2nd Qtr..... Fins @ Raiders

Rest in Peace to an awesome writer and journalist, Patrick Patterson, who died of an apparent blood clot in his lung early Thanksgiving Day. He was just 38 years of age. Man could he write about all things Raiders! He was an inspiration to all Raider insiders! Thanks for the great thoughts from the Dark Side! Todays game blogs will be dedicated to him!

Defense

Picking up from the 1st Qtr, Miami runs the Wild Cat with a gain of 7. 2nd down and 4, another Wild Cat and the Raiders had it contained but Brown still got the 1st down.  1st and 10 and Williams gets 5. The defense needs to find their balance here, as we do not want to go down by another touchdown. Play action and nice rush by Lamar Houston to cause the rushed throw for an incompletion. 3rd and 5, Raiders show blitz and Routt again on the soft coverage allowing a 19 yard gain. On the wildcat, Ronnie Brown gets a yard. On the 13th play of the drive, play action and Henne throws the pick to Rolando McClain on the 1 yard line. Nice interception, going sky high to get that one.

2nd possession of the quarter, Miami starts on the 46 yard line. Play action with all day to throw and a short pass to the flat to Williams that goes incomplete, coverage by Wimbley. 2nd down and Henne goes deep to Moore, targeting Stanford Routt, who never turned his head to look for the ball. 3rd down and a huge sack by Michael Huff who absolutely clobbered Chad Henne. I am surprised they did not call helmet to helmet contact.  

After the fumble, Miami goes back to the run for a 2 yard run to Brown. 2nd down and Stanford Routt and Kameron Wimbley play tight coverage on Cobbs preventing the completion. 3rd and 8, and Branch comes up with the big sack on Henne, forcing the fg attempt. Can Carpenter short and to the left on the 52 yard attempt, with the Raiders dodging a bullet. 

Starting on the 20, Miami gets called for the false start.  Tommy Kelly on the subsequent play comes off the block and tackles Williams for no gain. 2nd and 15, 3 WR set, and Henne threw the ball to whom it seems like was going to Nnamdi, but they called holding on him. He clearly grabbed the WR's outside shoulder. Huge penalty. on 1st down, another false start gets Miami to another 1st and 15. So back to the 15, and McClain finds a hole and blows up the play for a 1 yard gain. 2nd and 14, and a pitch to Williams who gained 8 yards. 3rd down and 6, and the Raiders force Miami to use another timeout. After the time out, Miami comes out in the Shotgun set and throws to Devon Bess for a first down and a pickup of 17. Another pass against Nnamdi. 1st and 10, and another pass against Stanford Routt for a pickup of 23. Henne took a nice hit from McClain. After the 2 minute warning, a deep pass attempt with Henne having all day, threw an incomplete to the goal line. 2nd a dn 10, with a big ht by Stevie Brown to dislodge the ball from Marlon Moore for the incompletion. 3rd and 10, Miami 50% so far, and Walter McFadden allows Devon Bess to make a make an easy 18 yard completion. 1st and 10 from the 19 yard line, Henne had all day and threw it to the pylon in the corner of the end zone, incomplete. 2nd down, 10th play of the drive and Henne threw the ball out of bounds to Devon Bess, who fell on the 5 yard line. 3rd down, heading to the black hole, and the Raiders give up another pass completion to Devon Bess for 11 yards. 1st and goal, wild cat from the 7, and the draw to Ricky Williams gets a loss of a yard. 2nd down, from the 9 and Henne throws to Fesano to the 5 with 6 Raiders tackling him.  3rd and goal, and great coverage by Branch to hold Miami to a field goal attempt. perfect timing and great use of hands right at the goal line to hang on.

Offense

 

Taking over at the 11 yard line, Grads gets the ball to Zach Miller for a 5 yard pickup in the flat. 2nd down and Darren McFadden gets a gain of 3 into the middle of the defensive line. 3rd and 2 and a nice play to get the ball to Darren McFadden on the flat one on one with a CB, picks up 20. With Miami trying to implement the Wild Cat, the original architect of the play, Darren McFadden gets into the Wild Hog formation, but a time out is called by Miami, who was not ready for the play call.After the time out, Grads with the pick trying to get the ball to Marcel Reece on the wheel route, but under threw him tremendously. Lingering shoulder issue? Who knows. Bad ball? Definitely!

Johnnie Lee Higgins with the tight rope run back on the return to the 26 yard line.

1st down and Bruce hits Ford for 5. 2nd down and the Wild Hog with McFadden giving the ball to Reece, who fumbles and a TD saving tackle by Jacoby Ford.

1st and 10 from the 42 and a reverse to Jacoby Ford who must have forgotten this is football and got smashed on the tackle. Thank God he hung on to the ball. 1st and 10 from the Miami 45, and Bush gets 2 yards up the middle. After the injury to Mario Henderson, Grads gets pressured and forced to throw the ball too quick, and an incompletion. 3rd down and Grads hangs on with pressure in his face and throws a beautiful 44yard TD pass to Jacoby Ford, who tight roped the side lines and outran the pursuit. Great catch, great throw.

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