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Raiders fall on late field goal
Saturday, August 16, 2008
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans and Oakland Raiders have talented young quarterbacks in Vince Young and JaMarcus Russell.

Good thing both teams have decent running games.
John Vaughn, filling in for All-Pro Rob Bironas, kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired Friday night to lift the Titans to a 17-16 victory over the Raiders in an exhibition featuring the first quarterbacks taken in the 2006 and 2007 drafts.

Oakland (1-1) appeared set to remain unbeaten as Aaron Elling, subbing for an injured Sebastian Janikowski, kicked three field goals with the last one bouncing off the left upright with 5:19 left to put the Raiders ahead.
But undrafted rookie safety Tony Joyner knocked the ball away from Oren O’Neal at the Titans 1 with 2:10 left, and rookie Stanford Keglar recovered for Tennessee (2-0).

Ingle Martin, a Nashville native, was 6-of-8 on the drive and set up the winning field goal with a 26-yard pass to Chris Davis.
The Titans worked on their passing offense with Young, the 2006 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, but had little success against a Raiders defense missing cornerback DeAngelo Hall.

Russell, the first pick overall in 2007, threw a touchdown pass and left the game with a 10-7 halftime lead. But he had only one good series — one more than Young — and finished 10-of-17 for 75 yards.

Young was 4-of-13 for 37 yards and left after five series, his final incompletion drawing a smattering of boos. Backup Kerry Collins tossed a 51-yarder to rookie Lavelle Hawkins, who dodged two defenders in the third quarter. Ahmard Hall recovered a fumbled punt in the end zone in the second quarter.

Oakland had 224 yards rushing, close to matching the 248 it ran for in the exhibition opener against San Francisco. Tennessee, which had 340 yards rushing in its exhibition opener, finished with 140.

Darren McFadden, the first running back taken in the draft at No. 4 by Oakland, ran six times for 44 yards. His 26-yard run in the final seconds of the first half set up a 56-yard field goal by Elling for the 10-7 lead.

Tennessee’s Chris Johnson, the fifth running back drafted at No. 24 overall, picked up 46 yards on eight carries and returned a kickoff 30 yards. Johnson stunned fans a week ago with a 66-yard TD run, and he picked up 15 yards on each of his first two carries against the Raiders. But he also looked like a rookie as he dropped two passes that hit him in the hands.

Russell threw only five times in last week’s 18-6 win, and he was just 3-of-5 for 7 yards through the first three series Friday. But he clicked on the fourth by completing his first four passes.

After an incompletion, he scrambled to the left away from All-Pro defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and fired a 10-yard touchdown pass to Zach Miller past Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck at the start of the second quarter for a 7-0 lead.

Young got to throw more than the six passes he attempted in the Titans’ opener. That didn’t mean he did that much better as the Titans went three-and-out on the five series he played. They opened with an empty backfield and LenDale White lined up wide right. Raiders linebacker Thomas Howard sacked Young on the Titans’ second play from scrimmage.
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