As I write this, friends are texting Raiders condolences to me. One Raiders fan I overhead saying that Warren Sapp must've been right; the Raiders aren't good enough for the playoffs. Another one said he'd rather watch a blow-out instead of being teased and tortured through a game like this.
Simply put, the Oakland Raiders broke fans hearts today by squandering a 27-14 lead with under three minutes left in the game. They did it in typical 2011 Raiders fashion, giving up big pass plays and touchdowns on defense while going mostly conservative to hold a lead on offense. The hardest part is that they almost pulled it off. Almost!
Raiders QB Carson Palmer missed a clutch throw that could've sealed it, but the pass to the open receiver came up about a yard overthrown. Palmer also took a sack on a critical series that could've found the Raiders running out the clock.
After playing their hearts out all game, the Raiders found themselves just three yards away from a first down to all but end the game. Instead, the Detroit Lions got the ball back with no timeouts left and bing, bang, boom; Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson (9 rec 214 yds 2 tds) is celebrating with the tying touchdown catch. The kick was good for the one point lead.
The final insulting injury was a Sebastian Janikowski 65 yard field goal attempt in the final seconds that had the house rocking with faithful belief. It was truly a Mighty Casey at the bat moment:
