Oakland makes a late stand to beat Cowboys 19-13

By Darrell Laurant | Monday, October 03, 2005 | ( 0 )

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Faced with the grim specter of 0-4 Sunday afternoon, the Oakland Raiders defense responded with a four and out goal line stand.

After Sebastian Janikowski's fourth field goal of the game put Oakland up 19-13 on visiting Dallas, Cowboys' QB Drew Bledsoe connected on a 57-yard rainbow to Terry Glenn, placing the ball on the Oakland five. But on second down from the 3, Oakland's Tommy Kelly met Julius Jones for a two-yard loss. Bledsoe then threw two incompletions, Oakland took over on downs with 1:45 left, and workhorse RB Lamont Jordan cranked out two clutch first downs as the Raiders ran out the clock.

Relatively ineffective the first three games (the low point being 19 yards in 16 carries against the Philadelphia Eagles), Jordan reminded Raider fans why their team had signed him away from the New York Jets, running for 126 yards and a touchdown. He also took some pressure off Kerry Collins, Randy Moss and the rest of the Oakland passing game.

Moss caught only four passes, but his first grab went for 79 yards and set up a 30-yard field goal from Janikowski, who has also struggled so far this season. A two yard scoring run by Jordan made it 10-0 after the first quarter, and a Jose Cortez field goal left the Cowboys (now 2-2) trailing by seven at halftime.

Janikowski and Cortez traded three-pointers in the third quarter, and Sebastian kicked two more in the fourth, sandwiched around a 63-yard touchdown pass from Bledsoe to Patrick Crayton.

The game was uncommonly even statistically. Both teams had 16 first downs, Oakland had 333 yards in total offense to 303 for the Dallas Cowboys, and the Raiders kept the ball a minute longer. The most glaring discrepancy came in penalties -- the Raiders, as befits their rowdy image, were assessed 13 for 85 yards.

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