Dallas, TX--
These aren't your average Raiders. They did everything they could to implode early on the road in Dallas on Sunday. Yet these Raiders found resilience and managed to put together one of the most clutch drives in their history to seal the 17-6 win.
It started ugly for the Silver & Black. Dallas marched their opening possession 14 plays and 77 yards, consuming the entire opening quarter (7:54 of it) before the Raider defense stiffened and forced a chipshot FG.
Dallas led 3-0, and it took the Raiders exactly three plays for JaMarcus to throw his first interception.
Dallas had the chance to capitalize from their own 42 but couldn't, going 3-and-out and punting back to the Raiders.
4 plays later, it was Russell's 2nd interception.
From the Oakland 39, Dallas managed -1 yards on 3 plays, punting again. The Raider defense was swarming the Dallas offense at this point.
Dallas punted and the touchback fueled Oakland's first scoring drive, a 57-yard FG by Janikowski that was apparently kicked from a cannon. It barely cleared the crossbar, but it was kicked from almost midfield.
With the game tied at 3 each, and less than 2 minutes in the half, Dallas returned the ensuing kickoff to the 30. On the first play from scrimmage following that return, Thomas Howard intercepted Tony Romo in Cowboys territory, returning it to the 26 yard line to give the Raiders new energy.
It took the Raiders just 4 plays to cover the 26 yards, culminating in a 10 yard TD strike by Jeff Garcia (who replaced Russell after his 2nd interception) with :13 left.
At halftime, Oakland led 10-3.
Oakland punted on their first possession of the 2nd half, and Dallas had a 10-play drive to make the score 10-6 with 1:49 left in the 3rd quarter, and the pressure was entirely on the Raiders' shoulders.
They responded.
Oakland's commitment to the running game was completely absent in the game with Dallas, despite putting up 200 yards against lesser opponents in 3 straight games. After the lead was cut to just 4 points, the offensive linemen for the Raiders came together, banging heads and slapping high fives.
The result was an incredible 13 play, 80 yard, 6 minute drive that consisted of 12 runs, the last of which was a bruising 8 yard TD run on 3rd and goal by Justin Fargas
Oakland took control of the game at 17-6 and on Dallas' last gasp, Thomas Howard intercepted his 2nd pass of the game to ice the win for Oakland.
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Oakland moves to 7-4 on the year and next plays at the 3-7 Pittsburgh Steelers, while Dallas drops to 8-3 travels to the 6-4 Giants.
Stats:
Total offense: Raiders 202, Cowboys 132
Rushing yards: Raiders 98, Cowboys 29
Passing yards: Raiders 106, Cowboys 103
First Downs: Raiders 12, Cowboys 7
Possession: Raiders 17:50, Cowboys 14:10
Tony Romo: 11/20, 109 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, 31.0 Rating
JaMarcus Russell: 1/3, 21 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, 19.4 Rating
Jeff Garcia: 7/10, 85 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 129.1 Rating
Michael Bush: 13 ATT, 63 YDS, 4.8 AVG
Darren McFadden: 5 ATT, 20 YDS, 4.0 AVG
Justin Fargas: 4 ATT, 19 YDS, 1 TD, 4.7 AVG
Felix Jones: 7 ATT, 13 YDS, 1.8 AVG
Tashard Choice: 4 ATT, 7 YDS
Jason Witten: 3 REC, 39 YDS, 13.0 AVG
Zach Miller 2 REC, 34 YDS, 17.0 AVG
Darrius Heyward-Bey 2 REC, 31 YDS, 1 TD.
[Edit: Highlights added]
