Oakland Raiders Week 3 Wrap Up

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Raiders at Cardinals

Score: Cardinals 24, Raiders 23

The Storyline: Sebastian Janikowski proved once again that there is no such thing as a chip shot when it comes to kicking field goals. The Raiders place-kicker was wide left with a 32-yard field goal try as time expired, allowing the Arizona Cardinals to escape with a 24-23 victory on Sunday. The Raiders did a lot of things right but they missed other earlier scoring opportunities as well and it caught up with them at the end.

Key Moment: Down 24-20 with 9:12 left to play, the Raiders had a first-and-goal at Arizona's 1-yard line, basically a running back's stride away from getting the lead. But the Cardinals stopped Michael Bush for no gain. A delay of game penalty pushed the Raiders back to the 6, and two passes from Bruce Gradowski to Darius Heyward-Bey fell in the end zone incomplete. Janikowski came on to kick a 23-yard field goal to the cut the deficit to one point, which proved to be Arizona's victory margin.

Key Stat: The rough-and-tumble Raiders always draw plenty of penalties but even by Raiders standards, they outdid themselves against Arizona. When it was all said and done, the Raiders were penalized 11 times for 123 yards. The delay call was among the costliest, pushing them back from the brink of the end zone. A false start penalty also added five-yards to an earlier field goal try by Janikowski, stretching it to a 58-yard attempt. It was one of three that he missed in the game.

Where they stand: At 1-2, the Raiders are in a three-way tie with the Broncos and Chargers for second place in the AFC West, two games back of the front-running Chiefs (3-0).

Notable: Darren McFadden is gaining traction as the Raiders starting running back, rushing for 105 yards on 25 carries, and receiver Darius Heyward-Bey is steadily becoming more involved in the offense. He had three catches for 49 yards and also induced a 39-yard pass interference penalty from Cardinals cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

 

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