American Football Spectacular: Game On
It was time. Your Oakland Raiders meant to contend with the two-time defending NFL Champion New England Patriots in the marquee 2005 NFL Kickoff game.
No, let us begin again, the Raiders did not go Eastward just to contend. There was talk within the Nation of cold revenge, of making a statement, of something that had occurred here just a few seasons past that can not be spoken about directly.
Fresh arrows there were in the quiver; by name there was LaMont, and Randy, and the fleet-footed flotilla of rookie defensive backs, all of them hailing to Al's word. His word was to make for the village of Foxborough by Thursday, and there, to put the home team to the sword.
It is our duty to tell you what then came next. This is what happened there on that day.
By SFist Christopher Rogers, contributing
Indeed, the awaited hour was nigh. The day to set things right. In the prime-time spotlight of the first NFL game of the year, your Oakland Raiders sought forth glowering in that Eastern land where they'd suffered one of their most ignominious defeats. This time it would be different. Those Raiders, resplendent in their sigils, sallied forth with new blood, and yes, they came without some who had borne the Silver and Black into those ill snows of the 2001 season. Those new to the Silver and Black carried with them the memory of what had happened before. The memory of what had to be set right. The Raiders came to Foxborough, Massachusetts to recast their fate with their own gloved hands.
They came to show their enemies their new steel.
Yet, for the Raiders, on this day, it was not to be.
2005, WEEK 01, OAK @ NE, or, Do You Remember Being Promising?
That first drive, o, that first drive.
On their first offensive drive of 2005, your Raiders were the picture of efficiency, they moved swift down the field with NE unable to slow 'em down. LaMont Jordan cut through the depleted Patriot linebacker corps, and Moss snatched a lazy jump ball from the air between two defenders, making it all look so easy. Momentum! A palpable grin could be seen from the ranks of the Raider Nation. Blood in the water... the Patriots had weakened enough to be beaten! For that brief moment, the Nation exulted in anticipation of a win. There was a taste of sweet promise fulfilled, and as the drive concluded with a Collins-to-Courtney-Anderson touchdown pass -- anticipation that it was time for the defending NFL Champions to bow down before Al.
Then, as the two teams grappled with each other -- something tangible changed -- the game washed away from the Raiders as the Patriots did what they do better than any team: they adjusted. Once NE began to score through a balanced attack, the Raiders were compelled to throw. Keying on Collins, NE's pass-rushers disrupted his rhythm with their shifting fronts, and varied blitz packages. It's possible that no NFL team has ever been as adaptive as the Patriots of the last several seasons. Under Head Coach Bill Belichick's inspired tutelage, the Pats could overwhelm opposing teams with dink-and-dunk 5-WR formations, or grind straight-ahead with their halfback. On defense, the New England "hybrid" approach has become a much-admired scheme to the front seven. To sum it: rather than play a base 3-4 or 4-3 scheme, NE has been able to field a team that can do either with the same personnel depending on the situation, causing fits for the opposing team's offensive gameplan. In the hands of Belichick, this fluid defensive set has become amongst the most feared in the league, able to take down high-octane teams like the Colts, or ball-control grinders like Pittsburgh.
This demanding fluidity depends on the strength of the coaching staff to draw up the intensive plans, the flexibility of the players picked up by the franchise, and skillfulness of the front office to retain the previous two factors in case of success. 'Cause the fiscal framework of the NFL is built to pull apart successful teams so that no one franchise is on top for too long, and no team is on the bottom for too long. A vicious cycle of parity to ensure the league's sustainability. Yet, the Patriots have been able to buck this cycle by fostering an atmosphere of teamwork, highly unusual in these days' pro sports. Players love and respect the unselfish mindset that Coach Belichick exudes. The low-key dude in the rumpled hoodie gets results. He's kept the Pats on top of the heap despite drawing tough schedules (via winning the previous season), the erosive quality of the salary cap, and playing in one of the NFL's toughest divisions. Belichick is the Sleater-Kinney of the league; above-the-game, ever-evolving, flexible, and no one else can reproduce the same results.
It was a hard thing, to leave that field in such a way. Yet it was the home team that carried the day. The Silver and Black limped home, dreaming darkly of the day when they could visit upon the people of Foxborough the same sense of despair that those Easterners had given the port-town of Oakland from their snow-touched clime.
2005, WEEK 01, SEP 09, OAK @ NE = Raiders 20, Patriots 30
Next up in your American Football Spectacular: Tomorrow, a look at the hard road ahead for your O-Town Raiders. It’s always better to go directly at a problem rather than avoid it, so that’s what we’re going to do. It won’t be nice, it won’t be pretty, but it’s very important because it’s what we’re going to be going through together.
After we talk about that, we’ll talk about exactly what occurred in San Francisco on Sunday. Stay tuned.