[December 01, 2008]

Punchless Raiders fall to Chiefs

Dec 01, 2008 (McClatchy Newspapers - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) --
All that talk of being in contention for the AFC West died down in the Raiders locker room.
Losing at home to a team with only one win has a way of doing that.
A week after actually having a productive offense, the Raiders couldn't put together back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

The Raiders morphed back into the team the NFL is accustomed to seeing in a disheartening 20-13 loss to the hapless Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at the Oakland Coliseum.

The Raiders' punchless offense that can't score in the red zone was back. So was the defense that couldn't get a stop on a key third down.

But even this loss had something no one expected.
With the game tied 3-3, Sebastian Janikowski lined up for a 43-yard field goal attempt on fourth-and-10 in the second quarter.

Interim head coach Tom Cable called for punter Shane Lechler to take the snap and flip the ball between his legs to Janikowski, who was supposed to outrun the Chiefs' defense for a first down and more.

"You don't hear the kick, you hear the crowd and I was like 'oh ... shoot,'" said tight end Zach Miller, who was blocking on the play.

That's because the ball bounced off Janikowski's hands and onto the turf where Maurice Leggett scooped up the football and ran 67 yards for the touchdown.

Cable wasn't sure if Janikowski, who does plenty of running while playing soccer in the offseason, would have even made it to the first-down marker on the play in which the team has practiced for two years.

"Without seeing the film, I don't know," Cable said. "They were lined up the way they were supposed to be lined up. We just didn't handle it, the ball-handling."

It was one of three fumbles on the day for the Raiders (3-9), who couldn't muster much offense after a season-high 31 points last week in Denver.

It was an especially sad outing considering the Chiefs have one of the worst defenses in the NFL, allowing 29.7 points a game.

The 13 points the Chiefs (2-10) held the Raiders to was a season-low for Kansas City, which gave up 54 points in a loss to the Buffalo Bills last week.

The Raiders' lone touchdown came in the third quarter and was set up by an interception by Chris Johnson, giving Oakland the ball at the Chiefs' 1 yard line.

Justin Fargas scored his first rushing touchdown of the season on the next play.
The Raiders' only other threat on offense came on their first drive, when Oakland reached the Chiefs' 7-yard line. The Raiders, who have scored just one touchdown in their past 53 opening drives and have only one first-half touchdown this season, had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Janikowski.

Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell, who struggled with his footing and accuracy (10-of-28 for 132 yards), was just 3 of 13 for 29 yards in the second half.

And for the fifth game in a row, only one wide receiver caught a pass. It was caught by Ronald Curry, who got no yards on the play when he pitched the ball to Darren McFadden for a 16-yard gain in the first quarter.

That trick play and using McFadden at wide receiver and as a quarterback in their "Stallion" formation are some of the ways Cable has tried to generate some offense.

But the "Stallion" netted only five yards in four plays.
"Well, that's coach's decision," Russell said of the gimmick plays. "That's out of my hands. If they work everybody will give him praise."

Trick plays and fake field goal attempts in the second quarter aren't signs of desperation, according to Cable.

"I think you have to have creativity," Cable said. "It certainly gives the players something to focus on, and a chance for them to go out and execute something that's creative and (they) have fun doing it."

The Chiefs were able to move the ball on one long drive, a 91-yard march in which Kansas City converted four first downs to take a 17-10 lead in the fourth quarter.

Safety Gibril Wilson dropped an interception on that drive.
"It's not about the drop (by Wilson), it's just about us being on the field still and giving them seven points," Wilson said. "That's a huge turnaround."

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(c) 2008, The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.).
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