Oakland at Cincinnati recap, final score 30-16: Bengals bite too much for Raiders in Cincy

Today’s game in Cincinnati against the Bengals started out with the Raiders getting the ball first after the opening kickoff. Derek Carr’s streak of 8 games without an interception very nearly was ended but the defender dropped the ball that was right in his hands. Oakland wasn’t able to take advantage of their good luck at missing the turnover though, they punted to the Bengals a couple of plays later.

Oakland’s defense stopped the Bengals quickly to get the ball back for Oakland. Then thanks to Jared Cook they got to the Bengals side of the field. However, Derek Carr got strip sacked shortly after that. The roller coaster ride wasn’t over there though because on the first play of the Bengals drive they went deep and S Erik Harris intercepted it at the Oakland 6 yard line.

The Raiders went three and out from there though and then Johnny Townsend had yet another bad punt in his horrible rookie season. The Bengals started on the Oakland 45 after the 38 yard punt. It took them 9 plays but Cincinnati’s drive ended in the end zone for a 7-0 lead. All three key plays on the drive went to WR Tyler Boyd with him catching a 7 yard pass on 4th and 2, a 21 yard pass down to the Oakland 6, and the 7 yard touchdown on 3rd and goal.

Derek Carr was able to lead the Raiders to the Cincinnati side of the field but no further. They ended up punting on their drive which was fair caught at the CIN 10. Thanks in large part to a 47 yard run by Joe Mixon that tough field position did not matter very much. It did take a 4th and goal from the 1 before they finally punched it in with Joe Mixon for a 14-0 lead.

It’s starting to get ugly for the Raiders after Jalen Richard fumbled the ball away to Cincinnati quickly on the next drive. The Bengals took over at the Oakland 34 but they eventually settled for a 34 yard field goal. The kick made the score 17-0 Cincinnati with 6:41 left in the 1st half.

With their back against the wall the Raiders offense finally woke up. It really helps when you get a 20 yard reception from Seth Roberts and a 44 yard catch and run from the 4th TE for Oakland Darren Waller down to the one yard line. Then playaction again left TE Lee Smith wide open for his 3rd TD catch of the season which made the score 17-7 Cincinnati.

The Bengals got a big kickoff return with a face mask penalty tacked on at the end so they started their next drive with great field position at the Oakland 46. Then they got a 15 yard taunting penalty on Arden Key on the first play of the drive to help the Bengals even further. They didn’t get much closer after that but it was close enough for a field goal to make it 20-7 with 1:39 left in the half. Each team punted one more time before the end of the half but neither scored so it remained 20-7 at the half.

Cincinnati got the ball first to begin the 2nd half and should have been held without getting first down. Instead the refs called a bullshit 35 yard pass interference penalty on Gareon Conley, who added injury to the insult when he hit his head hard on the ground causing a concussion. The Raiders did come up with the stop after that to force the punt anyway.

Thanks mostly to a perfectly placed 32 yard floater pass to Jalen Richard the Raiders were able to cut away at the Bengals lead with a field goal. Derek Carr had a reception on the drive but unfortunately the one handed catch was off a deflection and resulted in a 9 yard loss. Daniel Carlson still nailed the 50 yard field goal to make the score 20-10.

Very quickly Oakland got the ball back because of the Bengals going 3 and out and they got good field position starting at their own 46 after the punt too. A busted coverage left Jordy Nelson wide open for a 44 yard gain down to the CIN 7 after just the 2nd play of the drive. They couldn’t get any closer though, 2 different false start penalties didn’t help either. They settled for the 27 yard field goal which made the score 20-13 with 2:38 left in the 3rd quarter.

Cincinnati’s offense woke up after that, going on a 14play, 81 yard drive. They got down to the 4 yard line but the Raiders came up with big goal line stop from there. They did kick in the chip shot yard field goal to make the score 23-13. The biggest play on the drive was a 27 yarder to Bengals tight end C.J. Uzomah.

The kickoff was a touchback but there was a 15 yard penalty on the Bengals so Oakland started their drive on their own 40. They threw the good field position away though by going 3 and out. Johnny Townsend kicked a good punt that caught a Raiders roll, it bounced down to the CIN 7 but the refs decided it hit off Dwayne Harris (It didn’t look like it hit him but no challenge from Gruden) so the ball was put at the 23 instead. It didn’t matter anyway because Karl Joseph got a big 3rd down sack to force a Bengals 3 and out.

After the punt the Raiders again had great field position starting at their own 48. They started their drive with a 14 yard reception by Jordy Nelson, his 4th on the day for 76 yards. They followed that up with a 12 yard Marcel Ateman catch down to the CIN 26. They’d only get to the 21 before sending Daniel Carlson out for a 40 yard field goal to make it 23-16 with 5:05 left in regulation. That kick makes Carlson 13 of 14 kicking field goals since taking over the duties for the Raiders.

The good feelings of making it a one score game were dashed immediately with a 77 yard kickoff return to the Oakland 21 from Cincy. Bengals running back got the back breaking 16 yard TD run on the 2 play, 21 yard drive. That touchdown made the score 30-16 with 4:04 remaining in the 4th and capped off a huge day for Mixon who ran for 117 yards and 2 TD’s.

The Raiders went 3 and out with their next drive and punted back to the Bengals with just over 2 minutes left in the game. Cincinnati needed to get a first down to run out the rest of the clock and they got it on a 3rd down pass. They then kneeled out the rest of the clock, Raiders lose 30-16.