Oak–Sebastian Janikowski 23-yard field goal, 10:05
Dal–Jason Witten 9 pass from Tony Romo (Nick Folk kicks PAT), 5:16
Notes
– Oakland defense reappeared after Shane Lechler pinned Cowboys at their
own 5. Two short runs by Tashard Choice and Tyvon Branch stopped a Jon
Kitna-to-Martellus Bennett pass for one yard on third-and-5.
Bruce Gradkowski replaces Russell with Raiders at 38. McFadden explodes
for 45 yards through the left side as quarter ends.
– Cooper Carlisle picked up his second penalty, this one a false start,
to help stall a drive. JaMarcus Russell finds Chaz Schilens for 16-yard
strike on third-and-8. Nice play. Darren McFadden bolts for 13 to help
negate an 11-yard sack on first play of drive.
Very nice first-quarter chemistry between Schilens (4 catches, 43 yards)
and Russell. Get Schilens out now. No need to waste him.
– The second series brought back memories for the Raiders defense. Bad
ones. Cowboys make a relatively effortless march, getting big runs from
Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Patrick Crayton. Kelly, Nnnamdi already
out of the game, by the way.
On TD pass, Raiders got zero pressure and Romo waited, waited, waited
before finding Witten against Stanford Routt.
– Russell couldn’t find a wide receiver to save his life Tuesday. So he
comes out and attacks wide receivers and puts the Raiders in position
for a 23-yard field goal by Janikowski.
Schilens caught three passes. Quibbles _ why throw short of the goal
line on third-and-goal from the 14?
Why have Fargas in the game for a goal line run _ not that it mattered _
Cooper Carlisle’s holding penalty blew up the drive.
Russell underthrew two deep passes, one to Darrius Heyward-Bey that was
broken up by Ken Hamlin, and another to Schilens which went for a big
penalty because Gerald Sensibaugh failed to turn around.
Scoring
Oak–Tony Stewart 3-yard pass from Bruce Gradkowski (Sebastian Janikowski
kicks PAT), 13:06
Notes:
– On Dallas last possession, Jon Kitna was finding holes in the Raiders
secondary, manned with reserves such as Jon Bowie, Jerome Boyd, Justin
Miller, etc.
Dallas botched the drive when Kitna mishandled a shotgun snap for a
16-yard loss and Nick Folk eventually missed a 36-yard field goal
attempt with 15 seconds left.
– Michael Huff perfectly timed a Jon Kitna pass down the right sideline
as the free safety and made an interception at the 7-yard line. Probably
the best single ball-hawking play I’ve seen him make since he became a
Raider.
Not probably. For sure.
– Darrius Heyward-Bey caught his first pass, an eight-yard gain from
Gradkowski, but Louis Murphy nearly had his head taken off by Gerald
Sensibaugh on a third down play which forced a punt. Murphy had the ball
in his hands, took a head-high shot and the ball fell to the ground.
– Ricky Brown’s sack of Jon Kitna _ yes, on a blitz _ forced a
third-and-18 and an eventual Cowboys punt. Slade Norris chased Tashard
Choice out of bounds on the ensuing screen.
– McFadden’s 45-yard burst was the big play in Oakland’s first TD, which
covered 62 yards in five plays. Chaz Schilens caught his fifth pass of
the game, getting back up and gaining 9 yards to the 6 after no one
touched him.
Schilens really ought to be out of the game at this point. What looked
apparent through OTAs and training camp is obvious. The Raiders have
themselves a No. 1 receiver.
Scoring
Oak–Louis Rankin 3-yard run (Ricky Schmitt kicks PAT), 11:57.
Dal–David Buehler 39-yard field goal, 8:46
Oak–Gary Russell 1-yard run (Schmitt kicks PAT), 4:59.
Notes:
– Charlie Frye drove the Raiders to the 30 as the quarter ended. He
completed a 28-yard pass to Todd Watkins and a 10-yard pass to Brandon
Myers, both times showing a good feel for the pass rush to complete the
pass.
– Nick Miller’s juggling 47-yard catch from Bruce Gradkowski to the
2-yard line earned the biggest roar of the night. Miller opened the
drive with a 28-yard kickoff return. Gary Russell carried twice from the
2, scoring from the 1 on a nice lead block by fullback Marcel Reece.
–Jason Horton picked up a pair penalties and Keon Latimore had a 12-yard
run into the heart of the Oakland offense as the Cowboys got close
enough for a Buehler’s field goal.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why a team doesn’t go for it on
fourth-and-2 in the preseason from 39 yards. Why not work on executing
those plays, which are more difficult than medium-range field goals?
– Louis Rankin caught a 20-yard screen, had a 9-yard run and scored from
the 3-yard line as the Raiders drove 80 yards on their opening drive of
the second half. Gradkowski had an 18-yard pass to a wide open Brandon
Myers to the 3.
– Gradkowski had a pass to Murphy, a 9-yard gain, overruled because it
touched the ground. Gradkowski makes the occasional nice throw, but
simply not have the arm to make the throws necessary to the offense on a
consistent basis.
Scoring
Oak–Will Franklin 2-yard pass from Charlie Frye (Schmitt kicks PAT), 9:45
Notes:
– Raiders grind out clock with Gary Russell . . .
– The Raiders held Dallas inside the 5-yard line when Sam Williams
dumped Keon Latimore for a 1-yard loss on third-and-3 and then Stephen
McGee threw incomplete to Manuel Johnson on fourth-and-goal with John
Bowie in coverage.
– Franklin, who has probably littered the ground with more potential
completions than any receiver in Napa, made a nice catch on a fade route
for a 2-yard touchdown from Charlie Frye.
The score was set up when David Nixon recovered a Willie Reed fumbled
punt at the 11-yard line, who was attempting to catch the ball with
snapper Jon Condo right in his face.
– Oakland’s 13th penalty, this one an illegal formation, pushed them
back to the 30 for a third-and-20. Frye was chased out of bounds, and
Ricky Schmitt punted was downed at the 7.
That’s right, the Raiders punted from the Dallas 30. Only in preseason.
Guess it was worth it for the coverage practice.
News, notes and quotes from the Raiders’ 31-10 win over the Dallas
Cowboys Thursday night at the Coliseum:
– Second-year receiver Chaz Schilens seconded the notion offered by
JaMarcus Russell that much of Oakland’s struggles with the passing game
during Tuesday’s practice had to do with familiarity.
“We just got in a funk,” Schilens said. “We’ve practicing against the
same guys every day. They’re smart guys. They are going to pick up on
what we’re doing. It came together today.”
– Assessments of Schilens, Russell and McFadden are included my my Web
exclusive column.
– Coach Tom Cable, making it clear Russell’s reporting weight was an
issue: “That’s between he and I and we’re working on that. He’s doing
really good right now.”
– Rookie first-round draft pick Darrius Heyward-Bey had a modest 8-yard
gain for his first reception, and missed a chance to come up with a big
play on the third play from scrimmage. However, safety Ken Hamlin broke
up the pass which was just underthrown from JaMarcus Russell.
“I knew the ball might be coming my way,” Heyward-Bey said. “Outside
release, corner did a good job, safety got over and helped pretty fast.
Tried to make a play, didn’t happen.”
– With the Raiders in a burn-the-clock mode late in the game, Gary
Russell played the role Michael Bush will get during the season and
finished with 11 carries for 44 yards.
– Three players did not finish the game. John Wade left with a stinger,
Nnamdi Asomugha with a heel bruise and Isaiah Ekejiuba with a shoulder
injury. Becasue of Wade’s injury, Samson Satele played much of the game
at center.
– A whopping 18 diffeernt players were targeted for 37 passes by
Gradkowski, Frye and Russell. Fifteen different players accounted for 22
receptions.
“We now have a talented group there,” Cable said. “It’s nice to see a
bunch of guys catching balls and making plays. We need that if we’re
going to grow offensively and become a good football team.”
– First a hip flexor, now a heel injury, hopefully it’s not one of those
years for Nnamdi Asomugha, and Chris Johnson, battling a knee strain,
needs to hold up as well.
Stanford Routt, who had a poor practice Tuesday, struggled against the
Cowboys. And when the Raiders went late in the game to a secondary of
John Bowie and Jason Horton and corner and Jerome Boyd and Darrick Brown
at safeties, it was scary.
– Hard to know exactly what to expect from the defense with the first
unit being on the field for such a short time.
The Cowboys scoring drive included an 8-yard gain by Marion Barber, a
14-yard run by Felix Jones and a 12-yard reverse by Patrick Crayton.
On the other hand, the Raiders were stout in forcing Dallas to a
three-and-out on its first possession back at its own 7, with Asomugha
dumping Barber for a yard loss.
“It was OK. It wasn’t great,” linebacker Thomas Howard said. “It’s
early. We got out of our gaps and they creased is a little.”
– Shane Lechler is ready. Three punts, 45.0 yards gross, 44.3 net. One
inside the 20.
– The Raiders outgained the Cowboys 456-274 and had 26 first downs _ 15
passing.
– Bruce Gradkowski and Charlie Frye were relatively even in terms of
stats, but there were a couple of short throws on sideline passes which
will be a staple of the Raiders offense that Gradkowski has trouble
throwing.
On one play, he came up short to Louis Murphy, who picked it off the
grass for a catch, only to have it correctly overturned by replay.
It’s worth noting that throw is not a strength of Jeff Garcia, either.
Charlie Frye showed a good awareness in the pocket of surrounding
defenders and was able to get off completions.
– Players have the day off Friday, with Tom Cable available to the media
for a 5 p.m. conference call.
