Biggest Second Half Letdown: Oakland Raiders or Minnesota Vikings?

After dominating and jumping out to big leads in the first half, Minnesota and Oakland both had mammoth collapses. No games are ever a guarantee victory, no matter how much you are ahead at any point, and this weekend, it was proven twice that second half comebacks are definitely possible. 

As we dissect the second halves of the Viking and Raider games, we will see whose letdown was worse.

Raiders Up 21-3 at Halftime

After each team exchanged punts four times the first quarter, Oakland finally handed it to Buffalo with a 14 play, 71-yard drive led by running back Darren McFadden. He used his size and speed to rush for 37 yards on six carries to set up a Michael Bush touchdown plunge. On the ensuing possession, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw an interception which led to a Darren McFadden touchdown. 

After a Buffalo field goal, Oakland got the ball back and marched right down the field for another touchdown, and then Ryan Fitzpatrick orchestrated a two minute drive to get his team into field goal position, only for it to be blocked. 

At this point, you figured all the momentum would be on Oakland's side going up 21-3 on the road at halftime against a Bills team that destroyed the Kansas City Chiefs in week one. 

Then came the second half.

Buffalo Wins 38-35

Chan Gailey must have had quite a halftime speech because the Bills came out ready to play in the second half.  They quickly scored on a 43-yard burst from Fred Jackson who made Matt Giordano look silly when he blew by him for the touchdown. 

Then a Darren McFadden fumble set up the Bills next touchdown to put them down only four points just like that.  The next Oakland possession was a quick three and out to give the Bills good field position again, to lead to their next touchdown to take the lead.

Then the game got interesting.  After exchanging touchdowns, clearly at this point the game was turning into a shoot-out.  If you would give me Jason Campbell or Ryan FItzpatrick in that scenario, I would take Fitzpatrick any day. 

Oakland scored the go-ahead touchdown though with 3:41 left on the clock. It was a beautiful 50-yard bomb to Denarius Moore, who made a sick catch at the goal line between two defenders, that took the lead. 

Buffalo got the ball with 3:36 left in the game with good field position after a 14-yard penalty on the kickoff.  Starting at the 34-yard line and needing a touchdown to win it Ryan Fitzpatrick orchestrated a beautiful drive going 8-of-13 for 62 yards with a touchdown to David Nelson for the victory.

Overall, Oakland made a decent showing in the second half, only to come up short and Fitzpatrick and company look like they are for real.

Minnesota Leads 17-0 at Halftime

Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota Vikings sure wish that games ended at halftime.  They took a 17-7 lead against the Chargers in Week 1 only to lose 24-17.  This time they led 17-0 and looked like a dominating team.

After exchanging punts on each of their first possessions, the Vikings decided to put it into gear.  The first scoring drive was a beautiful 12-play, 90-yard drive that was capped by an Adrian Peterson touchdown.  

Then in between two more Tampa Bay punts the Vikings had two more long scoring drives of 14 plays (Ryan Longwell field goal) and eight plays (Adrian Peterson's second touchdown). 

The Viking defense looked dominant, holding Tampa Bay to three three-and-outs in the first half and the Bucs only ran a total of 20 plays compared to Minnesota's 40.  They out-gained Tampa Bay 274 to 57, and it looked like there was no way the Bucs could climb out of the hole they were in.

Then came the second half.

Tampa Bay Wins 24-20

Getting the ball first in the second half with the lead is usually a good thing.  In this case, for the Vikings, it wasn't. 

Their first drive was stalled by two penalties and capped with an 11-yard punt by Chris Kluwe to set up the Bucs with beautiful field position at the Minnesota 44.  After a 17-yard strike by Josh Freeman, LeGarrette Blount decided to finish the drive off quickly with a 27-yard scamper. 

Then Raheem Morris got tricky with a successful onside kick which quickly turned all the momentum to Tampa Bay.  Although Josh Freeman ended up throwing an interception on that drive, Minnesota could never recover. 

Tampa held Minnesota to a punt after the pick and then rumbled down the field for what looked like a go ahead score by Mike Williams, but it was called back by an illegal shift penalty and they settled for a field goal.

On the ensuing possession, Minnesota finally showed up driving 12 plays for 69 yards but stalled at the 10-yard line and were held to a field goal. Then Tampa Bay got the ball back, quickly drove 80 yards in eight plays to go down four. 

If it couldn't get any worse, Minnesota's next drive went for 12 yards on five plays including two incompletions and a penalty so only about two minutes ran off the clock.  Josh Freeman got the ball back with 4:12 left and led his Bucs down the field going 5-of-6 for 52 yards to set up a four-yard Blount touchdown plunge, leaving only 31 seconds on the clock which the Vikings couldn't do anything with.

A classic choke job by Minnesota only accumulating 109 yards in the second half to Tampa Bay's 277, the tables were completely turned and the Vikings were booed off their own home field in their home opener. 

That, my friends, trounces Oakland's loss as the biggest second-half letdown of Week 2.