A football game broke out in what was supposed to be a heavyweight wrestling match, WWE style. The Oakland Raiders hosted the New York Jets and Mark Sanchez on Sunday. They were not very kind in their reception of the demigod “The Sanchize”.
These two teams were supposed to bring the rugged defense, the exotic blitzing schemes, and the cover corners that earn you nick names like “Revis Island” and “The Baby Making Machine”. We did see that kind of defense today, thing is that it didn’t come from the Jets. After Sanchez led the Jets to an early 17-7 lead, the Raiders defense decided it was time to take it up a notch. There seemed to be a dark cloud hovering all around Sanchez as he was hurried time after time. Each time he got hit it was like “Good Night”, so maybe this will be the “Year of Good Night”. You knew the “Bully” had arrived when the camera showed Sanchez on the sideline getting his displaced nose realigned.
Darren McFadden was running wild in a game that some experts thought he wouldn’t do much. He ran hard, he ran with aggression, he ran with conviction, and he ran very fast. He was punishing anyone who dared to tackle him. Revis was his usual shutdown self, but he was only covering Darius Heyward-Bey who isn’t one of the top options anyway. They concentrated on Cromartie, who had trouble dealing with the speed of the Raiders, as he was flagged several times throughout the game. Two touchdowns from Run DMC in the first half, and a Janikowski 54 yard field goal as time expired ended the half tied at 17.
The real fireworks started in the 3rd quarter. After the Raiders shut down the Jets and made them punt, they went back to work, and they picked up right from where they left off in the first half. McFadden to the left, then the right, and up the middle. Jason Campbell, who had a pedestrian day numbers wise, was calm, cool, and collected all day long and guided the team to 24 unanswered points and a 31-17 lead.
The game wasn’t over as the Rex Ryan led Jets will never say die. Mark Sanchez drove the team 93 yards for a touchdown to bring them with a score. The Raiders then went into “4 minute mode” to shut down the game. The moved the ball into Jets territory where they were faced with a crucial 3rd down play. Phil Simms was saying they had to run the ball, but Hue Jackson had other ideas. Campbell dropped back to pass and threw deep for Heyward-Bey in the right corner of the end zone. It looked like there was possible PI, but no flag was thrown. Janikowski lined up and nailed a 49 yarder as if it was an extra point. The Raiders had a 10 point lead with just under 3 minutes to go.
Still no quit in the Jets. They drove down the field once again on short plays that turned in the longer plays when the Raiders defense couldn’t get them down. LaDanian Tomlinson had a flashback day as he caught passes for over 100 yards and a touchdown. With the Jets down inside the 5 yard line in a goal to go situation on 4th down they decide to go for the touchdown. Sanchez drops back, doesn’t see anybody and takes off for the goal line. Richard Seymour throws his arm out and clips Sanchez in the helmet, and as he’s going down he stretches the ball over the plane for a score. After review, Sanchez’s knee was down before he scored, Raider ball at the 1 yard line and the game was over.
The Raiders and Bills played a shootout in Buffalo last week. Today, those same Bills dispatched the heavily favored New England Patriots and Tom Brady who comes to Oakland next week. If the Raiders can keep the offense rolling, Hue Jackson and company have a real good shot at beating the Patriots, and going 3-1 in the first quarter of the season.