It might just be preseason but a win always feels mighty fine. We waited a long time and its a nice little bonus to get a W right off the bat. The Raiders are far from a finished product but they showed some things to get excited about. They showed some things to slap your forehead about too.
Things started off a bit ugly. A couple of short runs, a decent screen pass to McFadden, and then a nasty blindside sack fumble on Flynn that had the Cowboys starting in field goal range for their first drive. A Sio Moore sack would force a long 3rd down that wouldn't be converted. The field goal after that was converted though for a 3-0 Dallas lead.
Flynn came in and redeemed himself fairly well after that fumble, though not enough to get a TD. He would however put together a 11 play drive that resulted in a field goal of their own to tie the game at 3. We wouldn't see Flynn again and he would end the game with 4 of 5 passing for 37 yards with a fumble.
Rashad Jennings actually was a nice surprise in this game as he provided a nice boost in the run game. He runs with authority and still has some speed to him. He would finish the game with 9 carries for 39 yards and had some nice runs to help get the Raiders first field goal which Sebastian Janikowski hit from 51 yards out.
Out goes Flynn, in comes Terrelle Pryor for the 2nd quarter. The fan favorite QB Pryor showed he has improved a lot, and also showed he is still learning. After methodically moving the ball down the field with mostly runs but some nice passes too, Pryor would throw a ball he wishes he had back. He got the Raiders deep into the redzone but would force a throw into the endzone resulting in an interception. He had room to run for the first but threw across his body forcing the bad throw instead.
Tony Romo was already done for the day but back up QB Kyle Orton is a veteran himself. He carved his way through the Raiders defense and straight to the endzone on a 15 yard pass to Cole Beasley with 41 seconds in the half. The Cowboys now had the lead 10-3.
That 41 seconds was enough time for Pryor though. With help from a nifty play by TE David Ausberry who spun out of a tackle to save time on the clock Terrelle would lead the Raiders down for a field goal to go to half time down 10-6. Even with the mistakes Pryor had an impressive day and really showed his hard work is paying off. He finished with 3 runs for 31 yards and 6 of 10 passing (60% completions) for 88 yards and an int.
The 3rd quarter would start off with a bit of luck. The Cowboys 3rd string QB Nick Stevens would take over and toss an ugly pass over his receivers head that was intercepted by Safety Usama Young. Young made a good read and covered a lot of ground to get to the ball. The Raiders Undrafted Rookie QB Matt McGloin would come in now to take the reigns.
McGloin didn't do much on that possession but Young had left the Raiders in field goal range and back up kicker Eddy Carmona would take advantage. After a 3 and out Carmona would make a 42 yard field goal to bring the Raiders within 1 point with a 10-9 score.
Oakland's defense would hold strong and force the first punt of the game on the next possession. This is where Matt McGloin and Brice Butler would show off some for the crowd. First they connected on a beauty of a crossing route for a 40 yard game. Then McGloin would go deep and Brice would make the play of the game with a beautiful diving fingertip catch. The Raiders took their first lead of the game there at 16-10 with that TD. "McLovin" would finish 4 of 7 passing for 78 yards and a TD, and a whopping 135.7 QB rating.
The Cowboys would not go down easy though and 3rd string QB Nick Stevens wanted to make up for his bad int. He would lead a demoralizingly efficient drive that would include several 3rd down conversions. The drive would result in a 1 yard TD run eventually after 15 plays to take back the lead 17-16.
Now it would be Tyler Wilson's turn at the helm and the rokie couldn't ask for a better opportunity to show what he got. He would not show his Sunday's best though, starting his first play off with a sack on his way toward a 3 and out. Luckily for him the Cowboys return man would muff the punt and the Raiders LB Eric Harper would recover it. The punt was a thing of beauty from Marquette King, it had height and hang time as he boomed it across the field.
Once again Wilson would not show very strong but he avoided the big mistakes and kept the Raiders in field goal range. Eddy Carmona would connect again and give the Raiders their final lead at 19-17 with 1:41 left to play.
The Cowboys final drive ran into a couple of corners trying hard to prove worthy of the final roster. Taiwan Jones would make a couple important pass break ups and Chance Casey would also get his nose in the action. Chance had a nice tackle and also got his finger tips on the Cowboys final pass just doing enough to cause the receiver to drop what would've been a 1st down on a 4th and long play. Tyler Wilson would kneel out the clock and the Raiders would win with the final score being 19-17 good guys. All in all it was a great start to the Raiders 2013 season.
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