The Oakland Raiders spoiled Tim Tebow's NFL starting debut with a couple
of big plays of their own.
Jason Campbell threw a 73-yard touchdown pass to Marcel Reece and Jacoby
Ford scored on a 71-yard run to overcome Tebow's two long touchdowns and
beat the Denver Broncos 39-23 Sunday.
Michael Bush added two short touchdown runs to keep the Raiders (7-7) in
the hunt for a playoff berth for at least one more week.
Oakland trails Kansas City by two games in the AFC West and will need to
win the final two games and get help in order to win the division.
The Broncos (3-11) have long been eliminated from the playoff chase,
having lost nine of 10 games to tie the franchise record for losses in a
season. That, along with Kyle Orton's bruised ribs, made the decision to
give Tebow his first career start an easy one.
For a player who became famous in college for his exploits at the Swamp,
Tebow must have felt at home on a wet day at the Oakland Coliseum.
He managed to come up with some of the big plays that helped him win a
Heisman Trophy and two national titles at Florida, becoming the third
player ever to throw a TD pass at least 30 yards and run for a score of
at least 40 yards in the same game.
But he also did not look smooth throwing the ball, a big reason why many
questioned former Denver coach Josh McDaniels for trading up to take
Tebow in the first round of the draft. He finished 8 for 16 for 138
yards and ran for 78 more.
The key play for the Raiders was Campbell's short pass to Reece that
turned into a game-breaker. Reece caught the ball near the line of
scrimmage with open space in front of him. He juked David Bruton near
midfield and raced the rest of the way to make it 30-20.
The Broncos responded with Steven Hauschka's third field goal, but
Quentin Groves tackled Correll Buckhalter in the end zone for a safety
that put the Raiders back in control in their third straight win over
Denver.
The Raiders took a 23-20 lead into the fourth quarter after Sebastian
Janikowski's 47-yard field goal. The teams traded field goals earlier in
the third with the Broncos settling for theirs after Lance Ball dropped
a pass in the end zone.
Tebow turned two Raiders turnovers into touchdowns in the first half,
scoring on a 40-yard quarterback draw on third-and-24 when he ran
through the middle of Oakland's defense and then broke tackles from
safeties Michael Huff and Tyvon Branch.
Tebow then threw a ball up for grabs in the end zone that went through
cornerback Stanford Routt's hands and was caught by Brandon Lloyd for a
33-yard touchdown. Lloyd was originally ruled out of bounds but the play
was overturned on a replay challenge.
The Raiders got some big plays of their own, with Jacoby Ford scoring on
a 71-yard end around on Oakland's first play from scrimmage and a
36-yard run by Darren McFadden setting up another touchdown.
Oakland tied the game at 17 late in the half after Syd'Quan Thompson
muffed a punt by Janikowski, filling in for the injured Shane Lechler.
Janikowski's 49-yard field goal tied the game.
