OAKLAND -- Jubilation returned to McAfee Coliseum on Sunday. It did so
in the most unlikely of ways, with fans watching the game's final play
through splayed fingers, Raiders coach Lane Kiffin channeling Denver
Broncos coach Mike Shanahan and interview-resistant defensive tackle
Tommy Kelly doing all his talking with his right hand.
Yes, the Raiders' 11-game losing streak ended with a resounding thud,
not unlike the kind of noise a football makes when it is kicked at high
speed into the hand of an onrushing defender.
Kelly burst through the left side of the Cleveland Browns line, lunged
forward, reached out his hand and swatted down Phil Dawson's 40-yard
field goal attempt as time expired, giving the Raiders a 26-24 victory.
"That's what we were praying for," Raiders left guard Robert Gallery said.
The Raiders didn't have much more than prayer to turn to once the Browns
marched 69 yards in 61 seconds without the benefit of a timeout to the
Raiders 22-yard line with three seconds to play.
It no longer mattered that the Raiders had rushed for 186 yards, amassed
396 yards total offense and led for most of the game. It all came down
to one kick.
Ultimately, that is. Kiffin pulled a page from Shanahan's playbook by
calling a timeout a split second before the Browns snapped the ball,
just as Shanahan had done to the Raiders on a potential game-winning
field goal attempt by Sebastian Janikowski the week before.
"Oh, yeah, I learned that from Mike,"
Kiffin said in his postgame news conference. "Thanks, Mike."
The Browns snapped the ball anyway, and Dawson converted the kick.
However, the referee signaled no play, just as a different referee had
done when Janikowski connected from 52 yards in overtime against the
Broncos for an apparent game-winner.
"I didn't hear the whistle," Dawson said. "So, I thought we won the
game. Rulemakers do that. Rules change every year, so you adapt to them
as a player."
Dawson's re-kick sailed into Kelly's hand, bounced to the ground and
headed for the Browns goal line. A Browns player fell on the loose ball.
Game over.
"We got them, just like Denver got us," Raiders cornerback Nnamdi
Asomugha said. "What are the odds of that?
"You could have a heart attack if you go through many games like this.
This was one of those games you would have hated to lose."
Kelly's heroics saved the Raiders from an 0-3 start for the third
straight season. Now they enter next Sunday's game against the winless
Miami Dolphins with a decent shot at evening their record going into
their bye week.
For that, they owe yet another inspiring performance from running back
LaMont Jordan, solid play by quarterback Daunte Culpepper in relief of
injured starter Josh McCown and a defensive effort that yielded more
positive plays than negative ones.
Jordan rushed 121 yards and one touchdown and caught two passes for 32
yards. Culpepper directed two scoring drives that erased a 17-16 deficit
and consumed more than 15 minutes in the second half.
The defense had two interceptions that set up Janikowski field goals and
played just well enough to emerge with its shaken confidence still intact.
Offensively, the Raiders went as far as the running game would take
them. That worked out well inasmuch as a left foot injury sidelined
McCown for good at halftime and Culpepper was playing for the first time
in almost a year.
Kiffin called runs on 18 of their 26 plays on the two second-half
scoring drives. Jordan, Justin Fargas, it didn't matter, the first-down
marker kept moving until the Raiders walked off the field with points on
the board.
"The running backs were running the heck out of the ball, wearing them
down," Culpepper said. "That made it easier for what I had to do."
Browns coach Romeo Crennel said: "We couldn't stop the run, no matter
what front we seemed to be in."
Running the ball has become a staple of Kiffin's offense. The thinking,
Kiffin said, is that the defense will wear down late in drives, late in
games, and pay huge dividends in the end.
Kiffin said the cumulative effect becomes obvious once defensive players
start "tapping out."
"You know, 'OK, it's time,'" Kiffin said of his grind-it-out approach to
the play-calling.
Gallery said it's just as tiring on the offensive players. However, the
positive results make it worthwhile.
"That's fun when you just grind someone down," Gallery said.
What made it even more fun for the Raiders was that it led to a win,
something long in the making. The Raiders last won Oct. 29, 2006 -- a
20-13 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers.
Free safety Stuart Schweigert said now that the ever-elusive first
victory is in the books, better times are on the horizon.
"When you get that first win, you get a sense of our work is paying
off," he said. "You get a sense of what a victory feels like."
For Asomugha, that sense came when he heard Dawson's kick smack into
Kelly's hand.
"I had to hear it because I couldn't see it," said Asomugha, who rushed
from the left end on the play. "Once I heard it, I knew it was over.
That was a big relief. This has been a long time coming. We needed a
break like this. Now we can get on to bigger and better things."
