Raiders squelch fourth-quarter scoring futility

OAKLAND -- The ball hung in the air for what seemed an eternity.Or, as long as it's been since the Raiders scored in the fourth quarter.Carson Palmer's long bomb to Louis Murphy was a high-arching ball down the right sideline placed where only Murphy could grab it. Murphy going out of bounds at the 3-yard line after the 47-yard pick-up ended not only the receiver's season-long drought in terms of contributing, but preceded Oakland ending its fourth-quarter scoring woes.One play later, and with 3:47 remaining in the game, Michael Bush bulled in for the touchdown. It was the Raiders' first points in the final quarter of a game since Oct. 9, when Sebastian Janikowski made a 42-yard field goal at Houston with 10 minutes to play. An unseemly 96 minutes and 13 seconds of fourth-quarter futility."That's a long time," said Murphy, who had two catches for 53 yards after entering the game with one catch for 23 yardson the season...after missing the first five games recovering from sports hernia surgery in training camp.
"I didn't know that was a stat. To make it in the playoffs, we've got to score in the fourth quarter."The final score Sunday was 25-20, in favor of the Raiders. Same score against the Texans seven weeks earlier.Before Bush's touchdown run, the Raiders had gone 21 series in the fourth quarter without a score over seven games. Oakland had run the ball 43 times for 130 yards (a 3.0-yards per carry average, which would be a 2.4-yards average sans Bush's 30-yard burst at San Diego) and completed just 21 of 48 passes (43.8 percent) for 294 yards with five interceptions and three sacks in those scoreless drives.And when Bush went into the end zone, you could feel the weight being lifted off the Raiders' offense's shoulders.Especially since up to that point, the Raiders could only muster a franchise-record six field goals by Sebastian Janikowski."It felt so good," said rookie left guard Stefen Wisniewski. "After six field goals we were like, Are we ever going to get (a touchdown)."The Raiders were just three of 15 on third-down conversions, averaging 3rd-and-11 on third downs late in the game, and were one for five in red-zone efficiency."It was tough in the red zone, middle of the field, backed up," Palmer said. "That's a good defense. That's a good unit. People questioned what their ranking was statistically. That's a very good unit that's played together a long time and understands their scheme. Once they get backed up against the goal posts in the red zone, they're tough to get in the red zone."Fortunately, we have SeaBass, who can make field goals about as automatic as anybody. We were heavily reliant on him today."Sometimes, it's what the defense prevents you from doing, more than any play that's called."Obviously, we had some opportunities, but again, we played against a good defense," said Raiders coach Hue Jackson. "Sometimes, the opportunitiesthey're only there for a moment, then they take them away. We had some chances, that was disappointing to me, but at the end of the day, we got the victory."And finally scoring, not only in the fourth quarter, but a touchdown, ensured it. Which was set up, of course, by Palmer's bomb to Murphy to beat Tim Jennings on third-and-four from midfield.Palmer credited Jackson and offensive coordinator Al Saunders for putting things into motion."The timing of it, the looks we set up to get it were great," Palmer said. "At that point in the game, just a great (gutsy) call to pull out."Louis hasn't had a bunch of catches all year. He knew that was something special for him in the package. He did a great job executing it. The offensive line had a tough game up front. On that play they came around the edge and the o-line gave me enough time, did a great job picking it up and let me get rid of the ball."And allowed the Raider to get out of their scoring funk.