OAKLAND, Calif. -- Rich Gannon couldn't save the Oakland
Raiders.
Gannon orchestrated three come-from-behind victories this
season, but Baltimore's pumped-up playoff defense was too much and
Oakland lost the AFC title game 16-3 to the Ravens on Sunday.
|  | | Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon took two big hits in the first half, insuring he would not be the same Sunday vs. the Ravens. |
Tony Siragusa knocked Gannon on his right shoulder early in the
second quarter and he was never quite the same.
"I don't know if it would have made a difference if I had been
100 percent healthy," Gannon said. "They were a better football
team today."
Gannon brought the Raiders back against Indianapolis and Kansas
City, and led the drive that beat the San Francisco 49ers in
overtime. Overall, he threw for 29 touchdown passes and ran for
four more in the regular season.
All the while, he remained the Raiders' stoic leader,
methodically marching them into their first postseason since 1994.
He was picked for the Pro Bowl and the All-Pro Team.
He also stayed miraculously healthy for such a mobile,
35-year-old quarterback -- until Siragusa's hit. The 340-pound
tackle hit Gannon and fell on him, driving his shoulder into the
ground.
"They say he's 340, but he's more like 360," Oakland center
Barret Robbins said. "Obviously that's going to hurt you."
The Raider Nation was stunned. The crowd of more than 60,000 was
silent as their hero was ushered slowly off the field and into the
locker room.
Gannon said he was first hurt on the first series in the game,
when he was hit after a Raiders' false start penalty. Siragusa's
hit insured he wouldn't be his usual self.
But at the half, Gannon convinced coach Jon Gruden he could
return.
"We have a relationship of trust and he felt he could throw the
ball without being inhibited at all, and that's why we went with
him," Gruden said.
Gannon started the second half but the damage had been done.
Down 10-0, he took the Raiders to Baltimore's 2-yard line but
underthrew his pass to Randy Jordan. Oakland settled for rookie
kicker Sebastian Janikowski's field goal.
It would be the Raiders' only scoring for the game.
"It was a pretty humbling experience," Gannon said.
But the Raiders should have been able to get it done without his
arm, Gannon said.
The Raiders had led the league in rushing this season, with
154.4 yards a game. Gannon and "The Committee," as the Raiders
called their tight-knit corps of backs, usually found a way to get
it done.
"I've always felt we could move the ball on the ground,"
Gannon said. "We didn't do that today, right from the very first
play."
Leading rusher Tyrone Wheatley had 12 carries for only seven
yards, and overall the Raiders had just 24 yards in rushing offense
for the game.
As the clock wound down, Gannon knew when his time was up.
"I went to Jon and I said, 'You might as well put Bobby in,"'
Gannon said.
Bobby Hoying replaced Gannon midway through the fourth quarter.
The backup, who was just 0-for-2 in the regular season, took the
Raiders down to the Baltimore 5, but Andre Rison was called for
offensive pass interference, nullifying his catch in the end zone.
Baltimore linebacker Jamie Sharper ended the drive with an
interception.
"I really felt that if we could have gotten something going
when I was in there, we had a chance to turn things around,"
Hoying said. "But we didn't get it done.
"This is the most disappointed I've been in my short career."
It got so bad at times that even Oakland's rabid
silver-and-black clad fans booed.
The Raiders figured their fans would be a little more
supportive, providing that crucial home-field edge. They applauded
wildly in pregame warmups.
But in the end, Baltimore prevailed and the Raider Nation headed
home.
"The bottom line is that the Ravens had a lot to do with what
happened today," Gruden said.
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