| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- An underachiever in New York and a reject
in Miami, Tyrone Wheatley fits quite nicely on an Oakland Raiders
team that takes pride in its history of resurrecting castoffs.
Wheatley scored on an 8-yard run with 6:45 remaining and the
Raiders overcame five lost fumbles to win 24-17 over the
penalty-ridden Chicago Bears on Sunday.
|  | | Tyrone Wheatley, who had the winning TD Sunday, is feeling appreciated in Oakland. |
Wheatley, whom the Giants made the 17th pick in the 1995 draft,
spent four often unhappy seasons in New York before being traded to
Miami this offseason. He was cut by the Dolphins early in training
camp, and signed by the Raiders.
"There are 31 teams, man, and I'll bounce to every one until I
can show what I can do," Wheatley said. "I'm just glad the
Raiders gave me a chance here."
In his first start for the Raiders (2-1), Wheatley had eight
carries for 41 yards. And most of those yards came on the drive
that led to the go-ahead score.
Rich Gannon, who was 26-of-35 for 295 yards, had scoring passes
of 20 yards to Tim Brown and 13 yards to Rickey Dudley for Oakland.
Michael Husted added a 47-yard field goal.
Brown caught nine passes for 121 yards, giving him 702 career
receptions and making him the 11th NFL player with 700 catches.
Shane Matthews, who was 20-of-30 for 178 yards, had scoring
passes of 16 yards to Curtis Enis and 11 yards to Curtis Conway for
the Bears (1-2), who also got a 52-yard field goal by Jeff Jaeger.
|
GAME NOTES |
|
For the third straight week, at least nine different Bears
made receptions.
First-round draft pick Cade McNown, a quarterback who has played one series in each of the Bears' first three games, was 3-for-5 for 38 yards in his cameo in the second
quarter.
Tim Brown has caught at least one pass in 94 straight
games.
Rich Gannon was the leading rusher for the Raiders, with five
carries for 47 yards -- including a 39-yard scramble in the third
quarter.
Jeff Jaeger, who played for the Raiders from 1989-95,
missed field goals of 48 and 46 yards.
|
"I think one of the problems is that our offense didn't
communicate," Matthews said. "The Raiders didn't beat us, we beat
ourselves today. It's hard to overcome third-and-17s all day. And
that seemed to be our whole offense today."
It was a sloppy game, with the Bears getting penalized 17 times
for 121 yards and the Raiders getting flagged nine times for 85
yards. Chicago also lost the ball three times, on two fumbles and
an interception.
"The disappointing thing for me was the penalties and
turnovers. We were very, very, very lucky to win the football
game," Gannon said. "We had been doing a good job of taking care
of the football, but today was a mess."
The Raiders opened the scoring on Brown's scoring catch, the
70th of his career. But Glyn Milburn raced 92 yards with the
ensuing kickoff to the Oakland 9, and Conway made a fingertip grab
of Matthews' pass two plays later to make it 7-7.
Jaeger kicked his field goal with 1:50 left in the second
quarter. Following a fumble and an interception, the Raiders drove
51 yards in eight plays to Dudley's 13-yard scoring catch and took
a 14-10 lead with 9 seconds left before halftime.
Chicago regained the lead early in the third period on Enis'
scoring catch, six plays after Oakland's Darrien Gordon fumbled a
punt -- the Raiders' fourth lost fumble of the game. The Raiders
tied it 17-17 early in the fourth quarter on Husted's field goal.
Wheatley broke two tackles on a 14-yard run that got the ball to
the Chicago 8 midway through the fourth quarter, and squirted
through the line on the next play for the touchdown that gave
Oakland a 24-17 lead.
Chicago's last drive ended when Matthews was sacked and fumbled,
and the Raiders then ran out the clock.
"Matthews needs to work on everything," Chicago coach Dick
Jauron said. "Obviously his decision and selection of plays needs
work. It's something we will address this week."
| |
ALSO SEE
NFL Scoreboard
Chicago Clubhouse
Oakland Clubhouse
NFL Week 3 wrap-ups
Week 3 infirmary report
TJ's Take: Titanic development
Week 3 PrimeTime Players
Week 3 stats leaders
|
