OAKLAND — After nearly 75 minutes of football, after momentum swung one
last time, after all the penalties and turnovers and head-scratching
football, the Jets were beaten by the longest field goal in the history
of the Raiders.
Sebastian Janikowski booted a 57-yarder with 2 minutes 30 seconds left
in overtime Sunday as the Raiders won, 16-13, at Oakland-Alameda County
Coliseum.
“One of the toughest losses I’ve ever been a part of,” the Jets’ Brett
Favre said.
Twice in regulation, the Jets came back against the Raiders. Twice, they
marched down the field behind Favre and running back Thomas Jones.
Twice, they tied a game that appeared already lost.
Just when the Jets appeared dead, another victim of the Black Hole,
Favre led them downfield. Just when Jay Feely missed a 52-yard
field-goal attempt to tie the game with three seconds left, officials
signaled that Oakland had called timeout.
And when Feely’s second attempt went between the uprights, his Jets
teammates ran onto the field and celebrated a game that was headed into
overtime.
Resilient is not a word that has been used often to describe the Raiders
(2-4) this season. But here they were on Sunday, the resilient Raiders,
in their second game under Tom Cable, fending off Favre and the Jets’
comebacks.
The teams went back and forth in overtime. The Jets (3-3) won the toss,
but failed to move the ball, as did the Raiders, as did the Jets again,
as did the Raiders again. Back and forth it went (or not), by virtue of
punts if nothing else.
On the Jets’ second overtime possession, Favre tossed an errant pass
that hit Raiders safety Michael Huff in the chest before bouncing to the
ground. An interception would have set up the Raiders deep in Jets
territory.
As overtime wound down, the Raiders became the first team to move the
ball. A deep pass from JaMarcus Russell to tight end Zach Miller moved
Oakland to the Jets’ 38. What followed? A run that lost a yard, a
dropped pass and an incompletion, before Janikowski gave Cable his first
victory since taking over as the Raiders’ interim coach Sept. 30.
Defensive end Shaun Ellis, the longest-tenured Jets player, in his ninth
season with club was asked where the loss ranked.
“I’ve been here, through some tough losses,” he said. “I’m not going to
say it’s the worst. But that’s definitely a team we should have beat.”
In the fourth quarter, with 13:25 to play, Favre took over at the Jets’
13, with Oakland leading by a touchdown. Favre has carved a Hall of Fame
career out of moments just like those. Only it was not Favre’s
ballyhooed right arm that tied this game. It was the Jets’ formerly
grounded and maligned rushing attack that brought them back.
It was Brad Smith, the forgotten receiver, gaining 36 yards on a reverse
with Favre throwing a key block. It was Thomas Jones, already over 100
yards rushing, plodding forward.
It was Leon Washington, the smallest man on the field, running like a
bull, atoning for two fumbles earlier in the game by breaking three
tackles en route to an 11-yard touchdown that tied the score at 10-10.
The Raiders came right back. They faked a punt, and linebacker Jon
Alston ran like the former Tampa Bay fullback Mike Alstott for 21 yards.
Running back Darren McFadden gained 25 yards on a screen pass, with 15
yards added on after a face-mask call on Jets safety Abram Elam.
That gave the Raiders the necessary field position, and Janikowski made
a 37-yard field goal for a 13-10 lead with 3:01 to play in the fourth.
Favre last played here in 2003, throwing for 399 yards and 4 touchdowns
the night after his father died of a heart attack. The infamous fans at
the Black Hole gave Favre a standing ovation that night.
On Sunday, Favre trotted onto the field to a chorus of mostly boos, and
it was the Raiders’ defense — not the fans — who gave him an early
helping hand.
The Jets used a no-huddle offense on their first possession, drawing
three offsides penalties on the excitable Raiders line. Favre threw on
every play except for one, mostly short passes over the middle,
including four to tight end Chris Baker. Feely capped the drive with a
40-yard field goal for a 3-0 Jets lead.
Next came the first look at Sunday’s most intriguing matchup. The
Raiders entered this game with the N.F.L.’s fourth-ranked rushing game,
while the Jets had stopped the run better than all but two teams.
On the Raiders’ first possession, linebacker Calvin Pace stuffed running
back Justin Fargas on third down. On the Raiders’ second possession,
McFadden broke off a 15-yard run. Again, the drive stalled.
The teams spent the first half trading penalties. The Raiders managed
seven penalties in the first quarter, and it would have been eight had
the Jets not declined the last one.
"Our defense, I know we kept putting them in awkward positions all day,”
Favre said. “It’s tough. It’s just tough.”
The Jets, meanwhile, worked hard to match the Raiders’ self-destruction.
After the 1:44 mark in the first quarter, the Jets were whistled for
three false starts, one holding penalty and one facemask penalty, while
Favre threw an interception in the end zone, his third interception in
the last two weeks and a throw he forced into triple coverage.
The Raiders marched downfield after the interception, but Janikowski
missed a 40-yard field goal with 4:04 left in the half.
Everything changed on the Raiders’ first possession of the third
quarter. Fargas gained 16 yards off right guard. The return specialist
Johnnie Lee Higgins ran for 18 yards on a reverse. McFadden caught a
pass for 16 yards and burst through the Jets’ defense as if shot out of
a cannon for 13 more.
The Raiders scored on third-and-goal from the 8, when Russell scrambled
to his left and threw on the run to receiver Javon Walker, who scored
his first touchdown as a Raider to give the team a 10-3 lead.
Jones answered that score with a 31-yard burst through a large hole on
the right side. The Jets squandered the field position off the big gain,
though, as Washington fumbled a pitch and another drive stalled.
