Never mind what it was like to be at the Coliseum on Monday night. The fans forgot about another disappointing season and bathed in the rain and a celebration of what was likely the last NFL game in Oakland.
What was it like to be on the field?
What was it like to be Doug Martin, breaking tackles and honoring the city in which he was born? Martin ran for 107 yards in the Raiders’ 27-14 win over the Broncos, seemingly gesturing to the crowd after every one of his 21 runs.
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“Merry Christmas, Oakland,” Martin said afterward. “That was for you. We love you.”
What was it like to be Dwayne Harris, who had the game-deciding moment on just the eighth play of the night? The return specialist picked up a Denver punt at the 1-yard line after two Broncos kept the ball out of the end zone and then kind of froze. Harris turned around and ran back to the right sideline.
“I picked it up, made that first guy missand got around the corner … and I knew it was over with at that point,” Harris said. “The punter was not going to tackle me, I knew that. I knew it was a touchdown.”
Harris ran by a crowd of Raiders and Broncos players down the sideline. And the last 20 yards, he toned down his focus just a notch. And listened.
“You hear the crowd, man,” Harris said. “They’re just going crazy. They give you the adrenaline for that extra push. You just keep going until you get in the end zone. Then you realize that you just ran 99 yards, make it 120 because I had to go back and get the ball.”
The crowd of 53,850 was cheering for 40 years of Oakland fans who couldn’t be there to see the Raiders snap their seven-game “Monday Night Football” losing streak at the Coliseum.
The party started in the parking lot, got cranked up when injured Raiders running back and unofficial Oakland mayor Marshawn Lynch lit the Al Davis torch and then went through the roof on Harris’ return, the Raiders’ first punt return for a score in 10 years.
“The crowd was amazing,” Harris said. “I loved it. They were into it, even with that rain coming down. Just to support us. It was amazing. … And that return gave us a good momentum boost. And a good morale boost. The defense got us another three-and-out and we were on our way.”
Martin took over the heavy lifting from there, his wide-open 24-yard touchdown run putting the Raiders up 14-0 midway through the second quarter. Lynch had gotten Martin amped up before the game and so did the fans.
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“I wanted to get the crowd into it,” Martin said. “Pregame, I did more autographs than I should have. I shook more hands and took more pictures than I usually do because it might be the last game that we play here. We just did it for the fans.”
The Broncos did their part by not really showing up until the third quarter — so much for playing to save coach Vance Joseph’s job — and vaunted pass rushers Von Miller and Bradley Chubb were held in check by the Raiders offensive line. Rookie right tackle Brandon Parker and new right guard Denzelle Good (in for the injured Gabe Jackson) were steamrolling people on counters.
Safety Karl Joseph continued to emerge and had the team’s one sack, just missed another and had three clean-out-your-sinuses hits on Broncos receivers. The player that former general manager Reggie McKenzie dreamed about when he drafted the undersized Joseph three years ago is finally here. If it wasn’t for the scene and the likely ending in Oakland, I may have written this whole story on Joseph.
“I am just more comfortable and more confident,” Joseph said. “It feels good, it feels really good.”
The coaching staff didn’t play Joseph much when they first got here, and at one point, Jon Gruden said “you can’t change genetics” about the 5-foot-10 (maybe?) Joseph. But Joseph is playing like an old No. 42, Ronnie Lott, and Gruden may finally be convinced.
“Karl had his best game that I have ever seen as a Raider,” Gruden said.
What little fire the Broncos had, Marcus Gilchrist and Erik Harris put out with fourth-quarter interceptions.
All that was left then was for the curtain to close. Gruden, now coaching a 4-11 team, went over to the Black Hole to thank Raiders fans right after the game ended.
“The love affair for the fans here with the Raiders goes way back, and when we get this result like we did tonight, it’s a Merry Christmas for everybody,” Gruden said.
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Quarterback Derek Carr, who extended his streak to 10 straight game without throwing an interception, took a victory lap around the stadium. He slapped hands with every fan who reached over.
“It hit me a little bit taking that lap,” Carr said. “I love Oakland. This is home. … It is hard that it might be the last time but if it is, it will always be there like, ‘Man, what a time we have had there.’ We have had some tears of pain, joy and all those things. …
“We have the best fans in the world. The most loyal. We have been 0-10 and tickets were still sold out.”
Owner Mark Davis has bungled this departure for Las Vegas in 2020 and it’s embarrassing that the Raiders don’t know yet where they will play next year.
The lease was never extended here and the city of Oakland is now suing the team and the league and so this has become an emotional issue for Davis. He doesn’t want to play in Oakland another year while being sued, and while it could still happen just for the convenience of not moving twice in two years, the cold reality is that the Raiders could probably make more money playing at AT&T Park or even Levi’s Stadium next season.
But Monday night’s game wasn’t about that. The fans never boo Davis and fans weren’t allowed in the stadium with anti-Vegas shirts or signs. They came out to celebrate the Raiders and maybe say goodbye, and the setting was perfect — an old stadium with a grass field destroyed by rain and cleats.
The result was perfect, too. No one at the Coliseum cared that the Raiders dropped from the No. 2 draft position next year to No. 4.
“To get a win for this city, what they’re going through — obviously, we’re not in control of that, but we can feel it,” running back Jalen Richard said. “Coach talked about it, giving these fans something to remember. …
“This was a good way to go out. You saw these games in the Coliseum growing up, muddy and rainy … and we got the W.”
— Reported from Oakland
(Photo:Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports)
Vic Tafur is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Las Vegas Raiders and the NFL. He previously worked for 12 years at the San Francisco Chronicle and also writes about boxing and mixed martial arts. Follow Vic on Twitter @VicTafur
