Echoes of past in Raiders 20-17 win over Bengals

November 22, 11:49 PMOakland Raiders ExaminerPatrick Patterson

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The Oakland Raiders had a throwback game against the Cincinnati Bengals, despite the absence of any of the trappings of their 50th anniversary season. On the field, the team channeled their illustrious history and pulled victory from the jaws of defeat as was once the Raider reputation.

(Eric Taylor/1ststring.com)

The Bengals raced off to a strong start as they dominated their way to a 14-0 lead early. During this time, the Bengals were so dominant, the Raiders had only run seven offensive plays, and Carson Palmer had kept the ball for a one yard sneak to cap off a nine play 68 yard drive that consisted of nothing but running plays. It looked like it was going to be yet another case of “Same old Raiders.” Defensive back Nnamdi Asomugha didn't completely disagree, "Teams have been able to run fairly well on us this year, we're not doing too good in that department. It was surprising only because of how much we studied it during practice. At the end of the day, that part of the game has happened before." However he added, "Its a matter of us rebounding and see what we can do." The remainder of the game, that is precicely what the Raiders did.

The following drive would be yet another repeat of recent history as a pass hit Darrius Heyward-Bey in the hands before falling to the turf. After the most reliable player on the Raiders, punter Shane Lechler pinned the Bengals inside their own 20, the Raiders defense came to life and with the aid of a botched shotgun snap, the Raiders were able to force a three and out.

On the Raiders fourth drive of the afternoon, they found life as they were able to effectively mix the run and pass and put together a 71 yard scoring drive that was capped off with a ten yard touchdown reception by tight end Zach Miller. A second three and out gave the Raiders a chance to put more points on the board as the half expired, but Sebastian Janikowski missed the 57 yard field goal attempt.

Despite being dominated for the first third of the game, the Raiders were only down by a touchdown as the teams went into the lockerroom for halftime. The Raiders had not scored multiple touchdowns in a game since their opener against San Diego. It would seem that this game would belong to the Bengals.
In the third quarter, the two teams traded field goals and field position. Neither team could maintain an advantage. It wasn't until 2:12 in the fourth quarter that the stalemate would be broken.

This is where the echos of generations of Raider history filled the Oakland Coliseum. For that two minutes and twelve seconds of cock time the spirit of Ken Stabler overtook Bruce Gradkowski as he able to keep his cool and hit the receivers to move the ball down the field. Zach Miller did his best Dave Casper imitation as he caught a pass from Gradkowski and broke a tackle to get out of bounds for a first down. On fourth and ten second year receiver Chaz Schilens made a catch worthy of the man who made his number 81 famous in Tim Brown as he snagged the ball out of the air to come down with a fourteen yard reception. After Gradkowski spiked the ball to stop the clock with about 40 seconds, Louis Murphy was possessed by Fred Belitnikoff as he caught the ball at about the four and fought his way into the end zone for the game tying touchdown.

In a turn of events that echoes the great Heidi Game, and a fitting end for a game that the Raiders had dedicated to their fallen special teams ace Marques Cooper, Brandon Myers stripped Andrew Caldwell on the ensuing kickoff return and recovered it himself. Sebastian Janikowski echoed George Blanda by hitting the game winning field goal with 19 seconds remaining.

Tom Cable summed it up well, "I want to say is it's a tremendous effort by our football team in all three phases but the most important thing today is the game ball that went outgoes to Marques Cooper's family. This was a day we planned to honor him as a football team and certainly it turned out the way you would write it up." That is how Hollywood would write it up.

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You can also find Patrick Patterson on Thoughts from the Dark Side.