NFL Recap (Oakland-San Diego)
Posted: Sun December 20, 1998 at 8:50 p.m. EST
OAKLAND 17, SAN DIEGO 10
SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- The Oakland Raiders snapped a
four-game losing streak, but finished out of the AFC wild card race.
Wade Wilson threw a
pair of touchdowns to lead the Raiders to a 17-10 victory over the San Diego Chargers.
The Raiders (8-7) began the day with a slim chance at the conference's
third and final wild-card spot, but were officially eliminated when New
England defeated San Francisco, 24-21.
"Actually, Eric
Turner (safety) came over and told me that New England won," said
rookie cornerback Charles
Woodson. "I was really disappointed but I had to stay focused on the
game at hand."
"(I am) very disappointed, especially after starting the season 7-3,"
added fleet-footed wide receiver James Jett. "But we
haven't had a winning season since '93 so to finish with a winning record
really means a lot to us."
Wilson hit Jett with a 45-yard touchdown to give Oakland a 7-3 lead in
the second quarter. He connected with Tim Brown on a 12-yard
scoring play 6:09 later to increase the advantage to 14-3.
The 39-year-old Wilson completed 14-of-24 passes for 167 yards with
two interceptions for Oakland, which defeated the Chargers, 7-6, in Week 6.
Wilson came off the bench and hit Jett with a 68-yard touchdown with 88
seconds left to give Oakland the win in the first meeting.
Craig Whelihan
followed last week's five-interception performance with a pair in the
fourth quarter. He completed 19-of-39 passes for 251 yards for San Diego
(5-10), which has lost four in a row.
Whelihan pulled the Chargers within 17-10 with a 39-yard strike to
rookie Mikhael Ricks
with four seconds left in the third quarter and had four chances to tie the
game in the fourth. But two drives ended with interceptions, another on an
incomplete pass on fourth down and the final one by the clock.
"We get plenty of opportunities," Whelihan said. "But we just don't
get the ball in there to score."
Early in the quarter, Whelihan uncorked a bomb intended for Charlie Jones down the
left sideline but Woodson intercepted the badly underthrown pass and
returned it 30 yards to the San Diego 30-yard line.
Oakland's Greg Davis later missed a 35-yard field goal, giving the
Chargers possession at their own 25. Whelihan completed two passes for 28
yards but threw incomplete to Jones on 4th-and-5 from the Raiders 42.
San Diego's defense forced Oakland to punt after three plays and Tony Gaiter returned the
kick 49 yards to the Raiders 37. But veteran safety Anthony Newman picked off
Whelihan's first-down pass at the 11.
"I think on the first interception he was throwing it away," said San
Diego's interim coach June Jones. "On the one at the end of the game, I
think he just pulled the trigger a little bit on it."
The Chargers got the ball back with 20 seconds left but Whelihan's
"Hail Mary" pass fell incomplete as time expired.
San Diego had more total yardage than the Raiders (315-287) and more
first downs (16-14), but were outrushed, 120-79.
"The Raiders defensive line played well today," explained Terrell
Fletcher, who carried 14 times for 65 yards. "They have the second-best
defense in the league."
Without gaining a yard on the ground, Oakland took a 7-3 lead with an
80-yard drive on the first possession of the second quarter. Wilson
completed all four of his passes on the march, capping it with a 45-yard
strike to Jett.
The Raiders forced San Diego into a three-and-out on the ensuing
possession and scored again to take a 14-3 advantage. Reserve running back
Randy Jordan carried
four times for 25 yards before Wilson found Brown in the end zone.
Davis increased the lead to 17-3 with a 25-yard field goal, four plays
after Gaiter fumbled a punt at his own 11.
Reminiscent of the last meeting between the teams, Davis missed two
field-goal attempts and San Diego's John Carney was
unsuccessful on another.
Before Wilson replaced ineffective second-stringer Donald Hollas in the 7-6
triumph, the Raiders had managed just four total yards after halftime and
were 1-for-18 on third-down conversions.
Also in the earlier meeting, Oakland's Leo Araguz set an NFL
record with 16 punts, the Raiders rushed for only 18 yards and Whelihan and
rookie Ryan Leaf
combined for four interceptions.
Leaf, the second-overall pick in this year's draft, has completed 45.3
percent of his passes (111-of-245) with just two TDs and 15 interceptions.
Asked if he would play him in next week's finale against Arizona,
Jones said, "I'm going to look at it after we sit down and watch the film.
There's a good chance he'll play but we'll make that decision on Wednesday.
Yeah, I would think that he would play some."
Jones will leave the Chargers at the end of the season to take over at
the University of Hawaii.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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