Monday, Nov. 26, 2007

Oakland ends skid in division

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Raiders have spent the past couple years trying to convince everyone -- including themselves -- that being the AFC West doormat wasn't significant.

The Raiders had lost 17 consecutive division games since a Nov. 28, 2004, win at Denver, the longest such streak since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. After the Raiders ended their AFC West futility with a 20-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, one thing was evident.

Beating a team in the division mattered.

"When it's a divisional opponent, a team that you're going to see two times in a year, there's a little bit of extra incentive," running back Justin Fargas said. The Raiders had lost nine in a row to the Chiefs since a 24-0 win in 2002.

"You think about that on the way to the stadium, during warm-ups," Fargas said. "Even during the game, you think, like, Man, they've gotten us so many times and it's been so close so many times. You're tired of coming out on the losing end. It's about time that the Raiders and the Raider Nation got the feel of a win over the Chiefs."

The Raiders ended a six-game losing streak thanks to a solid stretch on offense in the fourth quarter that was buoyed by Fargas and the arm of Daunte Culpepper.

Coach Lane Kiffin abandoned the safe approach late and it paid off. After the Chiefs missed a 33-yard field-goal attempt, the Raiders had three consecutive first downs on two passes by Culpepper and a 14-yard scoring run by Fargas with 9:40 left to give the Raiders a 20-17 lead.

LaMont Jordan, on what was intended to be a halfback pass, scurried in from 5 yards out to give the Raiders a 13-10 lead in the third quarter.

"We talked about it last night, putting it in our players' hands, giving them a chance to win and make sure we weren't going to play conservative," Kiffin said. "We weren't going to play (not) to lose, we were going to play to win."

The Raiders got the ball back with 4:22 left and bucked the trend of giving the opposition a chance to win by getting first downs on three consecutive plays. Fargas' 21-yard run on third-and-11 allowed the Raiders to run out the clock.

The final drive was set up by the defense, which had been run through by rookie tailback Kolby Smith (150 rushing yards, two touchdowns), which stuffed Smith on fourth-and-one from the Raiders' 23.

Smith looked tough and shifty early in the game, and may get more time down the road since Priest Holmes just retired and Larry Johnson is out with an injured foot.

But unlike the first game between the teams this season, a 12-10 Chiefs win, the Raiders made plays late. Fargas ran for 94 of his 139 yards in the second half, and Culpepper threw for 112 of his 170 yards after halftime.

"For once, we came in and executed the things we had to do," guard Robert Gallery said.

And for all his talk of every game being the same, Kiffin admitted it was good to be rid of the streak.

"I'm really happy for the guys in the locker room who have been here a long time," he said. "You guys have nothing to write about anymore because there's no 17-game streak in the division."

True. But when was the last time the Raiders won a division game at home? Dec. 28, 2003, against San Diego. That's 12 consecutive division losses in Oakland.

The Raiders can end that streak this coming weekend when Denver visits. They will claim that streak doesn't matter either.

Until it's over, that is.