Oakland Can't Get a Break, Losing on The Road 17-15

Pass the Pepto.

Another close game, leading in the last couple minutes.

Only to lose in the last minute, and betrayed by JaMarcus Russell's mistakes.

The game started out simple enough...dealing with a hostile crowd and Ed Hochuli, Oakland had their hands full early, because it seemed every time Oakland would get going, Eddie would kill a drive, or throw a flag, making simple yardage impossible to convert.

Take the 2nd quarter drive, when Oakland made it to the five yard line. What gets called? Two false starts, going from 1st and goal, to a 3rd and goal, but from the 25 yard line.

Even with the odds, Oakland managed to get down to the three yard line, and settle for a Field Goal.

Things didn't help much either, that when the Dolphins team would do similar events, the penalties were called on the Raiders, for offsides, but not on the offense.

Through all this, Oakland was down only 7-3 in the half.

Leading off the second half of the game, Oakland's Defense came alive, getting a safety, and making the score 7-5 Miami, and had a chance to go ahead, on a Seabass kick.

Boink.

Janikowski hit the upright, and in doing so, missed a pivotal point to do more damage. It also altered the end of the game. Miami would start using the wildcat, which is a good offense at home, as holding calls usually don't get called, and Miami proceeded to put another TD on the board, making the score 14-5, a nine point difference.

Oakland, however would start to rally.

Oakland got 10 points in the 4th Quarter, first off a Seabass kick at about the eight minute mark, and then a nice return on a punt for 93 yards and a score.

But with a little over four minutes left in the game, Miami started a drive, from their 20- yard line.

Now, I know the Miami fans will harp and gripe, claiming they won fair and square. It should also be noted, that about 80 percent of holding calls are missed, because there are only so many zebras on the field, but as the team marched along, Oakland had two chances to stop Miami.

The first one came with a 4th and 5, with two minutes to go. After keeping the pocket open, Pennington got a seven yard completion, for a first down. The second one kept them from a first down, but the damage was done.

Miami's kicker converted from 37 yards out, and Oakland couldn't do a thing with 38 seconds left, Russell, once again showed his inability to run a time-sensitive offense, getting sacked, and then hitting an open Curry in the middle of the field, too far away from the sidelines. With six seconds left, the game ended, with Oakland losing 17-15.

For simple notes...Russell doesn't know how to get to the end zone. Oakland hasn't had an Offensive TD in a long time, and with Denver coming next week...I'm not optimistic anymore.