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Raiders can’t hold Jaguars, lose 38-31
By Scary Barry Rodriguez
December 12, 2010
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Jacksonville, Florida, Everbank field- The 6-6 Oakland Raiders are having trouble stringing victories together late in this 2010 season. In a game in which the Raiders dominated the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first half, Oakland let victory slip away. At first the Oakland defense kept the potent Jaguar running attack and Maurice Jones-Drew in check. Jacksonville was having very little luck in the passing game early on. On the Offense Darren McFadden ripped off a 67 yard run for a touchdown in the first quarter and it seemed if the Raiders were going to run over the opposition. Oakland added another touchdown on a 8 yard pass to Louis Murphy, plus a 26 yard field goal. Jacksonville scored on a 1 yard pass from David Garrard to Mercedes Lewis. Despite multiple red zone drives Oakland led only 17-7 at the half. Judging by the statistics the game shouldn't have been this close.
In the second half the game became a scorefest. The Raiders scored two more touchdowns and Jacksonville four touchdowns and a field goal. Oakland couldn't keep the Jaguar's running attack bottled up. Rashad Jennings ran 74 yards for a touchdown and Maurice Jones-Drew also scored on a 30 yard run. Yet the Raider led for most of the game. Eventually the Jaguars took the lead in the fourth quarter 28-24 on a Garrard pass to Mike Sims-Walker from 10 yards out. Darren McFadden had scored a Raider touchdown on a 51 yard run in the third quarter and added a 36 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Despite the heroic efforts of Jason Campbell who had 21 completions for 324 yards with 2 touchdowns and McFadden running for 123 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns it was the Raider defense that couldn't hold the line. The Raiders had tied the score at 31-31 with 1-53 to go but Jacksonville came back to score the winning touchdown on a 30 yard run by Maurice Jones-Drew. Jason Campbell had been knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter. Backup Kyle Boller briefly came in and gave up an interception to Keep Oakland from going ahead.
The Jaguars managed to rush for 234 yards and that opened things up for their passing attack. Even though the Raiders had 476 net yards on offense it wasn't enough. The defense could not make the stop at critical times and allowed Jacksonville to score 31 points in the second half. Now at 6-7 the Raiders will need much luck in making it to the playoffs in the AFC west. They had the Jaguars down but couldn't seal the deal.
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