KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On one of the most miserable days
of his career, JaMarcus Russell got more than a win. He also put his name in the
Oakland Raiders history book.
Missing high, low and everywhere in-between, the overall
No. 1 draft choice of 2007 completed only 7-of-24 passes for 109 yards. But
Russell came into focus when he had to, engineering a 69-yard scoring march in
the final two minutes for a wildly improbable 13-10 victory over mistake-prone
Kansas City.
The Chiefs out-gained the Raiders (1-1) 409-166, while
Russell became just the second quarterback since the start of the 1997 season to
try 20 or more passes and complete less than 30 percent of them but still win.
And it’s the first time in the Raiders’ 50-year history
they’ve emerged with a victory after giving up more than 400 yards and gaining
fewer than 200 themselves.
“From the first quarter all the way to the fourth quarter
it was a struggle for us, until the last two or three minutes left in the game,” said
Darren McFadden, whose five-yard touchdown run around left end with 1:07 left made
the difference.
“It’s probably one of the strangest wins. But a win is a
win.”
Cassel, making his long-awaited Kansas City debut after
being out a month with a knee injury, had given the Chiefs (0-2) the lead with a
29-yard touchdown strike to Dwayne Bowe with 2:38 to go. Cassel wound up
throwing for 241 yards.
Oakland’s victory may not have seemed so improbable to
coach Todd Haley.
“When you have nine penalties, two turnovers and a couple
other lapses, you’re not going to win most of the time,” he said. “We didn’t get
the result we wanted. We’re going to have a smart team here. Nine penalties and
a couple of those things don’t reflect a smart team. We’re going to get back to
work because we’re going to have a smart team here.”
But Tom Cable agreed it was about as strange as they
come.
“It’s as poor as I think you can play offensively and
still find a way at the end there to win a football game,” said the Oakland
coach.
While Cassel clearly outplayed his Oakland counterpart,
he did make one mistake that Russell did not. Russell avoided interceptions
while two of Cassel’s passes wound up in the arms of Oakland defensive back
Michael Huff.
“We had things that happened throughout the day that we
hurt ourselves with, whether it was offense or defense or special teams,” Cassel
said. “The Raiders did a good job and made the plays when it counted. Therefore,
they’re going home with the victory.”
Russell hit Louis Murphy for 19 yards and connected with
Todd Watkins for 28 on the nine-play touchdown drive. McFadden took a pitch and
sped untouched around the right side of the Chiefs defense.
Cassel, who missed the opener with a left knee injury,
hit a key third-down pass in the nine-play, 72-yard drive that gave the Chiefs
their only lead of the second half.
The Chiefs crowded the line of scrimmage and dared
Russell to beat them with his arm, and until the final drive Russell seemed bent
on making the strategy work. At the end of the third, he had 35 yards passing
and the Raiders had only 77 yards of offense to 313 for the Chiefs.
But a host of Chiefs mistakes, including nine penalties
for 70 yards and atrocious clock management — and Sebastian Janikowski‘s two
field goals — provided a 6-3 Oakland lead.
Also key to Oakland’s winning drive was a roughing call
on Wallace Gilberry, who fell onto Russell while he was on the ground.
“When we had the personal foul penalty we kind of were
in a position to put them in a bit of a difficult position, and we let them off
the hook,” Haley said. “They made plays at the end.”
Brandon Flowers, the Chiefs’ No. 1 cornerback, returned
after being out almost a month with a shoulder injury. But he was also guilty of
one of the many mistakes by Kansas City when late in the first half he let an
interception sail right through his hands.
With nothing but open field in front of him, Flowers
would probably have waltzed into the end zone.
“Every loss hurts. This loss kills you,” he said.