Raiders Finally Tame Broncos

How do you know when things are bad in Raiderland? Do they fly their eye patches at half staff?

Up until Monday night, there was a sure-fire way. Just check their record against the Denver Broncos--an ugly seven consecutive losses, which didn’t even take into account Bronco Coach Mike Shanahan’s 11-1 record against the team he used to coach.

But all that melted away in a torrent of silver and black as the Raiders settled a long-standing score against the Broncos, pounding their all too familiar nemesis, 38-28, before 62,637 at Network Associates Coliseum. For Raider Coach Jon Gruden, it was about time.

“We played pretty good against them in the past, but it was exciting to beat a team we haven’t had much success against,” he said.

“But it wasn’t our Super Bowl tonight. It was not do or die with what we are about as a football team trying to make the playoffs.”

The Raiders saw the Broncos get within eight points with a scoring drive to begin the fourth quarter, but ended the suspense with 10 points in a span of only 23 seconds.

Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 31-yard field goal to give Oakland a 31-20 lead and then linebacker William Thomas intercepted a pass from Brian Griese on Denver’s next play, returned it 33 yards to the three-yard line and set up the game-clinching touchdown. Zack Crockett punched the ball across the goal on first down and the Raiders had finally broken the Broncos.

Now a robust 6-1, the Raiders have the best record in the AFC and the 4-4 Broncos are left wondering if the playoffs will be in their future. After three quarters, the only question left seemed to be: Which Raiders would show up to finish the game? The typical, swashbuckling Raiders or the Raiders-playing-the-Broncos Raiders?

The Raiders stretched their 21-6 halftime lead to 28-12 going into the fourth quarter, then had to buckle down for the real serious business. The Broncos and Raiders had swapped touchdowns in the third quarter--the Broncos getting a two-yard scoring pass from Griese to Rod Smith and the Raiders countering with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Rich Gannon to Tim Brown.

With 15 minutes to go, the Raiders would find out whether this Bronco hex had any shelf life. It took less than the first five minutes of the quarter for the Broncos to score, finishing an 11-play, 80-yard drive with an 11-yard scoring pass from Griese to Desmond Clark. A two-point conversion on a pass from Griese to Smith and the Broncos were right back in it again, trailing 28-20.

And before you knew it, they were right back out of it again, about as soon as Thomas got his hands on the ball.

Thomas said he read the eyes of Griese and guessed where the ball was going to be thrown.

Griese was 22 for 32 for 221 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

“I just took off running when he threw the ball,” Thomas said. “But I didn’t get into the end zone, so it kind of defeated the purpose. We knew that someone had to make a big play and I’m just happy I had a chance to make it.”

Thomas, a former Philadelphia Eagle, knows something about rivalries. He knew it was a big game all week.

“As soon as Denver comes to town, our fans go crazy,” he said.

Judging by all the costumes, the buckets of face paint and the number of skull and crossbones flags fluttering in the parking lot, it was clear that Raider fans were expecting something special. More than three hours before the game, the parking lot at the Coliseum was jammed and the tailgate parties were already in full swing. There was so much swirling smoke from the barbecue grills, you had to squint to see the sun.

Meanwhile, the Raiders preferred to blot out the past, at least the recent past and how it related to the Broncos. Lose seven consecutive times to a team, as the Raiders had done to the Broncos, and you tend to develop a complex ... or something. As Raider tackle Lincoln Kennedy said before the game, “We have to get over that hump. This is the only animal left untamed in our cage.”

Gannon completed 25 of 34 passes for 242 yards and three touchdowns. Brown caught nine passes for 95 yards. Brown’s touchdown reception in the first quarter was one for the books. It was the 88th of his career, tying Don Maynard for fifth place on the NFL’s all-time list.

Brown had fifth place all by himself in the third quarter when he beat cornerback Deltha O’Neal and caught a 19-yard pass from Gannon for a touchdown.

Gannon was nearly perfect in the opening drive, conducting a 75-yard drive in 10 plays, the last one when he sent Brown in motion to the right side and then found him in front of Bronco cornerback Denard Walker to finish an 11-yard scoring play.

The Broncos moved to within one point at 7-6 in the second quarter on a pair of field goals by Jason Elam, the second the result of a Raider turnover after Charlie Garner fumbled at the Denver 25-yard line.

But that was the last mistake of the half for the Raiders, who took advantage of a key face-mask penalty on a scoring drive and went into the locker room with a 21-6 lead.

Crockett’s first touchdown, a one-yard run, ended a 61-yard drive by the Raiders that featured a lot of Gannon and then no Gannon at all. Bronco safety Kenoy Kennedy knocked Gannon out of the game when he crunched him at the sideline at the end of a running play that gained six yards.

Gruden questioned whether a penalty should have been called on the play and had to spend some time with Gannon, engaging his quarterback in conversation.

“I was trying to see if he could remember plays,” Gruden said.

With the Raider quarterback trying to pull himself together on the bench, Rodney Peete took the snap for one play and knew what to do with the ball. He handed it to Crockett, who bounced across the goal line.

The Raiders weren’t done yet. They mounted an 83-yard scoring drive kept alive when Walker grabbed the face mask of Jerry Rice, who was blocking for Brown. Five plays later, fullback Jon Ritchie came out of the backfield and caught a four-yard touchdown pass from Gannon and the Raiders left the field at halftime against the Broncos in an unusual position: Ahead. And, for the first time in four years, that’s just how the game ended, with the Raiders ahead.