Raiders Buccaneers
Oakland Beats Tampa Bay; Bucs Not Going to Playoffs
The Grudens, the Kiffins, the Allens, the Middletons, the Sapps and perhaps even Tim Brown all keenly have their eyes focused on matchups between the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The regular season meetings between the two now occur once each leap year.
All of the aforementioned have family history working for both organizations. Both teams carry a swashbuckling pirate image evident in their crossed swords and metallic colors, and both played in a storied super bowl, one that found the Raiders shorthanded after the loss of all-pro center Barrett Robbins.
Both are also going to be watching other teams play in the 2008 NFL postseason, courtesy of the Raiders pulling off a smashing upset of the Bucs, 31-24 in Tampa Sunday.
Cheers and celebrations could be heard in the visitors locker room at Raymond James Stadium. The Raiders defeated the franchise most responsible for banishing them into a 24-72 warp that started in 2003 with Super Bowl XXXVII. Oakland beat Tampa in comeback fashion, scoring 17 unanswered points late in the game.
After the Bucs made it 24-14 with an early fourth quarter field goal, Oakland went to work. A 43-yard pass interference call on the ensuing drive set the Raiders up at Tampa's 12 yard line. Oakland quarterback JaMarcus Russell then found Johnnie Lee Higgins for a 12-yard touchdown.
On Oakland's next offensive drive just minutes later, backup running back Michael Bush scored another touchdown courtesy of a booming 67 yard scamper to the end zone. It was 28-24 Oakland until kicker Sebastian Janikowski made it 31-24 via a field goal with just over a minute to play in the game.
Bush finished with 27 carries for 177 yards. Russell completed 14-of-21 passes for 148.
Oakland's defense held Tampa Bay off in that final minute, as the Raiders won a game that had all the makings of a loss for them given the last six seasons. They also knocked off former head coach Jon Gruden, Tampa assistant coach Monte Kiffin (father of Lane Kiffin, fired from his head coaching job with Oakland after week 4), and Buccaneer General Manager Bruce Allen, who spent years in Oakland prior to making his own personnel move to Tampa.
The loss dropped Tampa Bay to 9-7, and out of playoff contention as the Philadelphia Eagles knocked off the Dallas Cowboys up the coast. The Buccaneers end their season with two losses at home to AFC West teams that came to Florida with losing records.
Oakland ended another of its forgettable campaigns of the decade with two straight wins against foes whose strength was at least measurable. The win over the Bucs was the first ever for them in Tampa, having played there only once before in the regular season: a heartbreaking 1996 loss. At 5-11, the Raiders finished three games out of last place in their division, a more comfortable distance from it for them than in recent years (Oakland has finished alone in last place or tied for it in the AFC West each of the previous five seasons, 2003-07).
The Raiders also won both at Denver and at Kansas City for the first time in the same season since 1988. They will select eighth in the 2009 NFL Draft.
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