Chiefs Win In Oakland Again, 16-10

From Oakland, California

In the history of the rivalry between the Chiefs and Raiders there have been many great games and moments over 50 seasons.

This was not one of them.

What went down at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on a sun-splashed Sunday afternoon was 60 minutes of mistakes, blunders and poor football.

Afterwards the Chiefs did not care a lick. They stole out of the East Bay with a 16-10 victory, their second of the season. It was the seventh consecutive victory for the Hunt family over the Davis clan.

“Any time you can go on the road in your division and win, that’s a big thing for us,” said Chiefs head coach Todd Haley. “They are hard to come by and we’ll take them however they come.

“I’m proud of the guys. They fought it out and found a way to win and that’s what it’s about.”

As the winner of this game, the Chiefs were lucky their opponent on this NFL Sunday was a team making even more mistakes than they did. After having no luck winning games despite their very good turnover ratio, they won on an afternoon when they finished minus-1 in the ratio, giving the ball away three times.

But it was one of those takeaways that finally ended the game. Oakland’s seldom used rookie WR Darrius Heyward-Bey bobbled a well thrown ball at the Chiefs 10-yard line with 30 seconds left. The ball popped up in the air and into the hands of Chiefs SS Mike Brown. That allowed the Chiefs to use the victory formation on offense for only the second time this season.

“Sometimes things bounce against you, sometimes it bounces your way,” said Brown, who had two interceptions in the game, both of deflected passes. “You just hope you have more bounce your way than against you.

“Today we got them and we started the second half of the season with a win. That’s important. We have to build something from this.”

The Chiefs defense gave up an early big play that led to the Raiders only touchdown, but they really did a good job applying the clamps to the putrid Raiders offense which managed 272 yards on 63 plays. Things got so bad for the home team that Oakland’s head coaching waiting to be fired Tom Cable yanked QB JaMarcus Russell late in the third quarter. It turned out that Bruce Gradkowski was not the answer either.

Poor Shane Lechler; the Raiders punter kicked 11 times. Chiefs P Dustin Colquitt was busy, but he only booted six balls. Combined, the two very good punters had 17 punts and averaged 47.8 yards per punt.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs offense wasn’t great with 318 yards. But finally, they put together some big plays on the ground, as RB Jamaal Charles ran 18 times for 103 yards, including a 44-yard touchdown scamper

“I just wanted the opportunity,” said Charles. “We had the chance to make some yards in the running game. I think it was helpful for everybody”

Tape of the first half of this game will not be sent to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. It was filled with penalties, dropped passes; negative offensive plays for both teams and a pair of Chiefs turnovers. The busiest people on the field were Mike Carey and his officiating crew, as they called penalties in the half, walking off of those calls for penalties.

The Raiders won the toss, decided to start on offense, took the kickoff and needed four plays to reach the end zone. The Chiefs defense again gave up the big play, as Oakland RB Michael Bush gashed the right side of the defense for 60 yards. RB Justin Fargas scored two plays later on a dive from the one-yard line and after just two minutes, 18 seconds of the game, the Raiders held a 7-0 lead.

The Chiefs offense started their first possession with their old nemesis getting in the way: negative plays. TE Leonard Pope was hit for a false start on the first play and on 1st-and-15, RB Kolby Smith was stopped for a two-yard loss. On 3rd-and-12, Cassel got away from the pass rush and heaved a ball down field towards WR Chris Chambers. But Oakland CB Chris Johnson grabbed the interception instead. The throw amounted to a punt, and the Raiders took over on their 33-yard line.

By the end of the first quarter, both teams had added 50-yard field goals and stumbled and bumbled their way around on offense. The teams combined for a total of three first downs in the period. Colquitt and Lechler were overworked. The only way Oakland was able to get any points was courtesy of Chiefs punt returner Dantrell Savage. Lechler lofted one of his punts, but the kick was away from Savage and as he treid to catch it on the run, he muffed the catch and the Raiders recovered.

Oakland was able to get just six yards on three plays before Sebastian Janikowski kicked his 50-yard FG giving the Raiders a 10-3 margin.

But as the paged turned to the second quarter, the Chiefs offense suddenly caught fire. Starting at their 34-yard line, Cassel got a first down with a short pass to WR Dwayne Bowe. Eventually, they faced 4th-and-1 at the Oakland 44-yard line and Haley decided to go for the first down. Charles took the pitch hit the left side o f the offensive line, got the first down and a lot more. He swerved through the Raiders defense and ended up scoring, the first Chiefs rushing touchdown of the season. Succop’s PAT kick made the score 10-10.

A pair of big pass plays set up the Chiefs next score, as Cassel connected with Bowe for 41 yards and then hit a 24-yard pass play to Chambers. That gave them a 1st-and-goal at the Oakland seven-yard line. That’s when the bumbling Chiefs offense showed up again. Cassel fumbled the shotgun snap on first down. Cassel and Charles bumped into each other on the handoff on second down. On the third play, Cassel threw the ball out of the back of the end zone.

Succop came on and kicked a 25-yard FG and the Chiefs had a 13-10 lead with just over six minutes to play in the half.

The rest of the second quarter was a repeat of the bumbling-stumbling offenses. The Chiefs only other first down came courtesy of a pass interference call against the Raiders. Oakland’s offense produced one first down, but the silver and black receivers dropped more passes than they caught.

Somehow these teams combined for 364 yards of offense in the half, but 175 of those yards cameon four plays. There were nine penalties and the teams were a combined 0-for-18 on third down conversions.

The third quarter was more of the same. The Chiefs biggest offensive play was a 34-yard gainer where Cassel and Bowe connected on a 12-yard gain. But Bowe fumbled the ball, it rolled down the field with both teams having a chance to grab the ball before LG Brian Waters finally fell on the fumble at the Raiders 23-yard line.

That possession ended with a strange decision by Haley, who decided on a 4th-and-1 play at the Raiders 14-yard line to go for the first down, rather than kick a very makeable field goal. Cassel fourth down pass was incomplete.

In the fourth quarter, the Chiefs put together an eight-play, 34-yard drive where they had three negative plays and the biggest movement of the ball was a 19-yard pass interference call against Oakland’s Nnamdi Asomugha. Succops 31-yard FG made the score 16-10 and that’s how it stayed.

“Was that a well played game? No,” said Haley. “Was that a well-coached game? No. We found our way through all of that and we got the win and that’s what matters more than anything.

“We found a way to win.”