The Raiders sold out their home opener against the Houston Texans. Which only made the boos that much louder and the silence that much more deafening as 54,000 fans gave a collective "Here we go again."
The Texans took the opening drive for a score, just as the Jets had in the season opener. This time it was much worse for the hapless Raiders. The Texans used a good mixture of Arian Foster and Ryan Fitzpatrick to put this one out of hand very early.
On the first drive, the big play came on third down and three when Justin Tuck tipped a pass at the line but Andre Johnson was still able to come up with it. Two plays later, Foster broke around the left side of the line for a 41-yard run to the one-yard line. The Texans got tricky on the next play, throwing the touchdown to J.J. Watt to go up 7-0.
The Raiders came out and went three-and-out after a McFadden run for a loss, a short run, and a wide incompletion from Derek Carr intended for James Jones.
The Texans converted two third downs on their ensuing drive. The first was a nice catch by DeAndre Hopkins on a catch in the flat. The next time they were in third and 8 and Sio Moore's man got behind him where he gave up a 26-yard catch to put the Texans in scoring position once again. They would convert a total of four third-downs on the drive, culminating in a touchdown on a Foster run up the middle to take a 14-0 lead.
When the Raiders got the ball back, the first quarter had ended. They had the ball for a total of 1:25 in the first quarter and were outgained 150 to 3.
The ensuing drive started promising with Derek Carr taking off on a read-option for 41 yards. The drive ended soon thereafter with Carr throwing an interception to Kareem Jackson who returned it 56 yards to the 24-yard line. They would end up converting on a field goal to make it 17-0.
Shane Lechler made his first appearance in this game with 2:30 left in the second quarter. That is to say the Texans weren't forced to punt until then.
The Raiders got the ball back, looking to run a two-minute drill. Again, it looked promising but ended in a turnover. This one was just unbelievable. James Jones caught a pass along the right sideline but after securing it, he had the ball knocked out. He then alertly scooped the ball up and ran for the endzone. But he was caught by Jonathan Joseph who knocked the ball out again, this time the Texans recovered at the 3-yard line. Raiders are finding weird ways to lose.
With the seconds ticking off the clock, Darren McFadden failed to get out of bounds and the time ran out, sending the Raiders to the locker room down 17-0 at half time.
The mistakes continued in the second half. Another drive began promising and yet again resulted in a turnover. This time it was a fumble by Mychal Rivera. Texans safety D.J. Swearinger recovered it and returned it to the 21-yard line. The Texans would take the short field to score another touchdown on a pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to DeAndre Hopkins. The lead was then 24-0.
On the next Texans, possession, they drove to the 21-yard line thanks in part to a big catch and run by Andre Johnson to pick up 20 yards. It set up a 39-yard field goal to give the Texans a 27-0 lead. The route was on. Or it continued, anyway.
The Raiders were on the move again, in part due to a big 23-yard pickup by Darren McFadden on a screen pass. Facing fourth and one at the 33-yard line, the Raiders elect to go for it and Derek Carr picks it up on the quarterback sneak. The drive continued and thanks to a pass interference penalty by the Texans, put the Raiders in first and goal at the one-yard line. Darren McFadden took a run wide left for the score.
The Raiders could celebrate not being shut out by pulling to being down 27-7.
From there, the Texans were content to run the ball on nearly every play. And why not? They weren't just running clock, they were running right through the Raiders defense, with Foster picking up yards in big chunks. They were able to run 9:21 off the clock on 14 plays and converting a field goal at the end of it to increase the lead to 30-7.
Just when you thought it couldn't get more laughable, Derek Carr held the ball too long and was nailed by J.J. Watt and threw an interception at his own 11-yard line.
The Texans invoked the mercy rule as Ryan Mallett took over for Ryan Fitzpatrick as the Texans offense came back on the field. The Texans ran a couple plays and attempted a field goal that was blocked by Justin Tuck to keep the score at 30-7. The Raiders took over at the 17-yard line with 1:55 left on the clock.
With 1:28 left on the clock, Latavius Murray received his first NFL carry at running back. It went for six yards.
The Raiders were able to drive down the field against the Texans prevent defense but still managed to have a couple drops along the way from Denarius Moore and Brice Butler. They added a late touchdown pass from Derek Carr to James Jones just as they did last week, to make it look like slightly less of a route.
With :13 seconds left in the game, Texans recovered the onsides kick and the game ended there with a 30-14 victory over a Raiders team again left searching for answers.
Leaving the game with injury for the Raiders was Sio Moore (ankle) and Rod Streater (hip flexor).
Next up, the Raiders head on their two week road trip to face New England and then straight to England to face the Dolphins. The next time these fans see this team, will be October. Not the lasting memory either the team or the fans wanted.
BOX SCORE
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Houston Texans (1-0-0)
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Passing
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CP/AT | YDS | TD | INT |
R. Fitzpatrick | 14/19 | 139 | 2 | 0 |
Rushing | ATT | YDS | TD | LG |
A. Foster | 28 | 138 | 1 | 40 |
A. Blue | 11 | 40 | 0 | 11 |
J. Grimes | 3 | 9 | 0 | 7 |
R. Brown | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
R. Mallett | 1 | -1 | 0 | -1 |
Receiving | REC | YDS | TD | LG |
A. Johnson | 6 | 74 | 0 | 20 |
G. Graham | 1 | 26 | 0 | 26 |
D. Hopkins | 3 | 22 | 1 | 12T |
A. Foster | 2 | 12 | 0 | 9 |
D. Johnson | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
J. Watt | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1T |
Fumbles | FUM | LOST | REC | YDS |
D. Johnson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
J. Joseph | 0 | 0 | 1 | 49 |
K. Lewis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
D. Swearinger | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Kicking | FG | LG | XP | PTS |
R. Bullock | 3/4 | 46 | 3/3 | 12 |
Punting | NO | AVG | I20 | LG |
S. Lechler | 2 | 48.5 | 1 | 65 |
Kickoff Returns | NO | AVG | TD | LG |
K. Martin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Punt Returns | NO | AVG | TD | LG |
D. Johnson | 2 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
Defense | T-A | SCK | INT | FF |
A. J. Bouye | 7-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
B. Cushing | 5-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
J. Joseph | 4-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 |
D. Morris | 4-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
K. Lewis | 3-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 |
D. Swearinger | 3-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 |
J. Tuggle | 3-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
K. Jackson | 2-0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 |
D. Manning | 2-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
M. Mohamed | 2-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
J. Ankrah | 1-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
J. Crick | 1-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
W. Mercilus | 1-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
B. Reed | 0-0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 |
X. Su'a-Filo | 0-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
Oakland Raiders (0-1-0) | ||||
Passing | CP/AT | YDS | TD | INT |
D. Carr | 27/42 | 263 | 1 | 2 |
Rushing | ATT | YDS | TD | LG |
D. Carr | 4 | 58 | 0 | 41 |
D. McFadden | 12 | 37 | 1 | 10 |
L. Murray | 1 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Receiving | REC | YDS | TD | LG |
J. Jones | 9 | 112 | 1 | 42 |
A. Holmes | 5 | 45 | 0 | 15 |
D. McFadden | 2 | 31 | 0 | 23 |
M. Rivera | 5 | 31 | 0 | 10 |
D. Moore | 3 | 29 | 0 | 12 |
M. Reece | 1 | 11 | 0 | 11 |
R. Streater | 1 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
B. Butler | 1 | -2 | 0 | -2 |
Fumbles | FUM | LOST | REC | YDS |
J. Jones | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
M. Rivera | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Kicking | FG | LG | XP | PTS |
S. Janikowski | 0/0 | 0 | 2/2 | 2 |
Punting | NO | AVG | I20 | LG |
M. King | 3 | 37.0 | 0 | 47 |
Kickoff Returns | NO | AVG | TD | LG |
L. Murray | 4 | 25 | 0 | 29 |
Punt Returns | NO | AVG | TD | LG |
T. Carrie | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Defense | T-A | SCK | INT | FF |
T. Branch | 9-2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
C. Woodson | 7-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
K. Mack | 6-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
P. Sims | 5-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
T. Brown | 4-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
S. Moore | 4-2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
C. Chekwa | 3-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
J. Ellis | 3-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
M. Burris | 2-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
C. Rogers | 2-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
J. Tuck | 2-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
K. Maiava | 1-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
C. Wilson | 1-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
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