Raiders Shock Broncos With Win At Mile High
POSTED: 8:44 pm PST 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. Game Notes 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.
Copyright 2008 Courtesy of The Sports Network.
















