Raiders Roar Past Jets 45-20 In Home Opener
OAKLAND (AP) -- Marshawn Lynch ran for a touchdown in his first home game with Oakland and Derek Carr threw three TD passes to Michael Crabtree to lead the Raiders to a 45-20 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday.
Cordarrelle Patterson and Jalen Richard added long touchdown runs to help put the game away and give the Raiders (2-0) wins in the opening two games of the season for the first time since their AFC championship season in 2002.
Josh McCown threw a pair of TD passes to Jermaine Kearse but the Jets (0-2) proved to be no match for the more powerful and talented Raiders.
The Raiders vaunted offensive line won the matchup against New York's front four , allowing no sacks and helping clear holes for a 180-yard rushing performance.
Oakland wore down the Jets and got a 43-yard touchdown run by Patterson late in the third quarter and a 52-yarder by Richard early in the fourth that made it 35-13.
Lynch didn't have any long runs in his first game in front of his hometown fans with the Raiders. He came out of retirement to give back to Oakland before the Raiders move to Las Vegas in 2020.
Lynch ran for 45 yards on 12 carries, scoring on a 2-yard run late in the first half. He then generated perhaps even bigger cheers during a sideline dance that was shown on the videoboard during a stoppage in the fourth quarter, prompting cheers of "Beast Mode! Beast Mode!"
CARR TO CRAB: Carr and Crabtree were in sync all game. With the Jets looking for a run from Lynch from the 2 in the first quarter, Carr found Crabtree on a fade for a TD . The two connected again on a 26-yard score in the second quarter and then a 1-yarder in the fourth quarter that made it 42-13.
MOMENTUM SHIFT: After falling behind 14-0, the Jets got back into the game and were set to take possession late in the first half trailing by only four. But Kalif Raymond dropped a punt that Johnny Holton recovered for Oakland at the 4. Three plays later, Lynch ran it in from the 2 to make it 21-10 at the half.
FLAG DAY: The Raiders were a little overaggressive. They committed three unnecessary roughness penalties and one unsportsmanlike conduct foul in the first half, helping extend the drives that led to 10 points for the Jets. The culprits were Lee Smith, Jon Feliciano, Bruce Irvin and Marquel Lee.
INJURIES: With their top two tight ends Eric Tomlinson and Jordan Leggett out with injuries, the Jets often used six or even seven lineman to make up for their absence. ... Raiders CB Sean Smith was out with a neck injury, giving rookie Gareon Conley lots of playing time in his debut.
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Raiders: travel to Washington for a Sunday night game
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