Recap: Denver vs. Oakland
Sports Network | November 23, 2008
Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Darren McFadden rushed for a pair of scores and Ashley Lelie added a touchdown catch as the Oakland Raiders surprised the Denver Broncos with a 31-10 win at Invesco Field at Mile High.
JaMarcus Russell was effective, completing 10-of-11 passes for 152 yards with one touchdown for the Raiders (3-8), who snapped a four-game losing streak. Justin Fargas rushed for 107 yards on 24 carries, while McFadden had 38 yards on the ground.
McFadden's one-yard touchdown run with 5:26 remaining in the third quarter was Oakland's first offensive score in 15 quarters of play, a span that covered 206 plays from scrimmage. Lelie had four grabs for 92 yards and Johnnie Lee Higgins returned a punt 89 yards for a score.
Jay Cutler struggled, finishing a woeful 16-of-37 for 204 yards with an interception for Denver (6-5), which has dropped four of its last six. Peyton Hillis rushed 17 times for 74 yards and a score for the Broncos.
With the Raiders holding a 10-3 lead after one half, the hosts came out of the locker room and found the end zone after a well-orchestrated 13-play, 85-yard drive. Facing a 4th-and-inches from the Oakland six-yard-line, Hillis took the handoff from Cutler, ran around the left end and in for the score to tie the contest.
In a back-and-forth affair, Russell hooked up for a 51-yard pass play to Lelie moving it to the Denver 19. Six plays later, McFadden took a pitch in for the score from a yard out to put the Raiders ahead by a 17-10 margin.
"To me that was the real drive of the game," said Raiders coach Tom Cable. "The defense had a rough drive, there were a couple of penalties in that drive. They came down and got a touchdown, but we answered right away. I thought that was huge. It's the first time we've really done that all year."
After a sputtering Denver offense went three-and-out on its next series, Russell connected with Lelie for a four-yard TD. The score finished off a 10- play, 74-yard drive, making it a 24-10 game in the early stages in the fourth quarter.
Another McFadden one-yard scoring run with 9:42 left in the contest put the Silver and Black in front by a commanding 21 points. Neither team would add points the rest of the way and Oakland earned the 31-10 victory.
The Raiders got a bit of revenge on the Broncos, who came into Oakland and won the season-opener 41-14 on a Monday night.
"We knew they were going to come in here and play hard," said Cutler. "We kind of embarrassed them the first game on Monday night. They've got a good defense. We knew we had our hands full and they came out to play."
After a scoreless first quarter, Sebastian Janikowski's 26-yard chip shot capped a nine-play, 56-yard drive to give the Raiders the lead with 8:01 left in the half. Behind some accurate passing by Russell and hard running by Fargas, Oakland quickly moved the ball downfield and had a 1st-and-goal on the Denver three-yard-line. However a Broncos' goal-line stand forced the visitors to settle for the three.
Matt Prater's field goal from 44 yards away on the Broncos' ensuing drive tied the contest with 2:58 remaining.
Oakland finally found the end zone with 1:06 remaining in the opening half. Following a three-and-out by Denver, Higgins fielded Brett Kern's punt at the Raiders 11, brushed off a couple of weak Broncos tacklers and tip-toed down the near sideline for the score. Higgins was then flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for doing a celebratory back flip in the end zone.
Prater's 43-yard effort sailed wide left as time expired in the first half and Oakland took a 10-3 advantage into the break.
Denver will visit the New York Jets on November 30, while Oakland hosts Kansas City...The Raiders have not scored a first-quarter touchdown this season and have not scored a first-quarter touchdown on the road since September 30, 2007...The Raiders lead the all-time regular season series with Denver, which dates back to 1960, by a 55-40-2 count...Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan is now 21-7 against the team he coached in 1988 and part of the 1989 season before being fired...Brandon Marshall had four catches for 84 yards for Denver.
