ALAMEDA, CA - Both Kyle Boller and Carson Palmer combined to throw six interceptions, two returned for touchdowns, and the Oakland Raiders were shut out by the Kansas City Chiefs on their home field, 28-0, Sunday at the Coliseum.
The shutout was the fifth time in the last six seasons that the Raiders were blanked at home and it also prevented them from taking control of first place in the AFC West division – dropping them to 4-3, 1-1 in divisional games.
For the Raiders, it was the first time since December 6th, 1998, that six interceptions were thrown, two interceptions were taken back for touchdowns, and three interceptions were thrown in a half of play. The quarterback for the Raiders in 1998 was Donald Hollas.
Just three offensive plays into the game for the Silver and Black, and the game began to unravel.
On the Chiefs' 43, the Raiders needed a yard on third down to continue their drive. Head coach Hue Jackson sent in rookie quarterback Terrelle Pryor and lined him in the left slot with Boller standing in the shotgun formation. Pryor motioned to his right, and stopped under center to take the snap for a surprise quarterback keeper.
Officials threw flags and stopped the play before it could startle the Chiefs' defense enough to gain the Raiders a first down. Pryor needed to wait at least one second under center, and he didn't, so the play was ruled a false start on Pryor – leaving the Raiders to face a third and six situation.
For as bad as that penalty may have been, it got much worse real quick.
On the next play, Boller threw to the left sideline for Jacoby Ford, but instead Chiefs' defensive back Kendrick Lewis stepped in front of the ball and took it the other way for the opening score.
“I’m just extremely frustrated,” said Boller of his performance. “I had an opportunity to go there. It just didn’t go as planned. Definitely not my best outing. I feel bad for my teammates. I feel like I let my teammates down. There’s not much to say. The play speaks for itself.”
That's all it took for the sellout crowd at the Coliseum to begin booing the beleaguered signal caller. Most of the 57,361 in attendance anticipated seeing Palmer lead the Raiders just five days after being traded to the team, and they began to chant his name.
“It’s a tough situation for Kyle to be in,” said Palmer of the crowd chanting for him. “In that situation, he hadn’t played all year either, or had played very little. And you’re the guy and the crowd is calling for another guy, obviously that doesn’t help your confidence. But I still thought we were going to stick with the game plan.”
Raider Nation got what they came for – after an uninspired first half, an uneven first series to start the second half, and a deficit of 21-0. Palmer came into the game to cheers, but he was arguably worse than the starter.
For the game, Boller threw for 61 yards on 7-14 passing, with three interceptions – one for a Chiefs touchdown. Palmer threw for 116 yards on 8-21 passing, with three interceptions – one for a Chiefs touchdown. Boller finished the game with a 22.3 QB rating while Palmer had a 17.3 stat in the category – the worst of his career.
It would be too easy to blame the play of the quarterbacks for the defeat. Jackson rightly blamed himself for the team’s poor performance during his answer to a reporter’s question about the team’s uncertainty at quarterback up until Saturday night.
“No, no, no. The uncertainty didn’t lead to anything,” Jackson responded. “You guys are going to write what you want, trust me when I tell you, there was no uncertainty that led to this [defeat]. We lost, OK? We didn’t play good enough. Uncertainty at quarterback is not what leads to interceptions or anything like that.”
“When you play bad, that’s what leads to that,” Jackson continued. “When you coach bad, that’s what leads to that. OK? Like I said, it starts with me, and then trickles down, so I mean, you can put it how you want to, but the uncertainty had nothing to do with it. We didn’t play very well.”
As a team, the Raiders didn’t play well, but on defense they only allowed Matt Cassell to throw for 161 yards on 15-30 passing, and picked him off twice to help the K.C. quarterback to a 38.3 QB rating of his own. Against the run, the Raiders allowed 161 yards – 72 of which came in the fourth quarter down 28-0.
Other than the quarterback stats, the Raiders will need to improve upon their team discipline if they wish to have a shot at an AFC West title this season. For the game, the Raiders committed 14 penalties for 120 yards.
One Chiefs touchdown was the result of two personal fouls by the Raiders’ defense. In the third quarter, the Chiefs’ 67-yard scoring drive was aided by two personal foul penalties for 30 yards – a facemask by safety Michael Huff and an unnecessary roughness call on linebacker Aaron Curry.
Late in the game, the two teams were getting into it after plays, but the two teams began getting into shoving matches before the game. During warm-ups, both number 82’s for each team – Dwayne Bowe of Kansas City, and Richard Gordon of Oakland – got into each other’s face in the end zone nearest the Black Hole.
Veteran linebacker Kamerion Wimbley understands the scuffles, but knows that it won’t win football games. “I wasn't aware of what happened earlier in the Black Hole area, but I know that this is a team that we don't like, so obviously when we play them, tempers will flare.”
“I mean, we'll see them again and it might be the same thing,” continued Wimbley. “But we just want to play disciplined ball over here and obviously the penalties played a part in this game and they hurt us.”
With a bye ahead, the Raiders have two weeks to regroup and get their new quarterback ready to face a reenergized Denver team led by Tim Tebow.
Palmer is sure he’ll be more prepared than he was on Sunday. “I’ve been playing football for a long time,” said the new Raiders’ starting quarterback. “There’s some real good, talented playmakers as you guys have seen: Jacoby, Denarius, Derrick.”
There’s a handful of guys you can just get the ball into their hands, and it doesn’t need to be an 80-yard bomb every time,” continued Palmer. “They can make big things happen; they can make people miss. So two weeks is enough time to be where I need to be, and I’m going to get everything I can out of these guys.”
“You know, I understand that it’s a bye week for these young receivers, and it’s time to get away a little bit, just let your mind go somewhere else because hopefully there’s a long road ahead of us. But it’s also time to get some work done, get that timing and rhythm, and get going.”
NOTES
- The Raiders sold out the Coliseum for the fourth straight time. It was the first time since 2008 that the stadium was considered a sellout four straight times.
- The Raiders had not had a pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown since San Diego’s Clinton Hart picked off Kerry Collins and returned it 70 yards for the touchdown to cap a 34-10 victory in San Diego on Dec. 5, 2005.
- Darren McFadden (right foot), Kevin Boss (concussion), Matt Giordano (neck spasms), and Rolando McClain (left lower leg) did not finish the game. Of the four, only McClain’s injury appeared serious enough to keep him out of action for the next game.
- The loss snaps Oakland’s eight-game winning streak against AFC West opponents that dated back to Dec. 20, 2009. It also snapped a two-game win streak against the Chiefs.
Comments