Post by TheShadow on Nov 11, 2012 16:33:41 GMT -5
www.insidebayarea.com
By Jerry McDonald
BALTIMORE -- The Raiders went beyond mere defeat Sunday with a loss of historical proportions.
Scoring nearly every way possible, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Raiders 55-20 before 71,339 fans at M&T Bank Stadium, most of whom were enjoying it so much they were still around to see their team score the most points in its history.
On the other end, when Jacoby Jones raced 105 yards with a kickoff return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, it tied the record for the most points ever given up by a Raiders team.
It's the first real crisis of the Dennis Allen regime, with the Raiders having given up 97 points in back-to-back games. The loss came one week after a 42-32 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
You have go back to the pre-Al Davis era of 1961, when the Raiders gave up 99 points in their first two games of the season, to find eight quarters of football where they gave up more points.
The Ravens, 7-2, won their 15th straight home game with quarterback Joe Flacco completing 21 of 33 passes for 341 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Flacco also scored on a 1-yard run before giving way to backup Tyrod Taylor with 7:31 remaining.
Flacco threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dennis Pitta and had scoring strikes of 47 and 20 yards to Torrey Smith.
The Raiders, 3-6 and with resurgent New Orleans coming into town with quarterback Drew Brees, were little more than idle bystanders as the Ravens piled it on.
The ultimate indignity came before the Jones kickoff return, when holder Sam Koch ran 7 yards for a touchdown on a fake field goal attempt to make it 48-17.
The last real spark for the Raiders came with 1:37 left in the first half when quarterback Carson Palmer hit Darrius Heyward-Bey with a 55-yard touchdown pass to close within 20-10.
Heyward-Bey bounced off a tackle attempt by future Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed and then ran the remaining 35 yards for the score as Oakland scored within the final two minutes of the first half for the ninth straight game.
The Raiders defense, however, gave it right back.
Flacco completed five of six passes for 73 yards and set up a 7-yard touchdown run by Ray Rice with 24 seconds left and a 27-10 Ravens lead.
Baltimore outscored the Raiders 21-7 in the third quarter _ a period where Oakland has been outscored 109-31 this season.
Palmer had one other touchdown pass, a 30-yard strike to Denarius Moore on the Raiders first series of the second half. He finished 29 of 45 for 368 yards, but also had an interception and a lost fumble. Raiders punt return specialist Phillip Adams also lost a fumble following a rare Oakland three-and-out to set up a Baltimore score.
Rather than play Palmer to the bitter end, as Allen did earlier this season in a one-sided loss to Denver, Matt Leinart came in to play with 5:59 to play.
It was Oakland's sixth straight defeat in an Eastern time zone and 11th in the last 13 cross-country games.
By Jerry McDonald
BALTIMORE -- The Raiders went beyond mere defeat Sunday with a loss of historical proportions.
Scoring nearly every way possible, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Raiders 55-20 before 71,339 fans at M&T Bank Stadium, most of whom were enjoying it so much they were still around to see their team score the most points in its history.
On the other end, when Jacoby Jones raced 105 yards with a kickoff return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, it tied the record for the most points ever given up by a Raiders team.
It's the first real crisis of the Dennis Allen regime, with the Raiders having given up 97 points in back-to-back games. The loss came one week after a 42-32 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
You have go back to the pre-Al Davis era of 1961, when the Raiders gave up 99 points in their first two games of the season, to find eight quarters of football where they gave up more points.
The Ravens, 7-2, won their 15th straight home game with quarterback Joe Flacco completing 21 of 33 passes for 341 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Flacco also scored on a 1-yard run before giving way to backup Tyrod Taylor with 7:31 remaining.
Flacco threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dennis Pitta and had scoring strikes of 47 and 20 yards to Torrey Smith.
The Raiders, 3-6 and with resurgent New Orleans coming into town with quarterback Drew Brees, were little more than idle bystanders as the Ravens piled it on.
The ultimate indignity came before the Jones kickoff return, when holder Sam Koch ran 7 yards for a touchdown on a fake field goal attempt to make it 48-17.
The last real spark for the Raiders came with 1:37 left in the first half when quarterback Carson Palmer hit Darrius Heyward-Bey with a 55-yard touchdown pass to close within 20-10.
Heyward-Bey bounced off a tackle attempt by future Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed and then ran the remaining 35 yards for the score as Oakland scored within the final two minutes of the first half for the ninth straight game.
The Raiders defense, however, gave it right back.
Flacco completed five of six passes for 73 yards and set up a 7-yard touchdown run by Ray Rice with 24 seconds left and a 27-10 Ravens lead.
Baltimore outscored the Raiders 21-7 in the third quarter _ a period where Oakland has been outscored 109-31 this season.
Palmer had one other touchdown pass, a 30-yard strike to Denarius Moore on the Raiders first series of the second half. He finished 29 of 45 for 368 yards, but also had an interception and a lost fumble. Raiders punt return specialist Phillip Adams also lost a fumble following a rare Oakland three-and-out to set up a Baltimore score.
Rather than play Palmer to the bitter end, as Allen did earlier this season in a one-sided loss to Denver, Matt Leinart came in to play with 5:59 to play.
It was Oakland's sixth straight defeat in an Eastern time zone and 11th in the last 13 cross-country games.