Capital Card
The Kobayashi of Kool-Aid
Always interesting to read the game reviews from the other team's perspective...
Reserves again perk up Raiders
Collins, Gabriel key rally after Oakland starters leave trailing 13-3
By Bill Soliday, STAFF WRITER
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The final score read Oakland 17, Arizona 16, but one thing stood out.
If it was a dress rehearsal for the Raiders' first-teamers, this is one show that may never get out of New Haven and see Broadway.
The understudies just keep refusing to cooperate. Once again Saturday night Kerry Collins and Doug Gabriel put on a long-distance spectacle.
In the showcase for first-stringers, the show pretty much stopped at Sun Devil stadium against a Cardinals team that can be described only as "hapless."
During the 21/2 quarters the starters were in, Arizona's previously leaky defense held Rich Gannon and the Raiders starters to one field goal. Arizona's first team left the field with a 13-3 lead.
This, performed by an Arizona team that was missing four offensive starters at the skill positions.
But at 13-3, that's when it started to get interesting.
That's when the Raiders dragged out the Collins-to-Gabriel connection, which accounted for touchdowns of 34 and 89 yards in the first two Raiders exhibitions and is still playing to rave reviews.
Gabriel won a foot race with Arizona cornerback David Mackin on Collins' eighth play of the game, bringing down another moon shot from 45 yards out.
It cut Arizona's margin to 13-10, and in true Cardinals form,
their perilous lead lasted only two minutes and 17 seconds.
On Arizona's first play, Raider sub lineman Grant Irons sacked Arizona starter Josh McCown, knocked the ball out of his grasp with his helmet where linebacker Maugaula Tuitele recovered at the Cardinals 27.
Justin Fargas scored the winning touchdown from the 1 on the first play of the fourth quarter, but it was his 18-yard run that set it up.
The game ended with a Three Stooges scene as the Cardinals lined up for what they hoped would be the winning field goal from 53 yards out.
Quarterback John Navarre, having just connected for Lorenzo Diamond for 20 yards and was trying to kill the clock, but the Cardinals were called for a false start.
The new NFL rule stipulates that 10 seconds be run off the clock (which read 0:15 at the time of the penalty) and for the clock then to be started.
The Cardinals apparently weren't sure of the rule, and the final five seconds ran off before they could get the field-goal team onto the field.
It was a win for the Raiders (2-1), but it certainly was not the kind of game they were looking for.
The Cardinals starters had not scored a touchdown on their opening possession through two exhibitions but nearly broke the streak.
Despite two sacks by Travian Smith and one by Akbar Gbaja-Biamila (his third of the preseason), Cardinals quarterback Josh McCown combined passing and scrambling to drive the Raiders defense crazy.
McCown led the Cardinals into scoring position with a lengthy 16-play drive that didn't meet its match until Bobby Hamilton, among others, forced him to throw incomplete in the end zone to Kevin Kasper.
Although the Raiders applied plenty of pressure on McCown, they couldn't handle him once he left the pocket. He had gains of 16 and 10 yards and threw with success on the run.
Arizona settled for Neil Rackers' 26-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead, which preserved the Raiders' defensive record of having not allowed a touchdown in the first half in three exhibition games.
However, another streak ended once the Raiders got the football. Although they held onto the ball for 10 plays and moved from their 20 to as close as the Arizona 33, they came away empty-handed for the first time.
They were within Sebastian Janikowski field-goal range after nine plays, but on the 10th, end Kyle Vanden Bosch shoved left tackle Barry Sims aside and blind-sided Rich Gannon for a 6-yard sack that took Oakland out of field-goal range.
They made up for it the next time, although Oakland's second possession didn't come until midway through the second quarter. This one took the Raiders just 52 yards, but it ended with Janikowski booting a 35-yard field goal, his sixth in seven preseason tries.
The drive started with promise as Gannon hit Zack Crockett for 13 yards, then Jerry Porter for 20 on the next play.
The Raiders got only one more first down, though -- on an Arizona offside penalty. On third down, once again it went awry for Gannon. Under pressure, he threw a pass that went off the end of Gabriel's fingers with the ball at the Cardinals 17.
They never saw the ball again for the 7:46 remaining in the half as the Cardinals ate up the clock driving from their 20 to inside the Raiders 5.
The Raiders were punking themselves with penalties -- two for holding (Nnamdi Asomugha and Ray Buchanan). In between McCown was finding tight end Freddie Jones or wide receiver Kasper, starting in place of injured first-round pick Larry Fitzgerald.
Jones got wide open for a 19-yard reception on third-and-14 at the Arizona 20, and Kasper made off with a 22-yard gain on third-and-5 from the Raiders 46. Derrick Gibson was the nearest defender on both plays.
What the Raiders had hoped would be a normal football had become a game of keep away, and Oakland went into the locker room down 6-3.
The offense had the ball for only two series as Arizona controlled the clock (19:07-10:53) and ran 35 plays to Oakland's 17.
Clearly, the Raiders had some more work to do, if they were to make this "dress rehearsal" any kind of a workout for the offense and any kind of a success for the defense.
They didn't get it in the third quarter from the offense either. In one final series before Collins and the backups came in, the Raiders got three first downs and punted after Gannon overthrew Gabriel on third down.
Coach Norv Turner sent his reserves in after Collins' first series died at the Arizona 42. At first, they were no match for McCown and the reserve-laden Arizona buzz saw.
After taking their time with previous drives, the Cardinals marched 80 yards in five plays and actually scored twice.
The first was a 7-yard pass to Nathan Poole, which Turner successfully challenged (Poole only had one foot in bounds). The second was a 2-yard run by Josh Scobey.
EXTRA POINTS: According to senior assistant Mike Lombardi, the Raiders are still in the dark as to when cornerback Charles Woodson will report, ending his holdout. Woodson must first sign his $8.78 million tender as the team's exclusive franchise player. ... Rookie Robert Gallery played the first series of the second half at left tackle, then when substitutes took over, he moved to guard for his first action at that position.
Oakland0377--17Arizona3373--16
FIRST QUARTER
Cardinals 3, Raiders 0. Neil Rackers 26-yard field goal. 68-yard drive in 16 plays. Key plays: Josh McCown 11 pass to Freddie Jones on third-and-9; McCown keepers for 16 and 10; McCown 21 pass to Keith Kasper to Raiders 4. Time remaining: 6:54.
SECOND QUARTER
Cardinals 3, Raiders 3. Sebastian Janikowski 35-yard field goal. 52-yard drive in 8 plays. Key plays: Rich Gannon 20 pass to Jerry Porter; Kyle Vanden Bosch jumps offside on third-and-3 at Arizona 29. Time: 7:46.
Cardinals 6, Raiders 3. Rackers 23-yard field goal. 75-yard drive in 16 plays. Key plays: Cardinals converted four third-down situations, including 11 and 14 yards and got two first downs off Raiders' holding penalties. Longest plays were a 19-yard pass from McCown to Jones and a 22-yarder to Kasper. Time: 0:00.
THIRD QUARTER
Cardinals 13, Raiders 3. Josh Scobey 2-yard run. Rackers kicks PAT. 80-yard drive in 5 plays. Key plays: McCown 56-yard pass to Nathan Poole; McCown 17 pass to Jones. Time: 2:55.
Cardinals 13, Raiders 10. Doug Gabriel 45-yard pass from Kerry Collins. Janikowski kicks PAT. 60-yard drive in 3 plays. Key plays: all three plays in the drive were passes to Gabriel, one for 15, one incomplete and one for 45 and the TD. Time: 2:13.
FOURTH QUARTER
Raiders 17, Cardinals 13. Justin Fargas 1-yard run. Steve Baker kicks PAT. 27-yard drive in 4 plays. Key plays: Grant Irons forces McCown to fumble on a sack, Maugaula recovering at the Cardinals 27; Fargas 18-yard run on a drive where he carried on every play. Time: 14:56.
Raiders 17, Cardinals 16. Rackers 31-yard field goal. 63-yard drive in 10 plays. Key play: Shaun King 44-yard pass to Reggie Newhouse to Raiders 17. Time: 2:54.
A--35,070.
OakAriFirst downs1420Total Net Yards275370Rushes-yards21-11426-87Passing161283Punt Returns2-52-13Kickoff Returns1-203-65Interceptions Ret.3-491-63Comp-Att-Int12-21-025-33-0Sacked-Yards Lost2-84-11Punts5-40.23-40.7Fumbles-Lost1-03-1Penalties-Yards8-556-45Time of Possession24:1735:43
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Oakland, Wheatley 10-54, Fargas 7-37, Zereoue 4-23. Arizona, McCown 3-35, Croom 7-19, Scobey 5-13, Smith 4-9, Davis 1-6, Anderson 6-5.
PASSING--Oakland, Gannon 8-12-0-89, Collins 3-7-0-79, Tuiasosopo 1-2-0-1. Arizona, McCown 16-23-0-187, King 7-8-0-81, Navarre 2-2-0-26.
RECEIVING--Oakland, Gabriel 4-87, J.R. Redmond 3-27, Jolley 2-21, Porter 1-20, Crockett 1-13, Zereoue 1-1. Arizona, Jones 6-56, Kasper 4-52, Diamond 3-37, Poole 2-66, Newhouse 2-50, Ayanbadejo 2-6, Croom 2-6, Anderson 2-5, Edwards 1-11, Williams 1-5.
