds, the Giants would punt to the Raiders with less than a minute.
The punt turned out to be a good offensive play for the Giants. Two plays after starting from his own 16, Russell would be strip-sacked at the 30, giving the ball back to the Giants offense. Carr would help turn the fumble into three more points and the Giants would go into the locker room at halftime up 31-7.
The Giants would come out of the locker room almost as hot as they were in the first half, while the Raiders continued to play like a high school team–and not a very good one. The Raiders would start the half going three and out, then punt to the Giants. On the punt, Trevor Scott was called for a horse collar penalty, allowing the home team to start from their own 48.
Later in the drive, the Raiders held the Giants at the Oakland 30, but a late hit called on Scott would allow New York to get a first down at the Raiders’ 15. Three plays later, Carr would scramble out of the pocket and run 12 yards for another touchdown.
On the ensuing Raiders’ possession, Russell would get the ball tipped from his hand while going backwards and fumble at the Raiders’ 20. This time, the Giants wouldn’t score a touchdown, but they would get a field goal to make the score 41-7 with 6:52 left in the third quarter.
The Giants would add a field goal, but the Raiders would fail to mount any sort of comeback or anything that would give anyone the impression of one.
Russell completed eight of 13 passes for 100 yards, while being sacked six times and fumbling the ball on three other occasions. For the fourth straight game, the Raiders’ offense was unable to gain more than 200 yards, gaining only 124 net yards on the day.
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Oak
7
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NYG
44
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65 °F |
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