ALAMEDA, CA – With 2:14 remaining, no timeouts, down by six, and staring at a first-and-10 play from their own two yard line, Mathew Stafford and the Detroit Lions were facing dire circumstances. Due to a soft Raiders defense and the big play ability of Calvin Johnson – otherwise known as ‘Megatron’ – Detroit needed just 1:35 to complete a 13-point come-from-behind victory over the Oakland Raiders 28-27, Sunday at the Coliseum.
Stafford completed 29 of 52 passes for 391 yards and four touchdowns. More than half of that was to Johnson. ‘Megatron’ had a career-day 214 yards on nine receptions with two touchdowns – including the game winner.
“Obvious to say I'm disappointed is an understatement,” said embattled Raiders head coach Hue Jackson in his post-game press conference. “A team just went 98 yards and found a way to win. We had chances to win the game.”
Oakland had more than just chances – they had momentum and a 13-point lead with 7:55 remaining in the game. Defensive tackle Tommy Kelly had just been credited with a strip sack of Stafford, linebacker Aaron Curry recovered the fumble and returned it for a Raiders 27-14 lead.
It was the loudest Raider Nation had been all day, the most energy the players in black jerseys had shown, and the largest lead for the Raiders of the game.
None of that lasted long.
Due to an excessive celebration penalty on Curry for using the goal post as a punching bag after his touchdown, Sebastian Janikowski was forced to kick to the Lions from the Raiders 20 yard line. Rather than kick the ball out of the end zone, much like he has done for most of the season, Janikowski got the ball to the Lions’ five before being returned by wide receiver Stefan Logan to the 29 yard line.
“As you look at it, we got the sack-fumble for a touchdown, and then we’ve got a player who is excited, and all of a sudden we end up having to kick the ball from the 20-yard line,” said Jackson of one way the Raiders shot themselves in the foot on Sunday. “Now the ball comes back at you.”
The Lions capitalized on the field position, first when cornerback Stanford Routt was penalized for 14 yards while interfering with Johnson during a Stafford pass. The Detroit drive lasted 10 plays, 2:48, and resulted in a three-yard touchdown pass by Stafford to receiver Titus Young.
Suddenly, the Raiders’ comfortable lead became a lot easier to overcome.
“We have a lot of other guys that make plays too,” said Lions head coach Jim Schwartz about his offensive playmakers other than Stafford and Johnson. “If Titus Young doesn’t get a touchdown reception, [Nate] Burleson doesn’t make first downs, and [Brandon] Pettigrew doesn’t make a chunk, if those things don’t happen, then [Jones] probably is made irrelevant by them or he’s taken away I guess is a better way to say it.”
Despite quarterback Carson Palmer having his best day as a Raiders starting quarterback (32-40, 367 yards, TD), and former first round pick Darrius Heyward-Bey putting up a career-best 155 yards on eight receptions with one touchdown, it wasn’t enough to put the game away in the closing minutes – mainly because the Raiders tried to soak the game away on the ground.
On third and three from the Detroit 48 yard line, Palmer just missed on a pass to open veteran receiver Chaz Schilens with 2:27 remaining in the game.
The Raiders, down by a point with 35 seconds remaining still had a good shot of winning the contest with two timeouts and needing to reach the Detroit 45 yard line for a Sebastian Janikowski game-winning attempt. Two passes to tight end Kevin Boss for 34 yards moved the ball to midfield, but Palmer was sacked for a three-yard loss – forcing the Raiders to call their final timeout with 13 seconds remaining.
A six yard pass to receiver T.J. Houshmanzadeh, who stepped out at the Lions’ 47 yard line, set up a Janikowski 65-yard attempt with four seconds to go. The snap was high, the kick was low, and recently suspended defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh got a finger on the kick forcing the ball to fall far short of a winning score.
“That last play to me, obviously lining up, I got off the ball as hard and as fast as I could and put up my hand,” said Suh of his game-saving block. “Coach Crossman does great with us telling us that Janikowski is a great kicker and gets the ball off fast. So I put my hand up and it hit my thumb and I looked back and saw it twirling, and that’s when you see me run off and take my helmet off.”
He didn’t just take his helmet off, he threw it across the field to near the Raiders’ 25 yard line.
It was nearly a season-saving game for the Raiders, (7-7). After AFC West leading Denver (8-6) was beaten by the Patriots, 41-23, the Titans (7-7) were embarrassed by the then winless Colts, 27-13, and the Jets (8-6) were destroyed by the Eagles, 45-19, earlier in the day, a Raiders win would have given them more control of their playoff fate with just two games left in the season.
After receiving nearly all the help they would need to reach the playoffs, the Silver and Black must continue to hope for more help in the coming weeks if they hope to break the eight-year playoff draught.
“It’s a tough one to swallow for sure. But we still have two games left and you have to approach each game new,” said defensive tackle Richard Seymour of the loss. “We took this one on the chin, didn’t make the plays in crucial situations that we need to make, especially at the end of the game. It’ll get you beat.”
For the Raiders, it’ll get you knocked out of the playoff picture as well.
“There is no choice but to move on,” said Palmer of getting over the loss. “It’d be easy to go in the tank and say, `we blew our opportunity,’ but we have a good group of leadership and we understand where we are, and obviously we desperately needed this win.”
The Raiders will have to travel to Kansas City to face arguably their most hated rival in the Chiefs on Christmas Eve. According to Jackson, his team will not only recover from the heartbreaking loss, but they’ll also be better.
“I mean, a lot of people didn’t think we’d even show up today, and we did,” said a defiant Jackson. “And we’re gonna get better, and I keep telling you that.”
“There’s a process to all of this, and I know people don’t like that,” continued Jackson. “I mean, I hate it too. My goal is to win every football game I coach.”
“Right now I’m a .500 football coach, at 7-7. And that’s not who I am. I’m very disappointed by it. I’m disappointed for our fans, and this organization and our players. So I need to get better, this team needs to get better and we need to play better, and we will.”
QUOTES:
Demoralizing? There's no morals out there.
- Aaron Curry on how demoralizing the loss to Detroit was
I wanted to address this. It’s something that I’ve dealt with and I’m trying to move forward with and I’ve apologized obviously on my facebook page but also after the game, speaking about the Thanksgiving game. I made a mistake. The biggest thing for me is I’ve dealt with it and I’m moving past it. I’m happy to be back on the field with my team. The biggest thing for me is wanting to move forward from it. I’ve spoken to Evan Dietrich-Smith, and I feel like we’re on very good terms. He’s a great guy. I got a chance to speak with him on the phone. And the biggest thing for me is I’m happy it’s over with. I dealt with my suspension and now I’m back on the football team, back on the football field to help my team win and continue to go after our goals. From here on out I would rather not speak about it because it’s over and done with and in the past.
- Ndamakong Suh on his two-week suspension
Let today be today, and let tomorrow be tomorrow.
- Darrius Heyward-Bey on recovering from the loss
You'd like to think that everybody will know the situation, but I think anytime you have some veteran guys, it helps. Maybe hear it from them, and go from there.
- Cooper Carlisle on what the veterans need to do to keep the young players working towards the playoffs
Yeah that's called 2 Tampa. That's what the middle linebacker does, he runs right down the middle of the field. They made the play and we didn't.
- Hue Jackson on why Rolando McClain was seen covering Calvin Johnson during the game
We were playing great defense all game. To let it slip like that, that’s one of those tough ones.
- Tyvon Branch on the Raiders' loss in the final moments of the game
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