Even the worst game of Jake Delhomme's career proved to be enough to
beat the lowly Oakland Raiders.
Delhomme threw a touchdown pass on the opening drive before matching his
career-worst performance with four interceptions and the Carolina
Panthers kept Oakland out of the end zone in a 17-6 victory Sunday.
DeAngelo Williams ran for 140 yards and scored on a 69-yard run for the
only touchdown after the opening drive for the Panthers (7-2). But
against a Raiders team that hasn't scored a touchdown in nine quarters,
that was more than enough to keep Carolina in first place in the NFC South.
Andrew Walter, playing in place of an injured JaMarcus Russell threw two
interceptions before leaving temporarily with an ankle injury in the
fourth quarter. Marques Tuiasosopo couldn't do much better in his first
appearance in more than two years as Oakland (2-7) lost for the fourth
time in five games under interim coach Tom Cable.
After Johnnie Lee Higgins fumbled the opening kickoff for the Raiders at
the 16, Delhomme converted on a 3-yard touchdown pass to Muhsin
Muhammad. That was the lone highlight of the day for Delhomme, who
finished 7-for-27 for 72 yards.
The 26 percent completion rate was the worst in any of Delhomme's 74
starts and he threw four interceptions for just the third time in his
career. Two of those picks came deep in Panthers territory in the third
quarter, but the Raiders were unable to capitalize.
Carolina forced field-goal attempts after three plays and Sebastian
Janikowski delivered from 38 and 45 yards. The first kick ended a
scoring drought of 107:11 and the second gave Janikowski 865 career
points, breaking George Blanda's franchise record of 863. Janikowski
missed a 58-yard field-goal attempt with 9 seconds remaining.
The Raiders managed to move the ball more effectively this week than
they did when they gained only 77 yards in the worst offensive
performance for the team in 47 years in last week's 24-0 home loss to
Atlanta.
But with Walter throwing an interception to Richard Marshall in the end
zone and Julius Peppers recording three sacks, they weren't able to make
it into the end zone. Oakland has just nine touchdowns on the season and
none in its past 135:36 of game action.
Walter was 14-for-32 for 143 yards in his first start in nearly two
years. He played because Russell was sidelined with tendinitis in his
right knee.
Shane Lechler was Oakland's best performer, averaging 50.5 yards on his
11 punts. His 556 yards punting were the third most since the 1970
merger, trailing Leo Araguz's record of 709 for Oakland in 1998 and Rick
Tuten's 559 in 1993 for Seattle.
Carolina didn't fare much better with Delhomme throwing a pair of
interceptions on passes to Steve Smith and Williams being held to 2
yards or fewer on seven of his first nine carries.
But Williams broke through late in the half, bursting up the middle and
spinning out of a tackle attempt by safety Rashad Baker on the way to a
69-yard touchdown run that made it 14-0 at the half.
Notes:@ Carolina K John Kasay had made 21 straight FGs before missing a
54-yarder at the end of the first half. ... Raiders C Jake Grove left in
the first half with a leg injury and was replaced by Chris Morris, whose
high snap thwarted an Oakland drive late in the second quarter. ... When
Janikowski kicked off to start the second half it was his first
appearance in a game since the opening kickoff the previous week against
the Falcons.
