Tale of Two Halves | Patriots Win 1st, Drop 2nd

From the pages of New England Patriots Football Weekly

PALO ALTO, CALIF. – Enigmatic Raiders owner Al Davis recently told Pro Football Weekly, “I’m at home anywhere.” So, by extension, it doesn’t matter where the Oakland Raiders play these days, even if it’s Palo Alto. It’s all about how they win the game, baby.

On Friday night, the nomadic Raiders’ first and second teams – which were as enigmatic as Davis this cool California night – got caught in a game of “Catch Me If You Can” with the Patriots and won, 32-24.

In the shadows of the East Bay Hills, in both clubs’ final tuneup for next weekend’s “Kickoff ’95,” Oakland’s starters made the mistake of spotting the Patriots an early 14-0 cushion en route to a 24-7 “first-half loss.” The problem was, the Raiders’ second teamers – guided by battle-worn quarterback Vince Evans – rallied for a fourth-quarter flurry that left the Patriots reeling as they departed Stanford Stadium.

New England’s starters rocketed to a 7-0 lead and never released the first-half throttle in this Tale of Two Halves.

In part one, New England rode the afterburners of Dave Meggett and his 74-yard opening kickoff return to a commanding 17-point lead at the halftime break. “That’s, once again, Dave Meggett as advertised,” said New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe. “He came in to help us get good field position and make some plays on third down. For him to come in and get us good field position like that is very beneficial.”

In part two, the Patriots backups coughed up 25 unanswered points in the final 15 minutes. New England’s offensive line was unable to keep the Raiders’ raiding defenders off quarterback Scott Zolak, and he was pressured into throwing three uncharacteristic interceptions.

The good news is that with both the Patriots’ and Raiders’ starters sitting out the second half, the real game was over before the band hit the field. Finally, after three preseason games of experimentation, New England’s first-team attack lived up to its advanced billing. New England Coach Bill Parcells and Co. set up the run with the pass in the first quarter, harkening back to last year, but as the first half wore on New England relied on a well-executed draw play with Curtis Martin as the featured runner. The script read as predicted at the start of training camp: Bledsoe to whomever he pleased; Martin running on first and/or second down; and Meggett hopefully converting on third.

The Patriots’ schizophrenic infantry, with a little therapy applied by Parcells after the Philadelphia debacle, firmly established itself for the first time since the Detroit game. In the first half, New England averaged five yards a carry with the juking, spinning Martin accounting for all but three of the team’s 95 yards on 18 carries. Encouraging? Sure, but even more inspiring was the stingy Patriots’ defense, which limited the normally elusive Harvey Williams, newcomer Napoleon Kaufman and gang to an anemic 2.4 yards-per-try on the ground.

“Curtis Martin’s really shown some signs that he can hit the holes and he hits them quickly for us,” said New England center Jeff Dellenbach. “We were getting some cracks and he was hitting them tonight. He makes an offensive lineman very happy.

“I think we’re pretty happy about the way that the number ones went out and performed,” Dellenbach added. “We’ve worked on the whole package during training camp – the runs, the draws, the play-action, the drop-back passes. I don’t think we’ve got four million things to do, but we’ve got enough that we can go out and play with anybody. It was disappointing that we let them back into the game, though.”

The former Meadowlands Mite, Meggett, certainly got New England off on the right foot, After fielding Jeff Jaeger’s kickoff two yards deep in his end zone, Meggett burst between two Raiders, sprinted across the field and found room to roam up the left sideline before cutting back and being brought down at the Raiders’ 28-yard line. In addition to his stellar return, Meggett touched the ball only once but figured prominently in the opening drive.

On third and two from the Raiders’ 20, after a five-yard reception by fullback Sam Gash and a two-yard pickup by Martin, Bledsoe saw Meggett alone in the right flat. The trouble was, so did right cornerback Albert Lewis, who charged Meggett from five yards away. The diving Lewis rocked Meggett, who nonchalantly bounced off him and plowed ahead for five yards and a first down. One Raider offside penalty later, Martin hauled in a 10-yard pass from Bledsoe on a swing pattern in the left flat and jogged into the endzone, untouched, for a 6-0 edge with less than two minutes expired. Placekicker Matt Bahr upped the ante to 7-0 with a routine PAT.

On the ensuing series, frenetic outside linebacker Willie McGinest twice stuffed Williams before fellow linebacker Chris Slade ate up quarterback Jeff Hostetler for a six-yard sack, forcing a punt. Martin and Bledsoe made quick work of the Raider’s defense on their second series, with Martin picking up a first down on second and four and Bledsoe – needing 10 yards on third down at the Oakland 49 – finding “Old Faithful” tight end Ben Coates for a 17-yard pickup over the middle.

Equally exciting, but unplanned, was Bledsoe’s dump-off pass to Gash while Raiders’ right tackle Chester McGlockton had the quarterback in a leg lock. Gash gained 16 on the play, setting up a 14-yard run by Martin on a delay and a two-yard touchdown reception by Coates cutting across the end zone, right to left. The 11-play, 61-yard march culminated when Bahr booted the extra point, staking the Pats to a 14-0 lead.

The Oakland offense briefly came off the respirator at the end of the first quarter, when Hostetler hooked up with Tim Brown. The All-Pro wideout took advantage of free safety Myron Guyton’s slip and hauled in a 24-yard touchdown pass that just eluded the outstretched arms of strong safety Terry Ray, slicing New England’s lead to 14-7. A stalled second quarter drive resulted in Bahr’s 37-yard field goal from the right hashmark, boosting the Patriots’ lead to 17-7. To close out the first-half scoring, tight end John Burke corralled a Bledsoe pass under the uprights with four seconds left, and Bahr tacked on the extra point for a 24-7 lead.

The New England second teamers preserved the lead throughout three quarters, but Earthquake Evans shook the Pat’s confidence in the fourth. The 39-year-old signal caller managed to hit James Jett and Daryl Hobbs for scoring passes of 29 and 39 yards, respectively, within a span of two minutes, 11 seconds. Tight end Kerry Cash’s conversion reception on the Jett score narrowed the lead to 24-15, positioning the Raiders to pull within a pair of points, 24-22, on the Hobbs catch. Raider corner Bruce Pickens wrapped up the raucous fourth by picking off Zolak and racing into the end zone for the 32-24 final.

“It’s still kind of hard to judge [the Patriots’ performance] in the preseason,” said Bledsoe. “There is a distinct jump in the level of play and the level of intensity between the preseason and the regular season. But we feel like we executed well: We did the things we were supposed to do, but there again we have to be prepared for a regular-season game.”