| | | | | | | | Tuesday, November 6, 2001
MNF Past, Present and Future: Week 8
By George Hill and Malibu Kelly Hayes
Special to ABC Sports Online
Monday Night Football's spotting and statistical gurus, George Hill and Malibu Kelly Hayes, view the game from a unique perspective, which the duo will share each week on ABC Sports Online, giving an in-depth preview of the upcoming MNF game by looking at the matchup from the past, present and the future. Here is the latest installment, leading up to this Monday's game between the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders (ABC, 9 p.m. ET).
The Past: A look at some past performances on MNF by this week's teams.
The Present: The next layer looks at some of this Monday's key performers.
The Future: Chat with George and Kelly this Monday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Click here to send in a question.
| | Broncos vs. Raiders on MNF |
|
Date
|
Result
|
|
10/22/73
|
BRONCOS 23, Raiders 23
|
|
12/8/75
|
RAIDERS 17, Broncos 10
|
|
12/1/80
|
RAIDERS 9, Denver 3
|
|
10/12/87
|
BRONCOS 30, Raiders 14
|
|
9/26/88
|
Raiders 30, BRONCOS 27 (OT)
|
|
10/18/93
|
Raiders 23, BRONCOS 20
|
|
10/16/95
|
BRONCOS 27, Raiders 0
|
|
11/4/96
|
Broncos 22, RAIDERS 21
|
|
11/24/97
|
BRONCOS 31, Raiders 3
|
|
11/22/99
|
BRONCOS 27, Raiders 21 (OT)
|
|
11/13/00
|
BRONCOS 27, Raiders 24
|
| Home team in CAPS |
Monday Night Past
This week the Broncos and the Raiders meet for the 12th time on Monday Night Football, which ties them with the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins for the most played rivalry on the program. Although Denver has dominated this series of late, at one time there was no team that owned Monday nights in the NFL like the Raiders -- especially when they played at home.
On Nov. 4, 1996, the Broncos traveled Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum to face the Raiders, a franchise that had never lost at home on Monday Night. The Raiders came into the game with an 8-0 home record in Oakland and 4-0 mark in Los Angeles.
This was the first Monday night game in Oakland in 15 years, and attracted the team's first sellout of the season. The Raiders might have owned home-field advantage, but that night they discovered they had no ownership rights to the fourth quarter. That belonged to Broncos quarterback John Elway.
With 10 minutes left in the game and Denver leading 16-7, the Raiders surprised Denver by going to a no-huddle scheme, and scored twice in a five-minute span on a pair of Jeff Hostetler TD passes to Derrick Fenner and Tim Brown to give the Raiders a 21-16 lead.
As with most leads for Denver opponents in the fourth quarter with Elway at quarterback, this one was short-lived. Elway hit Rod Smith with a 49-yard touchdown with 4:14 left in the game to rally the Broncos. He took just six plays and 47 seconds to guide the Broncos 73 yards for the winning score.
No one in the stadium should have been too surprised at the outcome. The victory that night marked the 35th time Elway led the Broncos to a fourth-quarter victory. With the Raiders losing at home that night, the only record that remained perfect after the game was Mike Shanahan's, who went to 3-0 against the team that fired him in 1989.
Monday Night Present
|  | | Smith |
BRONCOS WR ROD SMITH
In a game that features Tim Brown and Jerry Rice, it is arguable that the best receiver on the field Monday night will be the Broncos' Rod Smith.
Despite the loss of his stablemate, Ed McCaffrey, in Week 1, Smith has defied double teams and other schemes designed to stop him to become the hottest pass catcher in the NFL. Going into the game, Smith, leads the NFL with 57 receptions and 758 yards. His pace projects to a 130-catch, 1,700-plus-yard season. In other words he is flirting with history.
With the Bronco running game sputtering a little in the absence of Terrell Davis and -- in our opinion, more importantly, Howard Griffith -- Smith's contributions have never been more important. This week, the matchup with the Raiders' Charles Woodson could take on epic proportions as the two Pro Bowlers go after one another. In many eyes, Smith also will be competing against Brown and Rice for honors as the AFC's top go-to guy.
Smith has had good games in the past against the Raiders, catching 45 passes in the last eight contests between the two teams, but he has not had a 100-yard outing against them. As the Broncos seek their 12th victory in 13 outings over the Raiders they will need a stellar performance out of Smith.
|  | | O'Neal |
BRONCOS CB DELTHA O'NEAL
When he was a California Bear, Deltha O'Neal was a man among boys. As a senior, he was named the Pacific-10 defensive player of the year as he grabbed nine interceptions in 11 games. Over his career at Berkeley, he returned five interceptions for touchdowns and scored seven others on kick returns, rushes or receptions.
But when he came to the NFL as the 15th overall choice in the 2000 draft, he soon found out that talent alone would not get him to the heights he had reached at Cal. In O'Neal's rookie year, he did not have a single start or a single interception. He was the on the All-Rookie team as a punt returner, but still, he was drafted to duel with opposing QBs, not punters.
Well, after a year of study and work, by George (and Kelly), the Broncos think O'Neal's got it. He is on an interception pace of incredible proportions of late as he has picked off six passes in the last four games. His six picks has him tied at the top of the NFL interception list tied with Ryan McNeil of the Chargers and Carolina's Doug Evans. His total includes an NFL record-tying four
interceptions against the Kansas City Chiefs and a pair of fourth-quarter takeaways last week against Tom Brady and the Patriots.
One reason for all the takeaways is that game plans have focused on O'Neal. The feeling has been that the lack of experience makes him a good place for offenses to go and he has seen lots of action. But as he has made plays, the opposition has had to spread it around more and last week that meant that ex-Titan Denard Walker, the other corner, was able to make some plays himself. Walker also had two interceptions against the Pats and returned one for a score.
This week the challenge for O'Neal and Walker is of Hall of Fame proportions. Rice and Brown will test them and the winner of those skirmishes could decide the game.
RAIDERS WR JERRY RICE
Ah, another chance to see Jerry Rice on Monday Night Football. Relish the opportunity.
Seemingly at the end of his career, Rice has found a new home and become a significant contributor across the Bay in Oakland. His 25 receptions in six games might not seem like much given his storied career, but it does make him Oakland second-most prolific receiver. More importantly, his three TD receptions lead the team and extend his career NFL record for touchdown receptions to an amazing 179. Tack on a return for TD and 10 rushing touchdowns and Rice is just 10 away from a Ruthian (or, Bondsian) 200 career scores.
Interestingly, just two of those receiving touchdowns have come against the Broncos in regular-season games. Of course, one of his signature games came in Super Bowl XXIV against Denver when he torched them for three touchdowns.
Interestingly, standing on the other sideline in that game was current Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan, who was then the Denver quarterbacks coach. Shanny would later coach Rice at San Francisco during a three-year stint in the early '90s.
This week, Rice will line up all over the field and be the Raiders' possession receiver. Look for him to catch passes as the second receiver -- especially over the middle.
Monday Night Future
Like last week's Steelers-Titans match-up, this week's Monday Night Broncos vs. Raiders clash will also feature a game of streaks. The Raiders have lost four consecutive Monday Night Football games. Denver has accounted for three of those defeats on Mondays, and has beaten Oakland seven in a row overall. Jon Gruden, now in his fourth season as the Raiders' head coach, is 0-6 against the Broncos in regular season games.
However, the Raiders right now are having one of the league's hottest streaks, with four consecutive victories. They are getting great special teams play, solid defensive results and are moving the ball and controlling the clock on offense. Even without running back Tyrone Wheatley, who is hobbled by a knee injury, the Raiders are using a "committee" of running backs -- Charlie Garner, Zack Crockett, Randy Jordan and Terry Kirby -- to accumulate big yardage on the ground.
Broncos' QB Brian Griese, despite not having the extra option of dependable Ed McCaffrey since Week 1, still has been able to get the ball to Rod Smith. But right now the Raiders feature the two best shutdown corners playing together, in Charles Woodson and Eric Allen, and it could be a long night for both Griese and Smith.
Denver, with all three running backs expected back, and the unique play-calling of coach Mike Shanahan, will keep it close, but we look for the Raiders to prevail, 24-21. Then after the game, the first streak you will see, is that of Raiders owner Al Davis, streaking down the sideline to hug
his coach, Jon Gruden.
MNF Past, Present and Future with George Hill and Malibu Kelly Hayes appears each Friday on ABC Sports Online.
| | |
| | | | |
ESPN.com:
HELP |
ADVERTISER INFO |
CONTACT US |
TOOLS |
SITE MAP
Copyright ©2001 ESPN Internet Group. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information are applicable to this site. Employment opportunities at ESPN.com.
| |
| 
 |
